HB Arnett’s
COUGAR SPORTSLINE
801
372 0819
hbarnett@fiber.net and hbarnett@xmission.com
Vol. 29,
Issue 17 – November 24, 2008
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TOO MANY
TURNOVERS AND TOO MUCH
Nobody wants to
blame Max Hall for the 48-24 loss to
After all, Hall
was the designated driver that accounted for 10 wins last year, ten wins this
year and will be the same driver next season giving the Cougars another ride,
hopefully to a 10 or more win season.
Nobody feels
comfortable biting the hand that has fed it for the last two years and will
keep putting bread on the table next season.
While 10 is a very
good number when it comes to games won during a year, 6 is a very bad number
when it comes to one game and turnovers.
That is how many
times Hall gave
Four of those six
miscues were just window dressing. The first two were what really mattered.
With the clock
winding down in the first half and BYU trailing 20-17, Hall threw his first
pick of the game.
BYU rallied in the
third quarter with a nice drive to cut the lead to 27-24. The Cougars looked
like they were headed for their first lead of the game when Hall fumbled the
ball.
It was then 34-24
and the game was over. BYU kept trying to force the issue with its passing game
and Hall kept forcing the ball into coverage. That led to an additional 4 more
interceptions.
Hall finished with
21-of-41 for 205 yards and five picks.
Despite Hall's
worst performance as a Cougar, Austin Collie was able to maintain his high
level of play. The junior receiver had 10 catches for 104 yards.
Hall Had
Help In Less Than Heroic Night
Turnovers killed
BYU in this showdown game with the Utes. Texas Tech also had a hand in the
debacle.
That is where
Robert Anae came from before becoming the offensive coordinator at BYU four
years ago.
While both BYU and
Texas Tech have won plenty of games the last few seasons, in our opinion, it
seems like both schools are more interested in showcasing their passing games
and offenses than doing what it takes to win critical games.
Big numbers and
stats are nice, but there are certain games where running the ball and the clock
are more conducive to winning a football game than trying to lead the nation in
passing.
That was the case
against
In golf parlance,
BYU was more interested in driving the ball for show, but showed no patience or
penchant for putting and pounding the ball down the throat of the
All good golfers
can drive the ball exceptionally long. Those golfers that are cashing the
checks, however, do so with their short games and putting.
Unga and
Brown Now Famous
Harvey Unga now
joins Curtis Brown in an exclusive BYU running back club. You may remember
Brown. In 2004 against UNLV in
With those
numbers, the perplexing question still remains why he only carried the ball 8
times in that game while John Beck was throwing it 68 times? UNLV beat BYU
24-20.
We don't mean to
re-open an old sore and score, but
Like Brown against
UNLV, Unga was also unstoppable against the Utes. He rushed for 116 yards on
just 15 carries. Fui Vakapuna had 36 yards on 4 carries. As a team, BYU rushed
for 214 yards against the Utes.
BYU's play calling
did it for them.
One of the tried
and true maxims of football at any level is that championship teams can run the
ball.
You run it and
keep running it until the other team finds a way to stop it.
You especially run
the ball and keep the clock moving when you need to keep a flawed defense off
the field as much as possible.
BYU's defense is
obviously flawed. They needed help from an offense that, in our opinion, was
too selfish or too foolish to give it.
Personality,
Not Plays
That said, the
Utes have some good coaches.
They can watch
film and game plan.
That wasn't
necessary against BYU. Instead of watching film, all they had to too was
observe BYU coaches.
It wasn't hard to
figure out that BYU wants to pass the ball. Take that part of the game away and
Cougar offensive coaches still want to throw the ball regardless of results.
We don't ever like
to use the word stupid, so we will opt for stubborn instead. BYU coaches were
just too stubborn to force the Utes to account for and adjust to BYU's ground
game.
Money
Maker
It was a few weeks
ago that we said that the most interesting matchup of the game would be Matt
Reynolds, BYU's freshman offensive tackle, against Utah's super sophomore
defensive end Paul Kruger.
Reynolds, in our
opinion, acquitted himself extremely well against Kruger.
Both players,
barring serious injuries, will be cashing NFL paychecks very soon.
With the
That is because
with
The Utes are a
lock and that means that BYU and every other MWC team can count on a $500,000
bonus payday.
Speaking of
bonuses, a big payday is also why Cougar administrators are still pushing for
the game with
They want the
money and substantial paycheck.
If the
NOW
WHAT?
Sure there will be
a bowl invite, most likely to the
Chuck Long, Rocky
Long and Joe Glenn would love to be asked that question.
All three MWC
coaches will be gone next season. Long resigned at
The coaching
questions for BYU are not about personnel. Nobody is going to be fired.
Nobody is going to
be wooed by any other school. Despite the nice records of the last three
seasons, there isn't a coach on the staff that will be pursued heavily by any
other program.
If there were any
coaching geniuses on this staff, other schools would be beating down the door.
They aren't.
The only change in
coaching that we think would be good for BYU is for Bronco Mendenhall to give
up his defensive coaching responsibilities.
Again, in our
opinion, if he gives up his defensive responsibility, he won't be missed.
