HB Arnett's 801 372 - 0819 hbarnett@fiber.net 1391 West 800 South - Orem, Utah 84058 Vol. 34, Issue 15 - November 11, 2013 Click <http://cougarclicks.com/product/Order-Cougar-Sportsline?ID=3173> Here To Order Or Renew Your Subscriptions Headline Hindsight BYU was Badgered, Bullied, Bloodied and Beat A week ago, in previewing the upcoming BYU vs. Wisconsin football game, I wrote the following headline: Will BYU Be Badgered, Bullied, Bloodied and Beat? A week later and a Wisconsin 27 BYU 17 defeat in the rear view mirror, obviously the answer is yes, yes, yes and heck yes. The only alliteration missing in the hindsight headline was Bludgeoned, which BYU wasn't. The rest of the headline description turned out to be accurate. Despite the loss, the Cougars' third of the season, this one didn't sting like the first two. That's because when you lose to a team that is obviously better than you in personnel, coaching, game management and every other department, other than firesides, it makes the pill being swallowed easier to take. The losses to Virginia and Utah are still causing a gag reflex, however, because Virginia clearly wasn't a better team than BYU and Utah.well we all know that 4-year running story. In head on collisions, a semi truck is going to fare better than a mid size sedan. Wisconsin was the Peterbilt and BYU was the mid size Mazda in this one. Works against Non Elite Defensively, Bronco Mendenhall has proved that schematically, his effort, position mastery and execution model works against non elite teams, it just doesn't work against top level competition. Let's face it, the Wisconsin offense was simply bigger, better and tougher than the BYU defense. Offensively, the same description applies. The Badger defense was bigger, better and tougher than the BYU's go fast, go hard offense. Last Saturday in Madison, BYU simply picked a fight with the wrong end of the Big Ten Conference stick. BYU is good enough this year to beat Iowa, Northwestern, Illinois, Indiana, Penn State, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska and Purdue. They just aren't good enough to whip the elite end of the Big Ten stick of standout teams such as Wisconsin, Michigan State and Ohio State. Despite the loss, the statistic stick in this contest was actually pretty even except in time of possession. In first downs, BYU had 20 and UW 21. Third down efficiency: BYU 7-19, UW 7-17. Total Yards: BYU 370 UW 425. Passing: BYU 207 UW 196. Rushing: BYU 163 UW 229. Turnovers: BYU 1 UW 2. Penalties: BYU 6-35 UW 2-10. Time of possession: BYU 23:58 UW 36:02. Here's a side note and salute to Cody Hoffman, the senior Cougar receiver. He accounted for 113 yards of BYU's 207 yards through the air. He also scored the Cougars' only two touchdowns of the game. In so doing, he tied Austin Collie's record of 17 games of 100-yards receiving. Big Stats But here are the big stats: Holding and Pass Interference calls nullified by Big Ten Officials ruling passes uncatchable: BYU 3 UW 0. Of course the ball is uncatchable when the receiver is mugged and mauled or held and hogtied while the ball is in the air. Sour grapes: HB 1 UW fans 0. Whoops, forgot one other stat. Punting inside the opponents' 35 yard line with still a slim chance at getting lucky and pulling out an improbable win: BYU and Bronco Mendenhall 1 Any other team and coach in America in any division or any local flag football recreational league in the nation 0. Reality Check Wisconsin provided Bronco Mendenhall and BYU fans with a much needed reality check. Despite Bronco's bold and brazen aspirations of winning a national title at BYU, the Cougars are short on having enough talented players and enough game management skills in the coaching department. The Badgers gashed and dashed that dream. They also exposed the premature dreams of BYU fans with their Hill for Heisman aspirations. Taysom Hill is a very talented quarterback, but he is still lacking two key ingredients to become a legitimate Heisman hopeful: He needs an offensive line and consistent semi-sensible play calling from coaches. Still, this game was not a defeat that should have left Cougar fans despondent. That's because the ultimate reality check was that Wisconsin simply was a better football team than BYU. Despondency is defined as Utah football fans being able to tell BYU football fans four years in a row: "Better luck next year or more accurately, better luck two years from now." No Need for the ICU When You Have ISU on the Schedule There is no need for the BYU football team to check into the ICU unit at the local hospital. Despite the loss to Wisconsin, there is nothing wrong with this team that a transfusion of more talent won't cure. That won't happen until a few more recruiting years pass. Meanwhile the Cougars will get the ultimate panacea from Pocatello this Saturday in Provo. Yes, Idaho State will be making a house call to LaVell Edwards Stadium. That's a guaranteed cure for any football team coming of a loss the previous week. If you don't think Idaho State is good for what ails you, you haven't read the ingredients or results record on the product label. The Bengals key ingredients are wins against Dixie State, Western State and Northern Colorado. The serious side effects of ISU are losses against Washington 56-0, UC Davis, North Dakota, Northern Arizona, Southern Utah, Eastern Washington and Portland State. That sounds like music to the ears for BYU and their fan base. It should be a case of name that tune or score as the Cougars tune up for Notre Dame in South Bend two weeks from now. The Irish actually are taking an ICU bye week off to recover from their road loss to Pitt last Saturday. BYU is taking the ISU approach: A sure win for seniors playing their last game at LaVell Edwards Stadium. The game kicks off at 1 pm Mountain Time and will be televised globally via BYUtv. IN EARLY SEASON ROSE RELYING ON C&H SUGAR If BYU is to have a successful basketball season, it