Post Utah Grades

Hey Fam,



Long time I haven't posted. Been lurking, just concentrating on career/life stuff and with the offseason and all... anyways I wanted to write down a post-game moratorium so I can clear my thoughts and sleep, and I figured this is the best place to do it.



Offense: C-

Defense: C-

Special Teams: A-



Offense particulars:



O-line: I have been publicly critical of the Oline for the last decade or so, and I have to admit, I really liked what I saw from them. Utah's front 7 is no joke, with NFL caliber players at literally every position. They handled pressure well, picked up blitzes and stunts, and overall played a clean game (1 or 2 holds, no false starts. Pretty darn good). I really liked what I saw from them against possibly the best front 7 we'll see. B+



Running Back:

Ty'son Williams had a great game. He could have been used more, especially in the 3rd. I like Katoa, but he was poorly used tonight running outside of the tackles. His best runs come from the B gap, where he either plows through the first layer of backers or bounces to the outside. We lack a speed rusher, but I guess we do we screens instead. Williams seemed decent in picking up the blitz, and is a decent route runner lining up out wide and out of the backfield. Would have liked to see screens to the backfield and I didn't like seeing empty sets on obvious blitzing downs, because the D clearly got to Zach. B+



Tight End:

Bushman was unguardable in the first. Too big for man, found holes in the zone. They took him away in the second half with man coverage and a safety over the top, but he still worked a few plays in. I would have liked to see him targeted in the redzone instead of weird gimmick plays. Played defense on a near pick 6 when Wilson threw it to him in double coverage without looking. A



Wideouts:

They did alright. They made people miss. Didn't drop too many obvious balls. Room for improvement, but I though they were going to be horrible based on all the news out of camp. B or B-



QB:

Wilson looked very good at times, and also looked awful. Like throwing into double and triple coverage awful. There were 5 absolute gimme interceptions that he delivered on a silver plate. 2 were pick sixes. Another I mentioned on the TE portion would have been a pick six, but Bushman played defense and knocked the ball down (wisely) because the defender read the route and Zach threw the ball to "the spot". Zach makes some great throws, and he is going to win us a lot of games. But he has a tendency to throw to spots instead of actually looking where he is throwing sometimes (either going through reads or checking off a defender), and it ends up in really baffling throws/picks. And hopefully the Bernard pick is the last one I see from him with a defender wrapped around his legs and he throws while airborne. D



(Typing on a phone, so saving for posterity)

Defense:



Defensive Line:

Utah has a good Oline, and they held their own for the most part. They got decent pressure on Huntley, forcing a few holds and rollouts. I think they need to set a better edge on sweep plays more consistently (sometimes they set a great edge and the LB just plain sucked at cleanup and angles, but we'll get there). They didn't do a lot of "tricky" stuff (stunts, twists, etc). I'd like to see more pressure, and a few more tackles behind the line, but for the most part they occupied the Oline and kept them downfield, and Huntley didn't have a lot of time to throw except for on rollouts. C+ (no sacks in the pocket that I remember, and Moss ran for a billion yards for which they are partly responsible).



Linebackers:

They did not have a good game. At all. They constantly got beat to the outside on the run, taking bad angles and undercutting blocks trying to make tackles. They gave up big running plays up the middle, to the edge, everywhere.

This is something I noticed... I dont knowing this was intentional or not, but they either are absolutely terrible at timing the snap on a blitz, or they were asked to delay their blitzes. If it's the former, they have to seriously work on that. If it's the latter, that is bad playcalling and they need to correct that immediately. They are too slow as a group to try and catch NCAA QBs from behind waiting a second or two off the edge.

The majority of times that a big play (8 yards or more) there was a linebacker at fault.

This last part may be Tuiaki's fault (solely), but the fact that they didn't load the box and allowed 9 minutes to run off the clock to end the game is pretty damning for me. They didn't even force a throw. This group needs to figure out why it is on the field and perform. D+



Defensive Backs / Safeties:

I am loving Dayan switching back to corner. I came away the most impressed and excited about this group. Other than some very big, very game changing penalties (facemask on 3rd and forever, personal foul and late hit) this group really excelled. They smothered receivers in mostly man coverage all night (referencing the dbs) and had a big impact in the run game also. B+ (would have been an A, but the penalties were that egregious and unnecessary).

