HB Arnett’s
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West 800 South –
Vol. 34,
Issue 5 – September 2, 2013
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BYU loses 19-16
Please Pardon my Participation in the
Ponzi Scheme called the BYU Offense
Big hat, no cattle.
That’s the promise and premise of all Ponzi schemes. Bernie Madoff made his scheme work longer than most with slick bookkeeping and great public relations. Bronco Mendenhall has made his offensive Ponzi scheme work for almost two years now.
He has used coaching changes, mantras of “grit and determination and go fast, go hard” and fan gullibility, including mine, to keep this scheme and hopes of a return to BYU’s offense of old alive.
But here’s the problem with all Ponzi schemes: Big hat, no cattle. Eventually there is no production to back up the promised rate of return to glory days of offense for Cougar fans.
You don’t have to be a forensic accountant, but just an ordinary
football fan to see that BYU’s offensive books didn’t balance
against
Here is what was promised preseason by the BYU hype machine and me and
what actually materialized against
Ponzi vs. Production
We were promised that 10-11 offensive linemen would travel to
We were promised that Taysom Hill is the most athletic quarterback to ever play the position at BYU. That turned out to be just 80% true. He has two legs, one arm and a good head to live up to that billing, but his right arm let him and BYU’s offense down.
No matter how you promote it or Ponzi it, 13 of 40 for 175 yards is not
pretty. Those were the passing stats for Hill. The killer, of course, was the
last throw of the game that was intercepted and led to
Offensive coaches told us all spring and preseason that Taysom Hill was accurate enough. His passing stats were a definite throw back to the past when it comes to BYU quarterbacks. We aren’t talking about McMahon, Young, Detmer or Wilson. Hill looked more like Steve Lindsley and Bob Jensen in his first outing of this season.
Speaking of that ill advised late throw, when BYU appeared to be in control of the game, offensive coordinator Robert Anae took total blame for the play call.
Assessing Blame
No word yet on assessing blame for some of the other bizarre BYU play calling throughout the contest.
We were told that Anae was the answer. Based on his first game back at
BYU and the offensive performance turned in against
We were told the kicking game was solved. Yes, there was a successful field goal against UVA, but it is now going on almost three seasons since I can remember seeing a ball kicked into the end zone on a kickoff by BYU.
We were all abuzz when word leaked out from fall camp that NFL scouts were paying attention to walk on receivers. We were led to believe that this would be a renaissance year for guys like Ross Apo. We thought dunking a basketball would translate to the football field and making spectacular catches.
Yes, Cody Hoffman did not play because of a hamstring injury, but walkon receivers are the key words here. BYU is playing with too many of them.
When it came to special teams and snapping the ball, those also are apparently works in progress. Putting the ball on the ground while snapping it to Taysom Hill cost the Cougars a safety. Having a punt blocked is faulty special teams play. Those two flubs alone cost the Cougars 9 points and the game. Throw in another 7 points lost on the final Cougar turnover of the contest on the Hill interception, and this game was gift wrapped for the Cavaliers.
Grin and Bear It
Most BYU football fans had to grin and bear this unfortunate defeat which was snatched from the jaws of victory. There were, however, probably others who just were grinning from ear to ear.
This is only my assumption, but smirks and smiles were probably all over the faces of Riley Nelson and Brandon Doman and the rest of the dismissed offensive staff from last season.
BYU did prove that the go fast, go hard offensive attack would produce
more plays. The Cougars ran 93 against
Back to Ponzi schemes. Before new money covering old money eventually runs out of steam, most schemes have their blue chip moments. They occasionally make a winning trade or transaction during the process. They just don’t make enough to keep the scheme afloat.
Jamaal Williams was BYU’s blue chip performer against
Will Depend on Defense
While Williams was carrying the offense, the
It remains to be seen just how good the
Even the BYU defense can only cover so much for the rest of the team’s performances. But make no mistake. Bronco Mendenhall may be clueless when it comes to game management and offense and solving the glaring issues on that side of the ball, but he does know defense and delivers consistently in that area of the game.
Is
BYU looked bad offensively on its first swing of the season last week
against
They were off balance, out in front, and out of sync. Despite my Ponzi pontifications about the Cougars above, I will wait to see how the Cougars do on their next two swings of the season before actually turning myself in to the proper authorities for being too Pollyannaish in the preseason on the BYU offense.
While BYU returned to
This week should be telling. Virginia gets Oregon at home and while
Texas is coming off a 56-7 mauling of New Mexico State in Austin, that means nothing.
Did I mention it was
So here’s the deal. This game for BYU is simple.
They will game plan and take away Jamaal Williams. There will be no 100-yard plus rusher for BYU against the Horns.
Offensively, the Longhorns racked up 711 total yards of offense last
week against
Borrowing similar words from former Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen in a
debate with Dan Quayle some years ago, “I know BYU’s defense and
This game will rest on a must-be-improved BYU offense. The Cougars have to be more productive than they were last week.
Taysom Hill must be more accurate and must be protected by the offensive line for that to happen.
Here’s the irony of last week. As bad as the offensive line played, Jamaal Williams did rush for a buck 44 on the ground.
Hill will have to complete at least half of his throws this Saturday for BYU to have a chance.
Defensively, we expect the Cougar defense to put up a big fight against
the Longhorns. We don’t expect
All four of David Ash’s four touchdown passes were big yardage throws. He had td passes of 54, 64 and 74 yards. His last td pass was for 25 yards. Ash also ran one in from 55 yards out. Those kind of over the top scores shouldn’t happen against the Cougar defense.
Make no mistake, BYU’s secondary and pass rush will be tested by
Again, with two strikes left in the early season at bat for BYU, my Ponzi-Pollyanna pick for Saturday is BYU 24 Texas 21.
BYU’s Top Ten Toughest Teams to
Beat this Season
2.
3.
4. Notre Dame…Beat
5.
6.
7.
8.
9. Georgia Tech…Home sweet home. BYU will be
hard to beat in
10. Middle
Others receiving votes…
NFL Rosters
NFL teams pared their rosters to 53 players last Saturday. Here is the list of former BYU football players that stuck.
John Denney, Deep Snapper,
Dennis Pitta, Tight
End,
Brett Keisel, DE,
Matt Reynolds, OL,
Bryan Kehl, LB,
Ziggy Ansah, DL,
Harvey Unga, RB, Chicago. Signed again to the practice squad.
Television Timetable
BYU vs.
Saturday, Sept 7 at
Kickoff: 5:00 pm Mountain Time
TV: ESPN2
BYU vs.
Saturday, Sept 21 at
Kickoff: TBA
TV: TBA
BYU vs.
Middle
Friday, Sept 27 at
Kickoff: 7:00 pm Mountain Time
TV: ESPNU
BYU vs.
Friday, Oct 4 at
Kickoff: 6:00 pm Mountain Time
TV: CBS Sports Network
BYU vs.
Georgia Tech
Saturday, Oct 12 at
Kickoff: TBA
TV: TBA
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