HB Arnett’s
COUGAR SPORTSLINE
801
372 0819
hbarnett@fiber.net and hbarnett@xmission.com
1391
West 800 South –
Vol. 30,
Issue 16 – November 23, 2009
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VINYL
VERSUS CD's
They used to make
records by pressing them into vinyl. Now it is all on CD's.
BYU was
technologically current in the record department last Saturday in
Max Hall and
Harvey Unga both went Platinum in recording their names in the BYU record
books.
Hall went digital
over Ty Detmer and downloaded to his resume the record for most wins by a starting
BYU quarterback. Detmer previously held the record for wins with 29. Hall now
owns the all time mark with 30 wins.
Harvey Unga broke
the rushing record for BYU by surpassing the previous mark held by Curtis
Brown. Unga now has 3,267 yards rushing for his career. He also set a new BYU
record for rushing attempts. That mark was also held by Brown.
Unga finished with
67 yards rushing on 11 carries against the Falcons.
Against Air Force,
Hall completed 33-of-45 attempts for 377 yards and five touchdowns. He also had
two interceptions in the game.
While the BYU
defense didn't set any records, they showed some promise of delivering a few
hits of their own next week against
The Cougar
defenders are still athletically challenged in some key spots on the defense,
but they played extremely hard and with heart against the Cadets.
It was a welcome
sight and one that will deliver more success if that level of play can be
continued against
BEEN
THERE, DONE THAT
On paper, in the
battle of Utes and Cougars set for this Saturday in LaVell Edwards Stadium, BYU
should win.
The Cougars are
coming off their best performance of the season, a 38-24 domination of a good
Air Force team. Momentum is on their side.
BYU is perceived
to be the better team based on rankings. The Cougars are ranked No. 15 in the
USA Today Coaches' Poll.
Throw in the
algorithms and analysis of the BCS and their computers and BYU is still in
front of the Utes. The BCS boys have the Cougars pegged at No. 19 and the Utes
at No. 22.
Even the guys who
really know and make a living by knowing have the Cougars as the better team.
The early
The only place
where the two teams are even is in domination by TCU. Both clubs looked
pathetic in losing to the Horned Frogs.
Despite all the
paper signs of BYU being successful against the Utes, in our opinion, BYU is in
trouble.
On Paper
On paper, BYU
should eat him up and take advantage of his lack of experience.
Oops, the last
time
Line up the two
quarterbacks in this upcoming game, Max Hall of BYU and Wynn of Utah, and on
paper it is a monumental mismatch. Hall is the most winning qb in BYU history
with 30 victories. Wynn has just two wins to his credit.
So why is our
stomach still churning with anxiety?
Both teams have
good running games. The Utes have better receivers, but BYU has better tight
ends.
The Utes have
better defenders. Neither team has much of a kicking game.
The key matchup
will most likely be Ute wide receiver David Reed going up against Cougar
cornerback Brian Logan. Look for
Size
Advantage
Reed is an
exceptional wide receiver with a distinct size advantage over
History shows that
the Utes will come prepared and ready to play. Recent history of BYU in this
matchup shows that you never know what you will get with the Cougars.
None of that
matters. The winning team will have the quarterback that performs the best.
That performance will be based on which team can protect their qb.
Max Hall appears
to be the slam dunk choice, but we aren't betting against Wynn because despite
going against a front seven of the Cougars that he hasn't seen in person, he
will know what they are going to do and how they will play certain formations
and situations.
You can count on
the Cougars doing what they have always done defensively against the Utes and
you can count on Ute coaches knowing what to expect and preparing Wynn
accordingly.
Pass
Protection
This game will
come down to pass protection. For BYU to win this game, they will have to get
to Wynn. We don't think that will happen too often, but we do see Max Hall
redeeming himself for his dismal performance of a year ago against the Utes.
It is all about
the quarterbacks. We pick Hall and the Cougars and call it BYU 31 Utah 28.
BYU AND
Forget the
Mountain West Conference championship. That belongs to TCU.
Forget playing for
a BCS bowl berth. That passed both teams by weeks ago.
This game is for
the cupcake championship.
It wasn't
intentional. Neither the Utes or Cougars wanted to play pushovers this year,
but both did.
Blame it on the
two-tier Mountain West Conference cake. The top layer of BYU,
It is a similar
scenario of other conferences. The upper echelon teams feast and frost their
win-loss records on the lower-end cupcakes of their respective conferences.
Going into this
matchup of MWC cupcake challengers, BYU holds a one-game lead in the softie standings.
The Sooners will
more than likely give up their winning record this weekend when they face
Losing
Record
As of right now,
neither the Utes or Cougars have lost to a team with a losing record this
season, but BYU will have lost to a team in Florida State that will be 6-6 next
week after the Seminoles face Florida this coming Saturday.
