BYU looked like the seventh-best team in the country for about twelve minutes tonight.
Leading 24-0 at Utah State after one quarter is a little more than what's expected, but make no mistake, the Cougars were supposed to be up by at least two touchdowns after one.
After that, BYU looked disinterested, slow, and ineffective on offense. Max Hall had what is probably his worst game ever... continually forcing the ball into double- and triple-coverage, and it resulted in picks. He's got to settle down and just take what the defense gives him.
Collie had a great line: eight catches for 132 yards and two touchdowns. Nevertheless, he dropped at least two balls that hit his hands. Can't do that.
The defense forced turnovers, but when the couldn't get the Aggies to cough the ball up, Utah State's offense moved pretty well on them. As I ranted about after the Washington game, BYU's linebackers need to take better pursuit angles. A better angle means you stop the running back or quarterback for a one- or two-yard gain instead of giving him 10+.
I worry about teams that can get their players the ball in open space, as BYU's defenders look too slow to deal with them. We'll see.
I hope this loss gave the Cougars the wakeup call they obviously need. Every team they play is gunning for them, and they can lose any given week if they aren't focused.
On to New Mexico. BYU seems to do much, much better at home, and in a conference game, I think they'll be up for this contest.
8 comments:
I still think BYU does all right through the conference. Utah scares me more every week though. They actually avoided a meltdown this weekend, which is something they've not been able to do in years past (except against BYU). So I think their program is actually getting better.
Nope. This was a big game for Utah. Kyle has proven he can get his guys up for the important games (UCLA, bowls, BYU)... and Oregon State just beat USC, so beating them was a big deal.
Watch for the Utes to stumble against teams they should easily beat, ie. UNLV or San Diego State.
Yeah, that's true. But that doesn't help BYU, because that's always the mother of big games for both teams.
If you didn't notice, we had 12 penalties for 130 yards. The refs were awful. Utah doesn't scare me. If Johnson throws a pick and fumbles, we'll convert that all day. And plus, Max Hall is better and will do better than Kyle Moveao did. Utah fans are stupid. Oregon State is unranked, and Utah fans stormed the field. But they won't storm it any more this year...
Their offense sputters. Bye weeks take tolls on teams.
I didn't watch the game so I can't state for sure... but I have my doubts that the 12 penalties were due to poor officiating.
and if you aren't scared of Utah, you obviously know next to nothing about this rivalry and football in general. Either team could be winless the entire season and the other undefeated and that game would still be a toss up. Utah isn't a slouch team (nor is BYU), look for the game to be good.
Josh, you continue to amaze me about how hypocritical you are. You trash talk before the game, then when Ute fans complain, you say "yeah right."
Then when BYU loses, which hasn't happened for a while, you blame it on some stupid reason, then we all say "yeah right".
Anyway, I'm hoping for 2006, except for that I believe 2006 was much more deadly in terms of offensive attack. Austin Collie continues to scare me when he drops those easy 5 yard gain passes...
I'm hoping it's a blowout. That will make us look better on ESPN
Well, not really a blowout, but a considerable amount, like 10-14 points
TCU is good too, but they're pass D sputters a lot, as you saw at Oklahoma
haha good point seth
just kidding
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