Offense and defensive struggles

BYU's offense does look better than it has in a while. However, after the past 3 years, that really isn't saying much. The offense does a decent job of moving the ball, until they get across the 50 yard line, then mistakes pile up. Bad play calls, poorly executed plays, and untimely penalties stall BYU more often that they should. This season, BYU's done the following after crossing the opponent's 40 yard line:



10 field goals

1 missed field goal

9 touchdowns

4 turnovers on downs.



The fact that we've attempted 11 field goals and only made 9 touchdowns is concerning. Jake Oldroyd is a stud, and I'm glad we have a kid that can nail a 54 yard field goal. However, we're settling for 3 points far too often when we should be scoring TD's. If BYU wans to win games, they need to start turning field goals into touchdowns. I'd much rather see Oldroyd out there kicking PAT's than long field goals.



I like Grimes, and I think he's improving, but play calling needs to improve. The players need to execute better. Zach needs to make better choices on RPO, or Grimes needs to limit RPO calls. Hopefully Grimes can improve and bring us a proficient offense.



Now for defense. In most cases, it's fairly atrocious. Tuiaki was exposed yesterday, like he has been over and over and over since 2016. The vanilla defense, 3 man front soft zone they play does not work with patient accurate passers. Add to that undisciplined play, such as having way too many PF penalties, soft tackling, a complete lack of a pass rush, and it creates a recipe for a really long day. To add insult to injury, the defensive coaches make few if any in game adjustments. I'm not saying we should blitz every play, but they need to do something to shake things up, and keep the offense guessing as to what they're going to do. BYU's getting picked apart, and to make matters worse, they can't stop the run worth a crap. Each team BYU has faced, has rushed for over 170 yards.



Utah - 282 yards

Tennessee - 242 yards

USC - 171 yards

Washington - 187 yards



Through the air, BYU has allowed 80 completed passes out of 108 attempts for a 74% completion rate. They've allowed 909 yards through the air this far this season, mostly against very average QB's.



BYU can't stop the pass, and they can't stop the run. That's a recipe for disaster.



Folks... This defense is not good. It just plain isn't.



BYU fired Detmer for poor offensive coaching. It's time to cut Tuiaki loose. H's not getting the job done.



BYU needs to make improvements and soon, otherwise before too long, Sitake will be 1-11 against Utah, USU and BSU. Should that happen, BYU should look for a new head coach that is more of a coach, and less of a buddy to the players.

Another point of concern... BYU has not won the time of possession battle in any game this season.



Utah - 35:58 24:02

Tenn - 33:59 26:01

USC - 32:32 27:28

Wash - 34:30 25:30



This again is indicative, of BYU's offense not being able to sustain and finish drives, and the defenses inability to get the opposing offense off the field.

Ongoing sloppy and undisciplined play is a real problem and indicative of...wait for it...poor coaching. To say nothing of when the team has simply just given up and laid down to their opponent.



I never had a problem with Bronco harping on "execution." Superior preparation, scheme, and execution is how a team like BYU is going to beat athletically superior teams. It just gets frustrating when we continually fail to see it.

We're sloppy and make poor decisions.



For someone that watches so much game film, Wilson keeps making poor decisions.

Gunk wrote:

We're sloppy and make poor decisions.



For someone that watches so much game film, Wilson keeps making poor decisions.

Not unlike Taysom Hill, Wilson can get by to a certain extent on natural talent. Unfortunately, like Hill, I think Wilson is in danger of not being developed fully, and reaching his potential, due to lack of coaching.

Exactly what I have been saying since 2016. The defense is not physical enough, is not creative enough and is not confusing to offenses at all. BYU is 2-2 right now and I expect at least 1 loss to either usu or BSU if not to both of them. Toledo is no slouch either. If BYU ends up 6-6 again and Holmoe figures that is good enough for a contract extension for Sitake, I may have to switch to watching my second favorite team until this joke gets fixed. (the Huskies).

I agree with a lot of what has been said ... but I"m also not as negative as you guys seem right now.

In my mind BYU has two more wins than I had anticipated at this point ... that's a huge plus. Looking at the play of the 4 games it is impossible for me to get a feel of whether this team will win 6, 8, or 9 games this year ... they had much more resilience against TN and USC than I had expected. They laid down and died against U and UW ... it almost felt like the mercy rule should be invoked!

The biggest problem is that the losses are embarrassing ...

Defensive coaching is a problem ... but I don't see KS letting Tuiaki go. And I don't see him being a Bronco and taking over the D and forcing some changes. And that is a big problem.



I see USU and BSU as big problems ... but Toledo first. I don't have much confidence in this team going to this game, but it IS on the road, so we do have that

mtnradio, I don't know that Sitake taking over the defense would make much difference.

BroncoBot wrote:

mtnradio, I don't know that Sitake taking over the defense would make much difference.

I don't know if it would either ... BUT he was D coordinator at Utah and OSU before coming to BYU. At Utah he had a good defense (KWhit driven, probably) ... not so much at OSU



But, really, could we get much more plain?

I continue to wonder how much of Utah's good defense was Sitake, and how much was Whitt.

You guys are so predictable with this stuff. Our defense has sucked since Bronco left, if we turn more field goals into touchdowns we'd win more, coaches need to be fired....



Take all the subjective stuff out about how many points are enough or how many yards to give up is too much, etc. The team is 2-2 after starting what most will tell you is one of the toughest starts to a schedule. Nobody has predicted this team to be better than average-to-good. Shocking news....an average-to-good team doesn't have a lock down defense and a Mike Leach-like offense.



