My apologies first for my lapse, second for the team.
Right to the heart of the matter:
2 QB a method to protect Heaps until he was ready to take the reins, now he must do what he has to do what he has to do because Nelson is down.
We lost against AFA, FSU, and Nevada. But hey, we have youth a plenty and coaches that seem to think they can play conservative with players that don't quite grasp everything yet. I have faith it will come together, but the growing pains are... well.. painful.
The U hasn't played anybody who matters, but I am still impressed by how thoroughly they whipped on those nobodies. They should do OK for the rest of the season.
The rest of the Mountain West... well. We have the Lobos, who suck beyond all reason. UNLV is a close second in suckiness. CSU is trying to break out of that category... good luck. TCU still remains strong. AFA in my opinion is as good as they've ever been. Wyoming, where they usually are. SDSU is looking better than they have for a while, so that's a perk. HMMM... I still believe BYU will win a good deal of their games, but it all depends on how fast a bunch of players can grow up.
My predictions:
The UofU v Bye week: about as difficult as their past three weeks, BAZING. But I think that they will have an interesting time. Ohio should be harder than they've had for a while, but I am pretty sure they will do well.
BYU v Utah State. I think we'll win. Not certain, but they've got lots of injuries. The big concern is that it's in Logan. Who gives a crap about Logan (sorry Joe). So lets hope that we pull a W finally.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Saturday, September 11, 2010
(Red) U-Fan Cast
(Red) Week 1 review / Week 2 preview
Pitt - 24
Utah - 27
The opener for the Utes went really the way I expected it to go in most cases. Pitt was not able to run the ball on the defensive line of the U. Brandon Burton shut down on of the best wide outs in the country. The Ute defense was dominate. Sure they missed a few assignments but that is correctable stuff so I'm not worried about the production of the defense. It could possibly be the best in years.
The offense was sharp, for the most part. Turnovers and dumb penalties killed any other scoring opportunities. With Wynn, Wide, and Asiata in the backfield this offense is going to be potent and the wide outs have some fire power as well. As long as the Utes don't beat themselves they will be in a good position. And Jordan Wynn put them in many of those against Pitt. Pitt had a hard time defending the wide outs because they were constantly matched up on linebackers and was open. The offensive game plan was solid and it attached Pitt where they were weak, the secondary.
Special teams have a lot work to do. A blocked punt and a muffed punt. Mistakes like that will cost you a game. And lucky for the U they made a lot of mistakes and still won. They really dominated the game the score just didn't show it. Good win the first week to propel the U into the season.
Week 2 v UNLV
This game is simple. Run the ball. Asiata and Wide should get over 100 yards a piece in this game. UNLV showed a weak run D against Wisconsin last week and they should take advantage of this. Once the run gets established Wynn/Cain will be able to pick them apart in the secondary. Wynn is a game time decision to play because of a strained thumb he sustained in the Pitt game. So hopefully the last 9 days have been enough to get it healed. If not Terrance Cain is more than capable to step in and be able to produce.
Defensively they just need to stick Brandon Burton on Phillip Payne and then get penetration on the defensive line. Vegas has 2 weapons, Phillip Payne at wide receiver and their scrambling QB Omar Clayton. They shut down that combo it should be a cake walk.
Utah 45
UNLV 17
BYU 23
Wash 17
Very good win for BYU to start the season. I was surprised by how well the young guys played for BYU. However the 2 QB system will not work week in and out. They need to find the guy soon. BYUs offense, as of now, is mediocre at best. The WR and RB cores are weak and they did not wow me at all. They just don't have many weapons on the field right now. However they did make enough plays to beat an overrated Washington team. I kinda figured BYU would score about 20ish points against them because Washington's D is just not very good. But Washington's offense struggled all day. I would say mostly because of BYU special teams pinning them within their own 10 on 3+ occasions. Of course this was helped out by Washington's really bad special teams decisions. Overall BYU still has a long way to go but they got off on the right foot.
BYU v Air Force
To be honest with you this is the year Air Force should win vs BYU. It's at AFA, BYU is rebuilding, and AFA is tough to play early. But BYU has their number. Bronco Mendenhall is undefeated against AFA. I think BYU can score some points on them but AFA is a very opportunistic defense and likes to force turnovers. I think BYU turns it over a time or two. I think BYU could struggle with the option attack because they have so many young defenders and this is will be the first time they see it in live action, so I think AFA will put points on the board. However with that said until AFA beats BYU I have to pick BYU. I have picked AFA for about 3 or 4 years now. I think as of now AFA is a better 'team' since they have experience, but BYU has their number.
BYU 21
AFA 20
... sorry for the brief post... I'm tired.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
(Blue) Wins for everyone.
Utah won, BYU won, USU... almost one. Pretty good for Utah. Quick points:
* The youth on BYU and Utah (especially on defense) are looking better than we could have hoped.
* Two Quarter Backs didn't prove to undo BYU, between Heaps and Nelson, there were many capable hands to move the offense.
