Wednesday, September 26. 2012Red, Blue And Pigskin
Wow, this week was ugly. Utah and BYU did two things this week. They both played games their fan bases would rather forget, including one game that no human being should ever be forced to watch. They also continued to prove that right now the Aggies of Utah State are the best team in this state.
Forked Over In Tempe
Outplayed, outcoached, outclassed, and any other out-verb you can think of. That about sums up the performance of Utah this past weekend against the Arizona State Sun Devils. The game started out decent for Utah as they completed a 36 yard pass to Dres Anderson on the third play of the game, to set the Utes up in Arizona State territory. That was it. From that point on, the ASU proceeded to terrorize, and demolish the Utes. There are no bright spots for the performance on Saturday. The Utes OL was embarassed and destroyed all game long, as ASU defensive linemen spent more time in Utah's backfield than Utah's running backs did. The running game was mostly non existent as John White IV was clearly hindered by the sprained ankle that kept him out of the BYU game. Unable to make any decent cuts, or break away from any tackles, White spent the night getting swallowed up by ASU's massive defensive tackle Will Sutton. To try and find a spark, the Utes then brought in Kelvin York, who was actually a breath of fresh air, running with a purpose and with a vengeance. On Utah's only scoring drive, York rank 6 times for over 60 yards. The Utah coaching staff then promptly replaced the back averaging 10 yards a carry, with the back averaging just over 1 yard per carry for the majority of the rest of the night. Defensively this was the worst stink bomb in the past 4-5 years, and possibly ever, in the Whittingham era. The Sun Devils effectively stayed away from Star Lotulelei by running to the edges. The defense seemed as if it had never seen a zone read option game before, as the ASU qb torched them with his legs and his arm. The linebackers were never in position, and the defensive backs were constantly being burned. Safety Brian Blechen played with a lot of rust, and at times seemed like he was still high. The Sun Devils scored on their first 5 drives of the game, on their way to a 37-7 shellacking, that should have been closer to 137-7. Extra Time To Lick Their Wounds I hate bye weeks, but this week's bye is clearly needed. Utah will have to spend the week licking their wounds, and trying to straighten things out. The Utes seemed as if they were still focused on the dramatic ending to the BYU game, and never focused on ASU. Kyle Whittingham, who this year seems to resemble Ron McBride 2.0 more than the post 2007 Whittingham we're used to, better get this team focused, because they are preparing to enter the gauntlet of their schedule. Look beating BYU is always fun and great, but truth is, that game means absolutely jack. The goal of this team is Pac-12 glory, not in-state glory. While I enjoy a victory over BYU as much as anyone, Whittingham will need to do a better job next year, and in 2016 and beyond, of getting this team past the BYU game, and onto Pac-12 play. Now Whittingham not only needs to get this team to put BYU behind them, but they must make their adjustments, and put the ASU game behind them, because with the schedule in front of them the next few weeks, business is about to pick up. So use the Bye week, heal some injuries, heal some mental injuries, because Utah's next game is a Thursday nighter on the 4th of October when they, as probable 3 score underdogs, welcome the Trojans of USC to Rice-Eccles for the first time ever. From The Devils To A New Level Of Hell What do you get when you mix an Amazing Defensive performance with a Bronco Mendenhall happy dance, inept offenses, inept quarter backs, terrible coaching, and then throw in even worse coaching for good measure.? You get a new level of hell, which is what watching the Boise State/BYU game last Thursday night was. The Broncos surived the Cougars to win 7-6 in a game that no human being should ever be forced to watch again. It was the worst game I've seen since the 3-0 snow game, and you could make an argument that this one was even worse. Truthfully I would love to say nothing more about and move on, but alas I can't because BYU's defense deserves credit for their play, and Bronco Mendenhall deserves derision for his decision at the end of the game. Defense In Its Purest Form BYU's defense all night was really good. Although in the first half, they had plenty of holes, that allowed the Broncos to have opportunities to blow the game open. However as the night went on BYU put on a defensive clinic that's rarely seen. This was a defensive performance unlike any I've ever seen by a BYU team. The highlight of the night of course, was the goal line stand when Broncos got the ball for 1st and goal at the BYU 1. On the first play of the drive the Broncos apparently ran for a TD, but the play was called dead before it ever started for an official review