Game Day Grades

BYU pulls off a victory that was never really in doubt but much closer than it should have been, 29-16. A great first quarter (minus a fumble), a decent second, an awful third and an ok finish. Here's the grades:

Riley Nelson: I started writing a post about how I thought the decision to go with Riley was a mistake before the game. The main reasoning I used to justify not starting him was that I didn't feel his arm was good enough to keep teams honest. I never got around to finishing it. Then, I watched the first quarter and thought, "well, I guess I was wrong. There's a first for everything." It was late, here, on the east coast when the game started so Julie wanted me to come read to her and I didn't object since I thought the game was going to be a route. When I came back to the game, I was dismayed by how ugly Riley looked in the third quarter (he didn't complete a single pass in it). Then, he went out and had a solid but not great fourth. So, I still have no idea what to make of him and whether we can consistently win (particularly against anyone half decent) with him as our guy. Overall, good stat line (14-24, 219 yards passing; 9 carries for 65 yards) but inconsistency and three turnovers leaves me still scratching my head.
Grade: B- (he gave himself a C) 

Running backs: Where did Michael Alisa come from? The guy had 3 carries this season coming into Saturday. His line, this week: 16 carries for 91 yards for a clip of 5.7 yards a carry. He showed a lot of power and elusiveness and had some Unga-esque plays where I was like "how did he turn that into a positive play?" We've needed a guy that can consistently give us 5 yards a pop. Alisa looked like that guy, if not necessarily a home run threat. I also liked the distribution of carries for the rest of the team and thought it shaked out about how I would like: Juice with 9 carries, DiLuigi with 5, and Kairya with 3. The team rushed for 224 yards (lots of that was Riley) and averaged 5.1 yards a carry. Not bad, at all. I know it's part of Riley's game to run and he is not as worthwhile if he's not running often, but I still worry about him running that much because of injury threat (see Mike Vick).
Grade: A-

Wide receivers/tight ends: One of the things that makes me nervous about Riley is that since he doesn't have the big arm, the wide receivers might get left out a little bit. Riley did have a beautiful throw to McKay Jacobsen that convinced me (at the time) that we can still have a downfield presence with Riley in the game. It was a great route and a perfect throw. Ross Apo also had a pretty decent game with 3 catches for 41 yards. However, Hoffman only had 1 catch for a measly 8 yards and Apo only had 1 catch, last week (from Jake Heaps). I think it's a serious possibility that Riley's presence makes the best part of our offense (our WRs) not reach their potential.

With that said, the tight ends did play pretty well. I was glad to see they finally used Wilson. I think he's got by far the most potential of our TEs. The play drawn up for him in the first quarter was fantastic and he made another great play to set up a touchdown later. With Riley in, those safety routes and easy throws to the tight ends will become more crucial (Jake Heaps had all but forgotten this group). While Wilson played well and Holt had another long play (16 yards), Marcus Matthews continues to not impress me. I know he had the game winning touchdown, last week, and actually has the highest total of receptions for TEs but he dropped yet another perfect throw in the fourth quarter on 3rd and long that would have helped set up a TD instead of kicking a FG. I would like to see Wilson continue to get more reps and targets.
 Grade: WRs: C, TEs: C+ (with only 24 total throws, this unit was under utilized)

Offensive line: I do not pretend to know much about line play. I don't particularly watch for them. But, 443 total yards of offense, no sacks allowed, 5.1 yards per carry is fantastic. None of the three turnovers were their faults, at all, so this unit played great (as they should with their amount of talent and experience).
Grade: A

Defensive line: This unit did well containing the ground game of SJSU. San Jose only had 70 yards on 26 carries. That's a very good defensive effort (only 2.7 yards per carry). However, our secondary continues to be hurt by the line's inability to sack the QB. They have put almost no pressure, all season, on opposing QBs. They came up, again, with zero sacks in this game.
Grade: B-

Linebackers: Kyle Van Noy is an absolute beast. If BYU were 6-0, he would be receiving hype about possible All-American. It seems like every game he has at least one big play. His interception was great and he showed amazing athleticism for a LB on the return. He also had important stops and tackles throughout the game. It was nice to see Pendleton actually playing for a change, too. He had a big sack and his rushing the passer forced the bad throw to Van Noy. With that said, the game left me a bit frustrated with our linebackers in coverage. San Jose's tight end had over 100 yards receiving and it seemed like the linebackers were overmatched in coverage all game. 
Grade: B+

Secondary: Hard to say what to give these guys. SJSU didn't have much trouble throwing the ball against us, at all. Their QB hit 25 of 35 passes. As mentioned, a lot of this falls on the LBs in coverage and on the d-line for not getting pressure on Faulkner. Plus, they did not allow a TD through the air. Also, Uale ran a nice route (or something?) that Faulkner thought he would reward him with a pass right to him. Kudos to him for catching the pass that hit him in the chest. Overall, though, we need a much stiffer pass defense than this.
Grade: C+

Special teams: Nothing spectacular. Cody Hoffman was solid in the return game (par usual) with a 25 yard return average. Sorenson is a strong kicker that has played well, this year, and gives us the element of being able to kick more often (though I still miss the days when BYU attempted the fewest amount of field goals in the nation).
Grade: B

Coaching: This one is tough to grade. I thought Doman did really well with Riley's strengths. That play to Wilson was perfect. Now that he is a QB that is willing to take a hit, we can do slower developing plays like that. I felt like he did a good job of mixing up the play calls, and realized that we're better if we don't make Riley win it with his arm (24 throws compared to 44 rushes). I would like to see us throw the ball downfield, still, though a little more because we're going to need to do that to beat TCU and Hawaii.

Overall, Bronco's defense held tough. They only allowed one TD (although it came on a 96 yard drive). They gave up way too many yards through the air but we employed a bit of a bend but don't break strategy. I'm not sure whether he's not calling many blitzes or what, but we also need to get some more pressure on the QB. We won our third straight game, I feel in large part because of Bronco's attitude and leadership. However, I don't know why we keep coming out of the second half sluggish. We have been a pretty poor 3rd quarter team, this year. On the bright side, it was too cold in Provo for Bronco to only wear his sloppy Band of Brothers shirt.
Doman's Grade: B+   Bronco's Grade: B+