BYU’s Win Can’t Hide Glaring Weakness
Taysom Hill scores against Weber St. (BYU photo)
As expected, BYU rolled over Weber State 45-13 on Saturday. What was unexpected was the way the Wildcat defense held its own along the line of scrimmage.
After struggling to run the ball between the tackles last week against Washington State, the primary focus of the BYU offense this week was to improve its run blocking.
However, the Cougar offensive line once again had its troubles and was unable to move the Wildcats from the FCS off the ball for much of the afternoon.
The Cougars did finish the game with 225 yards on the ground, but closer inspection reveals that that stat is deceiving.
Wide receiver JD Falslev got 53 of those yards on one carry around the right side, while the three BYU quarterbacks combined for 52 yards on QB draws, wildcat plays and scrambles.
BYU’s three primary running backs on the depth chart — Michael Alisa, David Foote and Iona Pritchard — combined for just 76 yards. Alisa had 53 yards for the game, but got 21 of those on one play in which he was able to bounce it outside. Take that run away and Alisa ran the ball 10 times for just 32 yards — a 3.2 yard average.
David Foote also averaged just 3.2 yards per attempt and finished the game with 16 yards on five carries. Pritchard, meanwhile, managed just seven yards on the ground on two carries. Not exactly the kind of performance that BYU was looking for after averaging just 3.0 yards per carry last week.
There were high hopes for this offensive line coming into the season. The big news coming out of fall camps was that these guys had dropped weight and gotten in better shape. But so far the improvement in fitness level hasn’t translated into better play on the field from this group. The fact that a Big Sky team could stymie the BYU running game between the tackles is alarming.
Mark Weber and his linemen need to have a gut-check meeting and decide who wants to play this season and who wants to sit the bench. One might be able to point to the fact that the starters along the line had limited opportunity to work together during fall practice as an excuse for their poor performance in week one against a PAC-12 team, but there is simply no excuse for not dominating a defense from the FCS.
The inability to run the ball between the tackles against both Weber State and Washington State is a big cause for concern as BYU now goes on the road to face the defenses of both Utah and Boise State in a five-day span. If BYU thought that moving the Wildcats or Cougars off the line of scrimmage was difficult, wait until they get a load of the Utes and Broncos.
It’s becoming apparent the offensive line could be the unit that keeps BYU from having a special season if it doesn’t make dramatic improvement in its run blocking in pretty quick order.
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What you said. I’m beginnig to wonder if the “lean, chisled offensive lineman” approach is the right one; maybe we need some big hogs back in there. After watching parts of several other games today, as well as the UCLA-Nebraska game in its entirity, I found mself thinking: “Look, this particular team is pushing forward, opening holes, and making yards running. When am I going to see BYU doing that?” The first opponent we face who can provide a strong pass rush and do a going job covering our receivers is going to shut our offense down completely.
I was really surprised with the lack of push and control of the trenches. Our passing game looks pretty good and I think Lark and Hill looked great if something happens to Riley. So I agree, the biggest risk to a great season is our offensive line.
I wouldn’t be too hard on the offensive line—even if its play at time is offensive to the Cougars fan base. The strength of the Weber State Defense was its defensive line. That being said, we ran the ball quite well going outside of the tackles.
I couldn’t believe I kept begging us to run it to the outside… Gut-check time boys! Literally.
A couple of solutions:
1. Keep the D-line on the field for 60 minutes.
2. Locate Grimes.
I agree with this article 100%. The frustrating thing is I believe there is plenty of talent among these offensive linemen. The problem once again is that you have a group of hogs in Provo that are under-achieving. The time is long overdue that Bronco takes a hard look at letting Mark Weber go. His offensive line units have consistently under-achieved for years now. Every year it seems like the offensive line looks good on paper; quality recruits, lots of size… and then suspect production.
