2018 BYU Cougar Football Thread

[Art Vandelay]

Not yet but he does drop a neverending tirade of profanity when BYU loses. Or even falls behind. Or gets scooped on a recruit. Or.....

Though not quite as entertaining as the, "look, I can drink adult beverages" crowd. Things like this always crack me up. Presumably, this guy went the first 25 of years of his life, with little more than "flip", or "son of a bishop's counselor" during an intramural game. Yet now he feels the need to act like he was raised by a roughneck in Midland?

[SeattleUte]

Lucky!!! SU is a legend.

SU was the original. He came first. The others are imitations. Like Lucretius and Orwell, what SU once wrote seemed deviant now seems to state the obvious. It means he won big.

[Pelado]

Cal's defensive front is looking pretty tough against UNC. Tipping and deflecting several balls at the LoS, which was problematic for Tanner last season.

[BlueK]

I'm just throwing this anchor out there so I have something to help keep me sane and level headed in the next 6 weeks.

1-5 is what I expect the record to be after 6 games. If it is 2-4 then we stole a game somewhere. I am not good with this, but I understand.

Everything is going to be okay...

2-4 is the floor now. I think it's going to be at least 3-3 or possibly 4-2. BYU showed significant improvement overall and played better than last year under any possible interpretation, IMO, even one that includes Arizona being a bad team. Whenever it happens that BYU goes into a game as a double-digit underdog and wins, it's always a little amusing to read over the next few days how it was because the other team was bad. The truth is probably in the middle somewhere.

No, Tate is not a serious Heisman candidate by any stretch. And UofA is probably around a .500 team at best. But they had a statistically very good offense last year with lots of returning starters. UofA's underwhelming performance shouldn't be considered a knock on BYU, as some will try to argue this week until BYU wins again. Going in as a 17 point dog (where it opened a couple of months ago) was obviously also grossly incorrect. The mental hurdle they overcame between what happened last year and this game was pretty important. BYU underperformed their talent last year. But if they play up to their abilities this year they're a 7-8 win team, which following 4-9 is going to make for a good season.

[All-American]

2-4 is the floor now. I think it's going to be at least 3-3 or possibly 4-2. BYU showed significant improvement overall and played better than last year under any possible interpretation, IMO, even one that includes Arizona being a bad team. Whenever it happens that BYU goes into a game as a double-digit underdog and wins, it's always a little amusing to read over the next few days how it was because the other team was bad. The truth is probably in the middle somewhere.

No, Tate is not a serious Heisman candidate by any stretch. And UofA is probably around a .500 team at best. But they had a statistically very good offense last year with lots of returning starters. UofA's underwhelming performance shouldn't be considered a knock on BYU, as some will try to argue this week until BYU wins again. Going in as a 17 point dog (where it opened a couple of months ago) was obviously also grossly incorrect. The mental hurdle they overcame between what happened last year and this game was pretty important. BYU underperformed their talent last year. But if they play up to their abilities this year they're a 7-8 win team, which following 4-9 is going to make for a good season.

Basically agree. Of the six tougher games we have scheduled this season, I'd have put Arizona as our second most-likely win. It may turn out that they are the worst of those six, and we beat them by less than a touchdown. It is exciting to pick off a game we were expected to lose, and from some accounts, lose badly; and while there are plenty of reasons to temper our optimism, there are at least signs that we can be competitive among the better half of our schedule, which is right where we want to be at this stage.

[Goatnapper'96]

2-4 is the floor now. I think it's going to be at least 3-3 or possibly 4-2. BYU showed significant improvement overall and played better than last year under any possible interpretation, IMO, even one that includes Arizona being a bad team. Whenever it happens that BYU goes into a game as a double-digit underdog and wins, it's always a little amusing to read over the next few days how it was because the other team was bad. The truth is probably in the middle somewhere.

No, Tate is not a serious Heisman candidate by any stretch. And UofA is probably around a .500 team at best. But they had a statistically very good offense last year with lots of returning starters. UofA's underwhelming performance shouldn't be considered a knock on BYU, as some will try to argue this week until BYU wins again. Going in as a 17 point dog (where it opened a couple of months ago) was obviously also grossly incorrect. The mental hurdle they overcame between what happened last year and this game was pretty important. BYU underperformed their talent last year. But if they play up to their abilities this year they're a 7-8 win team, which following 4-9 is going to make for a good season.

It was a fun win but I am not certain that a great deal of it was Arizona. Between their hype with how awful BYU was last year and getting a new coaching staff/system it might be as simple as a decent Pac school just played their worst game of the year. Similar to how BYU played vs Virginia in 2013 while implementing a new system for the first game on offense.

My point is twofold:

1.) BYU is clearly better than last year and there are indications that last year was an anomaly but we still don't really know how good BYU is. I think if BYU can win decisively on Saturday, and with all the advantages BYU had last Saturday it wasn't as decisive a win as perhaps it should have been, then I think safe to say BYU is good. Beating two middle of the pack PAC teams back to back weeks takes a good BYU, IMO.

