Only in the Holy War could an ending like the one we saw last Saturday just be considered part of the norm. But hey at least Utah fans got to go through the enjoyment of winning the game, three times. BYU fans, meanwhile had to suffer the loss three times.
A Wild Finish
After fighting back, and making many Utah fans see ghosts of rivalry past, the game sat with 8 seconds left, with the ball on the 36 yard line. Maybe because Bronco doesn't trust his kickers, the Cougars made the boneheaded decision to run a play with no timeouts. Even worse Riley, threw a pass that would not have made it out of bounds. Fortunately for the Cougars, Riley isn't a prolific passer and the pass fell flat, Clock read 0:00, and the fans rushed the field, Game Over, Utes win.
For now, we'll skip over the fact this wasn't a rush the field worthy victory, but there was another problem with the fans being on the field, and something fans need to be smarter about. Whenever the timing is as close as it was on the play, the refs will always go to the replay to make sure that the game was over.
Lo and Behold the ball hit the ground with :01 left on the clock.
This time the Cougars trotted out the field goal unit for a 51 yard, game tying try. Star Lotulelei (who after re-watching the game, it's possible I underrated him) blew up the offensive line, blocked the kick. JD Falslev tried to pick it up and return it, but failed. Game Over, fans rush the field
But wait. Fans began to rush the field as soon as the block was done, meaning they were on the field while play was going on. Penalty flag, 15 yard personal foul, and the fans are now on the line as the goat of the century, while BYU now gets to attempt another field goal, this time from the 19 yard line.
I'm not going to go over the penalty too much. By the letter of the law it's a correct call, although there is an argument to be made that it shouldn't have been called when you consider it had no effect on the play, and coaches/players from both teams also went on the field as soon as the block was made, including Bronco Mendenhall, who was closer to the live ball play than any Utah fan.
What I will say about that call though, is that's one freaking gutsy official. It takes a lot of guts to sit there, surrounded by a group of fans, not happy with you because of the :01 second call (In the stadium there was no discernible way to know that was the correct call, because by the time you watched the ball hit the ground, and looked up to see the scoreboard, the :01 (or closer to 2/10ths of a second) were gone.) and inform the crowd that they have cost their team 15 yards, and possibly the game. The truth of the matter though, is the fans need to be smarter than that, and not put the ref, in that position. The fans were an embarrassment. Apparently I was one second off on my prediction last week, that the fans would be a Utah advantage until the end of the game.
BYU trots out Riley Stephenson for what would be a career long 36 yard attempt. Kick is up.... and... it's wide left. Game over, this time for real, fans rush the field again. Saved from the humiliation of costing the Utes the game.
Stop Rushing The Field
Look I have no problem with fans rushing the field. Heck I've done it twice in my life. But there is a right time and a wrong time to do it.
Beating a rival can be a rush the field moment, but only if it's a historic moment (2004, 2008), or you've beaten the rival for the first time in a large number of years. Not when it's a rival that you've previously dominated, and just recently lost to, or a rival you've now beaten 3 of the last 4 years, 5 of the last 7, or 8 of the last 11. Especially if you've spent the greater part of the last two years talking about how you no longer needed your rival, and was better than your rival because you moved into a bigger conference.
So to recap, Utah State rushing the field in 2010 after beating BYU, and 2012 after beating Utah: Acceptable. Utah rushing the field after beating BYU this year, and BYU rushing the field after beating USU in 2011: Unacceptable.
Another caveat. Any game you were up by 17 points in the fourth and you had to hold onto for dear life to win, Not a rush the field moment, unless it's against the #1 team in the nation, or again a historic moment (Championship, etc.) If you had to hold on against a rival, than just take the win and get out of there, thankful you don't have to suffer the ignominy of blowing that game for the next year.
Speaking of #1 teams in the nation, upsetting the #1 on your home field, is worthy of rushing the field. However simply upsetting a really really good team is not. That now means that since Stanford knocked off USC, if Utah were to pull out an upset, it is not acceptable to rush the field.
