BYU, still attracting everyone’s best game.
The Cougars survived an ugly fourth quarter and some wild kicking to progress towards another 11-2 season. I have to say it is always tough to play in Albuquerque and the Lobos brought the heat this morning. I don’t know what their coaching staff did, but the Lobos played with a new spirit. Hopefully the Lobos will have that same go gett’em attitude when they play TCU.
Hall had a solid day, not spectacular, but solid. Max’s “troubles” this morning were directly linked to the offenses inability to rush for any significant yardage, 1.7 yards per rush, which is also why the game was so close. When the Cougs aren’t rushing the ball effectively, they aren’t controlling the clock. These two variables have an effect on how much and how well our defense performs. Statistically the game was as tight as the score, but if you look at the time of possession the Lobos had the ball…well all the time.
Coach Anae wasn’t showing any love to the Unga train. Hopefully BYU will again realize that Harvey is the best player they have…period. Use him, not just some times, but all the time.
Also the fact that BYU doubled up on turnovers is a little disconcerting considering they have to play a much better AFA team -which is well known for getting after ball carriers and arrant passes. Plus a Utah team that will be out for blood -as always.
The game ended with a sigh of relief and a scratch of the head. This years Cougar team has lost some of their earlier identity and becomes a different team each week. Who are we? What are our strengths -and why aren’t we using them to the fullest?
Okay, I didn’t get to watch this game because I don’t have DirectTV, and so I only got to listen the internet…
But I just have to ask…is anybody else sick of the BYU defense stopping an offense on 3rd and long, only to give up the 4th and long conversion on the next play? (same goes for giving up long 3rd down conversions)
Why play hard for 3 downs and then lay down on the 4th? Is it an entitlement attitude? ie: we held them for 3, what do you mean they’re not punting?!?
Grr. Just had to get that off my chest.
Can someone give me an idea of what the mentality/problem might be here?
There’s just something about Albuquerque. BYU has always had a hard time playing there. The irony is that they haven’t lost there in a long time but every win is one where they’ve had to dig deep to pull it out. I knew the Lobos would come out playing like there’s no tomorrow, but I was disappointed by BYU’s lack of composure in the game. It was like they were trying to lose the game just so they could watch UNM keep shooting themselves in the foot. Kariya was disappointing. He kept bumping and running into his own blockers and then got careless in securing the ball which almost cost the game for us. A lot of mistakes all around but the main thing is we got the win and a win is a win. Every good teams has games like this and it’s up to the team to move on and play better next week.
I try to be as objective and postive as possible and try to understand why things happen the way they do, but I just cannot understand BYU’s offensive play calling in this game. At the start of the game, they were running effectively, as they usually do, and then they go to the draw running plays and the delay handoffs, etc. and then finally just gave up on the run all together, something that Anae does with regularity. Why not just line up in the I and run it between the tackles? I’m not saying to do this on every play, but the delayed handoffs are so slow and BYU’s lineman do not have the speed to get to the corners when they try to run wide. They have depth at RB, they have great blocking backs, there just seems to be no reason why they cannot line up and power their way to 200+ yards a game…other than Anae’s complete lack of patience and him going into panic mode!
My grades for the team by position. Well this is easy. The entire team, including coaches, get a big fat F. If there was a lower grade than F they would get that. Pathetic preparation. Pathetic execution. No one player on BYU should feel good about their performance. UNM should have won the game. If they would have hit just 2 of their missed field goals they win. I am embarrassed by the performance of the entire program. UNM is the worst team in D1 football. The worst and they out played us. We didn’t win this game. The lobos handed it to us. They outplayed us. Pathetic product BYU put on the field today. I don’t see this team winning another game the rest of the year and Utah will beat us by 20+ and we will get destroyed in a bowl. We really are not that good. Sad but true!
I think Unga was held back a lot because of his ankle. That said, our offensive line did not have a good game. They were a bit short-handed as well.
I wasn’t surprised the game was closer then people thought, but I didn’t even think it would be that close. Thank you for the goal post. I don’t think this game is out of character for what we have been the last couple years. We have some major jeckle and hyde tendencies. For some reason we don’t seem to handle success well. We are like the guy who wins the lottery and then is broke the next year.
