AP Photo David Zalubowski

I seriously don’t know if I am going to be able to take nail biters every Saturday. I loved close games when I was playing, but as a fan I want to see domination and physical play. However, at the same time I have accepted that each game will be close and BYU has the ideal team to win any game that goes down to the wire.

How much confidence do we have in our BYU offense? You can talk about the turnovers or the penalties, but you have to tip your hat to the offense’s ability to win the close games. One thing that was hard for me to swallow with this game was that CSU continually found ways to generate emotional momentum. Until that last drive CSU had a serious answer to every possible momentum swinging BYU play.  That’s why this game was so exciting, disappointing, fulfilling, and ulcer causing.

I mentioned last week that I liked the identity our team was developing. The 08′ BYU team is becoming a team that never doubts their abilities to win. Our team could have given into the emotion of CSU’s performance, but we fought tooth and nail for every yard, completion, tackle, and point. After Max threw the ball to CSU’s corner, our team could of cast their gaze towards the heavens and went to the bench defeated. Instead the offense, lead by Hall, stood ready to win the game, taking the field with that specific purpose.

I wouldn’t say we deserved to win the game; in fact we played the most horrifying football BYU has played in 4 years. Yet, when the game came down to the offense needing to score a touchdown, they did. When it came down to the defense needing to knock a ball down to end the game, they did. I am excited about the heart and resiliency of our team and thank goodness we have SDSU at home.

If we take a look at each position you’ll see why we weren’t able to pull away from the Rams earlier in the game.

Offense:

Offensive Line

The line had a rough start. The Rams brought a lot of pressure, especially up the middle and from the edges. A lot of credit needs to go to the Rams defensive coordinator who called great blitzes. One way CSU got to us was by bringing a safety just behind the linebackers. The speed of the safety made it hard for our offensive linemen to switch and communicate who would be blocking who. In addition, when our offensive line would slide to pick up the blitz, the running backs weren’t winning their individual battle against the backside rusher.

The best thing about the offensive line’s performance is that when the game was on the line they were nearly perfect. It helped that during the last drive CSU was only bringing three or four, but they did a good job of creating a pocket.

I hope everyone on the line can heal up in time for the SDSU game. I am sure there are a few banged up bodies on our offensive line.

Last thought- how about Ray Feinga getting a big paw on Harvey’s long touchdown run. It was just what Harvey needed to get him into the open field and touchdown.

Running Backs

How tough is Harvey? How disappointing have Diluigi first carries been? What happened to Fui late in the game?

CSU was stacking the box all night. They also brought a lot of blitzes in order to neutralize the running game. It is tough to establish a running game when there are guys blitzing from everywhere. The Ram safeties were playing very aggressive against the run and I don’t know of a blocking scheme in football that accounts for the safeties.

Harvey did a great job cutting back and fighting for every yard. Fui was running like a man possessed, but he must have gotten hurt because he wasn’t anywhere to be found towards the end of the game.

One thing I am worried about is Harvey’s body. He has taken a lot of punishment during the last few weeks. Without a solid number two back, Harvey has needed to shoulder a lot of the responsibility for our run game. I am hoping that Fui, Latu and Karyia can take some of the pressure off Harvey next week so he can recover for the Air Force and Utah games.

Quarterback

Turnovers and fumbles aside, Max showed a lot of leadership and courage throughout the game. He had great stats and found the match-ups that needed to be exploited. He also scrambled for good yardage, which kept drives alive.

Fans normally have the “what have you done for me lately” attitude, and frankly, Max did the right things very late in the game and pulled out the win. Did you see his eyes as he looked towards the sideline for the next play. You could see the determination and focus in his eyes.

Moments like the CSU game form a players legacy. Throwing up a hope and dream on the final play of the game that drops right into the bread basket for a TD to win the game. That’s why you play the game.

Wide Receivers

All I have to say is Austin better be an All-American. He is consistently playing against double teams and still produces yards and touchdowns. There are only a couple of wide outs in the nation that produce as consistently as Austin has throughout this year. He’s good and would still be good whether playing in the Pac-10, ACC or SEC.

Mike has been a silent partner as of late. He is struggling to get open and hasn’t been able to create open space.

Tight Ends

Our offense basically put the game in Dennis’ hands and he didn’t disappoint. He made numerous catches in crucial situations to insure that BYU left Fort Collins with a win.

Defense:

My personal feeling is that our defense’s problems hinge on the defensive front’s inability to put pressure on quarterback, and our developing inability to stop the run. We aren’t helping ourselves in coverage, but there are numerous other problems that compound our coverage mistakes.

