Our little blog has really taken off, with readership growing each day (especially when we tick off SDSU fans). In order to be more effective at reaching more readers and creating more content, we are joining the new sports blog site TornBySports. TornBySports is an opinionated fan blog site that mostly covers Utah area sports (Jazz, Real Salt Lake, Uiversity of Utah, BYU).
So change your bookmark for Rise & Shout to our new Rise & Shout page on TornBySports. We’ll see you there.
– Adam & Matt
This whole replay thing between SDSU and BYU is a freakin’ joke. You want to get my blood boiling? Bring up this stupid story.
It all started with a poorly written story in the San Diego Union-Tribune. Insinuations were made, but the only actual information that was in the article was that a BYU employee was part of the replay crew. The Union-Tribune even called out the name of one of those in the booth — which means someone (potentially an SDSU or MWC employee) broke confidence rules by revealing the names. But hey, who cares about breaking confidentiality? Much better to uncover half truths and make baseless accusations.
Should BYU employees be working on the replay staff? It’s not a simple answer. Yes, ideally you would separate it completely, but who’s going to work the booth in Laramie or Fort Collins? I think the MWC was making a compromise for cost and ease and it bit them back big time.
Was the call incorrect? Absolutely; the replay showed he fumbled. A mistake was clearly made. But mistakes are made every Saturday, and in comparison, this particular situation was not more game-changing that a dozen other calls that same Saturday. Heck, on the self-same play the officials missed a face mask. It happens.
What burns me about this is the reaction. San Diego State head coach Brady Hoke made a stink about it. I truly believe coaches (especially at the collegiate level) should never publicly blame officials for a loss. The message to his team should have been about the improvements they could make to get better. And this came from the same guy who said, when BYU went independent, that the Cougars could never fill an independent schedule.
This got even more annoying when three prominent SDSU alums called on BYU President Cecil Samuelsen to launch and investigation into the matter and potentially forfeit the game if foul play was discovered. Never mind that BYU had nothing to do with who was working in the booth, that the MWC was at fault (if any organization was). These three grand standers thought it was their place to tell a university president how to do his job. Pure ridiculousness.
Why is my dander up on this one? Here are my major beefs:
And now SDSU wants to schedule a game against BYU? When twitter account @byudeepthroat tweeted that this was a possibility, my response was simple: No. The coach has berated our program, insinuated foul play, and we should play them? Holmoe should say no and walk away. I wouldn’t schedule then at any point in the next few years.
Am I too emotionally charged on this one? Maybe, but I’m not about fire off a letter to the SDSU program asking for an investigation into how the names of the replay officials were leaked and asking for the dismissal of any SDSU employee that facilitated leaking that to the press.
Glad to get this off my chest.
– Adam
On my other blog Adam Bomb I tackle who, through Week 9, would be in a hypothetical 16-team playoff.
From the MWC, I project both TCU (No. 4 seed) and Utah (No. 9 seed) would make the playoffs, TCU as the MWC and Utah as one of the 5 at-large bids.
– Adam
I exchanged a couple of emails this week with a good friend of mine who is rabid Georgia Tech fan. He mentioned that he was hoping their defense would improve by 2012. I reminded him that our offense has struggled just as much (if not more) this year. So I guess this one is a race to improvement. The exchange got me thinking about how busy Tom Holmoe has been scheduling opponents for football. I remember when that coach from SDSU, Coach McWhineypants, mentioned that he thought BYU would really struggle scheduling games. I can’t find his exact quote but it was something to the effect of, “We aren’t going to play them. I don’t know who will.” I didn’t reach out to him for a quote here, because I wasn’t interested in addressing Replaygate. What I am interested in doing is taking a look at a few programs that seem excited to get on BYU’s schedule. Pay attention here, there are going to be a few programs that even the head coach at SDSU has heard of.
