The Real Tragedy About Saturdays Play Calling

I realize that I'm a bit late to this discussion but I wanted to weigh in on Saturday's game and where I felt the play calling went wrong. Many have mentioned specific plays and the fact that Anae took the ball out of Heap's hands on the final drive. The real let down in my opinion was the conservative play calling that led up to the final drive where the playbook was finally opened up and Heaps was allowed to work his magic.



I was impressed with the defense and felt like they played with an intensity that by far outmatched what the Utes were doing on the field. It is so dissappointing to see that kind of effort followed by an offense that seems bent on running the ball up the middle and trying to complete 5-6 yard passes, especially after we saw how capable Heaps was as buying time and finding receivers downfield. We can certainly look to certain miscalled plays but ultimately it was a complete offensive mindset that lost us the game on Saturday. I'm convinced that we left 14 on the field simply because we did not decide to go for broke and really open up the passing game.



The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting a different result. What happened on Saturday is not new, it's happened every year for the last six years. It's time to find an offensive leader whose intensity can match that of what Bronco has done with the defense.



On a side note I hope we find a spot on the field for JJ other than running back. I like the kid but I feel like we lose something when he carries the ball. He is not quick enough to get the edge and not nearly powerful enough to run up the middle. Maybe a switch to H Back next year would allow us to get him the ball in space where he can use some of his quickness.



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The play calling seemed peculiar to me. Fourth down ans inches, and a pass play was called. On the last drive, behind by one point, 75 yards away from the end zone, AND WITH ONLY ONE TIMEOUT, two running plays up the gut were run. Fortunately, Heaps bailed them out. I don't think that you engineer a long drive with little time and 1 timeout by running up the gut TWO times in a row. I am convinced that had BYU not turned over the ball with either the unfortunate touch of the punt or the fumbled interception, clock usage would have been more important than yardage. He would have run 3 times and punted, giving the Yewts time to drive the ball down the field in the final minutes. Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about, but Anae's game plan certainly didn't work either. Some of the calls were certainly puzzling..........

While I appreciate your insanity quote and realize what your saying, I just have to point out that MORE passing would have fit your description of doing the same thing and expecting different results. A lot of people on this forum to this day swear if BYU had just handed Harvey Unga the ball the entire second half of the byu utah game 2008, BYU wins that game. A lot of people out there that feel that BYU was throwing the ball too much. Especially in games past against the u and TCU. So what's it going to be? Also, one of the throws that Heaps did throw down the field led to a utah interception. BYU took a couple shots down field and sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't. You can't just gun it downfield every other play though. That would be ludicrous. Sure, Anae and Heaps could have tried what they did against USU (was that 55 passing attempts), but I don't know if throwing a lot more helps BYU, or utah.



Maybe utah's defense was just plain good (at least good enough to keep BYU out of the endzone most of the game), and maybe BYU's offense still has a ways to go against good teams. Obviously they are great against the poor sisters of the weak, but put them against TCU or Utah, or any other team that prides themselves in defense and BYU's offense hasn't looked so hot. I'm just not convinced it's all a play calling issue.

Maybe I should clarify. I wasn't necessarily calling for an increase in passing as much as more wide open passing. Utah covered the short routes well, as they have for the past few ears. It was obvious that the game plan going in offered Heaps very few options in an extremely limited playbook. Once we got down and had to open up the longer routes Heapes really shined. It would have been nice to see some of those routes from the get go.



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