I believe the biggest issue is Coach Weber’s personality. I’ve often heard that he is a “player’s coach”, a really funny, cool guy that the players like. That’s fine and dandy for recruiting, but what about the principle that player’s take on the personality of their coaches? I have to seriously question, is Coach Weber coaching these guys to be nasty, to play with a mean streak and chip on their shoulder? To be a great linemen you have to play with some serious toughness. Our hogs always seem soft.
It is my opinion that we desperately need a coaching change on the O-line, and we need to bring in a coach that is going to demand toughness and grit from these guys. I am sick and tired of seeing under-achieving offensive line units.
Brett,
You said what needs to be said. There are too many Cougar fans burying their heads in the sand on this issue. The way I see it – it all comes down to what kind of team you want to see BYU become. If you are content with 10 wins against mostly WAC level competition, and don’t mind seeing them get curb-checked by Utah every year, then this level of performance from the O-line will suffice. But if you want to see BYU take it to the next level, like Bronco says he does, then this level of performance is woefully inadequate. It is clear to me that there is a different culture between the O-line and the rest of the team. The rest of the team, particularly the defense, with a much higher level of intensity and ferocity. Nasty is the word I would use. They don’t just want to make tackles, they want to punish the opposing team. I don’t see this from the O-line though. They look soft in comparison to the defense. This culture can be traced back to the O-line coach. Weber is known as a “players coach”. Someone who gets along really well with his players and jokes around with them in practice. That’s all fine but I want to see him coach his players to be mean and nasty as soon as they step on the field. Having their QB take a sack or get flushed out of the pocket on almost every snap should make them furious. Seeing their running backs getting tackled in the backfield or stuffed up the middle should be like insulting their mothers. This is what it takes for BYU to play with the big boys and if this is what ends up holding this team back from having the kind of special season that Bronco keeps saying he wants to have then it will be high time for a change at that position group.
Mike M nailed it. Weber has to go. He has proven himself to be an ineffective coach.
The fat man approach didn’t work. The slim down version isn’t working, but how is 350 pounds considered slim down? Maybe it’s time for a better on line coach… Another weakness could be the play calling. We will see in the next 3 to 4 weeks, when they start playing against a decent defense.
Brett,
Whats your take on Weber? Is there any “fix” for the season? – in regards to Weber. Rarely do you see a team change this with out a coaching change. Can you do that during the season? (I know, kinda drastic, but I’m a fan with unrealistic expectations.)
I do believe we have talent on the O line but it seems like the last three or four years we have been underperforming. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Weber go after the season, but I think we are stuck with him and underperformance this season.
-Dave
I actually heard from an “inside source” that Weber is on his way out, but they are having a difficult time finding a replacement. Bronco is being very picky about coaches and finding an LDS coach with the experience and priorities he would like is creating some challenges to replace Weber so they are basically just hanging on to hornate now.
Dave & others,
I agree that this offensive line has under performed in recent years under Weber’s watch. The other issue is that individual linemen have not seem to progress much, if at all, from their freshmen and sophomore seasons to their senior years. That perhaps is the biggest indictment of the current situation and coaching. There is simply no excuse to have virtually no push against a 1-AA defensive front that will likely get worked by McNeese State and Eastern Washington in the next couple of weeks.
Catmanblue,
Grimes is as Auburn. No chance he is leaving the SEC of his own volition in the near future.
I strongly agree with Doman’s mandate this off-season that that these offensive linemen slim down. The obese lines of the past were so out of shape that they looked like a bunch of guys who had swallowed a goat. Now that Doman wants to make BYU’s offense more uptempo, these linemen must be in better shape.
The issue with the under-achieving has nothing to do with these guys slimming down and having better fitness. I am convinced it has everything to do with technqiue, scheme and sheer will and toughness. Translation, these guys need to be coached up!!!
Matt Reynolds was an ESPN 100 recruit coming out of high school with all the talent in the world. He never progressed in the program. His paltry 25 reps on the bench press for the NFL scouts is proof positive, and his lack of even getting drafted in the NFL draft (after once being considered by analysts as a potential 1st round pick) is all of the evidence we need that these guys are not being developed and coached to maximize their potential.
