TCU Week--28 pt dog?? Ouch. & Game Notes

BYU opened as a +28 point dog v. TCU for Saturday, and it has moved to 30 now. Really? I only see 2 bigger dogs all week. Are they really that much better than us, even right now? I do not recall a BYU team ever being that big of a dog. I like our chances to keep it close, and cover that spread. Especially if we can get a running game going and control some clock.



I just hope this is a game we look to as a continuation of last week's improved play, and not as another steamroller game.



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Call me crazy but I'll take that bet. TCU will not cover the spread. The last time Bronco called the defense against TCU, we didn't get creamed. (2006 and 2007)

frdbtr wrote:
Call me crazy but I'll take that bet. TCU will not cover the spread. The last time Bronco called the defense against TCU, we didn't get creamed. (2006 and 2007)

That is true but it is also true they were not nearly as talented back then either.



I think and am hopeful that we can avoid a blow out. Keeping respectable will really give our guys some confidence going into the back end of the schedule and getting ready to play utah.

I hope we can hold them under 30, and make it a game from there.

If I were a betting man, I'd take that bet. Realizing (as was pointed out) that our two recent losses at TCU were by Hill coached defenses add to my confidence. I don't like our chances of winning but I like our chances of keeping it close for a half and maybe into the 4th quarter.

I'm not so sure. I think our D can keep them in the low 30's-ish. I'm just not at all confident in the O's ability to points on the board. I don't see our O capable of driving the field against the Frogs. Any scores will need to come from short fields due to turnovers and/or special teams. It's going to be a rough game for the O this week - if you thought our receivers had a hard time getting open against USU and Nevada...look out! That was the 1 thing I remember most clearly last year - those Frog DBs and LBs were all over our receivers - I don't remember ever seeing a receiver open. And that was last year, with Hall, Pitta, Unga, and receivers that could catch a pass every now and then.



This game scares me more than any game we've played....ever. More than OU, more than :utard: in 2004, more than BSU in 2003(?), more than USC, more than Florida St in 2000, etc etc etc.



I'm normally ridiculously optimistic about the Cougs, and always go into games thinking we have a chance. But I'm worried this game will be a beat down of epic proportions - one that could leave the team completely and utterly demoralized. Hopefully it won't affect the rest of the season, since we need to win 4 straight after TCU to ensure bowl eligibility.



I hope I'm wrong about this game, but fear I'm right. Thinking about the TCU/CSU game gives me some hope...but I'm pretty sure that Patterson will have the Frogs pretty fired up to play the Cougs. Maybe they'll be looking past us to AFA :)

The last time we won at TCU the pivotal point came when BYU passed the ball when going for it on that 4th down. That they called a pass was so unexpected that the Horned Frogs had no idea what BYU would do from that point on--it destroyed their understanding of Anae's offense and TCU was forced to play a more conservative defense from that point on.



Then, after the game, Anae admitted that he didn't know it was 4th down when he sent the call in. He thought he was making a 3rd down call in four down territory, not a fourth and short call.



I think that's what we need to have a prayer this week--we need to do something absolutely crazy/stupid/out-of-character (that works) that puts TCU on their heels.



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snoscythe wrote:
The last time we won at TCU the pivotal point came when BYU passed the ball when going for it on that 4th down. That they called a pass was so unexpected that the Horned Frogs had no idea what BYU would do from that point on--it destroyed their understanding of Anae's offense and TCU was forced to play a more conservative defense from that point on.



Then, after the game, Anae admitted that he didn't know it was 4th down when he sent the call in. He thought he was making a 3rd down call in four down territory, not a fourth and short call.



I think that's what we need to have a prayer this week--we need to do something absolutely crazy/stupid/out-of-character (that works) that puts TCU on their heels.



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Are you saying we need to make sure that Anae never knows what down it is? I'll go for that...

