Messing with Texas: UT @ BYU

[smokymountainrain]

An injury can happen just as easily at the beginning of the game as at the end. It's refreshing to finally see a foot on the throat mentality from a BYU team. I'm tired of being nice. If we're going to beat the hell out of a top 20 team on ESPN, we might as well make it hurt.

Right, but you play your best players at the beginning of the game because the point is to get a win. If a guy gets hurt, there is nothing you can do about it - it's part of the game. With 4 minutes left in the game, up by 20 and with the ball, the outcome is no longer in doubt and there is no more reason to risk one of your best players getting hurt. As far as the foot on the throat mentality, at that point in the game, there was no foot on the throat, rather they were simply trying to run clock with Williams - something they could just as easily have done with Alisa (which they did when Williams was injured).

[smokymountainrain]

What a funny post.

Sure pick my one bad post. What about all my awesome ones?!

[Uncle Ted]

The longhorn network had scheduled to show the replay of the game this morning. It seems they decided to show the women's volleyball win over penn state instead.


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[lambdacoug]

The longhorn network had scheduled to show the replay of the game this morning. It seems they decided to show the women's volleyball win over penn state instead.


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LOL

[Sizzle]

http://www.barkingcarnival.com/2013/...-cougars-provo

Must read. Does a decent job giving credit to BYU (which most haven't) while absolutely obliterating the Longhorns. It's a Texas site FWIW.

[ERCougar]

http://www.barkingcarnival.com/2013/...-cougars-provo

Must read. Does a decent job giving credit to BYU (which most haven't) while absolutely obliterating the Longhorns. It's a Texas site FWIW.

Great read. My favorite of a few lol lines:
' bizarre tackling/hugging encounter session that ended in a gentle missionary position with the BYU punt returner as the ball plopped gently fifteen yards behind them.'

I really have no idea how much credit to give Hill and the offense either.

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[SCcoug]

Great read. My favorite of a few lol lines:
' bizarre tackling/hugging encounter session that ended in a gentle missionary position with the BYU punt returner as the ball plopped gently fifteen yards behind them.'

I really have no idea how much credit to give Hill and the offense either.

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Yeah, the last two weeks have probably been outliers. It remains to be seen where the mean lies between the two. I'm of the opinion (hope?) that it is closer to the Texas game.

[CardiacCoug]

http://www.barkingcarnival.com/2013/...-cougars-provo

Must read. Does a decent job giving credit to BYU (which most haven't) while absolutely obliterating the Longhorns. It's a Texas site FWIW.

That was good.

As he says, the Longhorn offense vs. BYU defense matchup was pretty much exactly what was expected and the Texas offense played well enough to win. If Texas was going to win this it needed to win 21-14 or 21-10.

Yeah I think it's fair to say that the Texas defensive game plan was a disaster. There is a lot of talent out there but they're just not being coached to play well as a team.

[Surfah]

As I sat here wondering what I was watching I allowed myself to wonder why the hell couldn't this team do this last week. Now I can make all kinds of plausible excuses as to why we lost to UVA and there are good ones (e.g., first game, difficult weather conditions, the game delays, Hoffman out, ironing out the wrinkles of GFGH) but I am convinced that if we beat UVA last week we don't beat Texas last night. Losing to UVA the way we did forced BYU to make changes they needed to. Much like last night's game will force Texas to make changes they need to (see ya Manny).

Offense: BYU looked like a completely different team. While I knew our offense looked pretty bad most of the time last week, I thought the Texas defense was overrated. I even commented about this with Ogletree's scouting report. He gushed about Texas' front but I wasn't convinced they were very good. And I said more than once that I would take UVA's Eli Harold over anyone on Texas' DL. I thought we'd be able to run on Texas but I never expected that kind of output. Props to Anae and 2J. It's not easy to make the kind of adjustments to the line that they did after an entire fall camp and just one game in. But they recognized what was working late in the game on that long drive at UVA and implemented that this week. The OL looked completely different. They dominated in the trenches. Also, the TEs blocked incredibly well and I have to say that Atuaia did work with the RBs too because Lasike, Jamal, Alisa, Hine were all blocking really well. I am really impressed with JDub. The dude finishes runs and blocks really well for a kid just 18 years old. Plus he has a burst and a gear when he gets through the line that we're not accustomed to at BYU. I said it during the game, the kid is going to rewrite BYU's rushing records. After two games against an ACC team and Big 12 team he is 2nd in the country in rushing. The biggest difference aside from the OL play was Hill's ability to make a decisive and good read in the option. He looked much more confident this week than he did last. He is a load to bring down and while I worry a bit about the hits he is taking, part of that is assuaged by the way he delivers the blow instead of receiving it most of the time. Apo and Matthews each had big drops. They both need to do better about catching the ball especially after drops last week. Hoffman had just 2 receptions but averaged over 30 each. You can see the difference he makes just being on the field. Another key point about our WRs is that they all block really well down field. On many of those runs Hoffman, Apo, Matthews had their guys locked up. GFGH is devastating when they move the ball. Texas was gassed towards the end. I also like how Anae learned from his clock/game management failures last week. At the end of the first we huddled up on that last drive to milk clock. We also slowed the tempo way down in the 4th and again huddled up towards the end. This offense was in pace to break NCAA records for plays ran. I think we ran 59 in the first half. That is insane. As for what can be improved on offense, obviously the passing game needs work. Taysom is not accurate. But I am hopeful that will improve as confidence grows in his protection. If he was a 60-65% passer he'd be lethal. I still think he can get there and will. I am hopeful with 2 weeks of practice he can develop some chemistry with his receiver particularly Hoffman who just returned to practice last week after missing the last couple of weeks of fall camp. Also, we gave up two turnovers. After last week's turnovers and this week's we just have to a better job protecting the ball.

