HB Arnett’s
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1391
West 800 South –
Vol. 30,
Issue 11 – October 19, 2009
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BYU
TAKES A 38-28 ANY WAY YOU
If you were
disappointed in BYU's 38-28 win over
Winning on the
road is not easy, especially in conference games.
BYU did what two
top-ten teams couldn't. They won a league game on the road.
Virginia Tech was
ranked No. 4 in the nation last week, but lost to league opponent Georgia Tech
on the road. Granted, Tech was also ranked at No. 19, but
Bronco Mendenhall
always preaches two things. Winning league games on the road is hard and he is
always facing the world's greatest coaches.
One out of two
ain't bad.
Winning on the
road is difficult, but
It was just a
couple of years ago that Chuck Long was turning the corner at SDSU. The new
mantra from Mendenhall is that with his former colleagues Brady Hoke and Rocky
Long on the payroll, SDSU is tougher and more intense.
Could be, but it
looked like the same old Aztecs to us. They have always had great
skill-position players, especially at QB and wide receiver.
They just don't
win.
It was the same
story last week.
It was an
interesting game, mainly because BYU is still BYU. They have never had great
athletes in the secondary and still don't. They have trouble defending the pass
against good QB's who are throwing to good and fast receivers.
BYU won this game
because it does what it always does. It had a better quarterback and great
tight ends that were constantly making plays.
Max Hall was exceptional
and so were his two tight ends Dennis Pitta and Andrew George.
They made plays
when the game was being contested.
With the win, BYU is now
6-1 on the year and 3-0 in league play.
Hall had an
exceptional day throwing the ball completing 27/39 passes for 346 yards, but
his best play of the day was an improvisational one-yard scoring scamper with
time expiring in the first half.
Hall also hooked
up with Dennis Pitta who made a nice NFL-quality catch in the end zone to keep
SDSU at bay.
George also
responded to a SDSU score when he caught a 19-yard td from Hall.
HOLIDAY INN, MOTEL 6 and
TCU
I have actually
spent a couple of nights in a Holiday Inn Express.
According to the
television commercials promoting the national motel chain, that allows me to
perform heart surgery, deliver babies and repair rockets.
I always make a
point of offering my services in those areas to the families to whom I am
assigned to home teach.
To date, I have
had no takers.
Consequently, I
have now lowered my aspirations and hotel tabs by staying strictly at Motel 6.
It's not
obstetrics or rocket science, but here are my Motel 6 memos to Mendenhall and
company on how to beat TCU.
1.
Get
The Cougars tried
running wide last year in
BYU doesn't have
the speed, but they should have the power to run straight ahead against the
Frogs.
2.
No matter what type of running scheme BYU comes up with, it won't be effective
against TCU. Stopping the run is what the Frog defense does. That means the
Cougar offensive line needs to protect Max Hall and allow him time to throw the
ball.
3.
BYU has put up huge offensive numbers the last two weeks. Against UNLV it was
611 yards of total offense and last week against the Aztecs of SDSU it was 512
yards. That won't happen against a TCU defense that is giving up an average of
only 238 yards per game.
This will be a
field position, special teams and kicking game.
I don't care how
successful BYU has been on fourth down conversions, if they try to go for them
in this game, they will lose.
4.
Maximize Max. The senior quarterback is playing some of his best football right
now. He won't be error free in this game and will likely throw a couple of
interceptions. The Frog defense is too good, but if BYU is going to win this
game, it will be Hall's play that does it.
5.
Stop the run. BYU has to keep TCU from running wild on the ground. The Cougars
can still win with Frog QB Andy Dalton throwing the ball effectively against
them.
It was the 313
yards rushing by
If TCU gets close
to 200 yards on the ground, it won't be pretty.
6.
Keep the turnovers under two and forget balance. BYU can't afford turnovers,
but they can still win with less than two. More than two, and Cougar fans won't
be happy campers (See my KOA reference below).
Throw the ball and
keep throwing it. Trying to show some kind of balance by running the ball just
means you have less opportunities to throw it and score.
Those are my Motel
6 keys to the game.
My logical
prediction for the game has it TCU 24 BYU 21. The Frogs are too good for the
Cougars.
Thank goodness for
my latest lodging experience sleeping in a tent at a KOA campground. It defies
logic. The ground and this game are both hard.
I survived and so
will the Cougars. BYU 27 TCU 24.
DAVE
ROSE USING BISHOP STOREHOUSE FOR RECRUITING
Settle down.
Now that we have
your attention, we said Bishop storehouse, not Bishop's Storehouse.
We are referring
to the Bishop Gorman storehouse of players in
The top flight
high school program has already given BYU one basketball player. That would be
Jonathan Tavernari, the senior forward for the Cougars who has already been
selected as a preseason first-team all MWC selection.
It was actually
two BYU assistants that helped deliver Tavernari. Walter Roese was a BYU
assistant and Tavernari's uncle. He brought him to
That is where
another BYU assistant, Dave Rice, stepped to the plate. Rice's brother, Grant,
is the head coach at Bishop Gorman.
He was more than
happy to take Tavernari for his last season of prep basketball.
The 6-6 Brazilian
then signed with the Cougars and returned to
The BYU-Bishop
Gorman connection is a good one. It should be with two brothers involved.
The Gaels have
been to
We mentioned that
Bishop Gorman gave BYU Jonathan Tavernari. Now BYU wants more players from that
program.
Two
Offers
The Cougars already
have two offers on the table for Gael players.
Anson Winder is a
6-3 senior guard. He has offers from BYU, Nevada-Reno and
He also has his
own web site, www.ansonwinder.com.