Honestly, I see so much more watching a game live then I do on TV that it is hard to comment about much of anything that isn’t obvious. To me it is like watching half a movie screen and talking about the movie. I have no comment on the scheme or coaching because of that.
If we had lost it wouldn’t have been 1985 UTEP, we were a better team that lost to an undefeated UTEP team, but it was almost history all over again. Hopefully this is a wake up call about sleep walking through games that we needed to finish out the next two tough games. This is a very bad New Mexico team and we should have blown them out despite all the injuries we had.
From my perspective:
I WAS ugly, BUT a win is a win. Just ask the following (as of 7:55 mtn time):
#9 USC (blown out be Stanford(!))
#14 Miami (lost to unranked UNC)
#10 Iowa (lost to #11 Ohio St.)
#15 Houston (lost to unranked UCF)
#24 USF (shutout/blownout by Rutgers)
I meant “It was ugly” not “I was ugly” even if the latter might be true…(smile)
It’s difficult for me to know when other teams are bringing their best game or when we’re playing in a way to make them look good. This is why I apprecite the comments of Quinn, Markell, Ben et al. But I can’t help feeling like our defense didn’t show up like they did in Laramie. As an aside, I never thought I’d actually feel sorry for the Utes. But having been at the game where TCU handled us, I know the sick feeling in the pit of their stomachs.
anyone else think UNM looked better than Tulane, USU, CSU and UNLV?
if that UNM team shows up next week they’ll beat CSU.
good comments
I had a feeling this would happen. Every game I’ve watched UNM, they show signs of greatness (right before they fall apart). We were lucky to get the win.
Hall seemed to be throwing short quite a bit tonight. And, yes, probably should have run a bit more. Not to just Harvey either.
Defense looked poor on many plays, but Jan really saved our butts in the end.
A W is a W.
Also, the shellacking down in Fort Worth was a beautiful thing! Maybe it will shut the Ute trolls up for a week or so.
Hall was mediocre at best. Missing reads and missing throws. He mixed in some excellent throws at critical moments; otherwise, his day would have been less than average.
Unga. I don’t know what to say. He didn’t look tentative to me. I was not a fan of the play calling with regard to Unga. I haven’t quite figured it out yet. The pitches to the outside or the runs around the end. It just didn’t seem right.
Receivers were fine with the exception of Jacobsen turning into Greg Ostertag on that important third down play. Good to see Chambers with some more touches. I didn’t see the offensive PI by Chambers but, given how physical he plays, I’m guessing it was appropriate. I don’t know what he said to the ref to draw that second flag, but it must have been bad, because I’ve seen players protest calls way more than that without getting flagged.
Andrew Rich. Awesome. Brian Logan. Anyone who has questioned his ability should now apologize. Jorgensen was unremarkable for 57:00 minutes but who cares. Pendleton and Bradley were solid. Both made some mistakes but played reasonably well, particularly Pendleton. Everyone else on defense, extra laps. Lots of extra laps. That was ridiculous.
Goal Post: MVP. Nothing else even close. BYU’s best defensive player is an inanimate object cemented into the ground at the back of the end zone.
I agree that a lot of teams play their best game against BYU. But that is no excuse. There is no way that an 0-10 team plays a top-25 team that closely. It just doesn’t happen. Had that game been against Air Force, BYU loses by 17. Uninspired football. No emotion. I don’t think I even care about execution anymore (I’m certainly tired of hearing everyone talk about it). I just want to see an emotionally inspired BYU team that looks like they want to be on the field. I only saw that desire in two players today. Brian Logan and Andrew Rich.
I was at the game. First of all, it was cold. I don’t know if you could tell this on TV, but this is the type of cold that creeps on ya. It’s nothing like Laramie, Colorado Springs, or even Provo cold, where it chills you to the bone but you know what to expect. There was rain droplets from time to time, and then the sun would break out through the clouds for a few minutes. Then the clouds would take over again, and it would seem like it was colder than it was a half an hour ago. Very weird whether.
