Four Games In and Heaps is in Spring Season Form

There’s truth to the idea that Heaps or Riley should have been given the starter role and thus the reps, but there are some things here I look at in a different light.

I think there are two types of coaches: those who Learn by Experience, and those who are Intuitive. Bronco and Anae don’t seem intuitive by nature (generally speaking regarding their coaching). And this is perfectly okay. I compare them to guys like Bob Stoops and Philip Fullmer. Stoops is amazing, has a wealth of intellect, and works hard, but he Learns by Experience a lot of the time. Then there’s guys that just seem to be Intuitive by nature. Kyle Whittingham, Urban Meyer, Chris Petersen – those guys seem to have a sixth sense about what will work and how to game plan even early in their coaching stints or going into the unknown. When your team has a Learn by Experience guy, it comes with some ups and downs (of all the elite teams in the nation the past 10 years, Oklahoma and Stoops have been the most “up-and-down” even though they remain at pretty high levels) because these guys have to experience things to learn from them. Bronco had to experience the two quarterback chaos to learn from it. It takes patience to be a fan of these guys – they provide us with greatness, but there are hiccups.

Second, until LDS athletes – and I’m talking 4 and 5 star athletes – start coming to BYU in waves, we can never compare BYU’s defense to any other teams. This was the hardest lesson for me to learn after attending BYU in the late 90s and really becoming a diehard fan (growing up in LA, I followed USC and UCLA and just about any PAC-10 team for that matter). I couldn’t swallow the slower athletes (not inferior, just slower). I thought, “What is this?” BYU is predicated on two things defensively: Assignment Sound, and Physicality. This works well if you have two things: Experienced Athletes, and Physical Athletes. It seems like BYU always has tough, physical athletes, but BYU’s defense goes in cycles because there are always half-seasons or even entire seasons where they are reloading key positions with experience. We don’t have the luxury of throwing speed out on the field to make up for lack of experience. This year, our linebacking crew and one of our safeties were relatively inexperienced. Thus, against an odd, precision attack like Air Force in the second game of the season, we had guys confused about position, angles, and assignments. It’s a fast, physical game, and it only takes a moment of hesitation against Air Force to fail on a play. That’s why Bronco was annoyed with the scheduling of Air Force in the second game this year. Any of the previous 3 or 4 years, and it probably wouldn’t have been such a big deal. But this year, he knew his team, and he sensed they would struggle. The second half against Air Force was the result of a fairly shallow depth chart. Guys fatigue, suddenly they’re out of position, and then they struggle. (Another BYU defensive problem is often depth at key positions – no fresh bodies means the offense better not be going 3 and out all game or it can catch up to the Y). So, what I saw on the field against Nevada was pleasantly surprising. Young guys in the first half playing against a Top 25 pistol attack with a freak quarterback finally settled down and Jaime had them clicking the second half.

Sometimes we get caught up in the “Great programs” talk and begin establishing imaginary qualifiers for that status. BYU is, hands down, one of the great programs of the past 30 years in college football. Their record shows it, their national title shows it, their sustainability shows it, their NFL talent shows it, their coaching shows it, their stadium, crowd, and facilities show it, and their conference titles show it. We are just two years removed from running two years undefeated in the Mountain West Conference, winning back-to-back titles, even in the midst of these TCU and Utah “glory years.” The ONLY knock against BYU the past 10 years is they haven’t qualified for a BCS bowl as a Non-AQ. How many of the D-I teams have done that? Three? It’s a remarkably difficult thing to do (kudos to Utah for doing it twice)! After taking over a team depleted by transfers and suspensions under Crowton, Bronco took a year to get a new culture established, and then has gone on a 4 year streak that has been exciting, championship caliber football. Even the great teams stumble. Florida stumbled between The Head Ball Coach and Meyer. Notre Dame has been stumbling despite NBC contracts and elite athletes. Oklahoma stumbled last year when their QB was unsettled. This list goes on and on and on and on. BYU is a great program. There will always be “re-starting” years from time to time for BYU unless going Indy finally starts bringing waves of premier athletes into Provo. But these “re-starting” years can be exciting. I LOVED that Nevada game. I was on the living room floor holding my head in my hands on several of those Heaps throws, but THAT IS WHAT COLLEGE FOOTBALL IS ALL ABOUT! Like Bronco has been saying in recent weeks, he likes this team. It’s fun watching these kids grow. And I totally concur. Its aggravating and Sundays are brutal with Utes bragging about putting the whoop on the Mustache and San Jose State, but its part of the passion of the game we love.

Go Cougs! Championship Football.

Wyoming held Air Force to 20 points not 14