Georgia Tech – 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017. The two teams have met twice, each win going to the home team. Traveling to Atlanta to play a game is a great thing for the Cougars. BYU made it clear that a big part of the move to independence was about exposure and taking BYU football across the country. Atlanta is a great place for a football game. They have a solid fan base and good tradition. It’s a four game series against a BCS conference opponent and it will be on ESPN. If Georgia Tech plays the kind of offense they have been working the past couple of years BYU will need to be ready to face it early in the year. It moves fast. This appears to be an evenly matched series and a good deal for both teams. Did I mention that I have another friend that completed his undergrad at BYU and attended Georgia Tech for graduate school? He better fall on the right side of this one. I can’t make any crazy predictions here just yet. My Rabid Tech Fan Friend will remember every word I utter here. This game will be a lot of fun for me to watch. 2013 will be in Provo. Keep that in mind, it’s going to be on the quiz at the end.
Notre Dame – 2012, 2013, then four times between 2014-2020. There was some discussion back when independence was announced about whether BYU was willing to play two road games in order to get certain opponents to come to Provo. That is essentially the deal that was made here. What it allowed BYU to do is book six games against an opponent that will garner national exposure. I never thought I would say this, but I am hoping to see some recovery out of Notre Dame in the next year or two. I am hoping that just as some of the young talent is coming of age for BYU, Notre Dame will be a real quality opponent for them. Notre Dame is interested in legitimizing the concept of independent football squads. Some have speculated that independence is Notre Dame’s problem right now. Big recruits want to play for championships. I think they have some recruiting issues, but independence isn’t the problem. They have just as good of a chance as anybody to get to a BCS game or a National Championship. They just need to play better. A good, independent BYU team is good for them. This deal gives both teams a quality opponent in October and November.
Texas – 2011, 2013, 2014. This is another “we’ll come to you twice if you come to Provo once” deal. Everybody wants to pretend that this is two separate deals, but it just isn’t. That’s still okay. I don’t think BYU gives anything up by agreeing to these deals with teams like Notre Dame and Texas. Frankly, I think some players will enjoy the challenge of playing teams like that on the road. These are historical college football settings. Great places for historic BYU wins. The idea of playing Texas next year a la the Oklahoma matchup of 2009 is a great situation for BYU. I see this team making significant improvement between 2010 and 2011. They should be prepared to compete in 2011.
West Virginia – 2016 Fed Ex Field Landover, MD. This is where the Redskins play. While this is billed as a neutral site, Washington DC is clearly closer to West Virginia than it is to Provo. However, the BYU alumni network in the DC area is pretty solid. I should know. I live here. I see BYU traveling very well to this game. I think there will be fans from all over the East Coast present. This is also an opportunity to play at an NFL facility. Who knows what the team will look like in 2016, Heaps could be playing for the Redskins at that point (backing up John Beck). But this is a great deal. Hopefully these kinds of deals at neutral NFL sites will become a staple of the schedule.
Oregon State – 2011, 2012. This series starts in Provo. These teams have met in bowl games before. This is also an interesting matchup because of Bronco Mendenhall’s connection to Oregon State. This is a quality opponent from the PAC-10+ and a matchup that I really like for BYU. It’s a game against a solid opponent that I feel like we can win. Especially at home.
University of Central Florida – 2011, 2014. This also starts in Provo. UCF is not the same level of program as some of the other schools on this list. But they are a competitive team and if we beat them, the win will likely look as good or better than a win against most WAC or MWC opponents. This also gets the Cougars a game in Florida. Playing in Florida is good for recruiting and gets the Cougars back out to the East Coast.
Utah – 2011, 2012. Last but not least, the Utes. What I do like about continuing the rivalry is that this game is going to become about BYU and Utah again. It will be interesting to see what this does to the climate of the rivalry. BYU is forging new ties as an independent and Utah is going to develop other rivalries with new conference opponents. This game is good for BYU as Utah is another PAC-10+ opponent and will look good on the schedule. I love it when BYU wins this game. I hate it when BYU loses it.