The Lobos were ready to play this game, and they had something to prove. They’re trying to end the second longest losing streak in the NCAA. Who better to do it against then the team that has beaten you the last 5 times in a row? BYU appeared to me like they could never find their rhythm. I don’t know why, but things were not in sync. I may argue that the ball was acting a little flat due to the cold air–hence the Lobo’s crazy kicking game and Max Hall under-throwing much of the game. However, Porterie didn’t seem to have the same problems passing. If I had watched this game on TV, I would’ve thought that BYU came out flat, but our defense worked their butts off. They were on the field way too long and gave it their all to pull of this W. They earned it. At the end of the game I was able to give the players high fives from the stands, and you could tell who the defensive lineman and backs were without looking at their numbers. They were all beaten up, breathing heavy, and had smiles on their faces. The rest of team did not look too happy.
This was the first time that I have ever been able to go to one of the firesides. I loved it. I have been wanting to shake Bronco Mendenhall’s hand for some time now, to thank him for all that he is doing for our school, and I finally got my chance. I have a lot to say about the goodness of that man, but it is all gospel related and I decided to not post that here. He is one of my hero’s and role models for sure. One thing that I noticed is that the Medenhall’s still have a special place in their hearts for New Mexico and the time they spent there. I don’t know if this contributes to the way these games turn out, but the respect is definitely there.
All in all, I really enjoyed my time in Albuquerque and at the game. It was closer than it should have been, but there never was a feeling of panic or a fear that we were going to lose. I hope that we made some good noise. I screamed my lungs out. I was a little frustrated at our cheerleaders. They keep miscuing the fans to chant while we have the ball, and then to chant stupid things like “Hold that line” on third down, when we need to be making as much crazy, chaotic noise as possible. Somebody should train those guys.
Wow…… I thought I was negative…
BYU…. Is a better team than showed up.
It’s hard to finish the season after a game like that.
Pull it together fellas…
I don’t know, Quinn. I’m thinking “Why am I not very excited for this week” may have been a harbinger for how this game turned out. There may have been a few on the team feeling that way, too. This was one of those trap games. I’m just happy we pulled it out! After seeing USC get waxed by Stanford and Utah by the Frogs, I’m happy with the W. Nuf said.
Shawn,
I understand that your disappointed that we didn’t blow the Lobos out like everyone expected us to, but let’s not overreact here. This isn’t the first time a “good team” has found themselves fighting for their lives against a team they were supposed to handle easily. We’re obviously not a great team but we’re not a bad team either. People keep bringing up the field goal thing. There are a lot of coulda, woulda, shoulda, mighta stuff that happened for both sides during the game. Assuming they make the FG’s then whose to say BYU wouldn’t have reacted differently and got back on offense with more effectiveness? I don’t know but the fact is BYU won and they lost. Whether BYU deserved it or not is a moot point. It’s on to the next game now.
I have to agree with what Attu,AK had to say, too often Anae goes away from whats working, and when he sticks with somthing, it is usually whats not working, Anae seems too stuborn to change. Im suprised, with Renolds up in the box with himduring games that things havent been discussed about Anae’s play calling disability, or game plan deficiency.
I also think thatUNM payed out of their heads, but if BYU is as good as they think they want to be they still shouldn’t have been stopped on so many drives. Refer to my above comments.
I think the D is improving or atleast they rushing morethan 3. I would like to see them blitz on 3 down almost every time. and on 4th, treat it like 3rd down. I really like watching Logan. I wish everyone else had his skills and heart. Could you imagine him in a linebackers body, wow!
Is it that BYU doesnt have the skill? Or is it that the cordinators cant make the adjustments? One you can recruit and teach, the other has to be replaced
Also, my heart goes out to Terance Hooks, Thanks, Terance for all you have given.
That was a tough game, but I have some good things to say about it:
1. We won. It may not have been pretty, but when the pressure was on, they pulled out the stops to prevent them from score, and in the end, that’s what matters. Finally saw a little bit of what Jorgenson can do at the end when he and Clawson held NM back.