Defense: I am not sure what more can be said about this unit that hasn't been said a hundred times. Kyle Van Noy is the best defensive player in BYU history. I don't know why because I should just expect it but I am continually amazed at how he is around every play. Even more amazing is that because teams run away from him as much as possible he makes most of these plays from the backside. Matt Millen made a really good point about KVN having great hips. That is said often in football evaluations but KVN is a perfect example of what that means. He keeps his hips low allowing him to explode toward the play/ball. But he is also able to shift them on most of his moves to avoid blockers/defenders while keeping the rest of his body square to be able to make the play. This is super evident on his inside move when pass rushing. It's not even really a swim move because he generally keeps his shoulders square to the QB and just takes a bit of a bunny hop and rotating his hips inside to slip past the tackle/TE/RB and burst by. He is so much fun to watch. Manumaleuna again was a monster in the middle. He might be the lightest NT in the country but the dude just does work. He constantly blows up plays even if he isn't the one making the play. He could play on Sundays if he gains some more weight. Bronson was also a beast and was in the backfield often. But this game was Alani Fua's coming out party. I commented during the game that he's looking a lot like KVN. He could learn to use his hips better like KVN, but he has a nose for the ball and making plays. His length and range make him difficult to stop. He backed up his 8 tackles last week with 7 more including 2 sacks. He's finally turning into the player we all hoped he would. Daniel Sorenson had a terrific game. He was everywhere and had 4 pass break ups. The dude covers so much ground it is amazing. And he's going to make you pay for catching the ball. I love DSor. All in all our front 7 may be the best ever at BYU. Unga is legit. I wish we had another year of him in the middle. I think Daniel played well again. He gave up the one TD to Davis but he was there in good position, just needs to locate the ball. PoVey is terrible. He bites on weak moves. The cushion he has to give is an automatic 8 yards every time if the opponent wants it. I am not sure why Applewhite didn't call that quick pass to his sideline every time. That pass has always killed BYU because of our cushions. Even more so with PoVey. I will say though that PoVey is a pretty good tackler and limits the damage on those plays. I am still scratching my head as to why Pikula is playing outside. He needs to be inside. Not only does he look out of place physically when you compare him to Fua or KVN but he plays like it as well. Otherwise not much to gripe about with this defense. We're always going to be susceptible to good passing teams if they give their QBs time. Thankfully we have a pretty good pass rush. I was a bit concerned with Bronco saying he felt he called too many zone pressures/blitzes early. I thought it was genius. Bringing Daniel twice on back to back plays, bringing Fua, KVN often made that Texas OL off-balance and allowed BYU to get pressure with just 3-4 guys consistently later because they were worried about their pickups. Bronco is a defensive genius. What he has done at BYU with this defense is extraordinary especially given the talent he is able to recruit. Could you imagine the kind of defense he could create with BCS level talent?

Special Teams: Sorenson is perfect on the year. Let me repeat that, Sorenson is perfect on the year. I had zero confidence in our ST last year but Sorenson has been money. Such a relief. I have been pretty impressed with Arellano too. Protection still is questionable but he has a decent leg. Stephenson was huge last year for us, so having someone at least competent punting is nice. He's done a nice job holding too especially since the long snapping hasn't been great. He has recovered a poor snap in each game and been able to get it down for JSor. Coverage has been good on both teams so far. Hine is a really good kick returner. He has a great average despite two long ones being called back for dumb penalties. I think he may break one this year.