If you are going to rush the field, whether you are following the rules above, or not, please pay attention to the game. Look we're not that far removed from the Texas/Nebraska one second game. Fans have to know that in a case this close, it's going to be reviewed. Honestly though, that's the more excusable of the premature rushes. How the fans, after just getting chastised, and embarrassingly removed from the field, you could rush the field again so very prematurely is beyond me.
And finally if you're going to rush the field, don't be moronic, drunken idiots. Rush the field to celebrate with your team, not to go get into the faces of opposing coaches and players. Especially if you're
idiotically dressed in suspenders, and then run away peeing your pants when said coach turns to stare you down.
But that's enough, for now, on the crowd, because unfortunately, very similar to Max Hall in 2009, all the fans really managed to do was take the focus off of the actual game. So let's get to the game.
Beyond The Box Score
Looking at the score, and the penalties, one would think this was a game between to evenly matched heavyweights who spent the entire night counter punching each other. They would be wrong.
For most of the first 45 minutes of the game, it was actually fairly one sided. Utah's offense was efficient, and the defense was outstanding, as the Utes built up a 24-7 lead. The Cougars had no answer for Star Lotulelei all night, as the Utes constantly harassed and pressured Riley Nelson, with mainly a four man rush.
Offensively the Utes were able to move the ball efficiently, flipping field position multiple times. Where they really struggled was in the run game, where they were without star running back John White. An aggressive BYU defense took advantage of the backup running game, decimating Utah's supposed, hoped for running depth, and limited the rushing game to a less than two yards per carry average.
Jon Hays meanwhile showed that he is not the QB from last year, as he seemed to have a better grasp of the offense, as well as passes that seemed crisper, and stronger than anything he threw last year. Multiple times he threw a pass to beat the defense deep, just to see a WR fail to bring it in.
Defensively, the Utes were aided by the fact that Brandon Doman, once again, forgot he is allowed to run the ball, instead putting the game in Riley Nelson's hands. The defense confused, and frustrated the offense all night, forcing multipe false starts, and delay of game penalties. The defense was also just a few bounces away from more turnovers, and eventually swung the game open with a long fumble recovery by Mo Lee, who picked up an errant snap for a Touchdown, but not till after Michael Alisa foolishly tried to pick up the fumble and run it for BYU.
All in all a dominant first 45 minutes, that was almost wasted by personal fouls, and awful kicking. The Utes racked up 6 personal fouls, including on BYU's first snap where an errant snap should have been a safety, but was wiped clean by a Joe Kruger facemask.
If not for those personal fouls and a terrible, terrible kicking game, BYU would have crossed midfield only once in the first three quarters of the game. The punting game itself saw a shanked punt from the Utes own 10 yard line give the Cougars the ball at the Utah 38. Two plays later the Cougars tied it up.
BYU's final score of the game was set up when Sean Sellwood, trying to punt from his own 20, was unable to get the kick away, due to the extreme number of Cougars in the back field.
Go For The Jugular
Last year, the Cougars entered halftime with a 14-10 deficit. Two scores later, the Cougars were looking at a 24-10 deficit. Last year the Cougars folded up shop and quit, as the Utes rolled to a 54-10 final score. This year, the Cougars didn't give up. Maybe the Utes were expecting the Cougars to give up after last year's game, which would explain the shell that the offensive play calling went into during the fourth quarter. New coordinator Brian Johnson needs to use this game as a learning experience, that even with a 17 point lead at the beginning of the fourth quarter, you need to play to win, instead of playing not to lose.
The Ghosts Of Rivalries Past
With the offensive play calling grinded to a conservative halt, the Cougars fought back, and eventually had the ball back with less than two minutes to go, a Senior quarterback, needing to drive the length of the field.
Cue the ghost of Jonny Harline.
Utah's defense came out strong eventually making the Cougars face a 4th and 12 from their own 19 yard line.
Welcome ghost of Austin Collie.
