So, the University of Utah absolutely choked against one of the worst teams in the nation, Colorado. Colorado had lost 26 straight road games coming into the game. What's amazing is that had the U won the game, at 8-4 (with 4 WAC-12 losses), they would be the second ranked team in the WAC-12 (we'll just rack up an L to Oregon for them to push them to 8-5). Now, soon to be 6-6 UCLA will be headed to the WAC-12 Championship game where they will certainly be pummeled by Oregon. With the loss in the conference championship game, UCLA will not even be bowl eligible. Which brings me to a point that's been harped on, again and again: why does the BCS exist?
The WAC-12 has two good teams that can play in a bowl (Oregon and Stanford with USC being banned for paying players...and will most assuredly be on probation again in the future with Kiffen at the helm). Other than that, they have 6-6 Washington, 6-5 UCLA, 6-6 Arizona State, 7-5 California, 7-5 Utah, 3-8 Oregon State, 4-7 Washington State, 3-10 Colorado and 3-8 Arizona. In other words, the rest of the conference is mediocre if not downright pathetic.
The Big Least is living up to its name, as well. 7-5 Louisville is going to get the BCS bid, this year. Which leads me to say, why did anyone think it would be a good idea for BYU to go there? Not only would we be 1,000 miles away from all of our opponents besides Boise (who we have a contract to play against, anyway), but we'd get frequent flyer miles to play pathetic teams in a conference that will soon lose its AQ status. While there has been much anger at BYU staying independent, I think any move into a conference other than the SEC is not a good move right now. And no, the SEC is never going to come knocking, so that one is out. The Big 12's infrastructure is still unsteady. The Big 10 isn't a possibility. The PAC-12 is bad and doesn't want a religious university. So, let us continue to celebrate Independence!!!
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Some Thoughts About the BYU-NMSU Game
First of all, the major thought on my mind is Matt Edwards is a champion. One catch, one touchdown in his last home game. As my brother Geoff said, if there was a WR rating for a game, Matt's would be like 10000. That was awesome.
Secondly, about Jake Heaps (it always seems to come back to him). He is such an enigma. It's infuriating. One play, he'll look off the defender and throw a beautiful pass right in the receiver's chest. The next play he'll stare at the WR and throw it 100 MPH and out of reach. That's why his final completion percentage for each game is average while he also has some good youtube highlights. Another major problem is that he completes a lot of four yard passes. Those are terrible.
Everybody keeps saying that Doman keeps calling only outs and timing routes for Heaps and that's why he's struggling. I've learned from an insider (I've always wanted to say that) that there are plenty of routes called over the middle for Heaps but he struggles looking that way. The interception he threw in this game was an out that he never took his eyes off of Apo. When Jake does keep teams honest with the utilization of the middle we're a much more effective team. That last TD to Falslev keeps hope alive that Jake might finally put it together (how many times have we said that before?)
Third, our defense is really tough. I wanted to go back through the season and see how many TDs given up were actually the defense's fault. The only TD Ole Miss scored was on defense. Against Texas, they had a scoring drive of 19 yards after Jake's pick. BYU gave up multiple defensive TDs to Utah and the U had a drive that was 3 yards and a drive that was only 35 yards after turnovers. One of UCF's TD was scored on a 17 yard drive after a Heaps pick. While Utah State's drives to the end zone wee long, it can be argued that the defense spending exorbitant time on the field due to offensive ineptness contributed to that. Against Oregon St, Riley had a pick six. TCU had four touchdown drives under 50 yards (including one that was only 8 yards). Factor this all in, and it's pretty impressive how few points the team has given up overall.
Fourth, I feel like it has been a pretty good year, so far. We've won every game we should have. We have a good record. We have a chance to beat a decent Hawaii team next Saturday and then we'll probably play Tulsa in the Armed Forces Bowl. Tulsa is a quality opponent who I think will be a good measuring stick for how far we've come. Hopefully, we'll get enough momentum going to have a year to really remember, next year.
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| He even outran someone to get in!!! |
Secondly, about Jake Heaps (it always seems to come back to him). He is such an enigma. It's infuriating. One play, he'll look off the defender and throw a beautiful pass right in the receiver's chest. The next play he'll stare at the WR and throw it 100 MPH and out of reach. That's why his final completion percentage for each game is average while he also has some good youtube highlights. Another major problem is that he completes a lot of four yard passes. Those are terrible.
Everybody keeps saying that Doman keeps calling only outs and timing routes for Heaps and that's why he's struggling. I've learned from an insider (I've always wanted to say that) that there are plenty of routes called over the middle for Heaps but he struggles looking that way. The interception he threw in this game was an out that he never took his eyes off of Apo. When Jake does keep teams honest with the utilization of the middle we're a much more effective team. That last TD to Falslev keeps hope alive that Jake might finally put it together (how many times have we said that before?)
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| Such good form...why can't you complete them at a higher percentage? |
Third, our defense is really tough. I wanted to go back through the season and see how many TDs given up were actually the defense's fault. The only TD Ole Miss scored was on defense. Against Texas, they had a scoring drive of 19 yards after Jake's pick. BYU gave up multiple defensive TDs to Utah and the U had a drive that was 3 yards and a drive that was only 35 yards after turnovers. One of UCF's TD was scored on a 17 yard drive after a Heaps pick. While Utah State's drives to the end zone wee long, it can be argued that the defense spending exorbitant time on the field due to offensive ineptness contributed to that. Against Oregon St, Riley had a pick six. TCU had four touchdown drives under 50 yards (including one that was only 8 yards). Factor this all in, and it's pretty impressive how few points the team has given up overall.