is no secret that Dave Rose and BYU will need some good post play offensively and defensively from freshmen Eric Mika and Luke Worthington. After a season opening 81-72 win over Weber State in Provo last Saturday, the jury is still out on how the post production will play out. What isn't a secret is that regardless of the post play for the Cougars, Rose will be relying all season long on his C&H Sugar. That would be the sweet play of Matt Carlino and Tyler Haws. Against Weber State, the two seasoned players sugar coated the stat sheet for BYU in the opening win over the Wildcats. How do you take your sugar? One lump or two? With both playing 36 minutes each, Weber took two lumps in the loss. Carlino scored 22 points and had 6 rebounds. Haws had 28 points and a team leading 13 rebounds. As the Four Tops sang <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dhqJG4qSu0> , years ago, that's some real "Sugar Pie Honey Bunch" punch for Dave Rose to unleash on opponents this season. In other BYU video news, check out this soon to be Cougar making his knock off lip <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GS6vS1M-tlQ&feature=youtu.be> syncing debut borrowing material from his brother. Kyle Collinsworth, in his official return from Russia game, led all Cougars in minutes played with 37. In that time he scored 11 points and pulled down 10 rebounds. Eric Mika saw 24 minutes of play in which the promising freshman had 7 points and 5 rebounds. What was obvious against Weber State is that BYU is going to have early season problems defending the post. They just aren't seasoned or deep enough in that spot. That is why I look for Bronson Kaufusi to return to the team in January to add some bulk and toughness on the defensive side in the post. The Cougars will hit the road for a game against Stanford tonight in Palo Alto. The Cardinal are coming off a home opening72-68 win at Maples Pavilion against Bucknell. The game tips at 9 pm Mountain Time and can be seen live on ESPN2. Dastrup a BYU Drop Out BASKETBALL LETTERS OF INTENT CAN BE SIGNED STARTING WEDNESDAY You can drop Payton Dastrup from the list of recruits that will be signing an early letter of intent this Wednesday to play basketball at BYU. The LDS post player from Mesa, Arizona has said he will be signing with Ohio State instead. Whether that will be bad news for BYU and good news for OSU, won't actually be know for another three years. That's because Dastrup is set to serve an LDS mission beginning next spring. By the time he returns and takes a redshirt year to get back in shape, only then will we know if his stiffing of BYU for Ohio State will be a serious setback for Dave Rose and the Cougars. Of course, it is the same with all the other players who will sign with BYU. All are stellar high school producers. Otherwise, they wouldn't be getting scholarships at the next level. Nobody really knows if recruits will be stiffs or stars until the see the court at the college level. That said, I'm betting real money on TJ Haws. He too is mission bound before enrolling, but based on his family's history of getting back in shape quickly, likely is just two seasons away from playing for BYU. Again, I'm betting he won't be a bust. He is the real deal and can play basketball much better than he can lip sync. Here are the players that I expect to sign with BYU on Wednesday. T.J. Haws, 6-4, 170, Lone Peak HS, UT Dalton Nixon, 6-7, 200, Orem HS, UT Jake Toolson, 6-5, 205, Highland HS, AZ Ryan Andrus, 6-9, 200, American Fork HS, UT.will play a year at BYU and then leave for an LDS mission. Dave Rose should also announce Isaac Neilson as a signee. He is a 6-11, 220 and from Mission Viejo HS, CA.He will be back from his LDS mission from Alabama and on the 2014 roster. Also announced will be Jordan Chatman, a 6-4, 200 pound guard from Union HS in Ridgefield, WA.He will be back from his LDS mission to Taiwan and enroll in school for the fall semester of 2014 Women Take Title and Drop Title Last Week The BYU women's soccer team earned a first place tie for the West Coast Conference soccer championship last week. They finished with an 8-1 record and tied with Santa Clara and Portland for the hardware. The Lady Cougars will now await a sure NCAA post season tournament invite. Hosting two games in Provo in the early going of the tourney is a very real possibility. Meanwhile, with still three matches left to play, the BYU women's volleyball team, for all intents and purposes, lost the WCC title when they were upset on the road by Santa Clara last Saturday. The Cougars had held a 1 game lead over second place and No. 8 nationally ranked San Diego. Now both teams are tied for first place with identical 13-2 records. Both teams will host Gonzaga and Portland at home this week. The title show down will happen the following week when BYU travels to San Diego on Saturday, Nov. 23 to take on the Toreros. The winner of that match will be crowned the outright champ in WCC volleyball. BYU Television Timetable BYU vs. Stanford (Men's Basketball) Monday, Nov 11 at Palo Alto Tipoff: 9:00 pm Mountain Time TV: ESPN2 BYU vs. Gonzaga (Women's Volleyball) Thursday, Nov 14 at Provo Match Start: 7:00 pm Mountain Time TV: BYUtv BYU vs. Mount St. Mary's (Men's Basketball) Friday, Nov 15 at Provo Tipoff: 7:00 pm Mountain Time TV: BYUtv BYU vs. Idaho State Saturday, Nov 16 at Provo Kickoff: 1:00 pm Mountain Time TV: BYUtv BYU vs. Colorado Mesa (Men's Basketball) Saturday, Nov 16 at 7:30 pm Mountain Time Tipoff: 7:30 pm Mountain Time TV: BYUtv BYU vs. Iowa State (Men's Basketball) Wednesday, Nov 20 at Provo Tipoff: 7:30 pm Mountain Time TV: ESPNU BYU vs. Texas (Men's Basketball) Monday, Nov 25 at Kansas City Tipoff: 5:30 pm Mountain Time TV: ESPNU BYU vs. DePaul/Wichita State (Men's Basketball) Tuesday, Nov 26 at Kansas City Tipoff: TBA TV: ESPN2 or ESPNU BYU vs. Utah State (Men's Basketball) Saturday, Nov 30 at Salt Lake City Tipoff: 7:00 pm Mountain Time TV: BYUtv