Deep Shades of Blue

Let’s get the bad news out of the way…

5 WORST THINGS:

5.   Not Dominating Washington.  At the beginning of the year perception can be detrimental to the psyche of the team.  We went into that game thinking Washington was supposed to be a good team.  They had a lot of hype around them this year coming in.  We were content with playing them tough and being ahead by a score.  Hindsight is 20/20 right?  Reference No.2 for this, but it would have been great to come out and stomp them like we did the UCLA and Wyoming.

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After thinking about the Cougar’s and Ute’s situations I am left wondering if the build-up and anticipation of Saturday’s game is diminished because of BYU loss? The Utes lived up to their end of the bargain and enter the game with an unblemished record. BYU suffered a demoralizing loss to TCU, but has since rebounded and is once again playing good football.

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AP Photo by Denis Poroy

Due to injuries and early heart wrenching losses SDSU is very light up the middle. They have good sideline-to-sideline speed but have a hard time standing toe to toe with their opponents in the trenches. After some bad losses in recent weeks this SDSU team is coming into Provo with desperation in their eyes. If our offense or defense comes out and lays an egg on their first series it could end up being a long day. BYU instead must comes out and blast SDSU straight in the chest, they won’t be able to withstand the disappointment, and the day will be ours.

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Photo by Mark Philbrick/BYU

With the SDSU offense there are a few things that concern me and a few things give me a lot of hope. Let’s start with what concerns me. They have enough athletic ability to take a simple run or pass play and break it loose for a big gain. They also use the spread formation a lot because they have the speed and ability at the WR position.

Know that the bad news is out of the way here is the good news. Their offensive play calling always comes back to some simple concepts and plays. Their offense starts with the ride play -not the ride option, simply handing the ball off to the running back and letting him work. After that SDSU uses their speed and agility on the edges and they will run a lot of WR screens/bubble screens. They’ll throw the ball to the slot receiver and someone in the secondary has to make a play to get their team out of a series.

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“I thought it would be interesting if I wrote a post game report along with Quinn just to be able to compare how we each viewed the game. I am at a slight disadvantage in that I am limited to watching the game on the mtn (who continues to impress me with their incompetence as a sports network) so my angles are a little different. Thus I will not go into great detail but give more of an overview of the day.

Today was a great day for the Cougars. Was it a blowout -like we are used to against UNLV? No, but it was the win we needed at home to maintain our dominance at LES and to get us back on track and re-focused on our goals, 1) Go undefeated at home and 2) win the MWC. There were a number of things that gave me some encouragement today, and still some things we need to work on. More than that, this is the second time this season that we have finished the game and out executed our opponent when the game was close. The sign of a good team is one that finds a way to win the close ones.

Here is what I saw from the Cougars today:

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This video is of Penn State’s stadium when they do a white-out. Each fan wears white and they also have a white towel that they wave during the introduction and game. It looks amazing and shows the fans loyalty and dedication to supporting the team. It would be hard to pull off, but could we?

We would need to first organize 64,000 small blue towels, and then we would have to hand them out somewhere outside of the stadium. BYU doesn’t allow anyone to interfere with people getting to the (more…)

10.  I am putting this one first, I DO want to see Utah and TCU win.  I think it will bring more positive attention to the conference and it will set those games up to be “must watches.”  It could also continue to shake up the top 25 and help the stars align to get us another national title….. I didn’t stutter.

9.  I DON’T want to see anyone get injured.  Injuries are something BYU has avoided in recent years and can hopefully continue to avoid.  We need to get up early, sub guys in, keep everyone healthy.

8.  I DO want to see more turnovers caused by our defense’s physical play.  Fumbles don’t just happen, they are forced, whether it’s a big hit, stripping the ball, or knocking the ball out of the quarterback’s hands.  Early turnovers last week helped us create emotion and momentum, as well as a short field.

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September 11, 2008

I’m sorry this is off topic, but I had to bring it up.  How could you expect your team to be focused on a huge game when you have Snoop Dogg handing gatorade out on the sideline?  I guess the USC AD has 150-200 sideline passes for this weeks game in the Coliseum.  These passes will go to former players (OJ Simpson, please), administration, rappers, movie stars, and who knows who else.  Maybe Lauren from the Hills, just as long as Heidi isn’t there.  I’m not mad at USC, I am just saying I would rather have my players worrying about who they are playing on the field not who they are going to high five after a TD.

Who could we get on the BYU sideline?  Donny Osmond?  David Archuleta?  Larry Miller?

Here is the articles link from the Los Angeles Times:

http://www.latimes.com/sports/college/usc/la-spw-uscsideline11-2008sep11,0,2090427.story

There is always some sort of a home field advantage.  Whether it is being familiar with the game day routine, or the crowd, or not having to travel.  I always felt so comfortable playing in Lavelle Edwards Stadium.  I would arrive at the stadium walk to my locker, go get taped-up and drink a Powerade.  Then I would put on my socks, pants and cleats and walk out the tunnel to the field.  When I got to the field, I would walk down the home sideline to the opposite goal line, across to the center of the field and then make my way back to the other side of the field.  I would see the same stadium employees in the corners entrances.  I could recognize each dip in the field and I loved the stillness of the stadium before it becomes filled with anticipation and noise.  I know every athlete has their own specific ritual or tradition and that routine always felt better when we played at home.

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