Looking ahead, I am glad we have two weeks to prepare for Utah. We get a chance to get healthy. Bronco can scheme for the Utah offense. Taysom can work on his accuracy and develop some chemistry with Hoffman. KVN is 0-3 against Utah. That changes. He's going to be all up in Wilson's head.

[CardiacCoug]

Yep, Surfah -- the extensive OL changes working out as well as they did last night is a really remarkable and unexpected thing. Anae understands OL play and that's a huge advantage he brings to the table over a guy like Doman.

Yeah the Texas defense is going to be bad this year, but hell that wasn't Idaho or New Mexico State -- there was some really great talent on that Texas defense and some guys who will play in the NFL.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

Great read. My favorite of a few lol lines:
' bizarre tackling/hugging encounter session that ended in a gentle missionary position with the BYU punt returner as the ball plopped gently fifteen yards behind them.'

I really have no idea how much credit to give Hill and the offense either.

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I love the "OL got stood up more than a match.com woman with a 10 year old profile pic" I wish my 11 year old could understand that line I'd use it in practice every time one of them stands straight up.

[cougjunkie]

I just watched the game again, Deondre Wesley was amazing. I haven't seen a BYU tackle dominate like that since Matt Reynolds was a sophomore.

Dude was a monster, go rewatch and just focus on him.

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[ERCougar]

As I sat here wondering what I was watching I allowed myself to wonder why the hell couldn't this team do this last week. Now I can make all kinds of plausible excuses as to why we lost to UVA and there are good ones (e.g., first game, difficult weather conditions, the game delays, Hoffman out, ironing out the wrinkles of GFGH) but I am convinced that if we beat UVA last week we don't beat Texas last night. Losing to UVA the way we did forced BYU to make changes they needed to. Much like last night's game will force Texas to make changes they need to (see ya Manny).

Offense: BYU looked like a completely different team. While I knew our offense looked pretty bad most of the time last week, I thought the Texas defense was overrated. I even commented about this with Ogletree's scouting report. He gushed about Texas' front but I wasn't convinced they were very good. And I said more than once that I would take UVA's Eli Harold over anyone on Texas' DL. I thought we'd be able to run on Texas but I never expected that kind of output. Props to Anae and 2J. It's not easy to make the kind of adjustments to the line that they did after an entire fall camp and just one game in. But they recognized what was working late in the game on that long drive at UVA and implemented that this week. The OL looked completely different. They dominated in the trenches. Also, the TEs blocked incredibly well and I have to say that Atuaia did work with the RBs too because Lasike, Jamal, Alisa, Hine were all blocking really well. I am really impressed with JDub. The dude finishes runs and blocks really well for a kid just 18 years old. Plus he has a burst and a gear when he gets through the line that we're not accustomed to at BYU. I said it during the game, the kid is going to rewrite BYU's rushing records. After two games against an ACC team and Big 12 team he is 2nd in the country in rushing. The biggest difference aside from the OL play was Hill's ability to make a decisive and good read in the option. He looked much more confident this week than he did last. He is a load to bring down and while I worry a bit about the hits he is taking, part of that is assuaged by the way he delivers the blow instead of receiving it most of the time. Apo and Matthews each had big drops. They both need to do better about catching the ball especially after drops last week. Hoffman had just 2 receptions but averaged over 30 each. You can see the difference he makes just being on the field. Another key point about our WRs is that they all block really well down field. On many of those runs Hoffman, Apo, Matthews had their guys locked up. GFGH is devastating when they move the ball. Texas was gassed towards the end. I also like how Anae learned from his clock/game management failures last week. At the end of the first we huddled up on that last drive to milk clock. We also slowed the tempo way down in the 4th and again huddled up towards the end. This offense was in pace to break NCAA records for plays ran. I think we ran 59 in the first half. That is insane. As for what can be improved on offense, obviously the passing game needs work. Taysom is not accurate. But I am hopeful that will improve as confidence grows in his protection. If he was a 60-65% passer he'd be lethal. I still think he can get there and will. I am hopeful with 2 weeks of practice he can develop some chemistry with his receiver particularly Hoffman who just returned to practice last week after missing the last couple of weeks of fall camp. Also, we gave up two turnovers. After last week's turnovers and this week's we just have to a better job protecting the ball.