Sure enough Riley Nelson finds Cody Hoffman behind the defense for a 47 yard gain, setting the ball at the Utah 34 yard line, and the ghosts haunting Utah fans are alive and well. A few incomplete passes left, and we're sitting at 1 second left on the clock, and BYU lining up for a field goal to tie it up. It's blocked!
The ghost of Brandon Burton begins to rumble.
Personal Foul, and now it's a short try 36 yard to send the game into overtime.
The ghost of Andrew George blows past the ghost of Brandon Burton.
In the end the Field sails left, doinking on the upright, (
Kaneshiro's ghost, is that you???) as the terrible special teams of the state of Utah strikes again. Utah overcomes the ghosts of the rivalries past. Could this possibly be a permanent exorcism? Still unclear, but what is known is the Cougars are still struggling with the ghosts of their kicking game, which has
not made a game winner in over 10 years.
The kicking game is a major problem for both teams this year, but the Cougars also face two other problems: The Riley Problem, and The Bronco Problem.
The Riley Problem
I've said plenty of times that Riley is not a good quarterback. However, Riley is a tremendous fighter. In fact the big difference between BYU quitting last season, and fighting back this season is a direct correlation to who they had behind Center. Jake Heaps was a spoiled brat who shied away from contact, and folded easily. Riley Nelson however loves contacts, never shies away from a hit, and never gives up on a play or a game. As a result the Cougars were able to scratch and claw their way back. Just look at Riley at the end of the game, he was beatened, bloodied, and battered.
However, everything that makes Riley good, is also a huge problem for BYU. Riley Nelson's style of play will get him hurt this year. Nelson will miss extended time in either a single game, or multiple games this year.
Outside of the risk of injury, the style of play Riley pursues is dangerous. Riley will never give up on a play, and will fight and claw to make any sort of play. This works great against athletically lesser teams and defenses. However against teams on his level or better, it's just asking for danger. This was clearly on display this week. Riley's fire is what caused his ability to rip a fumble recovery out of the hands of Nate Fakahafua. However, it was his fire, and his needing to make the big play that allowed the fumble to happen in the first place. Riley had multiple fumbles during the game that were a direct result of him trying to do too much, and a couple more plays that were initially (dumbly) ruled a fumble before being overturned via instant replay. But really does anyone feel comfortable with fumbles being
overturned by
replay? Especially with the crew that was calling the game. (Who also by the way helped call the San Diego State game in 2010 against BYU.)
This is similar to last year against TCU. Riley will make a lot of plays to keep a game competitive, or even bring the Cougars back in the game. The problem is, Riley will make a lot of plays for the opposing team as well, with less than recommended decisions.
Riley has only lost twice since taking over as starter last season, but it's no coincidence that both those losses came to the two most athletic teams he's faced. With a schedule coming up that includes Boise State, Notre Dame, Georgia Tech, and even Utah State, all of whom are equal to or better than BYU, especially from an athletic defense standpoint, Riley Nelson could cause some severe damage to the Cougars.
While BYU loves when Riley evades an oncoming defender, and throws up a prayer that Hoffman comes down with, they hate when Riley evades a defender, keeps looking downfield, and gets drilled by a defender, or throws up a prayer that the defense intercepts. Problems that BYU didn't face against the likes of Washington State, and Weber State. Problems they won't face against Idaho, San Jose State, or New Mexico. But problems they will be facing in a few more games this year.
The Bronco Problem
Bigger than the Riley problem is the Bronco problem. BYU just wasn't prepared to face Utah. BYU rarely seems prepared to face Utah under Bronco. Not to mention there were plenty of coaching blunders, and Bronco was just out coached by Kyle.
When the game got tight, Kyle made adjustments, Bronco didn't.
Bronco has already admitted that he didn't give the noise enough focus during the week, and it was obvious that the Cougars struggled with the noise of the crowd as they committed multiple false starts penalties, and wasted timeouts. He's already said he overestimated his seniors abilities to withstand the noise, and should have practiced it more during the week.
