TCU Post Game Wrap-up
This game was defining for all the wrong reasons. The streak is over, the -not a quest for a perfect season- Quest for a perfect season and the hopes of a BCS game have been dashed on the rocks of frustration and humility at the hands of the Frogs. That game was hard to watch and is hard to write about. Normally I look for the positives of our teams performance, but after last night I can only wait to see what happens next week. It was a serious slap in the face by a team that honestly wanted it more than we did. We might of wanted not to lose it more than the Frogs, but we didn’t want to win it like they did. (I hope you get what I mean. It was like an MMA fight where one guy wants to punch and knock their opponent out and while one guy is eating fist, the other fighter is trying to pull him to the ground. They are both still fighting but one fighter is on the offensive and the other fighter is fighting not to get knock-out.)
It was a game where everyone at every position was out played. Man for man, position by position, we got beat. Don’t get me wrong, we have a good team and I do still believe we are a Top-10 program, but last night our “good” team was beaten like they stole something. What I can’t understand -and what bugs me the most- is where the spirit and passion went. Where was Fui screaming like a maniac, where was that bounce in our step and bob in our heads? Where were those young brash players that had won 16 games in a row. I want to see the team that loves simply playing the game -having fun. I can honestly only remember a couple of plays where I thought, “OK…we can make something happen here” and after that thought passed we threw an interception or we were forced into a third and forever or #85 bounced it outside for another crucial third down conversion.
That was just an old fashion shellacking, and I might need to add an extra H or L to emphasize how bad we were beaten.
Man that game hurt, but we can’t do what so many other BSC buster hopefuls have done. We can’t implode after a tough loss. There are still good things on the table. TCU still has some tough league games ahead of them and lets hope the boyz in red can pull off a win against TCU in Rice Eccles Stadium. We could than split the championship between all three of us after we beat Utah. A partial championship is better then NO championship. So brush your tears aside. The welts will fade and remember there are always blue skies in the distance. Let’s start a new winning streak, we have a lot of young talent. How about 17 games starting now, no wait…….. ……now.
Well it has come time for the sobering analysis. (Settle in folks, if you saw the game you know what might be coming.)
Offense
Steady has been our downward spiral. We as fans where spoiled at the beginning of the year, weak opponents gave a false sense of our offensive development. Now we have been beaten and it will give our players and coaches a new perspective to assess our performances. If our team uses this game wisely, they can learn a lot and can make huge strides throughout this week of preparation. Oh and our offensive staff needs to pow wow and come up with a few more plays. I backs, off tackle iso/ play action, Collie going deep isn’t cutting it anymore. Oh and smash route with Dennis running the corner has resulted in more completions to the safeties and corners -in the past three games- then to Dennis. Just an FYI.
Offensive line
Despite the offensive statistics, I thought the O-line did…..we OK. When Max dropped back to pass he had a decent pocket, time to assess the field and good throwing lanes. Yes, Max was pressured more in this game then in all other games combined. We also haven’t played a defensive front with the speed and talent of TCU. I think Max could have helped his line out by dropping back deeper or not moving up in the pocket as far. I wouldn’t blame the lack of a running game on the big fellas. They weren’t give a chance.
Last year against UCLA’s Davis he gave up multiple sacks and that game and last nights game have one thing in common, SPEED. When do we start looking to the future and give RJ Willing, Terrance Brown and Jesse Taufi a chance, to show their abilities. I am not saying lets bench some guys on our line, but lets evaluate performances objectively and see if a healthy competition improves a players performance.
I give them a C, but their performance will be seen as poor because their signal caller had a tough night and the running game was forgotten.
Running Back
First of all I hope, Harvey evaluates his priorities and begins to use his head a little more. He is a great kid, but he is a kid. He made a selfish choice at a bad time, which drew attention away from the task at hand. Lets hope he learns from his mistake.
The backs in general weren’t involved in the game that much. They didn’t have any significant catches and I think Harvey only had a couple runs where he looked effective. What I would like to see are Tongan backs who are punishing people on their way to a five yard gain. Lets understand what kind of backs we are. We aren’t going to take it the distance. We are going to punish a few guys, and slow the defensive rush.
Get back to doing that and your carries will increase and the offense can again be productive.
Wide Receivers
They haven’t been open in two games. Partly because of the route combination’s and partly they were out performed by the corners. The only balls they caught were on double moves or they were in serious traffic and immediately tackled. The TCU corners had chips on their shoulders tonight and they were out to make a statement. The corners sat on routes, were physical in press and most importantly made plays. Austin and Mike couldn’t create separation and if they did the window of separation was too short and the ball didn’t come till after the corner had recovered. Timing was off and -in a pass happy offensive scheme- if that happens you’re a fish out of water.
Like I said above I was just looking for some passion. A big block, a move after a catch, just something that told me they are passionate about their performance. Mike, don’t get frustrated that you can’t get open and pull a bush league move like you did. Show more class and hustle back and make it happen the next time. You are great players, but it didn’t show last night. It will be gut check time next week, so what’s it going to be…feast or famine?
Tight End
Dennis was throwing his body around and Andrew only got a few touches. I still think we need to get George involved more. He creates a tough match-up for opponents and with Collie and Pitta drawing double teams we need to find a third guy. Mike was that guy, but hasn’t returned from his surgery yet. George is that guy. Dennis, just keep catching the ball when it comes your way. Hopefully you won’t separate your shoulder diving for balls.