Look at our current crop of under-achievers, there is real talent there as many of them were not just recruited by, but offered scholarships by BCS conference schools:
Houston Reynolds: held offers from Oregon and Stanford
Manaaki Vaitai: offered by Baylor
Michael Yeck: offers from Kansas, Kansas State, Utah
Blair Tushaus: offered by Arizona State
Ryker Mathews: US Army All-American with lots of big time offers
Braden Hansen: offered by Stanford
Ryan Freeman: offered by Arizona State, Utah
Braden Brown: offered by Oregon
Now… somebody please tell me how in the world that a group, among whom most of the 2-deep was recruited and offered scholarships by BCS conference schools, can have a hard time getting push up front against a Big Sky conference team???
They are clearly under-achieving due to poor coaching, and the biggest travesty in all of this for the viability of the program as a whole is that the offensive line is one of the few talent pool positions that BYU has the ability to regularly recruit big-time talent at. There are no excuses for BYU to not be able to put together a dominant offensive line. NONE.
My fellow Cougar fans are funny. The Sky is Falling! The Sky is Falling!
Play calling may be an issue as well. Most teams can stop a run play if they know where it is going. Our first offensive play in the Washington State game was a run up the middle. Against Weber State our first offensive play in both the first and second half was a run up the middle. All three resulted in little or no gain. I might strain a vocal cord screaming at the TV if the first play against Utah is a run up the middle!
The byproduct of slimming down was to allow the lineman a greater ability to keep up with the nitro offense. The fact that the Oline is improving throughout the game means that they have a better stamina, which is essential to being a great “finishing” team. We may not make a huge push in the first 2-3 drives of the game, but if that is the expense of a huge push the second half, then I’ll take it.
Granted, the jury is still out as the team is yet to play a true quality opponent. If we can maintain the “improving” aspect of our push and have a good push in the second half of the next month and a half’s worth of games, then I say the slim down approach is working.
Is Riley hurting our run game?
I know we are throwing stones at the O-line and at Weber and perhaps there is plenty of blame deserved for both of them but my feeling after that game on Sat is that Riley hurts our run game – big time.
Defenses are gearing up to shut down the run knowing that Riley’s weakness is his arm. We can see that, certainly they can see that by watching film. You know Utah will shut down anything between the tackles.
We convince ourselves that Riley’s superhuman leadership and tenacity overcome his poor arm but against good teams we will be reminded once again that it really is a weakness. This isn’t meant to throw Riley under the bus – just an honest assessment of his talents. They are many but very little of it resides in his left arm.
BYU’s run game has always succeeded in the past because teams coming in planned and focused on our strength, which has for years been our passing game. Now no one has to do that. We have no real passing game. The success we have had is only because teams are spending most of their energy shutting down our running game.
Against good teams we will look like we did against TCU last year. No run game and too many turnovers in the pass game. Riley just does not have the arm to exploit a defense that is concentrating on shutting down our run.
If you have a basketball team that has a great inside offense but poor outside shooting, teams will plan to pack the middle of the paint and slow your big guys down. If the outside guys aren’t hitting shots then you lose – and you lose big. It doesn’t mean your big guys or your inside offense is bad, it just means that the other team sold out to take that away from you and you had little else to capatilize on their decision to do that.
Riley’s best feature is his tenancity and his feet. His worst feature is his arm and sometimes the decisions he tries to make with it. I’m not so sure all the blame can go to the O-line and Weber.
Until we have a QB that forces a defense to play our passing game honestly then we will continue to struggle with the run game regardless of what our lineman weigh and who our O-line coach is.
the positive effects of a leaner line will manifest itself as the season progresses. Fewer injuries as knees do not have to hold up under the extra weight, and fourth quarter endurance will improve. An extra 30 lbs is greate early on but as the season progresses my money is on the leaner line to improve.