You can check it out to see his profile and highlights.
Here is one
profile of Winder by Scouts, Inc., which is different and not to be confused
with scout.com.
Winder
possesses a nice frame with long arms and overall solid length for the 2-guard position.
He is a Division I sleeper who needs some polish in terms of skill development.
He plays with great effort at both ends and thrives in transition where he can
attack the rim. His frame allows him to draw contact and finish as well. He is
a streaky player who plays in spurts and needs to be more consistent to draw
D-1 interest. He can knock down the 3, but his shot is streaky and a tad flat
in its trajectory. In addition, he is much more effective in a catch and shoot
situation than pulling up in transition where he has a tendency to get off
balance. Winder has the tools, he just needs to mature as a player in both
skill and savvy.
BYU also has
offered another Bishop Gorman player without ever seeing him play varsity
basketball.
We are talking about
Rosco Allen, a 6-7 sophomore, who will be playing his first year of varsity
basketball this season for the Gaels.
He played last
year on the junior varsity, but was seen by a lot of college coaches who would
come early to the school to get a look at Allen.
He also received a
lot of looks and offers this summer while playing on his AAU team, the Las
Vegas Lakers.
Allen has been
offered by BYU. He also has offers from UNLV,
We mentioned a few
weeks back that current Cougar guard Michael Loyd, Jr. has a younger brother
playing at Bishop Gorman. BYU has not offered the 5-9 Johnathan Loyd, but he
does have offers from Cal Poly,
While we are talking
about early BYU offers, Dave Rose and his Cougars have an offer on the table
already for Jabari Parker, the ninth grade LDS player from
It is going to
take a lot of chairs for the Cougars if they hope to have a seat at the
recruiting table for this kid.
In addition to
BYU, he already has offers from
We said he was a
6-3 guard, but most services and schools list him at 6-6.
As we said last
week, his older brother, Christian is a redshirt freshman at
QUARTERBACK
QUEUE
Max Hall...His passing numbers are
going up. He was 27-of-39 for 346 yards and three touchdowns. The TD tosses were
to Bryan Kariya (1-yard), Andrew George (19-yard) and Dennis Pitta(9-yard).
Hall also ran in from one yard out with time expiring in the second quarter.
For the second week in a row, Hall had no interceptions.
Riley Nelson...He helped the BYU
football budget by not sweating or getting his uniform dirty against
James Lark and Jason Munns...Both are
still serving missions. Lark is due back in January and Munns will return in
May.
Jake Heaps...The BYU-bound senior
quarterback from Skyline HS in
Tanner Mangum...Again, it was another
loss for Timberline HS, where the sophomore LDS signal caller plays. This time
it was a 28-14 setback to Boise HS. Mangum completed 21-37 for 264 yards and
one interceptions.
Alex Kuresa...A big, big day for the
junior qb. He threw for 450 yards and 5 TD tosses in a 57-22 win over Ogden HS.
FOOTBALL
FLUFF AND STUFF
BYU is still
recruiting a running back. They would like to sign Joshua Quezada, a 5-11, 210
pounder out of La Habra HS in
He has had a
couple of good weeks running the football. Two weeks ago he rushed for 247
yards and 3 touchdowns on 30 carries in a win over
Last week, because
of a 62-0 blowout of
There is a BYU
connection here. The head coach of
When it comes to
stats and penalties, BYU has committed 50 infractions in seven games that has
cost them 457 yards.
We are sure BYU
keeps track of which players are responsible for those penalties, but there are
no public stats indentifying the culprits.
If there were, our
bet would be that the top two penalty guys are Nick Alletto and R.J. Willing,
two of the starting offensive lineman. That is normal. Most offensive penalties
on most teams are generated on the offensive line.
Most of those
calls, from our observation and opinion, are for holding or illegal procedure
for getting started too early.
That said, the BYU
offensive line is performing extremely well.
What should be
noted, is that the name of Matt Reynolds is seldom called. This guy really is a
big-time player.
While we are
talking offensive line, Braden Brown, the redshirt freshman tight end/offensive
lineman, saw significant action at right tackle against SDSU. He also saw time
against UNLV two weeks ago. BYU thinks he will be the next in line for tight
end, but he is talented enough to also be a very good offensive lineman. He
wears No. 75 when playing offensive line and No. 89 when seeing other action.
The official BCS rankings
came out Sunday night. BYU is ranked No. 16. TCU, the Cougars opponent this
weekend is ranked No. 8.
For a non BCS team
to be invited to a BCS bowl, they have to be rated in the top 12 or No. 16 or
better if there is a team from a qualifying conference that is ranked below No.
16.
In a first for
BYU, the ESPN "Game Day" television show will be hosted in
What makes the
appearance by the national network team even more unusual is that ESPN will be
promoting a game that will be shown on another network. The game is set to be
televised by Versus.
TELEVISION
TIMETABLE
BYU vs.
TCU
Saturday, Oct 24 at
Kickoff: 5:30 pm Mountain
Time
TV: Versus
BYE
Saturday, Oct 31
BYU vs.
Saturday, Nov 7 at
Kickoff: Noon Mountain
Time
TV: The Mtn
BYU vs.
Saturday, Nov 14 at
Kickoff: Noon Mountain
Time
TV: The Mtn
BYU vs.
Air Force
Saturday, Nov 21 at
Kickoff: 1:30 pm Mountain
Time
TV: CBS C
BYU vs.
Saturday, Nov 28 at
Kickoff: 3:00 pm Mountain
Time
TV: The Mtn and CBS C