2.) Even if BYU isn't good and is just average with that win and the easier games on the schedule BYU should make a bowl game and that is really good for the psyche.

[BigFatMeanie]

Both Utah State and Hawaii are not gimmes. Utah State narrowly lost to MSU on the road 38-31. Hawaii beat Colorado State 43-34 on the mainland, and Navy 59-41 on the islands. Looking at their schedules, Utah State will likely be 3-1 and Hawaii 6-1 when they come to Provo.

Also, BYU has never won on the smurf turf. Ever. BYU is 2-6 against Boise all time.

I think 6-6 and a bowl game should be expected and reasonable but not a given. 7-5 is optimistic yet possible. Anyone predicting 8+ wins is drunk on blue kool-aid in my opinion.

[Pelado]

Both Utah State and Hawaii are not gimmes. Utah State narrowly lost to MSU on the road 38-31. Hawaii beat Colorado State 43-34 on the mainland, and Navy 59-41 on the islands. Looking at their schedules, Utah State will likely be 3-1 and Hawaii 6-1 when they come to Provo.

Also, BYU has never won on the smurf turf. Ever. BYU is 2-6 against Boise all time.

I think 6-6 and a bowl game should be expected and reasonable but not a given. 7-5 is optimistic yet possible. Anyone predicting 8+ wins is drunk on blue kool-aid in my opinion.

A little kool-aid buzz is very refreshing after the sobering year just endured.

[Omaha 680]

Both Utah State and Hawaii are not gimmes. Utah State narrowly lost to MSU on the road 38-31. Hawaii beat Colorado State 43-34 on the mainland, and Navy 59-41 on the islands. Looking at their schedules, Utah State will likely be 3-1 and Hawaii 6-1 when they come to Provo.

Also, BYU has never won on the smurf turf. Ever. BYU is 2-6 against Boise all time.

I think 6-6 and a bowl game should be expected and reasonable but not a given. 7-5 is optimistic yet possible. Anyone predicting 8+ wins is drunk on blue kool-aid in my opinion.

Next round is on me. 8 wins, baby.

[Clark Addison]

Yeah, I am totally in for 8 wins.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Next round is on me. 8 wins, baby.

Woohoo! :Willy:

[cougjunkie]

Lets look back at AZ real quick.

Khalil Tates last 3 games of 2017:

14 carries for 32 yards, 2.3ypc (vs Oregon)
8 carries for 28 yards, 3.4 ypc (vs ASU)
20 carries for 58 yards, 2.9ypc (vs Purdue)
8 carries for 14 yards, 1.8 ypc (vs BYU)

That is 2.64 yards per carry over his last 4 games. 50 carries for 132 yards.


Everyone saying that Sumlin and the AZ coaching staff were the reason for Tate not going off, clearly didn't watch very many games in November last year. Teams started to figure Tate out late in the year and I think BYU just followed that blueprint very well.


Now lets look at his passing numbers towards the end of the season and the BYU game.

vs USC: 14-31 146 yards 2tds, 2ints
vs OSU: 5-7 for 58 yards, 1 int
vs Oregon: 18-39 159 yards, 1td, 2ints
vs ASU: 11-13 132 yards
vs Purdue: 17-26 302 yards, 5tds 1 int
vs BYU: 17-34 197, 1 td

In the bowl game against Purdue he obviously played great. But they still lost. In fact they lost all of those games except Oregon State.

82-150 997 yards, 9 tds and 5ints over his last 6 games.

I understand Gilmore was giving him virtual head during the game. But since November of last year, Tate has been pretty mediocre. Credit to BYU for sticking to the gameplan and keeping him in check.

[Pelado]

Even after the game against Arizona, ESPN's Football Power Index is projecting a record of 6.2-5.8 for BYU this season. The game against California this week is rated as only 29.1% chance of victory, which seems low to me.

Most likely losses:
Washington - 4.1% chance of victory
Wisconsin - 6.7%
Boise State - 13.4%
Utah - 17.5%
California - 29.1%
Utah State - 48.0%

http://www.espn.com/college-football...=252&year=2018

[CardiacCoug]

Even after the game against Arizona, ESPN's Football Power Index is projecting a record of 6.2-5.8 for BYU this season. The game against California this week is rated as only 29.1% chance of victory, which seems low to me.

Most likely losses:
Washington - 4.1% chance of victory
Wisconsin - 6.7%
Boise State - 13.4%
Utah - 17.5%
California - 29.1%
Utah State - 48.0%

http://www.espn.com/college-football...=252&year=2018

If BYU truly only has a 29% chance to win then people should be hammering Cal +3 in Vegas and online.

[Pelado]

This quote from Jeff Grimes reminded me a lot of Chris Peterson’s Boise State teams. They seemed to get everyone involved from seniors to freshman. Each player was ready to contribute when their number was called.

BYU offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes explained that he likes how the diversity in the game plan makes the Cougar offensive players get more engaged.

“It promotes involvement and ownership from a greater number of players,” Grimes said. “I think when everyone feels like they have an opportunity to contribute, then they have greater ownership and are willing to give more.”

https://www.heraldextra.com/sports/c...c5a2732ff.html