Gary,
It is true that with Riley in the game, defenses are more inclined to stack 8 men in the box and dare him to beat them with his arm but I don’t think that is the main cause of the struggling running game. The offense had the same problem in the first couple of games last season with Heaps at QB and we all know what kind of arm he had. This may be an offense where we will have to set up the run with the pass instead of the other way around.
For what it’s worth, we ran the ball well against Utah last year before the game out of hand and we had abandon it to catch up. I think we will see a much more gritty performance from our O-line on Saturday.
These days, many teams have the talent through their 1′s to compete with most other programs, even moving up a level. While I too am disappointed with the results of our O-line’s effort and result this season, some of it should be in context.
If a team determines they are going to force the opponent to beat them one way and tailor their defense accordingly, that facet of the game becomes difficult. For example, look at the Alabama-W. Kentucky game from Saturday.
Is there any doubt that Alabama is vastly superior to WKU? However, Alabama only ran for 103 yards on the day – less than 1/2 of their average from 2011) and their QB was sacked 5 times, despite the fact Alabama’s O-line had a 45 lbs-per-man advantage. This is because WKU decided that, if they were going to win, they had to take away the ground game and force Bama to beat them through the air…which the Tide did.
I see a similar vein thus far in BYU’s season: teams are going to force us to get yardage through the air. Thus far, that’s been fine as we’ve outscored our competition 75-19. So, while I concur that the play of the o-line could be better, if teams are going to load the box and force us to pass, we just need to be successful w/ the pass. Take what the defense gives us and exploit that.
Weber was stacking the box keeping 7/8 guys up to stop the run maybe that was as much of the problem as the o line not doing their job. I have to admit I was thinking the same thing at the game. Brett what do you think could this be part of the problem and maybe it isn’t such a problem after all.
You know that I agree with your analysis, Brett. It is spot on. Furthermore, Weber is responsible for OL play and has to be held accountable. What gets done at practice will go a long way to determining the level of play along the O-Line in games and Weber should make sure that his guys are getting the teaching that they need to succeed. Whether it is nastiness or fundamentals or both, there needs to be more of it.
Grimes did it with his OLs, Roger French did it. Why can’t Weber get it done?
Noticed there has not been a great push from our offensive line and not a lot of holes to run through when I watched the game. Then we went to the U of A vs. Oklahoma st. game. The wildcats offence looks a litle like BYU, up tempo with mobile QB. Our RBs through 3 1/2 quarters were getting 1-2 yards a carry then 4 th qtr these huge OK def line (they looked bigger than our off line) got worn down and we got about 4 25 yard runs straight up the middle. OK st had a huge offensive line and our def front is not too good. OK moved th ball at will our guys got BLOWN off the ball. With a weak front 7 on D these games are nerve racking to watch. With Arizona up 14 in the 4th the crowd knew it wasn’t over and OK could come back. My point is I think a great defensive front may be more important wich BYU has. I don’t think any team will march down the field an put 650 yards on BYU D. My pit bull’s name is Bronco and I live down the street from Robert Anae. He thinks its funny!
Seasider, I readily admit I am not an expert. Perhaps there are some who have played or coached the O-line who can see obvious weaknesses in personell or coaching that my untrained eye can’t.
I do think that our QB’s passing ability, not being a strength, plays a role though.
One thing I will politley disagree on though is your comment about Heap’s arm. I am not a Heaps basher and wish he would have lived up to his billing. I also wish him the best of luck in Kansas. Regardless of his football ability he handled his situation here with maturity and class.
As a passer though I would rate him slightly below Riley. Yes he had a great arm but our passing game as a whole under his leadership at QB was dismal.
Heaps seemed to only have one throw and that was a tight spiral, bullet of a throw. He had no touch. It looked great, but too many times he had wide open receivers who had beaten their man deep and he would throw a strong armed thrown on a rope that the receiver had no chance to run under and catch unless it was a perfect throw and often it wasn’t perfectly placed.
Many complained about our receivers dropping balls when he played and blamed our poor performance on them rather than Heaps but even short passes he looked like he was trying to throw the ball through the receiver rather then to him.
