Weakest position this year?

A recent thread has me wondering what others think. What was our weakest position this year? I'm talking about the position that cost us the most. I'm also not talking relative to other years...just the weakest position on the field, period.

TE's

runbyu1 wrote:
A recent thread has me wondering what others think. What was our weakest position this year? I'm talking about the position that cost us the most. I'm also not talking relative to other years...just the weakest position on the field, period.

Receiving corp followed closely by QB, though they made the most improvement in the second half of the season.



Coaching position would have to be DC through the USU game.

TE might be the only position that didn't fully come around.



WRs were awful to start the season, but were pretty good by the end of the year.

QB play was on epic fail levels until the bye week and then it came up to the BYU standard.

OL was relatively suspect the first half of the season (19 sacks allowed first seven games; 3 sacks allowed last six).

DL went from allowing nearly 260 yards rushing and just five sacks (first five games) to just over 63 ypg and 19 sacks (last eight games) .

LB play improved as well - see above.

DB play also with 3 INTs pre-bye week and 13 post-.

Coaching also got better as both sides of the ball got more aggressive (with the exception of the Utah game) and got more out of their players once they sorted out most of the position battles.

RBs may have been the best position group all season as they were only ones to basically play well all year.



TEs did improve as the season went along, but not to the same level as the other position groups.

kitic77 wrote:
TE might be the only position that didn't fully come around.



WRs were awful to start the season, but were pretty good by the end of the year.

QB play was on epic fail levels until the bye week and then it came up to the BYU standard.

OL was relatively suspect the first half of the season (19 sacks allowed first seven games; 3 sacks allowed last six).

DL went from allowing nearly 260 yards rushing and just five sacks (first five games) to just over 63 ypg and 19 sacks (last eight games) .

LB play improved as well - see above.

DB play also with 3 INTs pre-bye week and 13 post-.

Coaching also got better as both sides of the ball got more aggressive (with the exception of the Utah game) and got more out of their players once they sorted out most of the position battles.

RBs may have been the best position group all season as they were only ones to basically play well all year.



TEs did improve as the season went along, but not to the same level as the other position groups.

TEs were abysmal and certainly still the biggest question mark going into next season, in spite of the new guys we have to work into the secondary.



Receivers were the greatest disapointment; dropped passes cost us games this year and it shook our QBs.



Our corners in pass coverage (and to a lesser extent the safeties, yep even rich) were disapointing at times; the lapses by those guys (and I love Bradley and Logan for what they brought to this program and the toughness they brought to the position) for big plays against Utah, TCU, and even Utep (not that it matters) are inexcusable.



If we can get a handle on those 3 things above, JP comes back healthy, and Matt Reynolds decides to make this the best Oline in BYU history by returning.... then I think BCS is an incredibly realistic possibility next season.

What position did Thomas and then Uale play? I feel like that position did not improve. One if not two of UTEP's TD's were because there was no help over the top. Everyone else progressively got better over the season. That position did not



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BoiseBYU wrote:
What position did Thomas and then Uale play? I feel like that position did not improve. One if not two of UTEP's TD's were because there was no help over the top. Everyone else progressively got better over the season. That position did not



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Second this. The two long pass plays Utah got were also due to blown coverages by the free safety (I think. It sure looked that way). Uale's a good guy and was all we had, so I can't complain too much. We may not have anyone better (Sampson? Everett?), but I guess we'll find out.

byutx wrote:
TE's

Also throw in a missed block by a TE was the difference between 8-5 and 7-6.

WR





TE was ineffectual, but were underused not only because they weren't thrown to, but also because they were not used a lot in the passing game, as in - they blocked a lot more this year than in recent memory.



wr's cost us drive after drive, and game after game with poor routes run (into each other half the time) and not catching the ball the other half.





Everyone had their moment in the shade this year, so it is hard to point the finger at just one group, but if I had to pick one, it would be the wr's. They had opportunity after opportunity to make plays, and didn't. And the upperclassmen did absolutely nothing to contribute (in a positive light) for 85% of the season.



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:crazy: :crazy: :D :evil: :D :crazy: :) :love: :sulk: :P :sulk: :P ;) :whistle:

free safety.

BYZoo wrote:

What position did Thomas and then Uale play? I feel like that position did not improve. One if not two of UTEP's TD's were because there was no help over the top. Everyone else progressively got better over the season. That position did not



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Second this. The two long pass plays Utah got were also due to blown coverages by the free safety (I think. It sure looked that way). Uale's a good guy and was all we had, so I can't complain too much. We may not have anyone better (Sampson? Everett?), but I guess we'll find out.