Quarterback
The stage was Max’s tonight and he didn’t leave the Cougar faithful wanting more. I am not going to rattle off statistics or anything like that. Mostly because I personally don’t care about statistics, I care about WINS. Max has gotten respect because he has won games. He lead our team to 16 straight -so lets not forget that. Did he hold onto the ball too long last night….yes (but he did that all last year too.) Did he zero in on receivers and throw into tight spots…..yes (but again, he did that last year.) In last nights game he simply paid for his bad habits. He has made similar mistakes in the past and people said he was gutsy, but now that he isn’t getting away with it people are starting to question his abilities.
Max excelled at the beginning of the season because he spread the ball around and got rid of the ball quickly. He needs to get back to taking what the defense gives and being smart with the ball. Dennis and Austin are great players, but teams are taking notice. They will not be open all the time, the well has been pumped and will need to be primed until it is ready again. Spread it around, lets work the slot receivers, lets hit the running backs out of the backfield. Make it easier on yourself Max.
We have fallen victim to the long ball. She is a fickle beast and when she is pissed we struggle as an offense. A great offense doesn’t depend on the long ball. A great offense uses the long ball to throw the knock out blow -alla UCLA & Wyoming. It doesn’t throw the long ball with hopes and dreams. We can’t be a team that depends on a bomb to Collie every game. UNLV will be a great game to get back into an offensive groove. Lets work the timing routes and hopefully a receiver can get some separation and make Max’s throws a little simpler.
Defense
Well….we looked like we were in quick sand, you can’t coach speed. That’s just something you have to combat with technique, leverage and effort.
Defensive Line
I thought these guys did an admirable job at stopping the runs up the gut, but we didn’t do a good job of containing their speed and forcing the ball carrier back towards the pursuit.
Jan tried to strap the squad on his back, but he couldn’t get any help. They didn’t consistently win the one on one battles. With speed backs a defensive linemen can not stay blocked. They have to shed the blocker and get in a position where they can make a play on the ball carrier. Our guys had Frog linemen all over them all night, which made it nearly impossible to get a paw on the ball carrier (no pun intended).
Also, our stunts were ineffective. We often brought pressure up the middle, which caused the backs to bounce to the outside. They were supposed to run into a containing end but instead found green grass. In order to be successful down the road, our ends are going to have to stop trying to get sacks and instead complete their job within the defense to insure the collective success of the defensive unit.
Linebackers
With Nixon banged up no one stepped up to fill his shoes. We are weakest at the most crucial position on the field, Middle backer. That player should of had 15 tackles tonight and should be leading the team in tackles interception and sacks. The defense is built around having a dominate interior linebacker and well, we haven’t found the answer. Granted our blitzes didn’t help them last night, but when you are blitzing you need to come free and when you are in open space we need you to make the tackle.
Next week I think we continue rotating the interior linebackers and start shopping for a guy who is going to take the reins from Cameron and Kelly. With David nicked up, our defense lacked a leader who was going to make plays. A defense is useless if they aren’t making plays. Guys can be in the right spots all night, but if they aren’t being aggressive and making plays what is the point of being on the field.
Defensive Backs
I know everyone is waiting for me to lay into Bradon Howard, but everyone already knows he played bad. Lets talk about the collective unit. As a whole this group hasn’t been tested. Our corners were playing timid. They were worried about the speed of the TCU receivers and gave them too much cushion. Our safeties weren’t in position when they were in underneath coverage and our defensive line & linebackers didn’t get pressure which magnified the problem.
Where do we go from here? I think we start looking at ways in which we can mix up the DB’s. We need to find a combination of players that is going to give us the best possibility of stopping the pass. We can do some things in the scheme to help Howard or whomever, but it will put stress at other positions.
We have to be bend but don’t break, not bend and take it up the tail pipe. I am still waiting for a play maker to emerge. I am dieing for a big hit, an interception, a pass break-up, just something to let me know that their is some promise.
A lot of credit needs to be thrown Gary Patterson’s way. He had his teamed amped and foaming at the mouth.
Our Coaching staff needs to assert themselves to make sure that we don’t lay an egg at home against UNLV. When Lavell talked to the team in 2004 he specifically said you can not lose at home. Coach Mendenhall is in uncharted waters, he set the expectation and now he has to deal with the fall out. Coach Anae needs to get on the phone with his Texas Tech buddies and start drawing up some new route combination’s. Austin right and Dennis left is not working as good as it used to. Coach Hill will need to find out who “the guys” are that are going to start making plays. That means in practice guys better be making plays and in film sessions guy better be asking and answering questions.
It is going to be an interesting week for me as well. The monday poll discussion won’t be as fun, but don’t worry I’ll keep it light and we will have a good time. Don’t lose the faith, we still have a very good football team, we just got beat by a team that had more speed and was more diverse in their play calling and abilities. We need to adapt and progress. Next up UNLV, anyone have a good Las Vegas joke???
Well, the season isn’t over, the no.1 goal this year was win the conference and we still can, I just hate needing favors from Utah. The problem is we aren’t getting better we are getting worse. Quinn, as for the passion, I have seen that for a while, I seem to remember a certain no. 25 that was always fired up but I agree we don’t see it now. How come every team in and out of conference has a practice dummy with a BYU helmet or BEAT BYU!! painted on the weightroom wall but we don’t focus on beating other teams. Surely it’s hard to got fired up to smack someone if you don’t ever say “let’s smack TCU!” I may be way off with this comment, you’re the guy that’s been on the inside and i could be talking complete crap. Set me straight if I am.