I think I'll take TCU and the points.

snoscythe wrote:
The last time we won at TCU the pivotal point came when BYU passed the ball when going for it on that 4th down. That they called a pass was so unexpected that the Horned Frogs had no idea what BYU would do from that point on--it destroyed their understanding of Anae's offense and TCU was forced to play a more conservative defense from that point on.



Then, after the game, Anae admitted that he didn't know it was 4th down when he sent the call in. He thought he was making a 3rd down call in four down territory, not a fourth and short call.



I think that's what we need to have a prayer this week--we need to do something absolutely crazy/stupid/out-of-character (that works) that puts TCU on their heels.



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How about running right into the teeth of the defense and picking up yards. BYU may have stumbled onto something that has been missing for a while. Smash mouth football. You beat quickness with power in football. If our Oline can come out and blow open holes like it did last week, we might be able to do some things that we haven't done against them the last few years trying to beat their d with the pass. I still don't think BYU wins this game but I expect them to come out against TCU like they did against SDSU and try to smash the ball right at them. I guess we will see how well it works. If we have any ideas that we are going to let Jake throw against this D, it will be a long day on Saturday.

frdbtr wrote:

The last time we won at TCU the pivotal point came when BYU passed the ball when going for it on that 4th down. That they called a pass was so unexpected that the Horned Frogs had no idea what BYU would do from that point on--it destroyed their understanding of Anae's offense and TCU was forced to play a more conservative defense from that point on.



Then, after the game, Anae admitted that he didn't know it was 4th down when he sent the call in. He thought he was making a 3rd down call in four down territory, not a fourth and short call.



I think that's what we need to have a prayer this week--we need to do something absolutely crazy/stupid/out-of-character (that works) that puts TCU on their heels.



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How about running right into the teeth of the defense and picking up yards. BYU may have stumbled onto something that has been missing for a while. Smash mouth football. You beat quickness with power in football. If our Oline can come out and blow open holes like it did last week, we might be able to do some things that we haven't done against them the last few years trying to beat their d with the pass. I still don't think BYU wins this game but I expect them to come out against TCU like they did against SDSU and try to smash the ball right at them. I guess we will see how well it works. If we have any ideas that we are going to let Jake throw against this D, it will be a long day on Saturday.

But we struggled to score against SDSU with this tactic. Do you really think we can pound the ball 70+ yards down the field against TCU on a consistent basis? I don't think we can do it at all. MAYBE with Unga in the backfield. Maybe. Play-action will be our best friend on Saturday. I love that PA play dumping the ball off to Hague out of the backfield. Most wide open a "receiver"'s been all year (except for maybe Jacobsen running down the sideline against NEV and having the ball thrown 15 yards over his head...)



I like the idea of trying to smash-mouth TCU. But while we are a physical team (or at least in theory we are - sure didn't look it against USU and Nev), TCU is fast AND physical.

33311710 wrote:

snoscythe wrote:
The last time we won at TCU the pivotal point came when BYU passed the ball when going for it on that 4th down. That they called a pass was so unexpected that the Horned Frogs had no idea what BYU would do from that point on--it destroyed their understanding of Anae's offense and TCU was forced to play a more conservative defense from that point on.



Then, after the game, Anae admitted that he didn't know it was 4th down when he sent the call in. He thought he was making a 3rd down call in four down territory, not a fourth and short call.



I think that's what we need to have a prayer this week--we need to do something absolutely crazy/stupid/out-of-character (that works) that puts TCU on their heels.



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How about running right into the teeth of the defense and picking up yards. BYU may have stumbled onto something that has been missing for a while. Smash mouth football. You beat quickness with power in football. If our Oline can come out and blow open holes like it did last week, we might be able to do some things that we haven't done against them the last few years trying to beat their d with the pass. I still don't think BYU wins this game but I expect them to come out against TCU like they did against SDSU and try to smash the ball right at them. I guess we will see how well it works. If we have any ideas that we are going to let Jake throw against this D, it will be a long day on Saturday.