This was exactly my thought. I don't even think it was a contest---Free safety was consistently our weakest spot all year long. Here's to hoping we right the ship in this area next year...I feel confident the receivers and TE's will come along just fine.

I's say the easiest positions to name are TE, WR and 1 safety spot. Wr got better, the safety play improved, but was never awesome(Uale was loads better by years end), but that group of TE's never really exerted themselves. I think they will be better next year with more experience. Hard to rely on a stable of freshman for a position. So they get something of a pass for inexperience. In 2011 they don't.

Lawboy wrote:
I's say the easiest positions to name are TE, WR and 1 safety spot. Wr got better, the safety play improved, but was never awesome(Uale was loads better by years end), but that group of TE's never really exerted themselves. I think they will be better next year with more experience. Hard to rely on a stable of freshman for a position. So they get something of a pass for inexperience. In 2011 they don't.

How can you say (Free Safety) Uale was loads better by years end when he was the one out of position on several over the top deep balls that cost us the last few games?

Free safety--if this doesn't get fixed next year, we'll lose some games we shouldn't. But getting burned three times, by the same player, on the same route, in the same game, is inexcusable. This must get fixed.



Tight End -- if the coaches can't find an all-American tight end out of all the TE recruits we have in the program, the coaches need to be fired. Bringing along a tight end or two should be a focus of the off-season. Somebody needs to develop these guys into a force. My guess is Mahina is the leading candidate, but he didn't do much this year, and neither did anybody else.



Wide receiver--these guys came around, but the first 5 games they were awful, just dropping everything, just inexcusable. I was impressed by them in the NM bowl, however; they played well. With Hoffman showing he can be a star, and Apo presumably even better, we should be able to throw at will next year.

FB, but only because we didn't have one.

runbyu1 wrote:

I's say the easiest positions to name are TE, WR and 1 safety spot. Wr got better, the safety play improved, but was never awesome(Uale was loads better by years end), but that group of TE's never really exerted themselves. I think they will be better next year with more experience. Hard to rely on a stable of freshman for a position. So they get something of a pass for inexperience. In 2011 they don't.

How can you say (Free Safety) Uale was loads better by years end when he was the one out of position on several over the top deep balls that cost us the last few games?

Please cite in "the last few games" the deep balls where Uale was "out of position" that cost us?



We only lost one game in our last five. We didn't lose to Utah because of poor over the top help from Uale. We lost because of several fluke bounces and a missed block that led to a blocked FG.



We gave up 20 or more points in six of our first seven games. We got beat consistently across the field. Deep, up the middle, in the flats, etc. Our strong/free safety (Thomas/Uale) were poor in run support or pass coverage the first half. They were much improved by year's end and were no longer a weakness. They weren't a strength by any means, but they were decent.



They certainly didn't cost us in the last few games.

kitic77 wrote:

Lawboy wrote:
I's say the easiest positions to name are TE, WR and 1 safety spot. Wr got better, the safety play improved, but was never awesome(Uale was loads better by years end), but that group of TE's never really exerted themselves. I think they will be better next year with more experience. Hard to rely on a stable of freshman for a position. So they get something of a pass for inexperience. In 2011 they don't.

How can you say (Free Safety) Uale was loads better by years end when he was the one out of position on several over the top deep balls that cost us the last few games?

Please cite in "the last few games" the deep balls where Uale was "out of position" that cost us?



We only lost one game in our last five. We didn't lose to Utah because of poor over the top help from Uale. We lost because of several fluke bounces and a missed block that led to a blocked FG.



We gave up 20 or more points in six of our first seven games. We got beat consistently across the field. Deep, up the middle, in the flats, etc. Our strong/free safety (Thomas/Uale) were poor in run support or pass coverage the first half. They were much improved by year's end and were no longer a weakness. They weren't a strength by any means, but they were decent.



They certainly didn't cost us in the last few games.

Actually Uale got lost on the play where Utah passed to the TE to get to the 6 yard line setting up the winning TD. He blew the coverage on the exact same play in the first half and the TE dropped the ball. It also would have been nice if one of the safeties would have gotten over to help Logan on the tipped TD catch. Isn't it pretty standard to throw deep right after a turn over? Shouldn't it be pretty standard to have your safeties in a two deep following a turn over for that same fact?

Initially - the entire receiver coprs & QB's. Then the entire receiver coprs. Finally - the TE's were MIA. Although - Mahina (sp?) came on strong the last few games.