I don't think Wilson is 100% yet. No drive on the ball like we saw from him last year.



I would venture to guess his arm's ~85%.



At least I hope that's the case. If tonight was his 100%.....

Utah didn't even play that good. We just sucked. But at the same time you take away those two pick sixes and we're right in this game.

Brayden I think those are really good observations. I’d downgrade the receivers a spot or two because on multiple occasions we had two receivers in the same spot. That can’t be right. And Sno I wondered if Wilson‘s arm is even 85%? The number of the outs seem to float to me. They were not bullets.

Brayden Green wrote:

Hey Fam,



Long time I haven't posted. Been lurking, just concentrating on career/life stuff and with the offseason and all... anyways I wanted to write down a post-game moratorium so I can clear my thoughts and sleep, and I figured this is the best place to do it.



Offense: C-

Defense: C-

Special Teams: A-



Offense particulars:



O-line: I have been publicly critical of the Oline for the last decade or so, and I have to admit, I really liked what I saw from them. Utah's front 7 is no joke, with NFL caliber players at literally every position. They handled pressure well, picked up blitzes and stunts, and overall played a clean game (1 or 2 holds, no false starts. Pretty darn good). I really liked what I saw from them against possibly the best front 7 we'll see. B+



Running Back:

Ty'son Williams had a great game. He could have been used more, especially in the 3rd. I like Katoa, but he was poorly used tonight running outside of the tackles. His best runs come from the B gap, where he either plows through the first layer of backers or bounces to the outside. We lack a speed rusher, but I guess we do we screens instead. Williams seemed decent in picking up the blitz, and is a decent route runner lining up out wide and out of the backfield. Would have liked to see screens to the backfield and I didn't like seeing empty sets on obvious blitzing downs, because the D clearly got to Zach. B+



Tight End:

Bushman was unguardable in the first. Too big for man, found holes in the zone. They took him away in the second half with man coverage and a safety over the top, but he still worked a few plays in. I would have liked to see him targeted in the redzone instead of weird gimmick plays. Played defense on a near pick 6 when Wilson threw it to him in double coverage without looking. A



Wideouts:

They did alright. They made people miss. Didn't drop too many obvious balls. Room for improvement, but I though they were going to be horrible based on all the news out of camp. B or B-



QB:

Wilson looked very good at times, and also looked awful. Like throwing into double and triple coverage awful. There were 5 absolute gimme interceptions that he delivered on a silver plate. 2 were pick sixes. Another I mentioned on the TE portion would have been a pick six, but Bushman played defense and knocked the ball down (wisely) because the defender read the route and Zach threw the ball to "the spot". Zach makes some great throws, and he is going to win us a lot of games. But he has a tendency to throw to spots instead of actually looking where he is throwing sometimes (either going through reads or checking off a defender), and it ends up in really baffling throws/picks. And hopefully the Bernard pick is the last one I see from him with a defender wrapped around his legs and he throws while airborne. D



(Typing on a phone, so saving for posterity)

Nailed it. Although I’d probably flunk Wilson. The botched handoff and 1st pick six don’t work if they are going to continue trying to be a low production ball control SEC team (which doesn’t seem to be a good fit for BYU to begin with)



I don’t have much else to add because I agree with your takes so much. I was really happy to see the OLine creating a good pocket all night and run blocking looked good. Seems like something they could build on.

Brayden Green wrote:

Defense:



Defensive Line:

Utah has a good Oline, and they held their own for the most part. They got decent pressure on Huntley, forcing a few holds and rollouts. I think they need to set a better edge on sweep plays more consistently (sometimes they set a great edge and the LB just plain sucked at cleanup and angles, but we'll get there). They didn't do a lot of "tricky" stuff (stunts, twists, etc). I'd like to see more pressure, and a few more tackles behind the line, but for the most part they occupied the Oline and kept them downfield, and Huntley didn't have a lot of time to throw except for on rollouts. C+ (no sacks in the pocket that I remember, and Moss ran for a billion yards for which they are partly responsible).