But we struggled to score against SDSU with this tactic. Do you really think we can pound the ball 70+ yards down the field against TCU on a consistent basis? I don't think we can do it at all. MAYBE with Unga in the backfield. Maybe. Play-action will be our best friend on Saturday. I love that PA play dumping the ball off to Hague out of the backfield. Most wide open a "receiver"'s been all year (except for maybe Jacobsen running down the sideline against NEV and having the ball thrown 15 yards over his head...)



I like the idea of trying to smash-mouth TCU. But while we are a physical team (or at least in theory we are - sure didn't look it against USU and Nev), TCU is fast AND physical.

We struggled to score because of turnovers. Yes, that is a concern but we ran for 271 yards on a Rocky long coached defense that was giving up less then 100 yards rushing on average for the season. I think that we can run on TCU. I don't think we can run on them to a victory but I think it could work to keep the game close. Also, like I have said above. This is the only tactic we have for TCU this year because putting the game in the hands of Jake would be a collosal mistake.

Putting the ball in Jake's hands is NOT a colossal mistake, He has proven himself capable. Unfortunately, the receiving corps he is throwing it to has not. So the mistake would be thinking that this group would go out and consistently get open, make plays, catch balls when they have not done it all year.



But yes, I hope we try to pound it up TCU's middle and go strength v. speed. It is crazy enough to possibly work

TCU is no doubt more talented than us. They are for sure quicker than us. But I think we can be more physical than they. We are plenty strong and being physical is a state of mind in part, right? Generally don't you combat speed with power? Time for the hogs to show their mettle. Maybe even play with multiple tight ends in tight and just pound the crap out of them. Would it not be awesome to see Reynolds tear a guy's helmet off (and maybe, just maybe, when he is slow getting up, offer to help him off his back?) Why not run the wild cat or power I the whole first quarter? Just joshing on the last part, but that would freak ol' fatty Patty eh? Time to play with a big chip on our shoulders--like a 30-point underdog chip

Why not put in backup guards as tight ends? They should be able to block better. Isn't there a converted TE playing guard? Move him to TE and push the line. Maybe a pass as a surprise to keep the D honest.

I agree with those who feel that BYU will compete or fail in this game with the running game. I remember that in 08 the running game stunk it up @ TCU. Unga had 14 carries for 53 yards (3.8 ypc) but the team was 28 carries for 23 yards (0.8 ypc). Granted some of those negative yards were Hall getting sacked all night, but i clearly remember that the running game struggled.



Wasn't 08 the same game that Unga was playing flag football or something and almost missed the game??? It was ugly. And TCU hasn't exactly let off the gas since then.

Lawboy wrote:
Putting the ball in Jake's hands is NOT a colossal mistake, He has proven himself capable. Unfortunately, the receiving corps he is throwing it to has not. So the mistake would be thinking that this group would go out and consistently get open, make plays, catch balls when they have not done it all year.



But yes, I hope we try to pound it up TCU's middle and go strength v. speed. It is crazy enough to possibly work

Why is Jake completely absolved of blame on when it comes to how poorly our passing game is when the same group of recievers didn't seem to have trouble catching Max Hall's passes last year? You guys (not just you Lawboy) blow my mind. Yes, it is a collosal mistake to expect a true freshman to be able to beat the #1 ranked defense in all of college football with his arm on his 4th start.

frdbtr wrote:

Putting the ball in Jake's hands is NOT a colossal mistake, He has proven himself capable. Unfortunately, the receiving corps he is throwing it to has not. So the mistake would be thinking that this group would go out and consistently get open, make plays, catch balls when they have not done it all year.



But yes, I hope we try to pound it up TCU's middle and go strength v. speed. It is crazy enough to possibly work

Why is Jake completely absolved of blame on when it comes to how poorly our passing game is when the same group of recievers didn't seem to have trouble catching Max Hall's passes last year? You guys (not just you Lawboy) blow my mind. Yes, it is a collosal mistake to expect a true freshman to be able to beat the #1 ranked defense in all of college football with his arm on his 4th start.