Lastly, he was jittery at best. 7 on 7 he was apparently a world beater but put a few big college DL players coming at him with a vengeance and he couldn’t get rid of the ball soon enough. He rarely progressed past his 2nd read and often released the ball within a 2nd or two, even if it meant forcing it into a tight window.
I don’t think defenses last year feared our passing game under Heaps anymore than they do now. I know Utah didn’t. They were perfectly content to stack the line and stop the run and pressure the QB rather than lay back and play coverage.
That strategy is why we had most of our 7 turnovers.
Fortunately we have great receivers. That makes up for Riley’s poor arm. They are able to adjust routes and catch balls that most receivers don’t catch and they have to with the way Riley chucks it up sometimes.
Maybe our strong receivers can overcome some of Riley’s weaknesses and we can still have a good season.
I am not saying that the sky is falling, and I do think that Gary makes a very good point about opposing defenses stacking 8 in the box and daring Riley to beat them with his arm. That is exactly what I would do if I was an opposing D coordinator. But a team like BYU should be able to knock an FCS D-line off the ball and get 4-5 yards per carry running between the tackles. Instead, they were actually getting pushed back, and BYU could not run between the tackles hardly at all. The only way they were able to run the ball effectively against Weber State was to take advantage of their speed and bounce it out to the edges. They will not be able to do that against Utah or any of the other good defensive teams they will face this year. They probably won’t be able to do it Utah State either. And it is not just the Washington State and Weber State games that we are talking about. As Mike M points out extremely well, there has been an ongoing pattern of under achievement from this unit going back the last 3-4 seasons. Just look at the huge improvement in the defense since Bronco took over in 2010, and how they play with toughness and tenacity. I just don’t see that from the O-line and I can’t help but wonder what they could look like if BYU could get someone who could turn around the O-line the way Bronco turned around the defense. That may be all BYU needs to take that step and become a truly elite program.
Oline coach needs to get these guys fired up. The first week we saw WSU linemen flying through the protection. We need to call more sweeps to the outside and let Alisa get wild, with calling QB sneaks for 5-8 yard gains to keep them honest. Taysom Taysom Taysom
I may be wrong, but I don’t agree with the premise of the article/author.
Every fan in the country will use this excuse or a version like it, “..if we only didn’t have that interception, we would have won…” etc. etc. etc.
So, I guess almost 250 yards rushing doesn’t really matter if you take away this one 60 yard run, take away this one 30 yard run and let’s throw in this 20 yard run and gee willikers, we only had 140 yards rushing. Sorry Brett, but I think your assumptions border on stupid. You aren’t, make that clear, I like your articles, but your assumption that we can’t run the ball, based on your ‘exception rules’ just is not bright and I can’t disagree more.
We put up almost 550 yards of offense against a team that appears to be pretty good and will compete in the Big Sky Conference….. 550 yards btw, using a starting QB for only 30 of the possible 60 and two different back ups for the other 30.
I don’t know Weber and have never met him, so I can’t weigh in on his coaching, but I can weigh in on the fact that it was that O Line that allowed BYU to run up 550 yards of offense.
I’ll take that every game, thank you very much.
ogmson,
The point is that BYU isn’t getting anything rushing up the middle against less than average defenses. It won’t be as easy getting to the outside on Utah, Boise State, Notre Dame and G-Tech. There is no excuse for not getting a push in the center of the line against a Big Sky team. Period.
It’s hard to block when you’re not in a down stance. The lineman point to where the ball is going it seems to me. I hope they’ll work things out.
Gary
Some rushing stats just for fun. Not trying to be contrary or beat a dead horse, love the site.