GO COUGS we believe!
Well Bronco’s #1 goal was winning the conference. The players #1 was getting to the BCS and now that it gone their new #1 is putting themselves in a position to share a title. Team players talked like they really wanted to just win the conference, but deep down in their hearts they were playing for the BCS. But who knows we may get a shot if team continue to lose? A guy can hope.
Quinn-
Why is it that Harvey is the only one running the ball? WIth establishing a running game anytime he comes out it seems like teams know that we are going to pass it. Does the coaching staff just not have confidence in Latu, or JJ to come in and be a spark running the ball?
“the no.1 goal this year was win the conference… Well Bronco’s #1 goal was winning the conference.”
MWC is a joke. Conference victory always comes third behind winning the national title and beating Utah. At least we have a shot at the latter, a win which could salvage our season. Winning the MWC is little salvation, because again, it’s a joke.
Independent or PAC 10 anyone?
@ Mr. Gooch
I thought Bronco’s #1 goal was the Quest for Perfection and thus play in a BCS Bowl. Don’t tell me that this “quest” wasn’t about football because it was. He even brought it up in his interview with Jim Rome. Quest over….time to look forward to next season.
We didn’t run the football when they dropped 7 or 8, and so we lost. Way back in the Wyoming game, teams figured out that we can’t seem to be patient and run the football, even if they drop a bunch of guys into coverage. Every team since then has dropped 7 or 8 consistently, even blitz teams like UNM and (it turns out) TCU. Of course they look fast when they’ve got twice the people in the secondary that we do and they can double every guy! The sacks (with maybe one exception) were coverage sacks.
Harvey should have 25-30 touches a game when a team does that to us, and he only had 14. That’s why we lost. This is not rocket science, people. This was misuse of assets and misallocation of resources. I don’t expect us to adjust because we had the Wyo, Ut State, and UNM games as a warning and we didn’t adjust then. Why should the TCU game make a difference? We will just have to hope that the players can overcome the poor play-calling going forward.
The “Quest for Perfection” was misconstrued by the public at large to mean “go undefeated and make a BCS bowl game.” However, Bronco made it clear that wasn’t what he meant, but people took it that way.
For all you fair-weather fans out there, this season is NOT over. Right now, Utah has a rather large target on its back. It’s still possible that TCU will lose to Utah and we’ll beat Utah and have a 3-way tie for MWC champ. Not saying it WILL happen, but it’s possible. The Holy War is always an exciting game, no matter what happens during the season.
Lest we forget, we can still go 11-1 this season (which I honestly see happening), which is better than the last two regular seasons. There’s still much good to come of this.
And honestly, next season is looking rather good. We should have Tonga back, McKay Jacobsen will be off his mission, and I think we’ll have a stellar team.
All is not lost!! Don’t stop supporting the Cougs!
I agree with BYUsandtrap. We need to give the ball to Latu and JJ. We need to mix it up more and give the defenses a little more to adjust to or we’re going to continue to get steam rolled. Josh is right as well, Harvey needs to see the ball more. We need to run the ball more and balance out our offense if we expect to see improvement and move forward. That game was just ugly on both sides of the ball.
I was dissapointed with the lack of fire that BYU has been playing with. They don’t look like they are having fun. It looks like this has become a job or a duty. Especially Harvey, he hasn’t been running the same since the UCLA game.
I know going into the season I was excited for the Tongan Trio before we lost Tonga to academics. I thought in the UCLA game when we were playing a majority of our backups I thought JJ looked really good running the ball on UCLA’s first team D. I think if we can go back to running first and using the running game to open the passing game it will take the pressure off of Hall and the passing attack. Hall seemed to be jittery in the pocket and was trying to force himself to play well instead of letting the game come to him.
I keep seeing all over the place (even in the comments here) that the Quest is over. I think nothing could be further from the truth!
Of course the Quest had to do with football – Bronco even said so himself. Of course they wanted to go undefeated. But the quest was to perform their best and to learn and grow from their experiences. It seems to me that the Quest has even more meaning now. If the Cougars had won every game performing the way they have the past 3 weeks, what would they have learned? But now, their quest includes learning how to rebound from mistakes as well as disappointment.
The Quest goes on! In a way, Bronco is probably happy now, since people finally won’t misinterpret his original intentions (as they have been all season). Here’s to the players maturing and rebounding from disappointment!
Now im not trying to get you to talk trash on any of your former teammates, but ……. is it just me or is howard always always always getting beat ? if it hadnt been for us playing against some very inaccurate QB’s he would have given up 2 or 3 deep balls a game. It seems when he is thrown at the receiver is either way way open or when he is in position ( which is rare ) he has absolutely no ball skills and just flails his arms around hoping to get a good break and have the ball hit him. I dont know it just seems like he never knows where the ball is and is always getting burned, but has been getting fairly lucky all year. Quinn let me know what you think
I thought we have really missed Allen this year. I thing one change that they need to do is bring back the slot reciever instead of using exclusive two tight-ends. If the slot needs to be a smaller speedy guy with moves then put Covey there. But we need to be able to put in three wr’s when we need to that are going to make plays. This will take the heat off of Max if he will spread it around. I noticed though that having only 3 recievers going out on routes(one was a TE) was not getting anyone open.