What good came out of the game? We won, our secondary got their hands on a few balls, and once again when it came down to someone making a play to win the game….they did.

Defensive Line

The biggest problem is our defensive front’s inability to put pressure on the quarterback. We are bringing some pressure but no one is winning their match-ups and getting to the quarterback.  Jan is getting continually doubled.  Even Russel is also occasionally working against double teams. This leaves a tackle and a defensive end one on one. Additionally, our Will linebacker has a one on one with a tackle, but I’ll address that later. I understand that we don’t have the optimal pass rushing defensive linemen, but when we are stunting and blitzing, someone has to get in the quarterback’s face. Farris had plenty of time but was still getting the ball of quickly, which only made or defensive situation worse.

Until someone other then Jan or Nixon can consistently show they are capable of putting pressure on the quarterback, our passing defense will continue to struggle.

Our defense’s run defense is somewhat of a mystery. To date our defense has done a decent job of stopping the run. Saturday we just didn’t match CSU’s intensity in the trenches. Stopping the run boils down to who can play more physical. Scheme and zone blitzes play a role, but the biggest contributor to stopping the run are players that physically beat on the person in front of them.

There isn’t a secret formula. We have to be more physical up front. Our linebackers need to play down hill and our D-linemen need to play gap heavy and occupy the offensive linemen. It sounds simple, but it’s hard and we aren’t doing it right.

Linebackers

This is the first game where we really missed a weak side linebacker’s presence. Clawson has played well until Saturday’s game. Our weak side consistently surrendered the edge to the Rams and allowed the running back to get loose up the sideline. This forced Kellen to make a lot of tackles from his deep coverage and made our defense more susceptible to deep pass routes and trick plays.

Give some credit to the Rams because they played a good game, but we made them look a lot better then they really are. I still believe that our linebackers aren’t playing down hill fast enough. They are letting the linemen get too close – and when a linemen gets some cloth to hold onto, you are not getting away. We missed Vic Soto’s physical presence against the Rams. We need those backside players to hold up against the run and to play very physical.

We also need a linebacker to come free on a blitz. I understand that teams in our league have seen us enough times that they know what blitzes are coming. If Baumann, Doman, Ah you, Clawson and Co. want to be remembered they need to develop the kind of techniques and attitudes that make them unstoppable.

I am still waiting for a big hit from this years linebacking core -and when I say big I mean lights out.

Secondary

Howard knocked down a ball and was very close on a few others. He also withstood a couple of deep shots, which CSU took in the first half. I think his play has improved since last week.

On a negative note, we lost Scottie Johnson and Brandon Bradley to injury. I know I saw Bradley hobble off and Scottie played the first half and then wasn’t seen after the intermission. Bradley was playing well and I hope he isn’t hurt too badly and can come back and play the final two games.

Until then Steven Thomas has to fill the role of boundary corner. He is a RS freshmen from California who is a solid tackler and has decent speed. He is a young version of Scottie Johnson and Ben Criddle. He climbed the ladder to make a play on the final CSU drive and will have to continue making plays as teams are going to test him early and often.

CSU ran some tough routes to cover. 15-yard comebacks are very difficult to cover and CSU throws them very well. As I mentioned before, the main problem we are having is that our defensive backs are forced to cover these difficult route combinations for a long time due to the lack of pressure. The best way we could help our secondary is to come up with some blitzes that teams haven’t seen and will get some pressure on the quarterback.

Defense is a very team oriented and interconnected. If one group struggles, it is difficult to compensate with a different position on the field. Everyone has to do their job in order to be successful.

Our defensive front couldn’t control the running game, which forced our safeties to get involved. That opened up the play action passes and trick plays, which were difficult for our defense to cover the whole night.

I am still impressed with the character of our team. They understand that one play can win or lose the game and until now our team has made enough plays to win games. I don’t know how long it will last, but you can’t say it’s luck. We’ve done it too many times.

The important thing this week will be getting the defense to respond to adversity. Our coaching staff needs to make enough adjustments to clean up the communication and assignment errors, but they can’t do too many new things. We are going to have some young players on the field and the best thing to do is let them play. Give them enough schemes to make them successful, but ultimately players are going to need to make that one play to secure the victory.

Go Cougars.

Florida State is down late to GT and probably won’t be able to come back.

Minnesota fell to the Northwestern Wildcats on the final play of the game. Minnesota’s quarterback threw an interception, which was returned for a touchdown. This heartbreaking play put the Wildcats up as time ran out.