Against WashSt. 41 att – 123 yds – 3.0 avg
Minus Riley’s #’s 29 att – 105 yds – 4.2 avg
Against Weber 37 att – 225 yds – 6.1 avg
Minus 2 long runs 35 att – 151 yds – 4.3 avg
WashSt. rushing 16 att – (-5) yds – (-.3) avg
Minus 2 long runs YIKES
Weber rushing 43 att – 115 yds – 2.7 avg
Minus 2 long runs 41 att – 64 yds – 1.5 avg
Utes rush vs. NCol 47 att – 198 yds – 4.1 avg
Minus 2 long runs 45 att – 159 yds – 3.5 avg
Utes rush vs. USU 42 att – 96 yds – 2.3 avg
Minus 2 long runs 40 att – 69 yds – 1.7 avg
Against Utah the bears of Northern Colorado averaged 3.0 yards per carry if you count just the running backs.
Against Utah the Aggies averaged 4.7 yards per carry.
I like our D-Line and our O-line better than Utah’s so far. Hopefully we will win in the trenches on Saturday and on the scoreboard.
I haven’t been on their board but if we are calling for the head of our O-line coach and taking our O-line to task I can’t imagine what the Washington State board must be like.
Numbers never lie, Gary. Nice analysis. Still doesn’t change Brett’s point, which is we couldn’t get the push up the middle like we would expect to against lesser competition, but also using the same “rule of exceptions”, 4+ per carry isn’t bad.
It’s amazing to me that Riley can be blamed for the running game. Those of you who think that can you not remember that Max Hall didn’t have a very good arm, neither did Detmer or Sarkisian, some of the better quarterbacks at BYU. Watching Riley this year he’s thrown some pretty good balls, and even last year he threw few interceptions compared to Max Hall. The bottom line you should be able to run against a team like Weber even if they know your running. It does concern me and for those who are not your closing your eyes. We have good enough running backs to run the line doesn’t create any holes and that is a concern. I agree with earlier posts that it seems to be coaching thats the major issue. Doman needs to also call plays better around that and do misdirection and spread the field sideline to sideline, which could hide this issue a little. Let’s hope they make the changes!
I think we are in trouble. What happened to the animals at O line we used to have. I also wonder of part of the problem is coaching. I am not convinced that Mark Weber has his players prepared and I am not convinced that Doman is calling the right plays. Beating these first two teams is not an accomplishment. We’ll know two weeks from now if the rest of the season will be a bust. In the end, we could be 8-4. If so we may be lucky!
I’ve noticed these last four years that it takes our O-line consistently 4 to 5 games to get up to speed on their run-blocking, and one of the main reasons our season tanks early. We have a lousy won/lost cumulative record for the first 5 games over the last 4 years and I believe the main contributing reason our seasons have tanked early!
It was more than glaringly apparent that Weber State’s O-line’s surge consistently punched through our D-line frontline(although the gaps closed quickly by our outstanding and speedy linebacking corps). But in stark contrast, Weber’s smaller but feisty O-line showed by far, the very kind of toughness I DIDN’T see in our own O-line against their smallish defense! It was embarassing to watch, being a small division program and we didn’t play the game honestly up on that frontline. Indeed this is a coaching issue and I hope that Bronco will get it figured out–sooner than later! Being this far into the ’12 season, it could be a little too late with the pattern of poor play already set in–just like in recent past years.
I know John Hunter had an immense amount of success at Snow turning out aggressive linemen that ended up on D1 squads and eventually in the NFL (like Deuce Lutui).
He was known as a bit of a loose canon when he was at BYU, so maybe that reputation has kept him off the list. He just took over the O-line at American Fork, coaching with Mike Empey.
One thing I know about Hunter, he would make sure those linemen were aggressive, just ask anyone who played at Snow while he was there.
Has anyone paid any attention to the past 2-3 years particulary to spring practice and scrimmages? BYU has not had its starters and veteran players available (injury etc.) so they put together a patch work offensive line. Then when August rolls around they seem to have most everyone back and try to build some chemistry in time for the season. That translates into 4-5 games into the season before the run game starts to materialize. If it’s a coaching issue, Bronco will deal with it.
I want to know whych it back for the QB has to run back to hand off the ball. Why can’t he do a quick toss sweep? Get the boys to the outside where they so far have been most effective.