Linebackers:

They did not have a good game. At all. They constantly got beat to the outside on the run, taking bad angles and undercutting blocks trying to make tackles. They gave up big running plays up the middle, to the edge, everywhere.

This is something I noticed... I dont knowing this was intentional or not, but they either are absolutely terrible at timing the snap on a blitz, or they were asked to delay their blitzes. If it's the former, they have to seriously work on that. If it's the latter, that is bad playcalling and they need to correct that immediately. They are too slow as a group to try and catch NCAA QBs from behind waiting a second or two off the edge.

The majority of times that a big play (8 yards or more) there was a linebacker at fault.

This last part may be Tuiaki's fault (solely), but the fact that they didn't load the box and allowed 9 minutes to run off the clock to end the game is pretty damning for me. They didn't even force a throw. This group needs to figure out why it is on the field and perform. D+



Defensive Backs / Safeties:

I am loving Dayan switching back to corner. I came away the most impressed and excited about this group. Other than some very big, very game changing penalties (facemask on 3rd and forever, personal foul and late hit) this group really excelled. They smothered receivers in mostly man coverage all night (referencing the dbs) and had a big impact in the run game also. B+ (would have been an A, but the penalties were that egregious and unnecessary).

I don’t know how to grade the defense. The entire BYU game plan is designed to lose to better teams respectably. They are playing the SEC game plan but in the 2nd half they were done. That seems to be the best we can expect. No creativity in bringing pressure -AGAIN.



The players looked good to me until it all fell apart. The D stepped up but and the O kept putting them in bad positions. The system and the coaching suck. BYU will not be special playing an SEC system.

What about coaching grades?

byufan4ever wrote:

Utah didn't even play that good. We just sucked. But at the same time you take away those two pick sixes and we're right in this game.

Totally agree. I didn't see anything special from them. 2 pick sixes and giving them the ball inside the 20 on a fumble. We giftwrapped the game to them, and then asked if they wanted a bow on top.

snoscythe wrote:

I don't think Wilson is 100% yet. No drive on the ball like we saw from him last year.



I would venture to guess his arm's ~85%.



At least I hope that's the case. If tonight was his 100%.....

It is possible, and I hope you are right. Now more than ever, he needs to learn to play within himself, if you are correct.

BoiseBYU wrote:

Brayden I think those are really good observations. I’d downgrade the receivers a spot or two because on multiple occasions we had two receivers in the same spot. That can’t be right. And Sno I wondered if Wilson‘s arm is even 85%? The number of the outs seem to float to me. They were not bullets.

You're 100% correct, I noticed that a few times, just failed to mention it. I'd go with the B- in hindsight, and thanks for bringing it up :)

CougarCrazy wrote:

Hey Fam,



Long time I haven't posted. Been lurking, just concentrating on career/life stuff and with the offseason and all... anyways I wanted to write down a post-game moratorium so I can clear my thoughts and sleep, and I figured this is the best place to do it.



Offense: C-

Defense: C-

Special Teams: A-



Offense particulars:



O-line: I have been publicly critical of the Oline for the last decade or so, and I have to admit, I really liked what I saw from them. Utah's front 7 is no joke, with NFL caliber players at literally every position. They handled pressure well, picked up blitzes and stunts, and overall played a clean game (1 or 2 holds, no false starts. Pretty darn good). I really liked what I saw from them against possibly the best front 7 we'll see. B+



Running Back:

Ty'son Williams had a great game. He could have been used more, especially in the 3rd. I like Katoa, but he was poorly used tonight running outside of the tackles. His best runs come from the B gap, where he either plows through the first layer of backers or bounces to the outside. We lack a speed rusher, but I guess we do we screens instead. Williams seemed decent in picking up the blitz, and is a decent route runner lining up out wide and out of the backfield. Would have liked to see screens to the backfield and I didn't like seeing empty sets on obvious blitzing downs, because the D clearly got to Zach. B+