And while you guys are calling for people's jobs, others in media and both inside and outside the program are saying its a crime that Sitake hasn't been extended yet with what the team accomplished so far.



Just like Utah is looking worse than they were hyped to be after breezing through the easy part of their schedule and crapping the bed the first conference game they play, BYU is looking better than people thought they would be after starting off with 4 P5 games. I'm at least ready to see how the rest of the games go before saying how good or bad this team/season really is.

Sitake is at .500.



Yes, it was a tough schedule, but it's not like Holmoe doesn't know what the schedule is going to be. And, he could have looked at the schedules and gone, "This is a tough schedule and we want to be better than .500. I should hire a coach that can perform at the level we want to be at." Holmoe did the exact opposite of that...

None of the excuses I hear for Sitake were ever accepted as excuses for Bronco. No one ever said "the cupboard was bare" when he was hired, no one ever said "the schedule is hard" when we had schedules like this in 14 and 15. I will not accept these excuses for Sitake either so everyone needs to quit giving them. I can accept losses, I can't accept losses when the team not only looks over matched, but lost and confused.

BYU has played 3 awful games and 1 great game. I don't love that.

frdbtr wrote:

None of the excuses I hear for Sitake were ever accepted as excuses for Bronco. No one ever said "the cupboard was bare" when he was hired, no one ever said "the schedule is hard" when we had schedules like this in 14 and 15. I will not accept these excuses for Sitake either so everyone needs to quit giving them. I can accept losses, I can't accept losses when the team not only looks over matched, but lost and confused.

One of my favorite pastimes recently is following Derik Stevenson on Twitter. When he posts something along the lines of "Kalani needs an extension" or "Kalani is the right man for the job", I like to reply with a link to his open letter calling for Bronco to be fired and ask him how Kalani is performing on the three metrics he used to argue for Bronco's ouster and to try to turn public and booster opinion against Bronco. (Spoiler: Kalani is doing worse in all three metrics).



In my free time, I also like to poke bears with short sharp sticks.

So is it really all about Mendenhall for you then? Live in the past much? If the intent is to avenge what you feel is past wrongs by turning against the current coaching staff, so be it. Just call it like it is.



PS: Bronco didn't suffer some horrible fate. One could argue he came out ahead. And if people were wrong to turn on him then, why is it okay now to turn on Sitake for the same reasons they did then?

Fido wrote:

You guys are so predictable with this stuff. Our defense has sucked since Bronco left, if we turn more field goals into touchdowns we'd win more, coaches need to be fired....



Take all the subjective stuff out about how many points are enough or how many yards to give up is too much, etc. The team is 2-2 after starting what most will tell you is one of the toughest starts to a schedule. Nobody has predicted this team to be better than average-to-good. Shocking news....an average-to-good team doesn't have a lock down defense and a Mike Leach-like offense.



And while you guys are calling for people's jobs, others in media and both inside and outside the program are saying its a crime that Sitake hasn't been extended yet with what the team accomplished so far.



Just like Utah is looking worse than they were hyped to be after breezing through the easy part of their schedule and crapping the bed the first conference game they play, BYU is looking better than people thought they would be after starting off with 4 P5 games. I'm at least ready to see how the rest of the games go before saying how good or bad this team/season really is.

You want another stab at that? BYU looked lost and completely inept against a bad Toledo team. Defense again let the other team walk all over them, offense couldn't sustain a drive. Kalani was outcoached again. BYU lost a game they had no business losing.



Every week, this team comes out and underperforms. Every week they have the same gameplay as the week before. They make zero adjustments. Players are out of position and don't execute. Playcalling is piss poor on offense and defense. This coaching staff isn't mediocre. They're flat out terrible. If Sitake was Bronco, he'd have been run out of town by now.

Ungoy wrote:

You want another stab at that? BYU looked lost and completely inept against a bad Toledo team. Defense again let the other team walk all over them, offense couldn't sustain a drive. Kalani was outcoached again. BYU lost a game they had no business losing.



Every week, this team comes out and underperforms. Every week they have the same gameplay as the week before. They make zero adjustments. Players are out of position and don't execute. Playcalling is piss poor on offense and defense. This coaching staff isn't mediocre. They're flat out terrible. If Sitake was Bronco, he'd have been run out of town by now.

If they were "flat out terrible", they wouldn't have beat USC and Tennessee. Today was a major disappointment and a huge step backwards. But pining for the Bronco days is a fool's game. He moved on and is happy and successful in Virginia.

I'm not pining for the Bronco days. That ship sailed. I'm saying that this staff has had it's chances and have proven year over year that they are not the answer. Sitake and Tuiaki are clueless. Grimes isn't good either.



I consider both the Tennessee and USC wins luck. The coaches didn't do anything special to win either of those games. If not for one lucky play where the QB said the players didn't know what play was called, Tennessee is a loss.



BYU is a few plays away from 0-5. Think about that.

Hey guys ... i thought we were all friends here and could debate football without the societal ills of personal attacks over every disagreement.



I agree with most here that Sitake is underperforming. It's disappointing and frustrating, especially when we have reason to believe the talent is sufficient to be better, and after years and excuses the coaching isn't improving.



But Fido has a point too, after the last 3 years, did we really expect more? (I know, that's not exactly what he said).



It is surprising to me to hear people say KS deserves an extension ... nobody liked Crowton's years. Bronco faced unfair (imo) criticism. KS just isn't performing well and not showing improvement (yes, won 2 this year that could have lost ... but 2.5 if 3 losses looked just plain bad, which is why he's facing so much criticism)



In the end, i'm disappointed with BYU football, but i'm still a fan and keep hoping for wins