of the previous play (an obvious fumble by Alisa that truly did not deserve a review.) After the review BYU stuffed Boise State on 4 consecutive plays to give the ball back to it's offense. The stand was so good, that Bronco Mendenhall actually forgot he was a robot for a minute and showed emotion during the game including a happy dance on the sideline, bringing back memories of the fiery defensive coordinator version of Bronco from before he became head coach and had his personality surgically removed. Emboldened by the goal line stand, BYU's defense then went on to finish out the second half by prevent Boise State from doing absolutely anything. In a game where the offense lost 5 turnovers, and was truly inept, the defense kept Boise State from doing anything. It's too bad that the performance was wasted by a truly dreadful offense, terrible quarterbacking, and worst of all by their own Head Coach. The Conversion After seeing his offense do absolutely nothing for the first 54 minutes and 23 seconds of the game. Bronco finally saw his offense score a Touchdown. With 3:37 seconds left in the game, and no time outs, Bronco decided to go for the win with the two point conversion. A devastatingly terrible decision. I understand that the common thought is go for the tie and home, and the win on the road. Personally I think that's a stupid thought. You have to take into account the game situation, and the game situation was this:
The smart move was to go to Overtime and force Boise to actually attempt a kick. Your defense had shown they weren't going to get into the end zone at all. The only decision worse than going for two, has been Bronco's steadfast and stubborn defense of the decision. The Riley Problem Worsens Riley Nelson was dreadful in the game. Nelson was so bad, that finally after 4 turnovers, all of which were because of bad decisions or poor plays by Nelson, the Cougars decided to bring in Taysom Hill. For most of the game the improvement in the offense was negligible. However on the last drive, Hill was able to lead the Cougars down the field on a gassed Boise defense for the touchdown. Now word comes out that Riley Nelson's back is worse than anyone knows, and that he was only 60% at the time of the game. It's also coming out that Nelson hadn't told the coaches just how bad he was. Immediately after the game, Bronco announced that Nelson would be the starter the next week which is another bad decision in it's own right. The Riley era needs to come to an end. Not that I think Taysom Hill, at this point, is a much better option for the Cougars. Even with Hill in the game, the Cougars are looking at an option based offense, led by a Quarterback who trusts his legs, more than his arm (as evidenced by his decision not to throw the ball to Jamaal Williams for an easy TD, and instead run for short of first down yardage.) However the reason that Hill should be the starter is three-fold. First it's time to look to the future. Riley is not the future. He's gone at the end of the year. BYU doesn't need to worry about bowl eligibility, because as long as they enter the final three weeks of the seaon with three wins, anybody could win those last three for BYU. Hill seemed faster, and more cautious with the ball. Sometimes maybe to a fault, but Hill seems more cautious about what to do with the ball, and didn't put it in a precarious position, ripe for a turnover. Hill also seemed to make it to the edges, and the cuts with more speed than Nelson had. This makes perfect sense if Riley is indeed as bad as he says. Riley's health, and his lack of caring about it. Riley is a gamer, and an amazing leader, but even at 100% Riley is equal to about 80% of any other good QB. Riley, by his own admission, was only 60% for the BSU game. Add the frequency of which his style of play causes him to get hurt, who knows how ineffective Riley will become. Riley would go out there and play until he absolutely couldn't walk, and while it's admirable, it's also a bit stupid. Riley reminds me a lot of Lawrence Taylor's character from Any Given Sunday, although not to the extreme that Riley's injury is life threatening. Riley at 100% is adequate for a team like Hawaii, but not for the 4 teams afterwards. The Return Of Chow So now the Cougars are in the midst of yet another QB controversy. I predicted earlier in the year, that Cougar fans wouldn't be as happy about Riley being their QB at the end of the season, as they were going into the season. Apparently that's happened a lot quicker than expected. Fortunately for BYU, either QB should be able to lead the Cougars past Hawai'i. The Rainbow Warriors bring with them to LaVell Edwards Stadium, first year Head Coach Norm Chow. Norm Chow, who spent 30 years at BYU, has no love lost for BYU and would love nothing more than to continue the Cougars recent struggles. Chow just doesn't have the horses to pull it off. That said, don't be surprised to see Chow try and pull out all the stops. Trackbacks
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