Over the last two years the Cougars have fumbled 11 times against Utah. That points to preparation, or lack there of. It's also a problem that occurs when you don't hit during fall camp. You can work on technique all you want, but that doesn't prepare you to actually hold onto the ball when you are being hit.
As for coaching decisions there were plenty to wonder about. Starting on BYU's first drive, when facing a 4th a short, Riley looked to the sideline to determine if they were going for it or punting. Bronco told Riley to stay out there. As Riley came to the line, Bronco then sent out his punt team. Then Bronco tried to call his punt team back as the ball was snapped. 4th and short turns into 4th and 6.
The biggest coaching blunder however was the decision to run a play with 8 seconds to go. It's obvious that Bronco didn't have faith in his kickers, but with 8 seconds to go, and no time outs, a final pass play never should have been ran. Especially with Riley Nelson, who isn't exactly the strongest arm, or doesn't have the best internal clock.
Each of the games the last few years have had a lot of "what if" moments for both teams. But in the end the team that's the most poised, and makes the most plays, wins the game. Utah has generally been that team, and that's a result of coaching.
It doesn't just extend to Utah for Bronco. This is how his teams usually come out in big games. Now Bronco is a good-ish coach. He's won 10 games in a season 5 times, and has over 60 wins during his career. The problem is the majority of those wins are built on lesser opponents. The Cougars hit their plateau in 2006 and 2007, and hasn't improved the last few years and frequently regress.
One thing you can say for Bronco is his teams always beat the teams they should. They haven't ever suffered a UNLV or Colorado level loss during his tenure. The problem is Broncos teams rarely beat the teams they shouldn't. Really the only example was 2009 against Oklahoma after knocking out Sam Bradford, but that Oklahoma team turned out to be very average.
Bronco's built a legend as a coach who's team has averaged 10 wins a year. Problem is that legend is built on the backs of midgets, as most of those wins came against dogs.
View From The Red Zone
After missing out on the Northern Colorado game due to travel, and having the Oregon St./Nicholls St. game I was going to attend in Oregon get postponed due to the Hurricane, I finally made it to a game this year, and boy it felt so good to be back.
It's too bad that the crowd, 6th largest in Utah history, will be remembered for the end of the game, because it almost ruined what was the loudest, most rowdy crowd I have ever seen at Rice-Eccles Stadium. This crowd was unbelievably loud. Enough so that my ears were still ringing a couple hours later. This crowd's intensity matched the crowd at the beginning of the 2010 TCU game (before they got trampled by the horned frogs), and it matched the intensity of the end of the 2008 TCU game, where the CBS cameras were shaking. Only this crowd was that loud from start to finish. Even when the ghosts of rivalries past were showing their head, this crowd was crazy.
And for once the South East corner didn't shrink down leaving the gap in seats.
For all the talk of this rivalry dying down, it definitely didn't feel that way judging by the fans. It's clear the fans want this thing to continue. Maybe that's why they tried to extend the game, they figured they could just keep it going through the Hiatus.
It's fun to watch Star Lotulelei. The guy is a beast, who would shrug off double teams, and man handle single teams. Although my favorite moment watching him, was at the end of the first half, when BYU was deep in the North End Zone and eventually penalized themselves to the 2 yard line. Star lined up over the center, and you could just see him trash talking the Center. His face mask was bobbing up and down as he was barking whatever trash he was saying.
Finally the Utes are trying to start a new tradition. Due to a disagreement, possibly over the Crazy Lady wanting financial considerations for her expenses, the Utes moved the Crazy Lady from the start of the 4th quarter, to 4:00 left in the half, to welcome the fans to the second half.
In it's place, the Utes have started a new tradition to begin the 4th quarter this season. They bring out a large Taiko drum on carts, with 4 other smaller drums. The drums roll to around mid field, where the Utes pound out a War-Drum like melody. At the end of the drumming, a cannon is fired multiple times.