While this is not an all inclusive list, this hits some important points and allows us to discuss a couple of things. First, if Jake Heaps does not go on a mission, 2013 will be his fourth year as a starter and we will play Texas and Georgia Tech at home. I am not going to officially make a comparison to 1991 Miami or anything crazy; I think it’s way too soon for it. But I will say that I like how 2013 is shaping up. (Texas and Georgia Tech in Provo as well as Notre Dame in South Bend). Second, the hardest part of operating as a football independent is scheduling consistent quality opponents. Tom Holmoe is forging relationships with quality programs that are signing up to play several times. Holmoe and company are doing an excellent job. This plan clearly came with a great deal of forethought and has been executed with tremendous effort. I applaud them for what they’ve done and I am really looking forward to some of these games.
-Matt
Follow us on twitter @byu_riseshout
One of the most exciting parts of what we have seen in BYU football over the past few weeks has been the improvement in linebacker play. I spent a little time going back through some games on the DVR looking at crucial moments and the way the linebackers have increased their profile lately. I think this improvement was very evident in the Wyoming game where linebackers led the team in tackles and made critical plays when the defense needed them the most. As I was watching replays, I was focusing on the linebackers and probably missed some really good plays by the defensive secondary and defensive line. By talking about the linebackers I am not saying that there has not been some great plays made at other parts of the defense. I have just been interested by the way the linebacker corps has developed, given how much uncertainty has surrounded that position.
In the opening defensive series of the season the linebackers looked pretty good. Pendleton was on the field and they did a decent job of containing Jake Locker. They did see some trouble taking on lead blockers and the pass coverage was not fantastic. The first defensive series resulted in a Washington touchdown when Pendleton got beat in man coverage and gave up a 20 yard pass for 6. Even with that, Pendleton and the rest of the crew looked pretty good against Washington. They played a decent game. The defense has missed Pendleton since his injury.
The Air Force game was where things came apart. Air Force’s offense presents a special set of problems and BYU fielded some linebackers with little game experience. The thing that killed linebacker play against Air Force was a lack of assignment play. Instead of staying with their assignment, the linebackers (and most of the defense) would follow the original flow of the play. You can’t do that against the option. The instinct to follow flow is why the option works at the college level. Missed tackles also really hurt the defense in that loss.
Things seemed to get worse after that. The defense saw similar problems against Florida State, Nevada and Utah State. Missed tackles and blown assignments became a recurring problem. One thing I noticed watching the first few games of the year is that the linebackers appear to be moving slower earlier in the year. Even against Washington where they put in a pretty good performance they did not appear as fast and athletic as they played against Wyoming. This may be due to continued conditioning as the season has progressed. It may be a result of Bronco running the D. For example, Shane Hunter had some trouble running down Washington ball carriers on the edges. Against Wyoming he was covering wide receivers thirty yards downfield. Regardless of the difference in athletes at UW versus Wyoming, he looked faster and more agile last week.
The TCU game is a little bit different. Overall, I think the defense did okay. There were some obvious differences in attitude and physicality. I’ll just leave the TCU game at that.
Last weekend against Wyoming they linebackers really seemed to take charge of the defense. Brandon Ogletree was named MWC Defensive Player of the Week. This shows a big step forward for a part of the defense that has suffered an identity crisis this season. In the Wyoming game, I felt that there were two drives that really illustrate the improvements at linebacker. One of those drives came in the first half after Quezada’s very untimely fumble. On the series before that, the Wyoming defense had returned an interception for a TD. Within seconds on the game clock they had the ball back again off of another turnover. They were really threatening to take the momentum. On Wyoming’s first play they were called for an illegal shift. On the second play of that drive, Shane Hunter made a tackle in the backfield for no gain. On the third play of the drive Wyoming tried to sweep a receiver from the short side of the field. The ball carrier had blockers pulling from the O line, blockers from the backfield and receivers from the wide side of the field. Frazier stayed in position, ate up the blocking receiver and forced the ball carrier to stay inside. The ball carrier slipped trying to avoid Shane Hunter. Had Hunter not been there to make the play or had slipped, Ogletree was also in position to stuff the play for no gain. When watching the play I was impressed with the way the linebackers seemed to be sniffing out the play, trying to stay home and not overpursue. Frazier was clearly forcing the runner into Hunter’s open arms instead of trying to make the play himself. Frazier, Hunter and Ogletree stayed in position and made the play as a unit. This is how a linebacker unit should function. In games like Air Force, this type of linebacker unit play was just not there. On this particular drive Wyoming had to settle for a long field goal.