If they are running the stretch hand-off to be able to set up the play action, so far the play-action has yielded two or three incompletions….. dump it and throw in a toss sweep to any of the backs.
BTW, I do think Riley is a liability to the running game. So far the teams we’ve played have dared him to beat them with the pass…. good thing the receivers are becoming like their coach and making great plays.
To correct the first sentence… I want to know why the stretch handoff?
Fatigue. : P
Brett- remember what I said about Blair Tuahaus being 270 and 30 lbs. lighter than each of the Centers we have had during the last six years and on top of that Coach Mendenhall said that he is getting his assignment and reads down, now her needs to start working on his blocking. Dah…OK he’s making the right calls for his fellow lineman now he just needs to block. Has anyone ever looked at him? Maybe you haven’t noticed but he doesn’t look like a lineman; his legs aren’t well developed and neither are his arms. We need linemen like Travis Bright; remember him, played right guard and held the record for bench press here at BYU and won the strong man title three years in a row. How about bringing him back (6’5″ 313 with arms the size of tree trunks) as the coach same age as Kelly Poppinga or how about asking Trevor Matich to coach.
Trevor Anthony Matich (born October 9, 1961 in Sacramento, California) Serbian-American. A former professional American football offensive lineman in the National Football League from 1985 through 1996. He played college football at Brigham Young University where he was a two-time all-conference offensive lineman in the Western Athletic Conference. He played center for the BYU Cougars when they won the 1984 NCAA football championship. He went on to play in the NFL for 12 seasons, mainly as a long snapper, before turning his attention to the broadcast booth. While playing for the Indianapolis Colts (1992–1993), he was nicknamed the “Hardest Working Man in Pro Football” due to his constant practicing and warming up on the sidelines.
The 49ers used to have a coach by the name of McKittrick who in addition to playing at Oregon State joined the Marines:
Born in Baker City, Oregon (then known as Baker), McKittrick attended Oregon State University, and was a member of the Acacia Fraternity played college football for the Oregon State Beavers, helping them to a Pacific Coast Conference championship in 1956, playing in the 1957 Rose Bowl. [1] Following graduation from Oregon State, he served as an officer in the United States Marines Corps for three years.
From 1961 to 1964, McKittrick was a linebacker and tight end coach at Oregon State, helping the team reach the 1962 Liberty Bowl and the 1965 Rose Bowl. He followed Beaver head coach Tommy Prothro to UCLA in 1965, where he coached in his second straight Rose Bowl with the Bruins in 1966. From 1971 to 1972, he was on the offensive line coach of the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams. From 1974 to 1978, he was an offensive coach with the San Diego Chargers. [1][2]
From 1979 to 1999, he coached the San Francisco 49ers offensive line. During his 21 years with the 49ers, the team won five Super Bowls (Super Bowl XVI, Super Bowl XIX, Super Bowl XXIII, Super Bowl XXIV, and Super Bowl XXIX) and 13 NFC West championships. [1] McKittrick is one of only four coaches, the others being George Seifert, Ray Rhodes and Bill McPherson, to be a part of all five of the 49ers’ Super Bowl-winning teams. WE NEED A TOUGH HARD-NOSED GUY LIKE HIM!
Finally, how about my Niners going into Lambeau Field and beating the Packers for the first time since 1990. Not even the great Steve Young did that but Alex Smith has. Go to this website and see Coach Herbage give his post-game locker room speech. Man this guy can coach and he said they beat the packers with their minds first. That’s it, we need to go into Rice Eccles this Saturday and win with our minds, we’ve got to believe that we can beat them and then we will!
I am one of the few and maybe the only one who predicted a win against the Utes and in case you all forgot, here was my post back on August 17 when Brett predicted we would be 11-2 and lose to the Utes and Georgia Tech:
Brett-
OK, first of all, I am donating a $20 gift certificate to the winner of predicting the team’s record this season and I will volunteer if you need help in listing all of the predictors.