* There is work to be done for both teams. BYU could polish it's defense against the run, and generally be crisper on offense. Utah could try not to fumble and whatnot.
* High five to BYU special teams for winning the field position battle in a big way. UW mistakes were key, but lets give credit where credit is due.
*Good job on no turnovers. There were only 2 fumbles all game and
* All of the old great QB's (even MacMahon) were back in town and everyone felt warm and fuzzy inside.
* I was particularly impressed with JJ DiLuigi. Unga who?
Enough of that, the past is past. This week we play Air Force in Colorado... scary. According to Jeff Call of Deseret News, BYU has a much better record against AF in games later than September (14-2) as opposed to games in September (2-2). Granted, it hasn't happened very often, but BYU is still working out kinks and AF is extremely disciplined, tricky, fast, and dirty. (Not always dirty, but sometimes). It will be interesting to see how this plays out. My prediction is BYU 27, AF 21. This is based on the hope that the defense can pull it in and stop the option. There are a lot of new guys on the front line, so that's far from a certainty, but I have faith.
Utah and UNLV... Hmmm. Nobody really knows what to expect out of the new UNLV coach. They lost their first game but the coach had a pretty good record from Montana so who knows. Also, Wynn seems to have a boo boo. Something about his thumb. I don't really think it's serious enough to stop him from playing but lets not forget Cain is still around if they need him, and he is nothing to sneer at QB wise. Asiata should be even more balanced out this game, it's in SLC, and etc so I don't expect Utah to struggle too much. I predict Utah wins, 34 to 13.
* The youth on BYU and Utah (especially on defense) are looking better than we could have hoped.
* Two Quarter Backs didn't prove to undo BYU, between Heaps and Nelson, there were many capable hands to move the offense.
* There is work to be done for both teams. BYU could polish it's defense against the run, and generally be crisper on offense. Utah could try not to fumble and whatnot.
* High five to BYU special teams for winning the field position battle in a big way. UW mistakes were key, but lets give credit where credit is due.
*Good job on no turnovers. There were only 2 fumbles all game and
* All of the old great QB's (even MacMahon) were back in town and everyone felt warm and fuzzy inside.
* I was particularly impressed with JJ DiLuigi. Unga who?
Enough of that, the past is past. This week we play Air Force in Colorado... scary. According to Jeff Call of Deseret News, BYU has a much better record against AF in games later than September (14-2) as opposed to games in September (2-2). Granted, it hasn't happened very often, but BYU is still working out kinks and AF is extremely disciplined, tricky, fast, and dirty. (Not always dirty, but sometimes). It will be interesting to see how this plays out. My prediction is BYU 27, AF 21. This is based on the hope that the defense can pull it in and stop the option. There are a lot of new guys on the front line, so that's far from a certainty, but I have faith.
Utah and UNLV... Hmmm. Nobody really knows what to expect out of the new UNLV coach. They lost their first game but the coach had a pretty good record from Montana so who knows. Also, Wynn seems to have a boo boo. Something about his thumb. I don't really think it's serious enough to stop him from playing but lets not forget Cain is still around if they need him, and he is nothing to sneer at QB wise. Asiata should be even more balanced out this game, it's in SLC, and etc so I don't expect Utah to struggle too much. I predict Utah wins, 34 to 13.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
(Red) It's official... BYU is a loner...
Well today BYU made the 'leap of faith' as it has been called to go independent in football and join the WCC in other sports (minus a few others which sounds like they got screwed). My immediate reaction to the move was that in the short term I think it works pretty well, exposure and scheduling anyways. I would say that it is step up over the MWC for exposure, but how hard is that? All home games on ESPN is very good, but now they are at the will of ESPN. When ESPN says play a game they have to play. I'd be a little concerned about when the games may be played. Scheduling they do have Notre Dame on the docket as well as Texas. But they still have the WAC for about 6 games. That is a big step down over MWC competition. So they are going to be around 10 games already for the 2011 and 2012 seasons it looks like, but when the WAC tie in ends in the next few years things could get tricky. Now the thing I would be most worried about is that, say for example, BYU loses 2 out of their first 3 or 4 games. Normally those are reserved for non conference games and you could come back and win your conference. Now without a conference and losing those games you have no championship to look forward to, at that point BCS consideration is long gone. Motivation for a team can be shot. And the problem with independent scheduling I don't know if it will be easy to find a middle ground in strength of the schedule. You need to try and find a medium between what Navy does and what Notre Dame does. Because you could play yourself out of a season pretty quickly with a tough schedule that you made. At the same time you don't want to schedule a bunch of cream puffs and screw yourself out of a good ranking. The problem I could see is that you may not have to much of a say in which way that works itself out. Because you are playing to the availability of other teams and when they can play. Depending on how the cards fall you could be hating life. Overall I think it was an ok move. The MWC due to it's exposure didn't give BYU to much of a choice, but competitively I think staying in the MWC was a better solution. But I understand the move. After all I'm in the Pac 12 so life is all good at the U, uncertain days lie ahead for the Y.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
(Blue)Strange things afoot...