On the final drive of the game the linebacker corps really stepped up their game. Wyoming had every chance in the world to take the win away from Provo. On the second play of that final drive, Carta-Samuels was forced to scramble when linebackers had covered all of his checkdown options short range. I can only assume (no good replay angle to look at the secondary) that this means he had nothing down field either. He ran for a short gain and Ogletree was called for a lame late hit penalty. The good news is that Ogletree chased ACS down and prevented him from breaking a big play. After an incomplete pass, ACS was forced to scramble again two plays later. Again Ogletree was in position to force ACS out of bounds, but he pulled up at the last minute (doesn’t want to draw the penalty) and ACS made a pretty good gain out of a broken play. Not to be outdone for long, Ogletree got those yards back on the next play when he made a tackle in the backfield. Then Van Noy tackled Wyoming RB Herron after a short pass near the line of scrimmage. Wyoming got new life when they converted on 4th down by completing a pass to a man in one on one coverage against Ogletree. All the same, I loved that Ogletree was all over the field at this point. A few plays later, I saw some improved speed and athleticism that really caught my eye. Shane Hunter broke up a pass thirty yards down field. He was covering a wide receiver inside the five yard line. Don’t get me wrong, Shane Hunter is a talented athlete and has been all year. But I don’t think he would have made that play in early September. He was really hauling. It was a beautiful play and was arguably the game saver. On the game’s final play, Van Noy batted down a pass at the line of scrimmage and the ball was turned over on downs. It looked like a fumble and fumble recovery by Ogletree but the official stats tell a different story.
In big moments the linebackers made big plays. Their names were repeatedly called for tackles and they also covered receivers well. They looked faster and sharper in Wyoming than they had all year.They repeatedly chased down Carta-Samuels and prevented him from running his way out of broken plays. Jadon Wagner got in on the action with a sack early in the 4th quarter. While Ogletree was awarded the Defensive Player of the Week, the whole linebacker corps played very well. By playing as a unit different players were available to make the big play when it came their way. It was a great example of team defense.
This type of play at linebacker allows the other parts of the defense to do things they weren’t able to do earlier in the season. Andrew Rich has more room to roam and it opens up opportunities for the defensive line. The entire defensive unit gets more chances to make plays when linebackers are playing well. I see that they still have a way to go, but the difference between the Air Force game and the Wyoming game were really incredible. I credit Bronco Mendenhall for working these guys hard and putting them in better positions to make plays. I also credit these players for stepping up when their team needed them and getting the job done when it mattered the most. I am also impressed with the amount of trust they have developed for each other in the last few weeks. With this kind of play from the linebackers and defense, the rest of BYU’s season looks brighter.
Go Cougs!
-Matt
(A couple of disclaimers: I see similar but less dramatic improvement all over the defense. I have liked the defensive secondary all year and the defensive line has overcome some real challenges from injury. It was also fun to see some flashes of great talent from Jake Heaps as I skimmed the games on my DVR. Hopefully he is able to develop and build off of that.)
Check out the previous entries in this seasons with the links below. You can also check out the QB Seasons page on our site which includes my criteria and opening thoughts.
BYU Season Rankings 30-26
No. 30: John Beck, 2004
Stats: 2,563 yards; 56% comp; 15 TDs; 8 INTs; 7.47 yards per attempt; Season: 5-6, 3rd in the MWC
Thoughts: This was the last Gary Crowton season, and the offense was a little bit of a mess. After starting the season off with a 20-17 over Notre Dame in Provo, the Cougars lost their next three games: at Stanford, USC, and at Boise State. The Cougars beat the bad teams on their schedule that season (except for New Mexico), but couldn’t beat the good teams. Beck showed some inaccuracy, but overall looked pretty good. I can honestly say, at the time, that I never imagined he would sniff the NFL.