Jake missed some guys. No doubt. Every QB does. But he gets "a pass" (no pun intended) because he currently has a 53% completion percentage with arguably much more than half of his incompletions being blatant, two-handed, drops by the receivers. Perhaps it's myopic to blame everyone else but if you watch the same games I have, most of these are placed perfectly by the qb and simply are not brought in. I don't think it's Jake cause I've seen the drops hit receivers in the head, chest and hands. That's not a QB mistake.



So if you don't put it in Jake's hands because he's young, who do you go with? Freshman Quezada? Freshman Mathews? Freshman Wilson? Freshman, freshman, freshman... You can say JJ, but if I were TCU, all I'd have to do to stop our offense is put 3 guys on JJ, stop the run and leave all the receivers in single coverage or even wide-freaking open. After watching us run roughshod over SDSU last week, TCU will be inviting us to beat them with the pass.



Keep in mind that SDSU constantly stacked the box, often kept no safeties back, and we STILL didn't throw many balls over the top. I wonder if BYU might have been baiting TCU a bit with this but agree that some play action passes might be on the menu this week.

CougarClaw wrote:

Lawboy wrote:
Putting the ball in Jake's hands is NOT a colossal mistake, He has proven himself capable. Unfortunately, the receiving corps he is throwing it to has not. So the mistake would be thinking that this group would go out and consistently get open, make plays, catch balls when they have not done it all year.



But yes, I hope we try to pound it up TCU's middle and go strength v. speed. It is crazy enough to possibly work

Why is Jake completely absolved of blame on when it comes to how poorly our passing game is when the same group of recievers didn't seem to have trouble catching Max Hall's passes last year? You guys (not just you Lawboy) blow my mind. Yes, it is a collosal mistake to expect a true freshman to be able to beat the #1 ranked defense in all of college football with his arm on his 4th start.

Jake missed some guys. No doubt. Every QB does. But he gets "a pass" (no pun intended) because he currently has a 53% completion percentage with arguably much more than half of his incompletions being blatant, two-handed, drops by the receivers. Perhaps it's myopic to blame everyone else but if you watch the same games I have, most of these are placed perfectly by the qb and simply are not brought in. I don't think it's Jake cause I've seen the drops hit receivers in the head, chest and hands. That's not a QB mistake.



So if you don't put it in Jake's hands because he's young, who do you go with? Freshman Quezada? Freshman Mathews? Freshman Wilson? Freshman, freshman, freshman... You can say JJ, but if I were TCU, all I'd have to do to stop our offense is put 3 guys on JJ, stop the run and leave all the receivers in single coverage or even wide-freaking open. After watching us run roughshod over SDSU last week, TCU will be inviting us to beat them with the pass.



Keep in mind that SDSU constantly stacked the box, often kept no safeties back, and we STILL didn't throw many balls over the top. I wonder if BYU might have been baiting TCU a bit with this but agree that some play action passes might be on the menu this week.

I have been watching the same games as the rest of you and I have seen balls dropped where recievers got both hands on the ball. (if a reciever gets both hands on the ball, it should be caught) but everyone is blaming this completely on the reciever. Last year these same guys were catching the same balls that they are dropping this year and there has been only 1 change that I can see that is different from last year and that is the person throwing the ball. I am not trying to put all blame on Jake Heaps, there is a lot going wrong here in the throwing game but my point is, there is more then bad catchers in the break down. Jake throws the ball too early sometimes, and other times throws too late (the interception in the end zone last game). He also puts too much zip on the ball sometimes and this affects the recievers especially when he throws too early. Throw before he is supposed too, throw a fast ball and the result is the ball bouncing off the recievers helmet or chest and and incompletion. These are problems that are going to work themselves out but in the mean time, we need to rely on the Oline (not freshman) to get us yards. SDSU KNEW we were running last game and they couldn't stop it...why? Because our Oline blocked well and that opened holes. If we are to keep the TCU game close, it is going to have to be more of the same.