The win-loss
record of the bottom five teams of the MWC this year is an abysmal 17-38. Both
the Utes and Cougars also featured 3-8
The Utes also
cupcake walked over 1-9
That is why the
BYU-Utah game this Saturday in
While a BYU win
over
Partisanship
Take away the
partisanship and from our perspective,
They have appeared
in 8 bowl games in ten years and have won all eight games. BYU has appeared in
six games during that same period and are just 2-4.
Overall, in the
last decade, BYU is 78-46 and
We still give the
edge to
It is much closer
if you take only the last five years. Both
More
Rubbing, Less Reminiscing
A win on
Saturday will draw the Cougars closer to Utah in the battle of programs and
would give Mendenhall a one-game edge in head-to-head matchups with Kyle
Whittingham, but until BYU is able to sniff a BCS appearance, when it comes to
the two programs, the Utes are still the best team of the last decade or the
last five years.
History, however,
is so yesterday. What is really important is who will be the best program on Saturday?
This game is never
about reminiscing about history, but about rubbing the most recent win into the
face of the other team.
As Cougar fans,
here's hoping that Saturday will produce more rubbing and less reminiscing.
BASKETBALL
WINS KEEP COMING
BYU notched two
more wins in basketball last week with victories over
The Cougars were
87-53 winners over ISU in
Jimmer Fredette
led all scorers in both games. He put up 22 against the Bengals of Idaho State
and added 20 more against
His nice outings
were complemented by his backcourt mate Jackson Emery. The junior guard from
Lone Peak HS in
Speaking of
He scored 12
against
Jonathan Tavernari
broke out of his early season scoring and shooting slump in
The preseason All
MWC first team selection broke lose for 17 points on 7-for-14 shooting. He was
3-of-7 from beyond the arc. He also grabbed 5 rebounds.
Two
Games
The Cougars will
have two games this week. Both are home games.
Southern will be
in town on Tuesday for a matchup with the Cougars. They don't appear to be very
good. They were blown out last Saturday by
The Wildcats are
currently 0-3 on the year with a loss to
Weber should get
their first win earlier this week when they face
It is still early,
but after three games here is what we see when it comes to BYU basketball.
BYU may have
finally found the next Danny Ainge. That would be Jimmer Fredette. His style of
play is different, but his production isn't.
Fredette may be
the guard that can take BYU to a couple of NCAA wins.
He is a scorer and
can create his own shot. There is a reason that he is the preseason MWC player
of the year selection.
He has game and
has brought it in each of the first three contests.
Focus
Opponents will
focus on him, especially in league play, but he is the real deal.
Jackson Emery
would be the go-to guard for Dave Rose if not for Fredette. He is the team's
best defender and brings energy to the floor on every outing. When his outside
shot is right, like it was against
Jonathan Tavernari
will score. You just don't know when. His shooting slump appears to be over,
but for the first time in his career, Dave Rose has some leverage over
Tavernari.
If he is having a
bad outing, Rose can go to the bench and get production from Noah Hartsock.
Speaking of
Hartsock, he my be the most productive player per minute on the team.
He doesn't look
like he is doing anything spectacular, but you look up and he has a stat line
full of rebounds and points.
Hartsock has been
effective in the post when BYU goes small and quick and he also helps at the 4
spot.
Tyler Haws is
showing that he can do at this level what he did at the high school level. He
is a good open court player and can get to the rim and finish.
Outside
Shot
His outside shot
has been good in the early going, but he will make his living getting to the
rim and consequently getting to the foul line.
The player that
has surprised us the most with his good play is Michael Loyd, Jr. His penchant
for offense and shooting the three has been unexpected.
The post play is
still unsettled. Brandon Davies shows big talent as a freshman, but has yet to
play any extended minutes.
Chris Miles will
be needed against some teams, but we expect the post to be by committee with
Hartsock, Davies and Miles all seeing action according to foul troubles and
matchups.
This is a very good
team. They could be a great team, but that won't be known for sure until the
Cougars face a good team. That hasn't happened yet.
BASKETBALL
BRIEFS
A few years back
there was a pretty good movie released called
At the time it was
major news because
We aren't
expecting a sequel to the movie, but 43 years later, BYU had their small
version of
With 39 seconds
remaining in the first half of the BYU basketball game against
Three days later
in a game against
As one who is old
enough to have lived through the racial tensions of the '60s and '70s, and as
one old enough to know about and experience from a distance the "Black
14" protests at the
In my mind, nobody
noticing or caring about the rotation Dave Rose had on the floor last week says
a lot about the university and the basketball program.
Both are positive
statements.
TELEVISION
TIMETABLE
BYU vs.
Southern
Tuesday, Nov 24 at
Tipoff: 7:00 pm Mountain
Time
TV: none
BYU vs.
Friday, Nov 27 at
Tipoff: 7:30 pm Mountain
Time
TV: The Mtn
BYU vs.
Saturday, Nov 28 at
Kickoff: 3:00 pm Mountain
Time
TV: The Mtn and CBS C
BYU vs.
Wednesday, Dec 2 at
Tipoff: 7:00 pm Mountain
Time
TV: the CW30 (local only
in