No. 29: Ryan Hancock, 1992
Stats: 2,635 yards; 57% comp; 17 TDs; 13 INTs; 9.15 yards per attempt; Season: 8-5, 1st in WAC, 23-20 loss to Kansas in the Aloha Bowl.
Thoughts: Hancock had a rifle arm and was a exciting QB when he arrived in Provo, but he only played this one year (as a sophmore) before John Walsh took over in 1993 and Hancock turned to baseball full-time. He was 2nd-team All-WAC in is one season as the starter, and played decently.
No 28: Ty Detmer, 1988
Stats: 1,252 yards; 54% comp; 13 TDs, 10 INTs; 8.18 YPA; Season: 9-4, 3rd in the WAC, 20-17 over Colorado in the Freedom Bowl
Thoughts: To some it may seem like blasphemy to put a Detmer season down this low, but here’s why: it was only a partial season, and Detmer did not really light the world on fire until his 11-for-17, 163-yard come-from-behind performance in the Freedom Bowl in relief of Sean Covey. It was the season that launched one of the greatest QB runs in college history, but it wasn’t really that great of a season.
No. 27: Kevin Feterik, 1998
Stats: 2,718 yards; 60% comp; 16 TDs; 6 INTs; 8.09 YPA; Season: 9-5, 2nd in the WAC, 41-27 loss to Tulane in the Freedom Bowl
Thoughts: I was in the stands at the 1998 WAC Championship Game in Las Vegas, where BYU lost to Air Force 20-13 in heartbreaking fashion. That game is, in many ways, a microcosm of Feterik’s career. Depite a decent game (20 of 42, 258 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT), he just couldn’t make the plays at the end to help the Cougars win. I think during my tenure at BYU as a student and when I lived in BYU (from 1994-2003), no QB was booed as much or vilified as much by fans. Was he great? No, but he wasn’t awful, and he was good in 1998.
No. 26: Steve Young, 1982
Stats: 3100 yards; 63% comp; 18 TDs; 18 INTs; 8.45 YPA; Season: 8-4, 1st in the WAC, 41-17 loss to Ohio State in the Holiday Bowl
Thoughts: Young only played in two seasons for the Cougars, and I was surprised to see how mediocre his first season was. As was his MO, he completed a high percentage of passes, but he turned the ball over a lot, and the humiliating loss to Ohio State in the Holiday Bowl is a black mark. He gets extra credit for 641 yards rushing, which was second on the team. Of course, his 1983 would turn out to be a little better and is ranked very high on my list (though I won’t spoil that surprise yet).
Well, it’s nice to get a win. Jake Heaps, congratulations on the TD pass. It was clear you weren’t really sure how to react. I am sure it was a huge relief to get that in there. I’m happy for you but that TD does not erase from anyone’s memory some of the other things that took place out there yesterday. While the scoreboard reflects 25 points for BYU’s offense they are really responsible for 33 points. I mean, I can’t give them credit for the safety, but I can give them credit for the 10 points that Wyoming scored in the second quarter. Unfortunately, those points won’t compute into their numbers for the season.
Seriously though, the offense did score 25 points today which put them well above their average performace on the season. They looked pretty good in the first quarter. In the second quarter they were lackluster. I return to the point I made earlier in the week. The Wyoming defensive staff figured out exactly what they needed to do in order to slow down the offense and Anae failed to adjust. Apparently Bronco Mendenhall sees Jake as potentially the greatest BYU QB of all time. I haven’t seen it yet. That INT in the second quarter was just ridiculous. Jake had at least one if not two better options on that play. He also continues to overthrow recievers on go routes. I’m not saying he won’t be great, I’m just saying that I am not giving him any credit for what he did in high school and I don’t get to watch him in practice. My opinion is based solely on game performance.