Tight End:

Bushman was unguardable in the first. Too big for man, found holes in the zone. They took him away in the second half with man coverage and a safety over the top, but he still worked a few plays in. I would have liked to see him targeted in the redzone instead of weird gimmick plays. Played defense on a near pick 6 when Wilson threw it to him in double coverage without looking. A



Wideouts:

They did alright. They made people miss. Didn't drop too many obvious balls. Room for improvement, but I though they were going to be horrible based on all the news out of camp. B or B-



QB:

Wilson looked very good at times, and also looked awful. Like throwing into double and triple coverage awful. There were 5 absolute gimme interceptions that he delivered on a silver plate. 2 were pick sixes. Another I mentioned on the TE portion would have been a pick six, but Bushman played defense and knocked the ball down (wisely) because the defender read the route and Zach threw the ball to "the spot". Zach makes some great throws, and he is going to win us a lot of games. But he has a tendency to throw to spots instead of actually looking where he is throwing sometimes (either going through reads or checking off a defender), and it ends up in really baffling throws/picks. And hopefully the Bernard pick is the last one I see from him with a defender wrapped around his legs and he throws while airborne. D



(Typing on a phone, so saving for posterity)

Nailed it. Although I’d probably flunk Wilson. The botched handoff and 1st pick six don’t work if they are going to continue trying to be a low production ball control SEC team (which doesn’t seem to be a good fit for BYU to begin with)



I don’t have much else to add because I agree with your takes so much. I was really happy to see the OLine creating a good pocket all night and run blocking looked good. Seems like something they could build on.

Thanks!



I personally want to see less misdirection / read option, and go back to what Ty was installing (which he didn't have the personnel for and ended up falling on the sword for), and Grimes was kind of following through on originally:



the 2 and 3 TE sets. Historically we get NFL caliber personnel for that (we just went hard away from it during Anae's go fast go hard experiment). We aren't going to get many skill position players, and those that we do get we need to throw on defense, so while the rest of the NCAA zigs with the read option and a spread offense, we should zag back to big corn-fed fatties that punch you in the mouth, and Pitta and George 2.0 lined up opposite each other.

Brayden Green wrote:

Brayden I think those are really good observations. I’d downgrade the receivers a spot or two because on multiple occasions we had two receivers in the same spot. That can’t be right. And Sno I wondered if Wilson‘s arm is even 85%? The number of the outs seem to float to me. They were not bullets.

You're 100% correct, I noticed that a few times, just failed to mention it. I'd go with the B- in hindsight, and thanks for bringing it up :)

You can’t just give nice grades because you like the students lol



I think fans are harsh on Mangum because he never came back from injury. I think he was a good competitor and his shoulder just didn't hold up. Great guy. Tough guy. A winner. I can still give him low performance grades.

byufan4ever wrote:

What about coaching grades?

I really liked what Sitake said in the post game show. Riley Nelson (sigh, Heaven help me) lofted an over the plate "question/statement" that didn't have a question mark at the end of it, where he posited to the coach that we have a young core of talented guys that made some really big, game-losing mistakes (referencing turnovers and penalties) and isnt it great that as the season goes we aren't going to have those anymore...



(I'm paraphrasing)



"The game isn't yours it is the team's and the fan's, and if you keep costing the game for your teammates with those kind of selfish things... those kinds of plays are going to stop; either because you stop doing them, or you are removed from the opportunity to do them."



He also referenced looking at tape and looking for people not doing their job (there was a lot of that, big and small). That will be big going forward.



I think I'd give Grimes and Tuiaki/Sitake a C each.



I feel like we did a lot of things right (especially in the first half) and our players didn't make plays. The screen call was perfect, 9 guys in the backfield and somehow Hifo gets tackled stutter-stepping against one of only two guys left. (We should have called more) Wilson giveth with sharp, crisp, throws made within the game they were calling and then he taketh away by really inexcusable throws where he is throwing into triple coverage.