What I would like to see next year is Collie and Jacobsen on the outsides and Covey(or someone else) playing slot and use it as much as we did in 2006.
I also agree the team looked very unmotivated and showed now fire in their play.
I don’t want ot trash talk anyone either, but I have to be honest. Brandon hasn’t made a play all year. Teams haven’t tested him all that much, but know that other league teams see some weak areas we won’t be able to hide him anymore. I would expect other teams to spread us out and either run -with an athletic QB- or throw the ball all over the field.
It will be interesting to see how the team bounces back next week.
This game literally made me sick to my stomach. At one point I had to leave the room and stop watching altogether.
Also, up until this point, I’ve liked how stoic Bronco is on the sidelines, but last night I was so mad that he and Anae (and the senior players for that matter), didn’t show any emotion (besides some ridiculous smirk on Anae’s face) while getting the worst beatdowns of their lives. Emotion and passion…TCU had it and BYU did not, and in my opinion the lack of passion started with the coaching staff and trickled all the way down to the players.
Let’s hope we can Utah beats TCU and we beat Utah
Every offensive coordinator that we have played prior to TCU should be fired. Throw toward #4 and you are guaranteed a first down. I’m pretty sure there were 40,000 people at the game last night that could have been just as effective as he was.
And it’s not that after we lose a game Max’s abilities gets questioned, its that he talks like he is so sick and should be the Heisman winner, and he’s better than JB when he doesn’t do anything. Shut your face and recognize that you aren’t nearly as good as you think you are. Throw the ball to George sometime.
My biggest problem with this game is that I felt TCU was just so much more physical than we were. I can’t remember the last time that I watched a BYU game (win or lose) where I felt BYU at least didn’t leave the other team hurting the next morning. I doubt TCU is feeling very many bumps or bruises today. It really looked like BYU was kind of scared. The big kid in school just got punched and come to find out he doesn’t know how to fight. I was looking for some passion, but I am beginning to think it wasn’t there because BYU was intimidated by TCU. We were being knocked down all over the field. They were ripping Pitta’s head off. We did not know how to respond to this level of aggretion. I can live with a loss, but to lose without even putting a fight goes against the concept of “band of brothers”, “honor, spirit, tradition”. The way we were beaten down last night concerns me more than the turnovers, running game, team speed… Anyone else see it this way, how about you Quinn?
Quinn,
“We have to be bend but don’t break, not bend and take it up the tail pipe.” Are you kidding me…classic, this blog is not only the most informative, but loaded with some great one-liners. I have a question about Coach Mendenhall’s approach to “all games are the same.” TCU had Y stickers on their tackling dummies, Utah has a count-down clock in their weight room, etc. It’s obvious that the better teams that want to beat us don’t treat this like “any other game.” I know consistancy is Bronco’s mantra, but when is the coaching staff going to account for the fact that TCU had been liked starved, rabbid dogs getting ready for this game? Utah is the same way, it seems like we don’t match the intensity of some of the league teams that don’t treat the BYU game as “just another game.”
Quinn-
This question is in response to the talk about Howard–though I too am not trying to bag on him.
I have read that Bradley backs up Johnson and Pitman/Howard. I recognize that there are two types of CB positions (field and boundary) but it seems to me that if Bradley is good enough to get on the field in the nickel, why not put him opposite of Johnson? How does that work? And assuming that Bradley is better than Howard, aren’t we trying to get the best 11 on the field?
Yes the players didn’t play well and I like how you mentioned that “every player at every position” got outplayed. But the coaches did very little to help the players out. There seemed to be no scheme or gameplan at all. Despite a back to back rough outings there were no visable adjustments made. For me this loss goes squarely on the shoulders of the coaches.
I know that Bronco likes to just worry about his own guys and not the other team. However, that is naive. It DOES matter what the other team is doing. When TCU is throwing pressure at us all first half, you need to call screen plays and misdirection plays. It was no surprise that TCU is fast. The defensive coaches should have made personnel adjustments and scheme adjustments to account for that.
Rich and Te’o or Pendleton needed to get a chance because Fowler and Tafuna were completely overmatched. Fowler looked like a HS player out there. Any time that he was in position he just got ran over. The defensive coaches need to put the best players out there and trust them to do their job. Fowler and Tafuna might be great guys and they know the system well, but they are not the best that we have. We have the talent now use it.
It is frustrating to watch BYU get beat like that but I don’t think that anybody got out matched more than the coaches. TCU was clearly ready for us while it didn’t appear that BYU had put a single thought into what adjustments needed to be made to matchup with TCU. I was all prepared to see a lot of different looks on offense to counter what we knew was a great and aggressive defense; throw them a look they didn’t expect. Instead it was just the same old tired 10 plays or so out of the same predictable formations. I guess I just don’t know what the coaches expected to happen. Did they really think those plays would work against that defense?
It think that part of what we saw last night was how missions hurt players. Sure, you get maturity and perspective. But last night demonstrated that you lose FIRE. In my opinon, Bronco needs to tweak the way be presents his program values. I believe the pillars of the football team are 1) Faith, 2) Family, 3) Mind, and 4) Football.