I like it. In fact, I like it a lot. It did a good job of getting fired up. The Cannon is loud enough you can feel the shockwave in the North End Zone, even though it's fired from the gap between the East and South bleachers. I'll try to get a video of it during the USC game, but overall I was generally impressed.
State Special Teams
Why do the teams in this state not realize that Special Teams are 1/3rd of the game. Utah, Utah State, and BYU all missed important field goals this year, with the Aggies missing a game winner, and BYU missing two game winners.
For BYU it's a little worrisome that their normal place kicker has a career long of 33 yards. That's not very good. That means, just to get into the outer edges of his range, they must get the ball to the 16 yard line. And honestly anytime you are within the Red Zone, and settle for a field goal, it's more like you are giving up 4 points, rather than scoring three. Justin Sorenson, who the Cougars brought in for the first 54 yard attempt, isn't much better. While he has actually connected from farther than 33 yards, he's only 51% on any kick greater than 30 yards in his three year career.
Utah's place kicking issue with Peterson is well known, and came into play again this year with a kick that was blocked. A short kick that never should have been kicked as low as was. With Peterson, one has to wonder if he's now just mentally gone. Punting wise, Utah's punter, Sean Sellwood, leads the nation in punting average, so if he can get it off, it's usally a good kick. That's if he can get it of, as the Utes struggled to block the rush for the second straight week. Utah has also given up a blocked punt for a touchdown in three consecutive years, including last year against Todd Graham's Pittsburgh Panthers. Ironically for Utah, one of Sellwood's smarter decisions ended up helping to put Utah in the nailbiter position.
When BYU broke through on the punt, Sellwood realized they were there, and pulled the ball down, and took a loss of 6 yards, giving BYU the ball at the 14 yard line. Had he kicked the ball there's a good chance it goes out of the end zone from there for a safety, meaning BYU would have been probably been down by 8 points at the end of the game, instead of three, meaning they'd have needed a hailmary pass instead of driving for a figgie. Had they got the touchdown they still would have needed to convert the two point conversion.
Of course there's always the chance that BYU just gets the TD off of the block and would have had more time at the end of the game, which is exactly why Sellwood's smart decision was the right call.
The teams in this state must realize that special teams count as 1/3rd of the game. Special Teams have already cost three games this season (BYU missing the game tying kick this week, Utah missing the game winner against Utah State, as well as the blocked punt, and Utah State missing the game winner this week against Wisconsin.) If something doesn't get figured out, even more games will be lost by the State's Short Yellow Bus Special Teams.
Roller Coaster Week
Alas on of the negatives of playing the Rivalry this week, is it means there is more season left to play. For the Cougars, they must put behind them a roller coast week. A week that began so good for BYU with the loss of Utah to the Aggies, and the Cougars rolling against Weber State, got a little bit better with news that John White IV, and Eric Rowe may not play.
Then the week started to turn on Tuesday, as rumors of back problems for Riley came to light.
News got bad on Wednesday when Notre Dame announced they were pseudo joining the ACC, and would play 5 games a year against ACC opponents. Though it's not yet known, one has to wonder what this means for the BYU/Notre Dame contract. A contract that would provide a quality November opponent may now be in trouble. Notre Dame now has 5 contracted ACC games. While the ACC game will probably include their rivalry games with Boston College, and Pittsburgh, there are plenty of rivalries that will still need to be scheduled. If you take 5 ACC games, that leaves 7 more games for Army, Navy, Michigan, Michigan State, USC, Stanford, Purdue, all of whom Notre Dame plays annually or mostly annually. Will BYU get the nod over one of those 7?
Finally the week hit rock bottom on Saturday, where their bowl destination, when they become eligible, was determined. The Cougars now know they'll be going to the Poinsettia Bowl in the postseason. And now to make things worse they have to take one of the most torturous drives up through Idaho into Boise. There's a reason why the only good thing about driving through Idaho is the "Your are now leaving Idaho" signs at the border.
