Rise Up: BYU vs UCF.....knight game

[Sizzle]

The KR Return was exciting, but the replay showed it happened because of extremely poor coverage. UCF somehow got 8 of their guys to the right of Hofmann. Once he found the huge hole all he needed was one block to flatten the kicker and no one was within 15 yards of him. He did show some speed though.

The kick return showed great preparation by the staff. They almost broke the first one as well. Hoff deserves credit for executing, but the coaches deserve props for identifying something they saw on film and exploiting.

[jay santos]

Uh, Jay, did you see the size of some of their backs? They may have been fast, but they definitely had a power run feel to it as well. I thought BYU did a fairly decent job of containing their running QB. Yes, he got two TDs, but one came from the one yard line. In total they had 81 yards rushing. I gotta admit, bitching about scheme when you hold a team to 81 rushing yards when they average close to 200 per game? Not really good form.

I'm not bitching. This is just banter. I'm avoiding talking about Heaps. That would probably be described as bitching. I completely trust Bronco's D. I'm just a little confused about his strategy. And I didn't think the D played as well as they could have last night.

[jay santos]

The kick return showed great preparation by the staff. They almost broke the first one as well. Hoff deserves credit for executing, but the coaches deserve props for identifying something they saw on film and exploiting.

In the post game Hoffman said they saw on film UCF only puts 5 guys on the wide side of the field, so they planned for it and felt like they could break one. Good coaching.

[Viking]

Just watched the replay. Doman improved quite a bit. Heaps is not that good.

We will struggle to be over .500 this year unless Heaps can start hitting the broadside of a truck.

Our defense is great at hitting, terrible at tackling.

[BemidjiCoug]

How are they different. With every week that passes, the offense looks more and more like Anae's. The only difference to start with was that we were under center more, did more play action, and rolled out the QB more. We still had all the same plays, the tendencies just changed. It's trending back the other way. More shotgun/splits on passing downs.

We didn't throw 50 5 yard outs a game when Anae was OC

[Viking]

We didn't throw 50 5 yard outs a game when Anae was OC

Doman played for Crowton, after all.

[Flystripper]

Watching the replay on BYUtv, it is nice to hear McCann and Fowler. They offer 10x the insight that Rod Gilmore did.

Rod Gilmore is very dumb. Like might not pass 4th grade dumb.

[Flystripper]

The sideline out is a nightmare. Heaps has the arm to make the throw and yet he is completely off right now. Fix that and it makes a huge difference in the rest of the passing game. Also, after Apo left the game, BYU WR's struggled to get open and that was with single coverage on the outside. Almost every play, UCF safeties completely ignored the outside receivers. When you can't ever beat single coverage the QB is not going to look good. I'm not excusing the struggles Heaps is having right now, but the receivers outside of Apo aren't helping matters. Maybe it will look different on tv, but that was what I saw from the north end zone.

Jacobson has been open on many times on the outside but it hasn't worked. Sometimes it is because Jake can't hit the side of a barn and sometimes its because of Jacobson can't catch shit.

[Flystripper]

How are they different. With every week that passes, the offense looks more and more like Anae's. The only difference to start with was that we were under center more, did more play action, and rolled out the QB more. We still had all the same plays, the tendencies just changed. It's trending back the other way. More shotgun/splits on passing downs.

yeah I think he realizing that all of his ideas are not that great and that maybe, just maybe Anae new what he was doing even though he was an asshole.

[wuapinmon]

I am not a mathematician, but 10 x 0=0

Not bad.

[New Mexican Disaster]

Gilmore kept calling Manumaleuna "Manu Mulitalo." Next time do a little research.

[Sizzle]

Alright a few thoughts combined into one post:

The good:
1) The KR. There are some returns that are all athleticism and on the returner, but the one last night was schematic. Coaches saw something and exploited it. Props though to the Hoff for taking the opp and running with it.
2) The defense: Held UCF to 100 yards under their average. Dug deep and came up with some big stops for the most part. I could also summarize this with just KVN because he was EVERYWHERE. Kid is a straight up stud and made some huge plays.
3) Special Teams: The fake punt with Riley running the option, Stephenson coming through with some absolute great kicks, and Sorenson with 4/5 touchbacks. Also, the muffed punt was huge in swinging the momentum. Even without the KR TD, Special teams is what wins the game last night.