I think that’s a good and accurate way to prioritize things. Problem is, the team definitely played last night like the football game was the fourth thing on their priority list.
They need to remember that football is the vehicle through which they get to share their faith and demonstrate the unique importance they place on family and education. If this team isn’t winning, people won’t listen. If they’re undefeated and model citizens, that shows the power that correct principles and priorities will give a person.
Faith is more important than football, no doubt. But if football is what gives you the ability to share your faith, you better not let it slip. There was no DESIRE last night. To couch it in missionary terms, we simply did not see the team thrust in their sickle with all their might.
Fortunately I missed watching most of the game last night…what “mistake” by Harvey were you referring to in your post Quinn?
Also, I have read comments on another Cougar-dedicated blog and a lot of the people are not only mentioned the lack of fire and passion last night, but how that lack seemed to come from the top down. Maybe being an insider you can explain this. I understand maintaing composure and staying grounded, but why didn’t/doesn’t Bronco get more emotional during games (especially last night’s game) and get the team more emotional? And again, I understand staying grounded, but why not give more credit to success and let that foster confidence? As one person put it, “I was having a bit of an issue with the fact that Bronco wouldn’t even really acknowledge their success prior to that game and let his team feed off that. They were the #8 team in the country and they should have walked into that game acting like it. TCU walked into that game like they thought they were the bomb.com…and that combined with their excellent game plan made them play like they were the #8 ranked team, not BYU.”
Anyway, don’t get me wrong, I love Bronco and hope he stays for a long while to come; just wondering if you had any insight into his thinking…sometimes it’s hard to imagine him getting fired up…
The win streak was eventually going to come to an end. BYU was eventually going to loose a conference game. What bothers me most is how they lost. From the opening kickoff TCU played with more emotion and intensity and was much more physical than BYU.
When Gary Patterson openly states that he wants TCU to be the stick that teams in the Mountain West are measured by, that his staff has been planning for this game since last January, and that they have a BYU helmet (or whatever) on a tackling dummy — this should have been more than enough reason to let BYU know that they were going to play a team that REALLY WANTED TO WIN!!!
If BYU is committed to the mantra of not treating one team or one game different than another then they had better “raise the bar” on the level of emotion that they bring to every game or have toward every team.
I really feel that the Cougs will come back strong after this loss. I just hope I never have to see them play with such a lack of emotion or intensity again.
Gooch, one thing i’ve felt ever since the Utah game in 2006 is that Bronco has to get his teams up for bigger games. We are wearing a target. It is no secret that Patterson was preparing TCU for BYU since January. We walked into a hornets nest and we were not up for the challenge. Bronco’s attitude of “every game is just as important as the next” really has to go, or we will have MWC teams getting up for BYU as if we were a bowl game for them, and they will catch us off guard.
I was there, I felt right from the start that we had to get the TCU crowd out of the game, something we failed to do, and the players just fed off the electricity.
What are your thoughts? Since you’ve been in the locker rooms and around Bronco, do you see him ever putting extra emphasis on a game, when he knows how big it is for the opponent. Each game should be more important than the last, because we are one game closer to our goal. He can’t keep preparing for a hyped beyond belief TCU team with a TON of talent, as he does for a Wyoming team who would lose to BYU 99 times out of 100 simply due to lack of talent.
I think David Holt got it right, every game can’t be the same, it just can’t be, maybe you run the risk of not being up for a game against Utah State, or Wyoming at home, who cares, those games are winnable even if you play poorly. BUT you wont beat a TCU team or a Utah team that wants it more than you do. Remember we played pretty crappy Utah teams the last two years and their fire almost beat us.
It is no wonder we creamed UCLA because that was no ordinary game for the Cougs, they wanted that one, you could almost taste it in the air at the stadium. Last night, nothing TCU was just another game against another team.
I don’t have the answers I guess, but maybe we do need to be treating these games differently, maybe all we care about from now is BEAT UTAH, that’s the plan every week, how do we beat Utah? That way we can come out and beat the teams we should beat and be ready to win in SLC.
I love the comments, you all have some legitimate questions and as the weak progresses I hope to be able to shed some light on a few things.
1. Bronco and the every game is the same talk.
2. How can we adapt to be ready for other league opponents. Teams will no longer be affraid of us.
3. How do I think the team will react.
4. When will the passion return, because that is what I am most concerned about.
Those will be some interesting topics and I would love to hear what everyone else has to say about the topic. Everyone is venting right now, but lets not forget that we do have some big games left.
I am especially disappointed in my own judgement of our team. I, like many fans and probably players, got caught up in the hype and rankings. All that excitment pushed me to over look our teams weak areas. It’s time to reassess and rethink our team abilities. We as fans can’t expect year to year dominance without “tests”. We have been riding our success for a couple of years now and this season is somewhat of a rebuilding year -especially for the defense. Lets look not only to the future of this season, but how will this loss inspire and effect the next generation of BYU players? That is a good question.
Quinn, how can you call this a rebuilding year? We had 10 returning starters on offense, losing only Sete from the OL from last year. And yet the Offense got dominated just as bad as the defense did.
And the defense, we lost 3 LB’s. But wasn’t Russ a returning starter after sitting out 1 year, and didn’t Fowler start half the season after you went down? And I think Tafuna like Russ, was a starter in ‘06 wasn’t he? So if you count Russ, Fowler, and Tafuna as returns starters which I think you should, we only had to find 5 new defensive players. Less than half. I really don’t think that is considered rebuilding. Lots of teams lose 5+ starters every year.