On third down the offense was their average 38% (almost the worst in the country on third down). They were 0-4 on third down in the second half. Anae continues to struggle in responding to defensive adjustments. He also continued to call plays on third down that did not make any sense. Running plays off tackle, slants that don’t go across the marker and “two step” draws. They only faced 13 third downs, which seems less than they have previously in the season. During portions of the game, they seemed to do better on first and second down. I don’t have anything empirical to back that up, but it seemed that way watching the game. The play action got a little ridiculous. It was nearly every pass. Play action does not do it’s job if you call it on every down. Anae also needs to stop all of this nonsense where Heaps is dancing and faking and tucking and shucking and jiving in an effort to confuse the defense. You’re confusing the bejeebers out of the kid. Just let him concentrate on throwing the football. All of that stepping around causes the plays to develop too slowly and the blocking schemes don’t withstand that kind of timing. As could have been expected, the offensive numbers looked better. It was Wyoming out there. I didn’t see anything that really showed signs of actual improvement of the system or the execution of the players. The BYU offense held the ball for 10:25 in the second quarter and came away with no points. However, I will note that I like the running back rotation of Quezada, DiLuigi and Kariya. They are all different styles of runners and can all make plays. I also loved hearing the crowd yell, “Juuuuuuice” Every time Quezada touched the ball.
I love defenses coached by Bronco Mendenhall. The defense is continuing to show signs of improvement. Wyoming was 2-12 on third down.They sacked a Wyoming QB 3 times for a loss of 18 yards. The defense appeared enthusiastic and they played with a sense of urgency. The players are sticking to their assignments and trusting their teamates. This is key when the opposing QB, Austin Carta-Samuels, specializes in making something out of broken plays. They contained him when he tried to improvise and they did just enought to shut Wyoming down on their final drive of the game. The two leading tacklers were Ogletree and Hunter. Linebackers should be making most of the tackles. This indicates that the change in defensive scheming and approach is working effectively. Don’t get me wrong, I love watching Andrew Rich wreck people, but he can’t be expected to carry the entire defense all season. I think the linebackers are coming along nicely and have really improved the defense as a unit. The defense backs were very effective breaking up passes down field. Andrew Rich and Brian Logan had some text book pass defending moments. I thought those guys looked pretty good. The offense put the defense in some bad situations in the first half and eventually this allowed Wyoming to claw their way back into the game. This is a team sport and that is going to happen. Again, this was Wyoming, but there is some obvous improvement in the play of the defense and I expect that to conintue every week.
The return game doesn’t seem to miss Chambers at all. In fact, the loss of Chambers may get BYU a step closer to ending the return TD drought.
A win is a win and they all count. It’s good to get one and should help with momentum going into the week off. The rest of the schedule is very manageable and now the team has some confidence in that.
Go Cougs!
-Matt
follow us on twitter @byu_riseshout
LaVell Edwards Stadium (Provo, UT)
12:00 pm MST
Kick-off forecast: 53 degrees and raining
Wyoming is not very good. Their 2-5 record is actually not really indicative of the skill and ability of this team. The two victories stack up like this:
According to my friend Sriram, BYU has the second toughest schedule in the nation at this point. The only really lousy team the Cougars have played is Utah State (of course, it was a loss). But victories over decent Washington and San Diego State teams should not be dismissed.
The defense is beginning to play well, with energy and better execution. Though Bronco hasn’t returned to his 3-3-5 roots, but he played much of the TCU game with 4-5 players 8-10 yards of the line of scrimmage. He also moved BYU’s best defensive player, Andrew Rich, all over the place, putting him in place to make plays (which he did). In the past two weeks, the Cougars D has climbed from No. 101 in the nation in total defense to No. 91. Bronco’s fingerprints are all over this improvement.
What will the BYU offense do? The will run the ball with Di Luigi/Kariya/Quezada pounding the smaller, less athletic Cowboys. How effective will Jake Heaps be? Your guess is as good as mine. But this is a defense that, if Anae takes off the training wheels, allow Heaps to get things going.
Regardless, Wyoming is not a good team and BYU should roll in this one. Prediction: 41-10.