Defense: I am not sure what more can be said about this unit that hasn't been said a hundred times. Kyle Van Noy is the best defensive player in BYU history. I don't know why because I should just expect it but I am continually amazed at how he is around every play. Even more amazing is that because teams run away from him as much as possible he makes most of these plays from the backside. Matt Millen made a really good point about KVN having great hips. That is said often in football evaluations but KVN is a perfect example of what that means. He keeps his hips low allowing him to explode toward the play/ball. But he is also able to shift them on most of his moves to avoid blockers/defenders while keeping the rest of his body square to be able to make the play. This is super evident on his inside move when pass rushing. It's not even really a swim move because he generally keeps his shoulders square to the QB and just takes a bit of a bunny hop and rotating his hips inside to slip past the tackle/TE/RB and burst by. He is so much fun to watch. Manumaleuna again was a monster in the middle. He might be the lightest NT in the country but the dude just does work. He constantly blows up plays even if he isn't the one making the play. He could play on Sundays if he gains some more weight. Bronson was also a beast and was in the backfield often. But this game was Alani Fua's coming out party. I commented during the game that he's looking a lot like KVN. He could learn to use his hips better like KVN, but he has a nose for the ball and making plays. His length and range make him difficult to stop. He backed up his 8 tackles last week with 7 more including 2 sacks. He's finally turning into the player we all hoped he would. Daniel Sorenson had a terrific game. He was everywhere and had 4 pass break ups. The dude covers so much ground it is amazing. And he's going to make you pay for catching the ball. I love DSor. All in all our front 7 may be the best ever at BYU. Unga is legit. I wish we had another year of him in the middle. I think Daniel played well again. He gave up the one TD to Davis but he was there in good position, just needs to locate the ball. PoVey is terrible. He bites on weak moves. The cushion he has to give is an automatic 8 yards every time if the opponent wants it. I am not sure why Applewhite didn't call that quick pass to his sideline every time. That pass has always killed BYU because of our cushions. Even more so with PoVey. I will say though that PoVey is a pretty good tackler and limits the damage on those plays. I am still scratching my head as to why Pikula is playing outside. He needs to be inside. Not only does he look out of place physically when you compare him to Fua or KVN but he plays like it as well. Otherwise not much to gripe about with this defense. We're always going to be susceptible to good passing teams if they give their QBs time. Thankfully we have a pretty good pass rush. I was a bit concerned with Bronco saying he felt he called too many zone pressures/blitzes early. I thought it was genius. Bringing Daniel twice on back to back plays, bringing Fua, KVN often made that Texas OL off-balance and allowed BYU to get pressure with just 3-4 guys consistently later because they were worried about their pickups. Bronco is a defensive genius. What he has done at BYU with this defense is extraordinary especially given the talent he is able to recruit. Could you imagine the kind of defense he could create with BCS level talent?

Special Teams: Sorenson is perfect on the year. Let me repeat that, Sorenson is perfect on the year. I had zero confidence in our ST last year but Sorenson has been money. Such a relief. I have been pretty impressed with Arellano too. Protection still is questionable but he has a decent leg. Stephenson was huge last year for us, so having someone at least competent punting is nice. He's done a nice job holding too especially since the long snapping hasn't been great. He has recovered a poor snap in each game and been able to get it down for JSor. Coverage has been good on both teams so far. Hine is a really good kick returner. He has a great average despite two long ones being called back for dumb penalties. I think he may break one this year.

Looking ahead, I am glad we have two weeks to prepare for Utah. We get a chance to get healthy. Bronco can scheme for the Utah offense. Taysom can work on his accuracy and develop some chemistry with Hoffman. KVN is 0-3 against Utah. That changes. He's going to be all up in Wilson's head.

Good analysis, but I'm still puzzled at the OLine. I don't know personnel well enough to know if it's just getting the right five together or not, but if it's all due to Anae really understanding line play, why was this not ironed out in camp? We have a good DL to work out the kinks. Bronco indicated that last week they hit the right assignments but sacrificed quality to keep up the tempo, and that they worked on quality this last week. I could maybe buy that--it's hard to simulate tempo in practice. But is that just coachspeak?

[TripletDaddy]

Before the season started, Bronco tried to change the jerseys and immediately admitted it wasn't the right idea.
last week, Anae screwed up and immediately admitted he made the wrong call.
this week, we all saw that adjustments were made to address serious deficiencies in the offensive scheme.

Not sure what this means for the rest of the season, but I like this new approach of public-facing accountability. Big credit to Bronco and Anae for putting a team out there that looked prepared and mentally ready to go from the opening kick.

Bring on the Utes!!

ps I'm a little surprised to read a few posts about the electricity of the stadium. For the most part, I thought it was dead and really quiet except after big plays. I blame a lot of that on the weather. Electric environments permeate throughout the entire game. I spent more time during the first half trying to ignore the Texas band and straining to hear any noise from our band. Also, where is the student section? Didn't even know we had one.

[USUC]

I can't believe Wrubell beat Indy to this.

"@gregwrubell: BYU has never lost (1-0) when rushing for 550 yards or more."