HB Arnett's "Lite" <mailto:hbarnett@fiber.net> hbarnett@fiber.net 801 372 0819 Vol. 38, Issue 8 - C, September 19, 2018 Sorry, I missed a couple of Bottom Ten BYU Football Losses Thanks, to an astute student of BYU football history, he reminded me of two losses that were not only baffling, but barfing bad. Here is what this subscriber had to say about bottom ten BYU football loses. Those are all good choices, but most of those losses at least involved quality opponents. The one that didn't--the loss to UTEP--remains one of the most baffling games in the history of college football. In my opinion it was the single biggest upset in college football in the last fifty years. (In basketball, the equivalent game would be Chaminade beating Virginia in 1982.) If you're really looking for "Bottom Ten" quality losses, though, you have to look at a good Cougar team, losing to a lousy opponent, in a big game. And when I think of games like that, I immediately think of the two baffling, inexplicable losses to Hawaii in 1989 and 1990. Both losses came late in the season. In 1989, BYU was ranked #18, had a record of 7-1, and its only loss was to a quality Pac-10 school (Washington State). The WSU loss had been close, 46-41. Hawaii was an ordinary team that year, and it already had losses to Colorado State and Wyoming, which were also ordinary. Schools like that were cannon-fodder for big boys like BYU, or so we thought. No reason to worry! But Hawaii absolutely manhandled BYU, 56-14. Hawaii toyed with BYU like a cat playing with a cricket. It was this game that convinced me that something was existentially wrong with BYU's defense, and that maybe it was time for LaVell to go, and that certainly it was time for all of the defensive coaches to be evaluated. Every now and then you can lose to a team like Hawaii. But a quality team like BYU should not be humiliated by a big zero of a football program like Hawaii--ever. This game was never a contest. Hawaii did exactly what it wanted to do to BYU, all night long. Hawaii's receivers were so open they were claiming chunks of the field by adverse possession. Well, at least BYU had a chance to get even in 1990--we told ourselves. That was a big year for BYU football--it was the year of the most high-profile win in the program's history, the nationally-televised game against Miami. It was the year of Ty Detmer's Heisman Trophy. Prior to the game with Hawaii, BYU was ranked #4 nationally--this was going into the last game of the season!--and had a record of 10-1. (The only loss was an early loss to Oregon, and BYU seemed to be getting better.) And Hawaii--it was a piece of crap team. It was 6-5 going into the game against BYU, with losses to Colorado State, San Diego State, UTEP, Air Force, and Texas A&M. BYU fans were thinking: "Payback will be sweet." So what happened? Hawaii mopped the Honolulu turf with BYU's sorry, no-account behinds for the second year in a row, winning the game 59-28. That was the last game of the season--the next game was the blow-out bowl loss to Texas A&M. Those three games (the two losses to Hawaii and the ridiculous whipping by Texas A&M) were a turning point for me--it told me that something was horribly wrong with the BYU coaches. Two consecutive losses like that to an off-the-radar squad like Hawaii were signs that someone didn't know what they were doing. And Detmer--he was soft. Big stats, but he lost games. He threw interceptions. He made bad decisions. (The same was true of Detmer in the NFL.) I still get annoyed thinking about those losses to Hawaii. As long as we're talking about the Texas A&M 65-14 horsewhipping of BYU in the Holiday Bowl, let's note that BYU was still ranked #13 going into that game (after the loss to Hawaii) and Texas A&M was unranked. So there's my trip down the memory lane of the BYU Bottom Ten. Want Something More Contemporary? Try these two Wisconsin and Iowa links for their analysis of what went wrong for the Badgers. While doing so, they are being very, very complimentary of BYU, but don't know it. Interesting watches <https://madison.com/wsj/sports/college/football/film-room-taking-a-closer-l ook-at-the-badgers-shortcomings/article_78b038bd-bdd1-52f3-83cd-44dcff1632dd .html> Film room: Taking a closer look at the Badgers' shortcomings in the run game against BYU <https://www.hawkcentral.com/story/sports/college/columnists/chad-leistikow/ 2018/09/19/iowa-hawkeyes-football-mailbag-wisconsin-byu-loss-kirk-ferentz-ki nnick-stadium-chad-leistikow/1355802002/> Leistikow's Hawkeyes mailbag: What Iowa can copy from the BYU blueprint to beat Badgers Hans Olsen, the former BYU player, also has some short interesting video break downs of the BYU win over Wisconsin. I recommend it. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-DHA48U0-g> Video 1 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuTA7wKuekA> Video 2 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fs0r6K7EzAo> Video 3 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kP-5toHLXvc> Video 4 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4t99J16fs0> Video 5 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0O3Kqq81Dc> Video 6 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSCvS1DFZCQ> Video 7