2. Max held his composure and made things happen. So, we had a couple turnovers, I’ll cut him some slack since it had been a while since we’d seen an INT, and that is a good improvement. OH! And how can I forget a TRICK PLAY!?!? Did you see it? ‘Atta boy, Max.
3. TCU slaughtered Utah. Off topic, but, I am now confidant and Utah and BYU are pretty even (although I wish that were not true) and we should be in for a tight, stressfu, exciting l matchup in a couple weeks. I love a good football game. IN the meantime, we’ve got a touch Air Force team who has put up a fight against the best teams in the league so far, and BYU hasn’t handled that kind of pressure well.
Wat to go, Cougs. And I have to agree with Oceanographer’s post listing the top 25 losses…yesterday could have been even worse! What happened to USC??
I’ll be praying for Unga to have the strength we need these next two weeks.
And condolences to Terrance Hooks, he is one heck of a player and a guy! He’ll be missed on the field.
After that game, I will agree with whatever Pizzaman has to say. Wow, that was ugly. But in the end, the only stat that matters was in our favor. For some reason I am not worried about AF. Even after that performance in New Mexico. Utah on the other hand, worries me a great deal.
I’m going to stop posting and Robb Cundick can sign his posts with “Ki” at the end from now on. It was a great day for this BYU alumnus born at the UCLA medical center. Both BYU and UCLA pulled out wins. The Utes and the Trojans and BOTH had a double nickle laid on them. Will be interesting if USC even makes the top 25. They shouldn’t, but they have so much “National Respect” they will.
We’d better start game planning for Joe McNight RIGHT NOW.
I was following the BYU game on ESPN GameTracker and THAT is an interesting way to follow a tight football game… Can’t tell you how happy I was with the two sacks at the end.
I don’t mind another “down” week next week as then we will be peaking for the most important game of EVERY season.
Ki
Gooch’s question says it all: Who are we?
No idea.
UNM beats CSU no problem.
I talked to Dennis Pitta today and he said he thought UNM was much better than Wyoming. But then we talked about how Wyo played Utah tough and he said, “I dunno man, some teams just match up better against other teams.”
I don’t think we consider matchups enough in college football. It’s practically the only thing considered in baseball (pitcher vs. hitters), and it’s a huge consideration in basketball. Why not the same in football? It seems to only come up when a freak like Jerry Hughs is lining up on a guy like Alletto. Why not make mention of the matchup between each BYU O lineman and each UNM D lineman? Because isn’t that like…i dunno….HUGE in terms of who is going to control the pace and the tone of the game?
I just bring it up because maybe UNM had some matchup advantages on BYU that a team like UNLV or Wyoming really didn’t have.
WearBlue
your correct , my bad on the kicking game. I was hiding behind the couch. Ya know it helps on thoes field goals. I’m going to stick with that plan.
Vase,
Great points about matchup. I totally agree. UNM obviously had a matchup for our D that was more difficult than Wyoming’s. I don’t think that there was a big difference in the quality of players (Wyoming vs. UNM), and I doubt that they would get up any more for this game than they have for any others (though maybe I’m wrong and other teams really despise BYU that much and just want to hammer them).
That said, let’s assume that Harvey’s ankle injury was more worrisome than it was lead on to be. Does Anae lack that much confidence in Kariya, Di Luigi, AND Tonga to not continue to pound the ball? On the last three series that the team had, no runs (except the Kariya fumble). How hard to defense that is it? There was no room for a play action pass? I recognize that Chambers foul and subsequent unsportsmanlike really messed that drive up, but it got messed up on 1st and 10 when they attempted a pass instead of softening up the D with a run. I would love to see some stats on 1st half vs. 2nd half, especially in close or losing games, for run vs. pass plays by BYU. I realize that when you’re behind you have to pass more to save clock time, but in a close game, eat up the clock, wear down the opposing D, and rest up your D!!! I give hats off to our D in the 4th quarter mainly because they made important stops when they had to have been exhausted. UNM had a huge time of possession advantage, and with the way they spread their offense, the LBs would have to have been running themselves ragged.