Bring On The Smurf Turf
The Cougars make the horrid trek through Idaho to face the Boise State Broncos in the first of what BYU hopes becomes an almost annual rivalry type game. For some reason many think that the Broncos will fall back to earth and become mediocre now that Kellen Moore is gone.
Apparently those people have forgotten that Boise was good before Moore got there. They seem to have forgotten that in 2004, the Bronco were also undefeated in the regular season, only to be overshadowed by the Utes. They seem to have forgotten the 2006 Fiesta Bowl against Oklahoma.
Boise State won a national championship as a Junior College. They were a great Division II team, and won a national champion as a 1-AA team. When they were a meager big sky team, they were giving teams fits, including the Cougars and the Utes who both have nightmare performances. They've been to and won two BCS bowl games.
Boise State is led by a system, not a player. A system that is ran to perfection thanks to head coach Chris Petersen. In week one Boise State gave Michigan State all it could handle before finally falling. The Broncos may have pains adjusting to life without Moore, and may not be a threat to make the title game like they have the years past, but make no mistake, this is a really good team.
The Broncos have a defense, and a defense front that is fast and opportunistic. A defense that will look to take advantage of a BYU offensive line who played poorly this past week, and will be without Houston Reynolds for the remainder of the year. Joe Southwick, who replaces Moore, is not some wide eyed freshman, but is instead a Junior who has seen plenty of plays due to blowouts by Boise.
Most importantly the Cougars need to shake off the rivalry game. If the Cougars aren't mentally over the events of this past Saturday, they could struggle with the Broncos, a team that already matches up pretty well with the Cougars.
To make matters worse, it must be a quick turnaround for the Cougars. From a game that ended at 11:59p.m. on Saturday Night, to a 7:00p.m. Thursday kickoff.
Into The Conference
For Utah, they must also shake off the events of this past weekend. In the end, no matter how great it is to beat the rivals, the game means nothing in their ultimate quest of a Rose Bowl. That quest begins in earnest this weekend with a trip to Tempe to face the Arizona State Sun Devils.
Last year the Sun Devils were the opponent for Jon Hays' first start. However that team was coached by Dennis Erickson. This year the Sun Devils are coached by Todd Graham. The Utes and Todd Graham's 2011 team, the Pittsburgh Panthers, are responsible for one of the ugliest, make your eyes bleed games of last season.
Last year the Utah defense stifled, and stuffed Graham's offense, holding them to 120 yards. Utah's own offensive futility made it a game nobody ever wants to see again, as the Utes won 26-14.
Nobody wants this year's matchup to be similar. Arizona State seems to have more talent offensively than Graham's Pittsburgh team did, and it's shown up on the score board through the first three weeks, as the Sun Devils average 42.7 points per game. However the defenses they've faced do leave a little to be desired.
For the Utes, they seemed to make many good adjustments between the USU and BYU games. More adjustments will be made.
Supposedly John White will be back from injury, which is a must for the Utes. Their running game without him was absolutely anemic, and despite being somewhat improved in 2012, Utah does not want to leave the game in the hands of Jon Hays.
One offensive adjustment that must be made quickly is letting Tyler Wilson throw the ball. BYU knew immediately whenever Wilson came into the game, the next play was a run. If the opponent knows Wilson is going to run, it does no good putting him in there. Utes need to dial up passes for Wilson on 3 of his next 4 appearances, minimum. The passes don't even have to be completed, they simply need to be thrown.
Defensively the Utes get Brian Blechen back off of his "I'm an idiot" suspension. Blechen will be a needed boost to a defense who has missed out on a few opportunities during the past three weeks. Some of those dropped int's, and missed fumbles will be scooped up now that Blechen is patrolling the middle. Most importantly Blechen was a huge force against the run, helping out the line backers from his safety spot.
It's hard to get a good read on Utah even after last week. They won the game despite the change in quarterback, and with 3 of the 4 best players gone. How will this team be at full strength. We know the defense will keep them in it, but the offense must respond and get at least 24 points of their own.