Well it's happened: just like Utah a few weeks ago, BYU has 'cut the cord' with the beloved (or behated depending on your outlook) Mountain West Athletic Conference. After some deep soul searching and meditation as to my feelings on this move, I have arrived at the following conclusion:
Onward and upwards.
The MWC was good and fun, but the best things had already been changed when Utah bolted and we started taking on WAC ilk. Boise and the rest would have changed things too much for it really to be the same, so sports were going to be different regardless. Just a note about the move, it was necessitated by $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
... and exposure.
The way things sit now, BYU has to scramble around to get people to play them, but Notre Dame, Hawaii, and others have made this less worrisome. Granted, there will be some weaker opponents, namely, the WAC tie in's. But hey, we have some Oklahoma, Florida State etc games to come and I am not too stressed. Things will work themselves out. Seems like ESPN is supportive and that's always a plus. I'm glad that I can flip the Mountain, CBSC, and Versus the proverbial bird in a few and that I'll be able to watch the games.
Two things I'll miss: playing for a conference championship and the Deseret First Duel. Now the latter should be effectively be impossible with BYU landing in the WCC with the other churchy schools with all of it's other sports except track swimming and softball. I feel for those guys and wonder where they'll end up. But like I said, onwards and upward.
As for the rest of the days blogging about stuff, it'll be more tricky now that the Utes have gone Pac 10 and we've 'independencitized' ourselves. BUT WE SHALL PREVAIL!!! Red and I will continue to bring you the finest hearsay and opinion to be had on the subject. And on that thread, to the games:
Utah VS Pitt: ... See Red's post :)
Seriously though- Pitt has historically been tough and I think that they will give the Utes a good indication of where their team sits. My prediction is a close game, with Utah coming out on top, under 24 points for the winner.
BYU VS Washington: Hmmm.. Well, I'm not gonna lie, I love good ol' S. Sarkisian as much as anybody, but I really hope for repeat of last years opener. The QB against us is as good as they come, but that hasn't ALWAYS killed us (just frequently). I have been checking the roster for the fresh blood on the squad and there is some hope there. The good thing about this week is that everyone is healthy. I predict a victory for BYU by a narrow margin or a loss. If we do win, I think it will be less then 4 points or so and probably under 30, but I'm optimistic.
I hope that our QB 'competition' is resolved soon and that we can shake the silly notion of dual QB action. In my opinion, you need a foundation based on "the guy" so that you can really form your offense. That's not what Bronco wants right now and hey, hope it works. But I suspect that one or the other needs to come to the forefront and stay there. There are more things I could say, but the only way to really see is to hide and watch. That goes for Independence as well as the team this year.
Onward and upwards.
The MWC was good and fun, but the best things had already been changed when Utah bolted and we started taking on WAC ilk. Boise and the rest would have changed things too much for it really to be the same, so sports were going to be different regardless. Just a note about the move, it was necessitated by $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
... and exposure.
The way things sit now, BYU has to scramble around to get people to play them, but Notre Dame, Hawaii, and others have made this less worrisome. Granted, there will be some weaker opponents, namely, the WAC tie in's. But hey, we have some Oklahoma, Florida State etc games to come and I am not too stressed. Things will work themselves out. Seems like ESPN is supportive and that's always a plus. I'm glad that I can flip the Mountain, CBSC, and Versus the proverbial bird in a few and that I'll be able to watch the games.
Two things I'll miss: playing for a conference championship and the Deseret First Duel. Now the latter should be effectively be impossible with BYU landing in the WCC with the other churchy schools with all of it's other sports except track swimming and softball. I feel for those guys and wonder where they'll end up. But like I said, onwards and upward.
As for the rest of the days blogging about stuff, it'll be more tricky now that the Utes have gone Pac 10 and we've 'independencitized' ourselves. BUT WE SHALL PREVAIL!!! Red and I will continue to bring you the finest hearsay and opinion to be had on the subject. And on that thread, to the games:
Utah VS Pitt: ... See Red's post :)
Seriously though- Pitt has historically been tough and I think that they will give the Utes a good indication of where their team sits. My prediction is a close game, with Utah coming out on top, under 24 points for the winner.
BYU VS Washington: Hmmm.. Well, I'm not gonna lie, I love good ol' S. Sarkisian as much as anybody, but I really hope for repeat of last years opener. The QB against us is as good as they come, but that hasn't ALWAYS killed us (just frequently). I have been checking the roster for the fresh blood on the squad and there is some hope there. The good thing about this week is that everyone is healthy. I predict a victory for BYU by a narrow margin or a loss. If we do win, I think it will be less then 4 points or so and probably under 30, but I'm optimistic.
I hope that our QB 'competition' is resolved soon and that we can shake the silly notion of dual QB action. In my opinion, you need a foundation based on "the guy" so that you can really form your offense. That's not what Bronco wants right now and hey, hope it works. But I suspect that one or the other needs to come to the forefront and stay there. There are more things I could say, but the only way to really see is to hide and watch. That goes for Independence as well as the team this year.
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