He needs to devote
more time to observation and correction to the overall program and not be so
involved in the defensive side of the ball.
With more time, he
might be able to look at his own offense and see what the tendencies and trends
are and tell his offensive subordinates to run the ball when needed.
After four years
at the helm, Mendenhall as a defensive coach has run its course. After four
years, he should be able to have enough confidence to make needed adjustments
on offense when called for.
As a defensive
coach that has seen his own unit struggle, it would seem hard to point out
flaws in an offense that for the most part has outperformed the defense.
With no
involvement directly in either side of the ball, Mendenhall could have more
credibility in making suggestions and adjustments where they are needed.
In case you
forgot, Robert Anae was not Mendenhall's hire. Anae was hired by BYU
administrators before they even had a head coach in place. That, in and of
itself, was bizarre.
In our opinion, it
is time for Mendenhall to be more hands on with the offense. Giving up his
daily role on defense would allow for that to happen.
FLUFF
AND STUFF
SCHEDULING...Bronco
Mendenhall recently stated on his weekly radio show that he doesn't want to
schedule any future games with teams from the Pac 10 conference until that
league adjusts its officiating mandates that only allow Pac 10 referees to work
Pac 10 home games.
In a recent issue
that talked about future schedules, we forgot to mention that BYU has a home
and home schedule set with
JUCO
RECRUITING...Mendenhall has also said recently that the
Cougars will now be looking for a juco cornerback and running back for the
coming year.
The cornerback we
can understand, but a juco running back may indicate that the Cougars might be
expecting Harvey Unga to declare early for the NFL draft.
We think that if
Unga can get assurances that he would go in the fourth round or earlier, he
would take the step to the next level.
Regardless, here
are two jucos that BYU is now showing interest in:
Deivon Tate, 6-0, 185
pound cornerback from Yuba CC in
Randall Toney, 5-10, 205
pound running back from Franklin Dean JC in
After high school
he spent a year at
During this past
season he carried the ball just 44 times for 265 yards and had two touchdowns.
He was an academic
qualifier coming out of high school with a 3.4 GPA and a 27 ACT score. That
means he can move on to Division I now.
If you haven't
heard of the prep school Fork Union, it is the same place where Plaxico
Burress, Vinnie Testaverde and Eddie George all made stops before moving on to
Michigan State, Miami and Ohio State.
EXTRA
LONG PIPELINE...The Cougars have some serious personnel needs
on defense, especially at safety and linebacker.
Good programs fill
those needs with their recruiting pipeline. In most cases that pipeline usually
pays dividends in two years. With BYU and LDS missions, 4 years is a more
realistic expectation.
Here is the
current pipeline and Mendenhall recruiting classes for defensive backs and
linebackers from which any realistic help will have to come. We don't include
recruits who have already left the program through graduation and attrition.
2005
Linebackers: Shawn Doman
(currently on roster), Terrance Hooks (currently on roster)
Defensive Backs: Stephen Covey
(currently on roster), Brandon Howard (currently on roster)
2006
Linebackers: Brandon
Ogletree
Defensive Backs: Brandon
Bradley (currently on roster) Robbie Buckner, Mike Hague
2007
Linebackers: Tyler Beck,
Austin Jorgensen, Aveni Leung Wai
Defensive Backs: Steven
Thomas, Gary Nagy, Jordan Pendleton,
2008
Linebackers: Michael
Alisa, Jerry Bruner, Kevan Bills, Spencer Hadley, Iona Pritchard, Daniel
Sorensen (LDS missions will preclude most of these players from making an
impact for two more years)
Defensive Backs: Shiloah
Te'o, Andrew Rich, Garrett Nicholson, Cameron Comer
2009
Linebackers: No current
commitments, but BYU still trying on Manti Te'o, Steven Fanua, Kyle Van Noy and
L.T. Filiaga
Defensive Backs: BYU has
commitments from Trevor Bateman, Craig Bills and Jray Galea'i
BASKETBALL BRIEFS
BYU is currently
off to a 5-0 start in basketball.
Briefly, all you
need to know is that the backcourt is improved and Lee Cummard is the go-to-guy
on this team.
The Cougars have
only been challenged in two games so far. That came against
In both games,
Cummard refused to let the Cougars lose. He made clutch shots to save both
games.
It didn't hurt
that he also lit up the stat sheets. Against
The Cougars have
had a cupcake calendar this past week against
BYU will face
TELEVISION
TIMETABLE
BYU vs.
Saturday, Nov 29 at
Tipoff: 7:00 pm Mountain
Time
TV: BYUTV
BYU vs.
Wednesday, Dec 3 at
Tipoff: 7:00 pm Mountain
Time
TV: KJZZ and BYUTV
BYU vs.
Saturday, Dec 6 at SLC
Tipoff: 5:00 pm Mountain
Time
TV: KJZZ and BYUTV
BYU vs.
Wednesday, Dec 10 at
Tipoff: 8:00 pm Mountain
Time
TV: Mtn
BYU vs.
Saturday, Dec 13 at
Tipoff: 8:00 pm Mountain
Time
TV: Mtn