The bad:
1) Heaps: Something isn't right. He's got the tools, but he is in a funk right now. He just needs to go out and play. Thankfully the sched lightens up soon so we should see some improvement.
2) Poor fundamentals/execution: I'm combining the dropped passes and missed tackles and horrible blown coverage assignments into one. Dropped passes stalled drives. Missed tackles extended drives. And blown coverages almost cost us the game. It's week 4, gotta fix those things.

Some other random thoughts:
1) Do we have a screen in our playbook? Get some pressure off the QB when they blitz by running a screen.
2) Kariya being healthy helps the running game. He isn't flashy but for a solid 3-4 yards a pop he is our best option.
3) Some of the route combos our receivers run are confusing. The INT looked like it was supposed to go to Hoffman and the underneath receiver tipped it. You shouldn't have two receivers that close.
4) The 4th down call to have Riley throw it was horrendous. Maybe they were trying to set up the option later but man, that was atrocious.
5) On the flip side, JJs TD run was a phenomenal play call. Hoffman also had a great block to spring it for the TD.
6) On the last offensive drive, how do we not run the route past the first down? McKay, you're a senior, you should know better.
7) I felt like the O did a better job getting the plays in on time and keeping the tempo in their favor. They didn't feel rushed like they did last week. Related to that it seemed like there was less package changes from play to play which I think was also beneficial.
8) I really like the defense when we go 2-5-4, although I miss having Pendelton. JP plays so well in space that he is almost like a hybrid LB/S which gives us a lot more flexibility in terms of coverages and bringing pressure.
9) A few corner blitzes also did a good job at catching UCF off guard. Bronco is a really really good D-Coordinator.
10) I need to go back and re-watch to confirm, but my impression the last few weeks is that Manamaleuna is probably the most underrated player on our team. He eats up blockers, teams struggle running to his side and even double teamed he still makes plays. He also plays the whole game. He needs to get more love, because he makes the D go.
11) UCF is a good team. BYU played a B- game probably, so to play a not great game and still come away with a win is big. Being 2-2 instead of 1-3 is huge. Hopefully they can take the momentum an carry it on to next week against Utah State. Hopefully they still have a bitter Aggie taste in their mouth from last year as well.
12) Friday games suck, but the one bonus is it frees up Saturday to watch a lot of football games.

[Katy Lied]

You guys criticizing Heaps are out to lunch. It is 95% Doman's fault. Heaps is a young QB who needs intensive coaching and mentoring and teaching. Right now he's getting squat during the game. Doman tells him "good luck" during warmups and doesn't get back to him until the press conference.

Doman was terribly arrogant for thinking he could coach the QBs and call the offense at the same time when he's never done any OC work before. Right now the offense is taking up all of his time, and the QBs are getting shit for mentoring on the field. After all of Heaps' turnovers, he gets nothing from the coaching staff. No coaching, no advice, no suggestions, no motivation.

Compare that to Utah. As much as I think Chow has jumped the shark, he's known for mentoring and coaching QBs. Plus, they've got Brian Johnson who does nothing but watch the QBs and focus on them. This year, they've managed to turn a mediocre QB with a duck arm into a decent general who's increasingly comfortable in the pocket. What does Heaps have? Nothing during the game, and it's worse now that Doman isnt even on the field.

It's not just Heaps, look at how poorly Riley Nelson is performing as well, on the few plays he's been in the game. The only down conversion he got is on the option, something he's been doing in his sleep his whole life.

Doman needs an assistant coach to take over the QBs right now. Heaps is paying the price for Doman's arrogance.

[MarkGrace]

I liked the 320 lb D line last week against Utah. It was a strategic move specifically to stop a power running team with a struggling QB. And we got out of of it on passing downs. Brilliant.

I HATE the 320 lb D line against a fast team with small O line and an athletic, running QB!! Come on, Bronco.

This D looks pretty awesome with two NT's, Frazier lined up at DE, and Van Noy and Pendleton at OLB's. This D looks pretty slow and meh when it lines up three 300+ DL's, and Frazier and Van Noy at OLB. Even worse when they have Van Noy subbed out and the same combo but Wagner in Van Noy's spot. BLAH. I saw Goat's boy Alani Fua in there. He looks like he can move. He's listed at 6'5 206. I thought Goat thought he was a future RB? 6'5 RB?

I think you read goats comment wrong. His comment about fua was in regard to taking over an outside lber position next year when pendleton leaves, not playing rb.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

The bad:
1) Heaps: Something isn't right. He's got the tools, but he is in a funk right now. He just needs to go out and play. Thankfully the sched lightens up soon so we should see some improvement.

He needs a slump buster.