It's PAINFUL watching other teams make comebacks

Had to work all night, so I didn't get to actually watch the OSU/A&M game, but I did follow the score and play-by-play.



For those of you who missed it - A&M quickly jumped out to a 14-0 lead. Just before the half, A&M scored again to take a 21-7 lead. Did OSU roll over? No - they came out both guns blazing in the second half and scored 28 unanswered points. In the closing seconds of the game, they kicked a 41 yard FG to win the game, 38-35.



I've seen it all season - teams fighting back to the very last second and winning games that they were once losing by multiple scores - and to good teams. Usually the most notable changes come after half time. It is painful to watch these games because in my lifetime I have never seen BYU come back from being down multiple scores to win a game - or for that matter, even come close to doing so.



Sure, I'm a younger guy... I suppose if I were a bit older I'd be able to recall the Miracle Bowl and such games, but I'm not... and honestly, when WAS the last time BYU came back from being down multiple scores to win the game? It seems like once BYU is down - they're down. Proper adjustments don't seem to be made, and the players seem to completely lose their fire. It's awful having that feeling of "here we go again" every time BYU goes down by 14+ points... even when it's still very early in the game.



Does this change with the Heaps era? I hope it does. It'd be nice to have hope your team will win the game so as long as there's still time on the clock, but right now it's getting to the point where once BYU is down by two or more touchdowns, it becomes a case of nauseous deja-vu, rather than an exciting opportunity to watch a comeback.

Probably the most recent near-miss comeback was 2005 against Utah. BYU was down 24-3 at halftime, but managed to send the game to overtime before losing.



The last big comeback I recall that resulted in a win was 2000 against Virginia. BYU was down 21-0 at halftime before coming back to win 38-35 in OT. Bret Engemann of all people was the QB that game.



Detmer had a few great comebacks, including SDSU (down 45-17) and Washington State (down 29-7).

Um...speaking of Engemann.



I don't know what year this was exactly but we were playing....Utah State :bug: . I believe we had lost the previous week to Georgia Tech at their place. That was actually close. We never really cracked that seven point lead they held all game if I recall correctly. Their freshmen running back just owned us up the middle that day.



ANYWAY, we were down to Utah State :bug: 34-0 in the first half. The only light at the end of the tunnel? It was 34-0 instead of 35-0. I couldn't believe it. Utah State. They had that all-world wide receiver, I can't remember his name now, but he's the only guy out of Utah State that ever mattered.



Anyways, everyone was calling for Engemann's head, including myself, as we were all very eager to see what the high school phenon true freshman Ben Olsen could do. Olsen was suited up that game and all the talk as everyone went to the locker room at half-time was whether or not we would see him on the field in the second half, destroying his redshirt opportunity.



This was actually a defining moment in our recent history. Had he played that second half it would be much more likely he either didn't serve a mission, or had he, he probably would have returned to play at BYU rather than at UCLA. (I'l take Hall though, thank you.)



But, for some reason, Engemann stayed in the game. Two quarters later our defense had pitched a perfect shutout and our offense scored five touchdowns to win 35-34. Most relieving day I've ever had. Nearly had an aneurism in that first half. Had to leave the house. Drove my car around in fury listening to the second half, cussing half the time. I knew that if Utah State so much as scored a field goal the game would probably be out of reach. But man, there it was. One of the best comebacks I ever heard of. Unreal.



You have a short memory my friend. BYU is one of the greatest comeback kids you could ever root for. Hasn't happened this year, granted, but your memory is definitely short. You must be REAL young.

taekwondave wrote:
You have a short memory my friend. BYU is one of the greatest comeback kids you could ever root for. Hasn't happened this year, granted, but your memory is definitely short. You must be REAL young.

Under Bronco I don't believe we've ever come back from 14 or more down.

I couldn't help but smile when the announcers said that OSU played 16 freshmen. Youth and inexperience weren't used as an excuse for them.

Not counting special teams how many true freshmen did they play. Was their comeback led by a True Freshman QB? Idk, just askin?



It is pretty easy to play a dozen freshmen if you play a few on KO return, a few others on KO, a few on Punt Return, a few others on Punt, and 1 or 2 in spot roles on O or D.



A true comparison to what BYU fans seem to think coaches would do would be to find a big comeback win by a True Freshman QB with 1 True Freshman RB starting, with 2 True Freshman tight ends starting, and a freshman on DL, linebacker, and a wideout or 2.



Anyone seen that?



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trying to remember here but in 05 I remember comeback against the following teams; new mexico, cal, utah and tcu. Of course we didn't win all those games but had a shot to win in every game. Since then I don't remember any 14 plus point comebacks.