I just think we just need to be honest and say Howard sucks, and Max is WAY overrated. that’s pretty much what it comes down to.
Yes, the big let down for me is that we’re out of the BCS. I can’t believe I’m disappointed that we could go 11-1 – maybe because if that does happen, we still won’t duplicate what the 96 team did with one loss. 11-1 and we might go to the New Mexico Bowl or the County Credit Union bowl. That being said, I’m going to the UNLV game and am going to yell my lungs out for the boys.
I love our team’s chances next year to bust the BCS, but I don’t see any chance of a potential NC.
Casey -
Quinn said it was a rebuilding year for the D. If you look at the number of starts for the LBs and DBs prior to this season, they were very few.
There was/is very little actual expierence there. We are by no means down and out. The team can still move up from here. The question is like Quinn put it: how will the team react?
It’s time to take a deep breath and realize Max is the best we have at QB. Gaskins has to prove he can take over if he’s going to make it a competition and he hasn’t done that, so Max will continue to be the man.
First, the MWC is a tougher conference right now than the ACC, Big East or Pac 10. Highly ranked teams have tumbled across the land. Losing a conference game is better than losing to the Pac 10.
Second, losing a tough game is one thing. Being humiliated is another. The slide started with a lackluster performance against Utah State and we have not bounced back since.
This may be Bronco’s biggest test. I’ve yet to see a Mendenhall team consistently play with such lack of passion. The killer instinct has become week-to-week short practices, low contact drills. There is so much emphasis on execution that there is no imagination, so much “self scouting,” that we forgot to prepare for a unique opponent.
I used to think the Cougars were predictable when Norm Chow was offensive coordinator. Today, we are like clockwork and any good defensive coach in the country can see us coming.
If this was one game, I might understand and say, “the Force just wasn’t with us this week.” But this has been weeks in the making and it seems that “Football is #5″ has been taken a bit too far. Players and coaches have a responsibility to perform in exchange for what they receive in salary and benefits, for the privilege of carrying the BYU banner.
The next few weeks will be interesting, a great test of talent for Bronco and staff. Do they have what it takes to turn the team around, restore passion and discipline, implement new schemes, get the defense on track. We’ll see. I don’t want to hear anymore about when Bronco is going to retire to a ranch and start seeing what’s in store during the next twenty years.
We expected a tough time on offense. I can accept that. If the defense had played at least an average game, we would have scored more points and maybe won the game.
As I see it, BYU’s defensive collapse put so much pressure on the offense and robbed the scoring side of the team from so many opportunities that the Cougars never really had a chance.
TCU jumped on us right from the start and never let up. They put us on our heels and yanked our confidence right out of our hearts. With the crowd’s help and the fast start they amped up the adrenaline and we started to fear. When fear creeps in your decision making is slower and poorer. You run like you are in the sand, you hesitate instead of hit, you second guess instead of jump on opportunities.
When it is all over the results look like an uninspired, bad football team. We need to remember that is mostly a symptom of how TCU played and the circumstances we played under.
None of us can question the teams heart. To suggest that the coaches and the players just didn’t want it very bad or were not motivated is crazy. I can guarantee to the man they wanted to win that ball game every bit as much or more than anyone of us.
We won 16 in a row. We were undefeated with daily articles and comments on sports talk shows about the possibility of BYU in a NC game. Neither team the past 2 years was strapped with that kind of attention and pressure. All the fans were expecting them to run the table.
We have been undefeated the last 2 years in conference. To believe that every conference team has forgotten that is ridiculous. No other team spent the off season trying to figure out how to beat Wyoming. Every team has put their maximum effort into figuring out how to beat BYU. If we don’t think the coaches spent more time in the off season trying to prepare for Utah and TCU over Wyoming or CSU then we are mistaken – of course they did.
All the pressure and everyone using us as their bowl game is an extremely difficult situation to stay loose in. How hard is it to be fired up and let it all go when you get so tense you may lose and have it all go down the drain? 06 and 07 we were playing for a MWC championship period. What they were playing for prior to the TCU game was 10 times that amount of pressure. Give these guys a break. TCU already lost that pressure when Oklahoma blew them off the field. They had no expectations and could loosen up and let it fly.
Bronco is not a rah rah guy. You can’t impose a personality on someone. The guy took a program in the toilet and turned it into something the national media has been talking about for weeks. What more do we expect from the guy??
We want him to put more emphasis on certain games. That implies that we only have so much emphasis to go around. It implies we should put less on other games and save some for TCU and Utah. I thought Bronco’s mindset was to put maxium emphasis on every game you play one at a time.
We lost to TCU who is undefeated except for a loss to what was the #1 team. We didn’t lose to Oregon State like USC. Not putting emphasis on every game leaves you vunerable to laying an egg at Wyoming. As bad as it was to lose to TCU we can at least admit they are a great team.
Bronco didn’t acknowledge our success enough? He needed to pump our heads up so we were cocky and all that and strutted on the field like no one else belonged there? That seems a recipe for disaster if you ask me. I think he hasn’t been publicly acknowledging success because everyone else and their dog has. You couldn’t read a newspaper or open a website without BYU NC talk or Hall for Heisman speculation. I think he has been wise to tone that down and try to keep us grounded. All that hype left us tight and nervous. Oklahoma knocked that out of TCU 2 weeks ago and they laid it on us with nothing to lose. We obviously had everything to lose or so it seemed.