Gotta run the ball…
Looking at common opponents, this leaves us with no new insight into the upcoming Utah game. Wyoming has an axw to grind with the Utes and played much better against them at RES than against BYU in Laramie. The lobos got killed at RES, but I’m not sure they would have fared better in Provo. I’m looking forward to watching the Aztecs play Utah next week. I think SDSU matches up well with Utah in terms of team speed and athleticism.
In the meantime, BYU better get ready to take care of business against Air Force. Teams that throw the ball do well against our secondary, not just because our secondary is weak, but because we don’t pressure the QB enough. Hopefully, our D-line and LBs will do a better, and in the case of the LBs a smarter job of containing the cadets so our secondary doesn’t get torched by their slow, but disciplined white guys.
We saw our D-line come alive when, on the last drive, we were in danger of going down to the worst team in the country last Saturday. We are going to need more of that during the final two + one games this year in order to make this a good season.
I’m still thinking they need to re-consider the Haka.
DW
Does it seem obvious to anyone else that Anae was obviously holding Unga back for 2 reasons. #1 He wasn’t needed as much to beat an inferior Lobos team. #2 They want him to break the all-time rushing record at home. Why let him break it in Albuquerque when you don’t need his yards?
The week to week preparation of this team is sorely lacking as is shown by this Jan Jorgensen quote “It was a battle that shouldn’t have happened. We got dragged into a dogfight we never should have been in.”
By now I would hope that Jan would have realized that every game is a potential dogfight no matter who BYU plays. Hopefully the team’s play was a result of actually looking ahead to Air Force because BYU seems to need 2 weeks or more of preparation to play well. I had hopes that the Wyoming game was a sign of a turn-around for the offense but I was wrong. One week appears to be too short of a window of preparation for BYU.
BYU’s offense continues to be the problem in these games where BYU struggles. UNM’s defense allows 35 points per game. BYU scored only 24 when they average 35 points per game against better defenses.
BYU’s defense allows 21 ppg, and UNM scored 19 – but against a team that usually scores 15 ppg so while the defense allowed more than they should have, they came closer to doing their job than the offense.
I disagree with Boyd’s assessment of the defense. Once again we were getting beat in the trenches. With the exception of the last few minutes, our defense never got any sort of penetration and the quarterback had all day. Give a QB that kind of time and they will make you pay. They have got to get more pressure on the QB.
Ummm, still attracting everyone’s best game? Did you watch the Wyoming game last week? Yeah, BYU often gets a team’s best shot but often that’s just an excuse for why BYU didn’t execute well. This game was more about BYU playing below its capabilities than it was about the Lobos playing above theirs.
I never look down on a win, and never look up at a loss. The team won and that’s great. All I can hope now is that the team uses this near disaster to motivate them to focus the next two weeks against two solid teams. Beat AF and KILL Utah! Oh please beat Utah this year, I can’t go another year listening to those idiot Ute fans in my office for another year! BYU is a better team than Utah this year, just as inconsistent as EVER!
Angels on the goal posts, that’s the only way I can figure it. A kicker hitting the goal post once or twice in his career I can understand, but 4 times in one game– those things are only 6 inches wide, lots of space on either side of ‘em! On top of that a great block by Rich, and a failed two point conversion—
Only explanation—Divine intervention—!
I wonder if any of our players— were asking the golden question?
Bob
I was going to say something much earlier but Oceanographer beat me to it. Just imagine if you were a fan of the Mighty Trojans (my 2nd favorite team…I’m from SoCal) and you were sitting there at 7-3 and had just given up 55 points to Stanford? By the way, two final things: 1) would you like to play them in the L.V. Bowl? 2) Do you think we should be ranked ahead of them (are we better than them?
See you at the game on Saturday…please everyone (especially Legends fans) wear blue.
Common opponents is a fool’s game, so many other variables enter in week to week, but I found it interesting that among BYU/Utah common opponents, we have scored 101 more points, the Utes just 61.
Which means nothing when it comes to the rivalry game, just thought I’d point it out for those that are overly concerned about how Utah did better against NM than we did.
Regarding running Unga, his last 8 carries were for 11 yards. We did a poor job run blocking and I really don’t think Unga’s ankle was up for the challeng.
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