Florida and Alabama rolled, which means Florida still controls their fate in the SEC. If Alabama can escape next weeks LSU game unscathed they might be able to punch their ticked to the National Championship game.

It is looking like the BCS might have to make some tough decisons. Penn State could be undefeated, Texas, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Alabama, Florida could all be teams with one or two losses to some very highly ranked teams. I’ll tell you what I wouldn’t want to be the BCS computer in the next few weeks.

Doug Pensiger/Getty Images

The Colorado State defense has been about as consistent as a defense could be, especially in limiting offense’s big play. They use well-schemed pressures and athletes in different positions in order to create mismatches. Sometimes their scheming works and sometimes it hurts them. Early this season the defense had to play a lot of snaps and learned quickly that if they don’t give up the big plays their team will have late opportunities to win the game. They are also a “bend, not break” type of defense.

Scheme:

CSU runs a 4-3 and their best players are their safeties and outside linebackers. The defensive coordinator uses a variety of blitzes and pressures in order to confuse and disrupt the offenses blocking schemes. He also blitzes the safeties a lot, which, if timed right, can leave a safety with an unblocked path to the quarterback. Their defensive line stunts include a lot of twists. The twists are used in hopes that the center and guards aren’t communicating and switching off defenders.

CSU uses some very basic zones, mostly cover 4 and a Tampa Two. Cover 4 is where the field is divided into quarters and a Tampa two is a two deep zone with the middle linebacker dropping deeper to help with any middle post or deep drag routes. CSU also plays a lot of man and man free coverage’s along with zone blitzes.

One thing that hurts their coverage’s is that their defensive linemen aren’t great. They often can’t win their one-on-one match ups, which put stress on the secondary to stay in coverage longer.

CSU also uses a nickel package quit a bit, when they feel that they aren’t matching up well in long yardage situations.

Defensive Line:

This would be CSU weak link on their defense. They aren’t particularly fast or big, but they do play their gaps and make the play when it comes their direction. Their best lineman is the right defensive end, #91 Tommie Hill. He has a decent pass rush and a couple of moves that allow him to get pressure on the quarterback. I also noticed how long his arms are and that is a sign that he has the right body for the defensive end position. With long arm he can swat the O-tackles hands away and keep space between their bodies. He can also swat down short passes.

We match up extremely well as long as our linemen communicate well when they bring pressure.

Linebackers:

In past years CSU has had great linebacker play which has enabled them to stay in games. This year they aren’t the strongest at linebacker. Their starters are #10 Jeff Horinek, who is the voice of the defense, #56 Ricky Brewer who isn’t the biggest but moves well from sideline to sideline. The last player is #6 Mychal Sisson a freshman from Indianapolis who impressed me with his nose for being around the ball. He has the size of a strong safety, but plays physical enough to be an outside linebacker. Sisson is also a good pass rusher who makes plays all game.

This line backing core is decent in coverage, but struggles when the offense runs directly at them. They give up a lot of size to our offensive line, and I think we will find a lot of success between the tackles.

One thing that I noticed is that their inside linebackers run around a lot of blocks. They don’t stand in their and deliver a blow, to make the play. They try and position themselves to avoid the block and come in late to grab a leg. If CSU is going to have any hopes of stopping the run I believe they are going to have to stack the box with eight and hope their corners hold up in coverage.

Safeties:

CSU uses a few different safeties but their play makers are #13 Mike Pagnotta and #20 Klint Kubiak. These two play well in the running game and in coverage. The Ram defense revolves around these guys coming up and making sure tackles in open running lanes, blitzing to get pressure on the quarterback and being able to match-up against slot receivers in coverage.

I would expect the Ram safeties to be very sore by the end of the game. Where we need to be careful is when our running backs are fighting for extra yards and these guys are around. They are very good at getting a helmet on the ball and causing fumbles.

One area where they struggle is in their basic zones. When CSU drops into base coverage’s there are a lot of holes and throwing lanes. I would expect their coordinator to come after Max with a vengeance.

Corners:

Their corners are young and give up a lot of space underneath. #30 Thomas Gerard is the weak link. He is a freshman and vulnerable. Like our corners, they give up the underneath routes, hoping that we won’t be able to move the ball consistently both on the ground or with underneath throws.  Their corners also bail out a lot. This is when the corner lines up tight to the receiver and than turns and runs out fast when the ball is snapped. If Max is able to read the safeties and use the corners momentum he will be able to hit a 10-12 yard pass on almost every snap.

I wouldn’t expect too many deep balls, but if we are able to run the ball forcing their safeties to be involved in the run game there will be deep ball potential. Just don’t do I-formation play action, with Austin running a streak. PLEASE!!!