I was disappointed in that game and it was ugly to listen to but I can see how it happened and still know we have a great team with great coaches and great players who are trying to be the best they can be. I can get behind that. TCU did not have a UofU helmet in their locker since January. The UofU does not have TCU stickers in their urinals. It’s BYU they are after and so is everyone else. That is the price of success and last night is the occassional result. I will take that over the Crowton years every day.
I believe that the whole “one game at a time” comes from the embarassments in Reno and at home to teams like UNLV. I get that and appreciated the change when Bronco cam on board. I think that was part of the whole “Return to Glory”.
I still feel that that philosophy needs to be retained, however, now that winning, tradition, and expectations have been restored, it would also be okay to pull away from that. UCLA is a great example. The coaches admitted that they had done prep work for that game in the offseason. Like someone said earlier, we WANTED that game. I think now that our team has matured and developed a winning tradition again, I think it is appropriate to recognize that TCU, UTAH and BCS schools are far different opponents than USU, UNLV, Div2, etc.
The great thing is, Bronco is the BEST coach and will learn from this and prevent it from happening again. He has already shown that (see Tulsa and 2007). I believe in Bronco!!! We all know he is in deep thought right now thinking of ways to bounce back.
For what it’s worth, I have no problem being a little sloppy against UtSt wyo and NM if it means that we are also slightly diverted with TCU.
Also, I hate losing as much as anyone. But after going to BYU from 2002-2005, I just don’t have it in me to get to depressed about a 6-1 start or a potential 11-1 season. WE ARE STILL A GREAT TEAM!!!!!!
BASH THE REBELS!
Quinn-
Please add “why Brandon Bradley can’t play on the other side of the field “to yor list.
Gary,
Amen.
It was the real definition of a “trap” game.
Interesting comments. I agree with most of them. Quinn, can lack of intensity be equalled with a lack of desire? It used to drive me crazy when my dad would say a team lost because, “they just didn’t want to win bad enough.” I personally think that a team loses because they get beat by a better team on that given night, no matter what the reasons or excuses. Intensity will eventually burn out like a shooting star if the other team consistantly plays better.
The cougs still have the chance to be the better team and play better in each of their remaining games. Let’s not be too fickle as fans. Support the team in wins and losses. Go cougs!
Quinn you would know better than any of us but it seems to me that the passion you are worried about comes from the love and excitement of playing the game.
The offense and team play has slowly slid downward since UCLA. UCLA was full of passion and fun and showed us who we could be.
Since then the national recognition and spotlight have escalated about as fast as our passion and performance has slid.
For some reason I see the team as if they are a high school kid that has his dad as the coach and is constantly under pressure to measure up to his expectations rather than have the ability to relax and have fun.
The expectations that the media and the fan base had built around this team were enormous. Max said after one of the games that it was almost refreshing to not play well because it helped to lessen the pressure to have to be NC caliber.
When you are tightly strung with expectations from everyone and everywhere you look it seems that would be a very difficult environment to develop the passion and love for the game that you need.
I would be now that those expectations are gone and we are not in the newpaper everyday that we start to see some of our old selves again. That’s my prediction anyway.
Man I just scratch my head and wonder what Max is doing if he wan’t to ” lessen the pressure to have to be NC caliber”. What is he playing for, another Vegas bowl victory?
HEY EVERYBODY!!!! Guess what? It was one loss! ONE! UNO! For crying out loud, don’t start trying to change everything we do because we lost one game!!
Sure, we got our heads beat in, but honestly, there’s no reason to start calling for major overhauls of our program. CHILL OUT!!!
Dying, not dieing.
There, not their.
Why is everyone dogging on Max? He is a great quarterback!! So he had a bad game and has slipped up a little. But like it was stated earlier…16 straight wins. I have watched him play ball since he was 16 in highschool behind John Beck and he is a fighter. Yeah he is a little cocky but that’s what makes him such a good competitor. He is always trying to win no matter what it takes on any level. Hell I’ve seen him get pissed off in city flag football games cuz he hates to lose. I expect Max to go through the film of the last few weeks and see what has changed and then come out against UNLV and get back on track. He is a fighter and a leader and I trust him to get his head back in the game and start another bomb winning streak!! I’ve watched him through highschool and be always brought the fight to the field. Besides, he throws one of the prettiest and most easy ball to catch!!
Tough lose to swallow guys but true cougs will suck it up and keep battling. As long as we ruin utahs perfect season this will be the best year of football since the WAC!! Take the season as what it is and not what it coulda been. Take all this anger and use it. Remember the feeling and taste off losing and never forget so you always know you don’t want that feeling or taste again and do whatever you can to avoid it!!
Love the website Quinn
Layton
Casey – I’m not implying the team didn’t want to play for a NC or that they wanted the attention to go away.
I’m just suggesting they found that new territory harder to deal with than they expected and playing tight rather than loose was the result.
Look at TCU. They had the same aspirations going into the Oklahoma game – did it look like they played the same game against them as they played against us? My contention is they had everything to lose in that game and played tight. Ok jumped on them from the start and they found themselves in too deep of a hole to climb out.