I would have liked to see more misdirection offensively (screens, reverses, cutbacks, etc). Because Utah was firing off the snap aggressively and getting upfield. I really like Jaren Hall, but I dont 100% understand subbing him in for 1 play in the redzone when Wilson had been marching them down the field. They are the same type of quarterback, so you aren't even changing the defense when you do split Wilson out wide, and put in "other Wilson". I think he is planting the seeds for a potential trick play that I am not sure they are ever going to call, and if they do I dont see it working anyways. You aren't changing the defense at all by doing that, not at all. Not a fan of that. (I would however like to see Hall get 1 series a quarter at a minimum if they aren't considering a redshirt, especially if Wilson continues to gift-wrap losses).



Defensively, we didn't make Huntley throw. We played into Utah's hands especially at the end. We played decently until we got very, very tired at the end. Those last 9 minutes were gut wrenching and pretty inexcusable. The fact that we weren't going man on the corners and stacking 8 late in the 4th quarter was pretty perplexing to me. I would much prefer to see us make them throw the ball and adjust their gameplan (try to force a mistake, incompletion, etc) than watch the clock bleed out while we play exactly the kind of defense they want us to play. You take away that last drive, I think the defensive playcalling is a B / B- fringe, but not forcing Utah's hand at the end, and instead lying on the ropes and waiting out the clock was pretty frustrating for me and all of us.

Brayden Green wrote:

Brayden I think those are really good observations. I’d downgrade the receivers a spot or two because on multiple occasions we had two receivers in the same spot. That can’t be right. And Sno I wondered if Wilson‘s arm is even 85%? The number of the outs seem to float to me. They were not bullets.

You're 100% correct, I noticed that a few times, just failed to mention it. I'd go with the B- in hindsight, and thanks for bringing it up :)

Oh you were saying wideouts a B- I thought you were giving Wilson a B- lol.

CougarCrazy wrote:

BoiseBYU wrote:

Brayden I think those are really good observations. I’d downgrade the receivers a spot or two because on multiple occasions we had two receivers in the same spot. That can’t be right. And Sno I wondered if Wilson‘s arm is even 85%? The number of the outs seem to float to me. They were not bullets.

You're 100% correct, I noticed that a few times, just failed to mention it. I'd go with the B- in hindsight, and thanks for bringing it up :)

Oh you were saying wideouts a B- I thought you were giving Wilson a B- lol.

Oh, Haha. Nope. Yeah wideouts at a B-. Wilson at a D.

Brayden Green wrote:

I don't think Wilson is 100% yet. No drive on the ball like we saw from him last year.



I would venture to guess his arm's ~85%.



At least I hope that's the case. If tonight was his 100%.....

It is possible, and I hope you are right. Now more than ever, he needs to learn to play within himself, if you are correct.

I thought ball speed on his passes looked fairly slow as well. I guess we'll see in the coming weeks if it gets better or if this is just what it is now.



The most mind boggling stat for me is Zach Moss and Ty'Son Williams had the SAME YPC!!! Difference is Zach got 29 carries, Ty'Son got...(double checks box score), 7. FEED THAT MAN!

In general, I was impressed the DBs, there were a couple times when the Utah QB had time and couldn't find anyone. I can't remember that happening very often in the past.



I also thought the OL did a good job. ZW wasn't constantly on the run, and there were a couple times I think he got spooked and pulled the ball down when there was still a decent pocket. And this is against what I keep hearing is one of the best d-lines in the country, so well done



So yeah, as much as it sucks to lose AGAIN, I'm trying to be positive and not let my enjoyment of this season completely ride on one game

Ty'Son was even motioning to keep feeding him the ball during the game to the sidelines--but bad on Grimes for not going with what seemed to be working.

At some points it seemed like Grimes was trying to be too cute with things. Instead of pushing up the middle for 3 or 4 yards he kept trying to go to the edges on 1st or 2nd down and we would end up in a 3rd and long situation.



Still, penalties and turnovers (our own mistakes) doomed us. Wilson should have taken the sack on his 1st turnover. He shouldn't have tried to throw into triple coverage on his 2nd turnover. Muffed snaps killed two drives. All player errors but all coachable errors.