OK, here is my prediction (I think team will beat the record of the 06 defense that only gave up 14.7 points/game even while playing a much tougher schedule):
1. Washington State: Win 37-13
2. Weber State: Win 45-3
3. At Utah: Win 27-13
4. At Boise State: Win 24-17
5. Hawaii: Win 38-13
6. Utah State: Win 28-14
7. Oregon State: Win 38-13
8. At Notre Dame: Win 23-21 (Nelson is injured & misses next 3 games)
9. At Georgia Tech: Loss 21-20
10. Idaho: 58-12
11. at San Jose State: 26-13
12. At New Mexico State: 57-10 (Nelson returns)
Scored 424 points (35.33 points/game) & give up 163 points (13.58 points/game)
13. At Poinsettia Bowl: win but don’t know who against of the score so we end up 12-1 and ranked in the top 10 in both polls
Our Cougars can redeem themselves and quiet all our talk about no push from the O-line by going up north and man handling Star and the Kruger brothers. GO COUGS…WIN WITH YOUR MINDS & HEARTS!!!
Since I was at the game on the 45 yard line on row 7 of upper deck, I had a perfect view of the both teams, something I often don’t get on TV. I only read the first 1/3 of the comments, but not sure if anyone noticed that Weber State was stacking 8 in the box on about 65% of the 1st and 2nd down plays and sometimes even 9 and a couple times i saw 10 stacked in the box. I didnt see alot of great running up the middle, but frankly, Weber State was daring Riley Nelson to beat them minus a starting Recieve (Ross Apo). They were absolutely trying to give up nothing on the run. So, through the first 1 1/2 quarters, the time of posssession was equal and the score was only 7-0. It was working for Weber State. Once Riley got his groove going in the 2nd quarter, they started going back to 8 and then 7 in the box. They almost never ran nickel. That is what Washington State and Tulsa did last year. As long as Riley Nelson can be efficient with the ball, and cut down on his bone headed throws, that will open up the middle and we should see some better inside blocking.
THAT being said… I completely agree that the interior Offensive Line is the weakest part of the team. You essentially have 3 newbies on the line, and especially the center, who is the “quarterback” of the line… he is trying to snap the ball, tell the rest of the line who to block, then exectue his own block. That is ALOT for a new guy to handle. Give Tushaus some time; I am hopeful their inside efficiency will improve with experience.
Walt,
Tushaus is probably the kind of center Mckittrick would’ve preferred. He liked smaller finesse linemen who could get the job done with technique and being assignment sound as opposed to just physical strength.
Seasider-
I don’t know who or what your source is because I was a season ticket holder, knew some of the players and hung out with the team but you are partially correct. Yes, he and Bill Walsh like smaller and quicker players (Randy Cross who played center and guard was 6’3 260 lds.)who were assignment sound and that it what Mike Shanahan learned from him and took with him to Denver. But, they (Walsh & McKittrick) did not want just finesse & non-physical lineman. McKittrick was a retire marine and he coached like a marine drill sergeant. I don’t know if you have ever been to boot camp but I have and that was in the Army but my son is a marine and what he shared with me is worse, three times harder than any coach puts his team through in two-a-days. MCKittrick tortured his linemen and taught them to play tough, nasty and mean. They were smaller, yes, Walsh was way ahead of other NFL coaches and his teams did very little hitting, but they trained fast and had to be precise but his lineman were warriors who gave everything they had mentally & physically. Coach Weber is soft & doesn’t coach like McKittrick but when our lineman get tough, nasty and physical and can win the war in the pits (the defense already does this) then we will play much better offensive football.
I am going to post this in Brett’s article today because I disagree with him. Yes, Nelson does have to play his best game, BUT THE GAME WILL BE WON IN THE TRENCHES OR PIT, LIKE IT ALWAYS HAS BEEN AND STILL IS TODAY. If you study the characteristics of great offensive linemen you will find that one of them is that they are defensive minded and play like them, nasty, mean, physical and tough and we have not had very many like that here at BYU lately. Travis Bright & Ray Feinga were two that fit that description.
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