The BYU offense is bad. In fact in some cases it has even even been offensive. But something dawned on me last weekend as I was trying not to think about the score of the BYU/TCU game. Is the offense really as bad as I think it is? Is Anae really as predictable as I think he is? When BYU’s offense approaches the line of scrimmage and I can correctly predict what they are about to do almost all of the time, I assume that any opposing defensive coordianator could do the same. But perhaps I am only able to do that with such accuracy because I have watched so much footage of BYU football. So I decided that in order to be fair to Robert Anae I would try and take a look at his results this year and see if his performance merited the level of criticism that I and others have leveled at him.
The goal of the offense is to score points. Yardage, time of possession and balance between the run and pass are nice, but at the end of the day what you are trying to do is matriculate the ball down the field and into the endzone. Nobody really cares how it gets there. Just get it in there. Occasionally it’s okay to settle for a field goal. You still get three points. The most basic evaluation would consist of looking at point production. In a few minutes we’ll talk about third down conversions.
So I went to cougarstats.com and I grabbed some numbers. In the table below I am projecting this years total based on the average ppg so far this year. The 2010 ppg in the table reflects the ppg so far this season.
| Points Scored with Anae as OC | |||
| Year | First 7 Games | Total points | PPG |
| 2010 | 103 | 176.4 | 14.7 |
| 2009 | 270 | 461 | 35.5 |
| 2008 | 234 | 445 | 34.2 |
| 2007 | 212 | 391 | 30.1 |
| 2006 | 253 | 478 | 36.8 |
| 2005 | 182 | 396 | 33 |
103 points so far this season has BYU ranked 115 of 120 teams. They are doing better in other areas but rank lower than 90 in most meangingful offensive categories. This is going to be the least productive season of Anae’s tenure at the OC spot. In 2005 they started sluggish but picked up enough that by the end of the year the numbers looked decent. That is possible in 2010. However, other than the schedule easing up, I don’t see any real signs of life from the offense. It is likely too late for Anae to escape the scrutiny and criticism of a failing offense. The bottom line is that the 2010 offense is failing to get into the endzone. That 14.7 average dowe not really represent two touchdowns a game. The offense has not been in the endzone that much. This season’s lack of production represents a statictical drop that is difficult to explain. I mean, we all know why it’s happening. QB controversy, freshman QB, receivers dropping passes, the unexpected loss of Harvey Unga, a dearth of tight ends…. But even Anae can’t really explain it. In 2007 BYU dealt with a similar changing of the guard at many key positions. They still managed to score alot of points. They got into the endzone every week and even scored 47 points in a loss at Tulsa. They averaged 30 ppg. For a little more perspective I went back to 1995. If 2010 ends as is projected here, this will be the fewest points scored by a BYU team going at least that far back. 2003 is the only year that was even close.
| Year | Total Points | Avg. PPG |
| 2004 | 267 | 24.3 |
| 2003 | 196 | 16.3 |
| 2002 | 272 | 22.7 |
| 2001 | 608 | 46.8 |
| 2000 | 280 | 23.3 |
| 1999 | 332 | 27.7 |
| 1998 | 375 | 28.8 |
| 1997 | 250 | 22.7 |
| 1996 | 571 | 40.8 |
| 1995 | 307 | 27.9 |
Overall, Anae has scored alot of points. Similar to another highly criticized OC of BYU lore, Norman Chow. But if you look at Norm Chow’s numbers, his numbers were better overall.
The fact that the team is young and inexperienced is part of the problem here. Another problem is that BYU does carry a huge target on their back, even more so in this farewell tour of a season. TCU has put alot of time and effort into beating BYU. It was a focus for Air Force this year as well. But the excuse of, “We’re playing some really good teams” is only going to get Anae so far. BYU has been a great team. BYU has beat some great teams. After five seasons some of our conference opponents know Robert Anae as well as we do. The play calling is predictable. I would suggest that the youth and inexperience is being exposed by the level of predictability.