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snoscythe wrote:

You have a short memory my friend. BYU is one of the greatest comeback kids you could ever root for. Hasn't happened this year, granted, but your memory is definitely short. You must be REAL young.

Under Bronco I don't believe we've ever come back from 14 or more down.

Italics and Sno, thanks for pointing these things out. I have been thinking about this for a while. It seems like the formula to beating BYU under Bronco is to get a 14 point lead and BYU hasn't been able to comeback. And, iirc, the Nevada loss might be the closest Bronco Mendenhall loss since BC in 2006. It's seems that all of Bronco's losses since then have been blowouts, get behind early, and completly panic, until the 14 point lead doubles.

trying to remember here but in 05 I remember comeback against the following teams; new mexico, cal, utah and tcu. Of course we didn't win all those games but had a shot to win in every game. Since then I don't remember any 14 plus point comebacks.



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i'd almost say the comeback issue lately has mor to do with who is playing qb. Hall usually threw a lot of picks when down big.



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I think what you are describing is more relavant to Max hall then it is to Bronco. In 2005 and 2006 we were never out of a game. John Beck was a fighter. 2005 had a horrible defense and yet he kept us in all games. Unfortunately, he didn't quite make every play needed and we lost those games but he was still a fighter. Max hall on the other hand, all you had to do is get in his head and he would hand you the game on a silver platter. ala TCU and Utah.

totally agree frdbtr.



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I love that in one thread we have guys bashing anae and praising hall because he audibled out of anae's rigid plays. but in other threads it's still anae's fault that hall threw an int (and hall probably changed the play). anae is in a no win situation.



I still think it had more to do with qb (anae was o-cord) for both guys.



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Also, don't misread my comments. I love Max Hall and wish he were our QB this year. My comments were just an observation. Max Hall was a cold blooded assasin when his mind was right. utah and TCU were in his head in 2008 and 2009 and he played the worst games of his career against them those years.

Cougy_Monster wrote:
The OSU comeback last night wouldn't have succeeded without their defense scoring. Our bend a little and then bend a lot and then bend over defense doesn't score that often....

Hmmm, it did in 2006 and 2007 when guys were making plays. Also did it to start 2008 too when scott Johnson was still out there making plays. Our defense and our offense both work when guys make plays. Right now we have young developing players on both sides of the ball that aren't consistantly making plays. It is going to get better, maybe not in the timetable that any of the fans (including myself) would like to see but it is going to get better.

IF we do not come out aggressive tonight, it speaks volumes to me. USU got shut down by SDSU and they run the 3-3-5 and blitz from all over like we did in 2004 and 2005. Don;t tell me they have better athletes than we do to run it either. Sorry, not buying. Not in 2010. IF we sit back tonight, I am gonna be mad. Let the guys play aggressively and try to make plays. We have corners good enough to do that right now. Name the last time we had a corner get beat deep more than 1x in a game the last 2 seasons?

Lawboy wrote:
IF we do not come out aggressive tonight, it speaks volumes to me. USU got shut down by SDSU and they run the 3-3-5 and blitz from all over like we did in 2004 and 2005. Don;t tell me they have better athletes than we do to run it either. Sorry, not buying. Not in 2010. IF we sit back tonight, I am gonna be mad. Let the guys play aggressively and try to make plays. We have corners good enough to do that right now. Name the last time we had a corner get beat deep more than 1x in a game the last 2 seasons?

I bet we don't. 2005 was the last year that BYU ran a blitz from everywhere defense. My guess is that everyone is going to stay in their lanes and just try to not let Borel get away from them. The reason BYU db's don't get beat deep is because we play 10 yards off of the recievers in order to keep everything in front of us. All this is by design and I don't see it changing anytime soon.

Cougy_Monster wrote:
In the 80s and 90s the score never mattered until the clock read 00:00. BYU could always come back. We had great OCs who could make adjustments at halftime, making it appear that we had suited up an entirely different team for the 2nd half.



I have yet to see a dramatic shift in gameplan between the 1st and 2nd half under Bronco / Anae. I think our recent inability to come back has nothing to do with players (even Hall's picks aren't the root of the problem) and everything to do with exceptionally rigid preparation and gameplans with no room for on-the-fly adjustments. But, that strategy sure works great when we strike early and often.

This is my recollection too. My dad took us to the stake center every Saturday to watch the games. It seemed like we'd get down 14 or 21-0 quite often, so I'd head to the cultural hall to play ball, and by the time I got back we'd be tied or ahead. Those teams had serious heart and a much more open passing attack. Now we sort of dink and dunk down the field instead of running deep crossing routes downfield, which is conducive to putting up points when you need them.