Once they lost that game and BCS and/or NC was history we became their NC game so to speak and the pressure for that game was something they have learned to deal with. They could relax and let loose and from what I saw that is just what they did.
week, not weak
have byujacob keep editing your blog. it has TREMENDOUS insight. just needs a bit of editing, but your grammar skills and writing is better than dick harmon and he’s a professional. chin up gucci.
Jerold – No one likes the grammar nazi. Ever.
3rd and 6 = our db’s giving a 12 yard cushion
3rd and 2 = a 12 yard cushion
are our db’s that slow ? How can anyone playing corner in D 1 football be that slow? I used to play football against fowler weekly, I ran by him all the time, and I am by no means a track star. When I heard he was a safety at BYU i immediately thought ” Ok so I guess our DB’s are really overmatched every week” If a basketball player is killing our starting safety on every play we have some serious serious problems.
Quinn-
I love your analysis of our games (pre & post); in the years past we never had a former player’s analysis much less one that who was doing it the year after he graduated. Last year the Cougar Legion had a former player whose code name was Cruiser who caused such a big raucous that Cruiser quit and Cougar Legion was left in the hands of two people who I don’t think ever played the game, at least not at the college level. Jeff Reynolds and others in the program wised up, realized that we the fans craved for more info, understood the power of the internet, cell phone cameras, etc. and changed their strategy from closing all practices to giving daily practice updates (written & video) and completely revising their website by making it more proactive.
I have some observations to make (I openly admit that I have never played football so this comes from a novice) and seek your expert response:
1. This game reminds me of last year’s Tulsa game: we did not look prepared physically or mentally; Coach M took the blame for this so my question for you is, were they really not prepared well enough?
2. It appears like the winning streak and BCS aspirations were growing so big that the team began to feel the pressure and were not playing like they enjoyed the game anymore
3. Coach M has said all along this season that we do not concentrate on our opponent as much as we focus on ourselves; I remember that the Packers under Vince Lombardi used to line up against their opponents and essentially say, “this is what we are going to do so try to stop us.” This is over simplified but the jest of it is, don’t you have to study and game plan against each opponent?
4. It appeared like we were out hit; David Nixon said that we were beat up front, outside and behind us; I thought that Coach M’s team is never out hit?
5. It appeared like in the Tulsa game that our coaches did not make the in-game adjustments; the score in the 2nd half was 9-7 but essentially not enough adjustments were made, especially to our team’s psyche
6. The passing game has not been in sink for a few games; I remember hearing Steve Young say that at SF he had to learn to throw the blind (to spots before the receiver made his break); it appears like Hall is telegraphing his passes and not going thru his progressions
7. I know the coaches do not want Hall to run but when he does have to scramble he looks hesitant and does not take off like Dalton and others like Johnson do against us; I remember that Coach Walsh did not want Montana to run either but when he had to he took off and made the most of it
8. I ran into David Oswald & his wife or girl friend earlier today in Park City and he appeared really down; I encouraged him, told him that they could still have a great season & he said you mean beat Utah? I said, well what I was thinking is that your team can have the best season than any Coach M team has ever had; then I said no matter what we love you so just forget the TCU game and go out and do your best
Well this is a lot to digest I know. Quite frankly, Coach M has really taught all of us a lesson this season with his 08 theme, “Quest For Perfection”. We all are on a quest for perfection, as fathers, husbands and sons of God. If there is any Cougar fan who is upset now because of the loss, all he/she has to do is look in the mirror and ask if he/she has had any losses in his/her life and realize that it is quite petty and hypocritical to get down on our band of brothers. For sure they were beaten badly by TCU but not killed. They are alive and well and ready to pick themselves up and march forward confidently to finish their remaining games.
Now, Quinn, one last question: how do the players loosen up a bit and play without so much pressure on them?
Thanks,
Walt
It’s easy to agree that our offense lacks creativity, hones in on just 3 players, and doesn’t spread the ball out. Fui? DiLuigi? Latu? George? Reed? Chambers? Ashworth? Hafoka? Mahuika? Bueller?
Quinn-
Can or will you weigh in on these comments & questions or have you moved on like all of us should?
Thanks,
Walt
Yes the game sucked! We all know that. There are bigger concerns than just that fact. I don’t like how people are saying that Bronco only focuses on his own guys and doesn’t [plan] ahead for the opponent. If you believe that then you are the naive one. You can bet that he does his homework on every team. Furthermore, just because Max Hall threw slow, sailing passes all night, and has been passing to the same two receivers for the last four games does not mean that Anae is calling the same plays every time. Max tends to choke a lot and continues to look for his comfort plays when the going gets tough.
I was very concerned for this game right after our shutout against WY. Our offense did not look good in that game. After that it kept getting worse. We were terrible against UT St., and if it wasn’t for some sloppy mistakes that our defense was able to capitalize on (including an interception from Brandon Howard, mind you) we would have probably lost that game.
The problem with the TCU game is that everything we did looked slow. O’neil Chambers looked slow on his returns. The Tongans looked slow whether running or blocking. Worst of all, Max’s passes were slow as molasses. By the time the ball got to our receivers they were surrounded by a swarm of purple. This happened on several plays where our receivers had actually beaten the coverage.
Passion… indeed. Where is it? Let’s get it back!
GO COUGS!!!
Leave your response!
Categories
Good Info.
Archives
Meta
Tags
Most Commented