I mentioned this last week but I think it’s worth noting. The third down play calling is awful. The Cougars are 43 for 112 on third down. That’s 38 percent. The reason this hurts so bad is that BYU has faced 112 third downs this year. According to ESPN.com, only three teams have faced more. So the real problem is not third down maybe it’s second down. But if the team can’t make a play on first down it’s probably not getting into good second down situations. That means that it all starts to go south on first down. If you reread that paragraph, you’ll see that the problem is every down. The plays Anae is calling on any down are not achieving their desired results. The worst offender is the third down plays where three receivers run slant routes and none of them go past the first down marker. This allows them to stay in front of the defense, who is likely to give a little cushion on 3rd and 8, and catch the ball. The problem is that the defenders are making the tackle well in front of the marker. This leads to punting. Consistent inability to convert on third down and second down is a sign that the other team knows what you are doing and is prepared to stop it.
Anae is not equipped with a solution to this problem. His overall plan is the same as his individual gameplan. Keep doing the same things over and over and hope that something changes. The only thing that can change here is that the players will get better and eventually be able to complete some plays. The will have to overcome Anae’s strategy. It is what teams have done in the past. Only time will tell if this offense is going to be able to do that. If Jake Heaps is as good as everybody thinks he is, we should see something by the end of this year. Robert Anae and his strategy are not going to change, unless BYU changes OC’s. Everybody else on offense is going to have to make some major improvements if this team wants to win some games and add bowl game statistics to their season totals.
-Matt
(Statistics were gathered from cougarstats.com, byucougars.com and espn.com. There were some slight discrepancies between these sights. Among those: ESPN stated that BYU is 40 of 112 on third down.)
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I turned on the radio this morning on the way to a client visit. What did I hear? The hosts of the Red and Blue Show were talking about how the BYU Football team should close down the program altogether. Their conversation was dancing around some recent news event that had occurred, but they never said what it was. What they were saying was, “Can things get any worse? Is this the end of Bronco’s reign? There is great turmoil in Provo!”
My mind was imaging all the possibilities since the hosts didn’t specify what news had come out of Provo. Did Robert Anae get fired? Had Jake Heaps decided to serve a mission? Was Bronco Mendenhall going to suit up at linebacker?
And then Jan Jorgensen, the “Blue” half of the Blue and Red Show broke the news. That’s right, he announced the event that would be the final straw, the culmination of the terrible, the beginning of the end for the BYU Football program as we know it. You ready? Drum roll please: “BYU has suspended O’Neill Chambers for the rest of the season.”
Are you kidding me? That’s wonderful news! I pulled my car over to the side of the road, jumped out, and did my version of the “Ickie Shuffle”. (My version has less Ickie and more shuffle.) Do they realize what Chambers has contributed to this football team? For those of you who aren’t aware, I’ll tell you in the form of a play by play. (Imagine the voice of Greg Wrubell)
“Chambers fields the kick-off and heads up field, he shakes a tackle, and he spins. OH, he takes a VICIOUS hit. THE BALL IS LOOSE, THE BALL IS LOOSE.”
Ladies and gentleman, that’s all he has done for our program. Well, actually, if you replace “fields the kick-off” with “catches the pass” and then continue reading, it’s all the same. He spins and fumbles more than any other BYU player in the history of history.
I hate to verbally abuse someone but O’Neill Chambers has been a cancer to this football team. That is not opinion; it is fact. Former players, including Jan Jorgensen have said so. He is a head case who did nothing on the field to warrant his attitude of superiority or entitlement. This is a wonderful step for this program. The firing of Defensive Coordinator Jaime Hill and the subsequent suspension of O’Neill Chambers are signs of the football program heading in the right direction. We need to clean the inner vessel first and then worry about taking care of our opponent.
For all the doubters out there, hang tight. Take a deep breath, get out of you office chair, and do your own version of the “Ickie Shuffle”, you’ll feel a whole lot better.
– Ben
Ben is a fellow sports nut and BYU fan. He also writes for the Utah sports blog Tornbysports.com.
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