What happened?

[Goatnapper'96]

What does the loss of Fuga do for this defense? Obviously it's a terrible injury, but how does BYU look at nose tackle?

My guess is Ethyn M will play more NT and Jordan Richardson will play some as well. Bryson and Putnam will get more PT at DE.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

If you want to avoid this kind of mess, stop sending your athletes on missions. Period.

I vote for this. How do I support the cause and make it happen? Is there a fund or something?

[Indy Coug]

I vote for this. How do I support the cause and make it happen? Is there a fund or something?

Unfortunately, the only option you have is to pull your pants down and bend over.

[RC Vikings]

When you have 75%-80% of your athletes going on missions, there is going to be the inevitable situations in your program where class/positional imbalances are going to be particularly bad.

If you want to avoid this kind of mess, stop sending your athletes on missions. Period.

We would have an upperclassman Munns starting at QB, upperclassman Austin Holt at TE, all sorts of quality upperclassmen LBs etc. right now.

Where are those kids who were brought in four years ago and should have served a mission already?

[Indy Coug]

Where are those kids who were brought in four years ago and should have served a mission already?

Some of them are still underclassmen. Several were JC signees.

http://byu.scout.com/a.z?s=338&p=9&c=8&yr=2006

Most of these guys are gone.

http://byu.scout.com/a.z?s=338&p=9&c=8&yr=2005

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

Unfortunately, the only option you have is to pull your pants down and bend over.

So it is a Prop 8 thing.

[jay santos]

Some of them are still underclassmen. Several were JC signees.

http://byu.scout.com/a.z?s=338&p=9&c=8&yr=2006

Most of these guys are gone.

http://byu.scout.com/a.z?s=338&p=9&c=8&yr=2005

That 2006 class was pretty weak. That's part of the problem this year.

[cougjunkie]

Andrew Rich has 47 tackles in 4 games. That shows how good he is, but it also shows the lack of tackling from the LBs.

[SCcoug]

What does the loss of Fuga do for this defense? Obviously it's a terrible injury, but how does BYU look at nose tackle?

I agree with Goat's assessment of who will replace him. Fuga is a huge loss. With the possible exception of Rich, Fuga is the worst guy to go down with a season ender as far as the defense is concerned.

[statman]

The middle of the field requires a TE and for whatever reason none of those are delivering. I also think that the fade is a safer route than throwing the ball over the middle. The confidence of the coaching staff in Jake and Jake's confidence to go over the middle is going to take some time. They are getting more aggressive with Jake each game, so I am hopefull that BYU will have found a TE in the next 3 games.

What it requires more is implicit trust between QB and TE. TEs run option route - they turn one way if they see Defense A, and the other if they see Defense B. If the QB and TE don't read things the same way, the QB is passing the ball straight to the strong safety.

You don't see the passes to TEs like we've had for the last 5 or 6 years until the QB and TE have had enough reps together that the QB "knows where he's going to be" on a given play.

And they don't have to be particularly athletic for those routes to work. Athletic TEs help because they make players miss, and turn 8 yard passes into 15 yard gains. But the rapport between TE and QB doesn't require particularly gifted TEs. Just reps and coaching...

[statman]

I thought the OL played fine. I only recall one sack and it was on a blitz and I assume it was the rb that missed the block.

You assume correctly. The smartest guy on the field blew his assignment...

[All-American]

You assume correctly. The smartest guy on the field blew his assignment...

Bronco?

[All-American]

Yeah, this is officially a disaster.

[Top Ute]

When those programs have down cycles, coaches get fired and changes get made. Is there a head that needs to roll?

I'm changing my stance on this. Someone has done an exceptionally poor job for BYU to go into the tank like this as quickly as it has. Most discouraging for BYU is that it isn't getting better, and is definitely getting worse.

This is a dangerous time for anyone on the staff, because their critics can sharpen their teeth and get more people to listen to them, and get the changes they're seeking.