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| One of my all time favorite BYU pics. |
Fourth, I feel like it has been a pretty good year, so far. We've won every game we should have. We have a good record. We have a chance to beat a decent Hawaii team next Saturday and then we'll probably play Tulsa in the Armed Forces Bowl. Tulsa is a quality opponent who I think will be a good measuring stick for how far we've come. Hopefully, we'll get enough momentum going to have a year to really remember, next year.
Saturday, November 12, 2011
BYU to the Big East?
This sums up how I feel about the possibility of going to the Big East:
For more BYU football cartoons, check out http://www.bloodrunsblue.com/
Friday, November 11, 2011
BYU and Big Games Under Bronco
With another loss to TCU, I heard the common refrain that Bronco does not beat good teams. I have heard this over and over again, so I decided to investigate Bronco's record vs. bowl teams and non-bowl teams. While making a bowl game no longer necessarily qualifies you as a good team (remember how in 1995 BYU went 7-4 and didn't go to a bowl game? That seems ridiculous, now), it does mean that you at least have won 6 of 12 games. Here's what I found out.
Since 2005, BYU is 33-3 against teams that did not make a bowl game (or are D-II). In contrast, during that same span BYU is only 21-18 against teams that made a bowl game. This number was ugly to me when I first saw it. However, I took a closer look and it is not as bad as I originally imagined. Let me explain.
In 2005, Bronco took over a team that was made primarily up of players from the Dark Days with He Who Must Not Be Named as Head Coach. In that year, BYU went 1-5 against teams that ended up making a bowl game. Not great, by any imagination, but we also had 7 or 8 walk-on defensive players starting (because He Who Must Not Be Named decided it was a good idea to recruit like 25 WR's the year before). Throughout the season, BYU got consistently better and lost two heartbreakers to Utah then Cal.
In contrast, not surprisingly, BYU has done well against bowl teams in the year where we also had a quality team. In 2006, we were 5-1 against bowl teams. In 2007, we were 5-2. I would argue that 2008 was our worst 10+ win team since Bronco took over, and not surprisingly, they were 2-3 against bowl teams. In 2009, we were 5-2 against bowl teams. Last year (Bronco's biggest down year since his first year) we were a mediocre 3-5 against bowl teams.
It is yet to be seen how many bowl teams we have beaten, this year. Right now, it looks like there may be none. Central Florida, inexplicably, has gone down the tube but only need to win two out of three to get into a bowl game. Utah State has a more uphill battle with needing 3 of 4 games (although their schedule is pathetic from here on out. Remember how these guys should have beaten us, CSU, Louisiana Tech, and AUBURN?) Whatever happens, this probably will not be one of our great years to remember. However, with the above statistics, it might not be fair to say that Bronco doesn't beat good teams...and hey, there's something to be said for almost always beating the teams you should.
Since 2005, BYU is 33-3 against teams that did not make a bowl game (or are D-II). In contrast, during that same span BYU is only 21-18 against teams that made a bowl game. This number was ugly to me when I first saw it. However, I took a closer look and it is not as bad as I originally imagined. Let me explain.
In 2005, Bronco took over a team that was made primarily up of players from the Dark Days with He Who Must Not Be Named as Head Coach. In that year, BYU went 1-5 against teams that ended up making a bowl game. Not great, by any imagination, but we also had 7 or 8 walk-on defensive players starting (because He Who Must Not Be Named decided it was a good idea to recruit like 25 WR's the year before). Throughout the season, BYU got consistently better and lost two heartbreakers to Utah then Cal.
In contrast, not surprisingly, BYU has done well against bowl teams in the year where we also had a quality team. In 2006, we were 5-1 against bowl teams. In 2007, we were 5-2. I would argue that 2008 was our worst 10+ win team since Bronco took over, and not surprisingly, they were 2-3 against bowl teams. In 2009, we were 5-2 against bowl teams. Last year (Bronco's biggest down year since his first year) we were a mediocre 3-5 against bowl teams.
It is yet to be seen how many bowl teams we have beaten, this year. Right now, it looks like there may be none. Central Florida, inexplicably, has gone down the tube but only need to win two out of three to get into a bowl game. Utah State has a more uphill battle with needing 3 of 4 games (although their schedule is pathetic from here on out. Remember how these guys should have beaten us, CSU, Louisiana Tech, and AUBURN?) Whatever happens, this probably will not be one of our great years to remember. However, with the above statistics, it might not be fair to say that Bronco doesn't beat good teams...and hey, there's something to be said for almost always beating the teams you should.
Bowl Teams Non-Bowl Teams/D-II Total
2005: 1-5 5-1 6-6
2006: 5-1 6-1 11-2
2007: 5-2 6-0 11-2
2008: 2-3 8-0 10-3
2009: 5-2 6-0 11-2
2010: 3-5 4-1 7-6
21-18 33-3 54-21
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