This isn’t the best defense we have faced, but CSU has always played us tough at home. I would expect a similar performance to last week. We should be able to move the ball consistently and if we can get some big plays early I don’t think they will be able to hold us to under 30 points.

My prediction is a very good game from Max. Dennis will once again play a big role in our offense’s production. CSU will devote more defensive attention to Collie, which means Mike and Co. are going to need to step up.

I am hoping that we can get an 18 carries 100+ yard day from Harvey, but with the success we will have through the air I don’t think he makes it.

Go Cougars

But each year had it’s own memories as well…

In 2004 I was a walk-on freshman and converted LB, previously a safety. I had started the first two games of the season, but I wasn’t ready for the college game yet. I hadn’t figured out the technique I needed to be a LB. Needless to say, by the time the CSU game came around I was a reserve player, backing up all 3 linebacker spots. The point of emphasis that week was to keep the running QB, Justin Holland, inside the pocket (Sound Familiar?). At half time we had not accomplished this. My coach was not too happy. He was laying into us, and when words weren’t enough he grabbed someone’s shoes from under the bench and threw them across the locker room. We didn’t know whether to be in fear, or start laughing.

In the second half I went in for a play, which sent me on a linebacker blitz. I took a bad angle at the QB missed the sack and let him scramble, breaking our contain. I was pulled out of the game immediately. In the LB meetings on Monday my coach said, “Look at that Markell, you go in for one play and you screw it up. Hell of a deal huh? Still wonder why you’re not playing?”

That was good motivation, when we played AFA, I led the team in tackles.

In 2005 we played CSU at home. The emphasis that week was on a certain CSU pass play…”Scissors”. This is when they line up two receivers on the same side of the ball about 6 yards apart. They run straight for 12 or 15 yards than cross; one to the post, one to the corner. It was their signature route. We practiced that play a thousand times during the week.
When they ran it during the game it was a non-issue -ah sweet success.

I also remember Coach Mendenhall calling a saftey blitz. The blitz called for the two inside backers and the safety to blitz up the A gaps. I hit the blitz hard, took on the RB and spun off. I had the QB dead in my sights when out of nowhere comes Corby Hodgkiss and just blasts the QB. It was awesome. Finally to end the game, Bryan Kehl rushed the passer and almost getting the sack. Bryan than sprinted downfield to where the receiver had caught the ball. Bryan arrived to the ball carrier just in time to recover the fumble and insure a BYU win. Coach Mendenhall showed Bryan’s fumble recovary over and over in our team meeting on Monday. It was an amazing display of athletisim and hustle. It was a fun night for us youngsters.

In 2006 we were back in Ft. Collins. I had recently returned from my hamstring injury and still wasn’t playing too much. I remember in the third quarter going in and CSU completing a short pass to the flats. As I pursued the receiver I got that feeling like I should probably have my head on a swivel. I turned my head just in time to see a receiver about to ear-hole me. I lowered my shoulder and took the hit. I was relieved when I say the play in meetings the next week. I saw him just in time so it looked like I got the best of him. What everyone in the meeting didn’t know was that the WR caught my head just right and I blacked out for a few seconds -I also didn’t come out of the game.

2007 was a great game. We were determined to stop the CSU rushing game and we did. The Predator -Gartrel Johnson, please reference the above pic- didn’t get over 100 yards on the Cougars. Three plays I distinctly remember from that game: First drive of the game they were moving the ball. They were down around the 10 after a big play action pass. Pre-snap read told me it’s going to be a screen, and sure enough it was. I was all over it. I hit Gartrel right as the ball sailed over his head. I think the QB just threw the ball away when he saw that I was all over the Predator.

In the 3rd quarter they threw a pass to the flats and I was in pursuit. I got that feeling again -what is it with CSU? Nobody else ear-holed me in 4 years- this time it wasn’t a receiver, it was a big TE and my head was not on a swivel. All I could do was duck my shoulder, but he got me good. I was a little dizzy, but somehow found my way off the field. The next play was a 40+ yard run to my side I was like, “Crap, I need to get back in there.” I was still a little woozy when the next play began. As the play progressed the guard pulling my direction. The gaurd caught me flat footed and planted me like a seed into LES’s turf. That’s when I decided I’d better get my wits about me and went to the sideline.

I always liked playing the Rams. CSU like to simply line up in 21, 12 and 22 personel and try and run the ball down your throat. Then they go to play actions pass. It was LBs dream game. Bring on the Run!