Vanquish The Foe: FanPosts

Boiler Boylen goes off on Tribune's Monson

2010-03-04T05:59:44Z

Sure Jim Boylen is a passionate guy, but did you know he's also a jerk, a complete polar opposite to the classy Dave Rose? Well, if you didn't know this, look no further than Wednesday's post game spat with the Salt Lake Tribune's Gordon Monson:

Boylen: "Don't come here once every two years and ask those questions. I don't want to hear that from you."

"I can ask the questions," said Monson.

"Good," said Boylen. "I'm not answering it. Don't come here once every two years. I don't want to hear that from you."

Monson replied, "Coach, give me a break — show some class."

Said Boylen, "Yeah, nice of you to show up."

You may be wondering what the question was that angered Boylen so badly... "Coach, what was the reason for the offensive inefficiency?"

GIVE ME A BREAK BOILER BOYLEN. YOU'RE PATHETIC, AND THE REASON WHY YOUR TEAM IS PATHETIC. No wonder nobody shows up to your lousy games.

Alford-Tavernari Altercation

2010-02-28T19:20:33Z

I had heard about the altercation that occurred between Steve Alford and Tavernari, but nothing solid. I think this renders some enlightenment on the altercation that occurred:

Clearly this is a head coach and assistant coach who need some help in learning to handle themselves. Granted Tavernari may have started it; Alford clearly took it to another level.

Editorial Note - This is the type of "FanPost" that should be posted as a "FanShot" instead. Remember, a "FanShot" is preferred whenever you find a link, a quote, a video, a photo, or something else on the web that you want to share. Also, FanPosts should meet the minimum standard of 75 words. For more questions, please refer to the "VTF User Guide." Thanks! VTF

A Pac-10 expansion look at attendance

2010-02-25T07:07:30Z

From the FanPosts...

It has been blogged to death that the most likely contenders to enter the Pac-10 are Colorado and Utah. The most prominent reason($) being that the Pac-10 would want to incorporate the Denver and SLC TV markets. However, those teams don't even own their own markets. Denver is "Bronco Nation," first and foremost, and Utah is over 70% LDS.

Also, for a conference that lost 3,164 Fans per game last year, it would help to pick teams that put fans in the seats (both at home and on the road).

A breakdown of attendance data after the jump...

	Ave Attendance	Capacity	States	LDS Population
BYU	64,236	65,000	Arizona	374,839
Utah	45,155	45,634	California	755,747
Colorado	50,088	53,750	Oregon	145,429
			Washington	257,710
California	59,472	75,662	Utah	1,857,667
Oregon	58,544	53,800
Oregon St.	42,328	45,674	Idaho	406,764
Arizona	52,555	57,803	Texas	278,492
Arizona St.	48,556	73,379
UCLA	64,547	92,542
Stanford	41,436	50,000
Southern California	84,799	93,607
Washington	64,356	72,500
Washington St.	25,909	35,117

	Average	Difference
Pac-10	54,186	-3,164
(the biggest loss of any conference)

NCAA Tournament Seeding Situation

2010-02-23T03:40:16Z

As I was looking at the NCAA Tournament regions and looking towards the dates and locations, I have narrowed the possible seeds that BYU could be selected in...

First things first, for what I see BYU will most likely NOT be selected into the following brackets (Midwest and South) for these reasons: Most of the games will be on the Friday-Sunday schedule of the tournament in the first round, and the second round would fall in the same. We can breathe just a little with the 8 and 9 seeds this year; there is only one chance (Midwest), but it is very slim. There could be a slight possible mix-up in the selection of Friday and Sunday for BYU, by being put in these brackets and then get switched if BYU were to advance in the first two games. This idea isn't totally out of the question as the selection committe was highly considering doing this a couple years ago. But if that's the case, these are the seeds that would be open for BYU:

The Midwest Bracket possible seeds (we would have to switch in the next round):

1, 8, 9, and 16

So we know that 1 and 16 are out of the question.

Then with the 8 and 9, which won't happen unless BYU just falls apart.

In the South (we would have to switch in the next round), these would be the possible open seeds:

3, 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 13, and 14

So we know that 12, 13, and 14 are out of the question and 11 if we slip up more than needed...

3, 4, 5, and 6 would be great...

So the regions that we'll most likely end up in will be the West and the East. Not all of the seeds will be open for us to get selected in because of the Friday-Sunday set-up, but here are the openings:

West:

2-7, and 10-15

Most unlikely of these would be 2, and 12-15...

3 or 4 is likely if we win out or have no more than one more loss in the regular season and win the conference tournament.

5, 6, or 7, if we lose one, two to three games and have an early loss in the conference tournament

East:

2-3, 6-7, 10-11,14-15

Most unlikely of these would be 2, and 14-15...

Again, 3 or 4 is likely if we win out or have no more than one loss in the regular season and win the conference tournament.

6 or 7 if we lose two to three games and have an early loss in the conference tournament

The way that I look at it, the tournament isn't all about making money, but a lot of it is. The best fit for BYU--and the NCAA--would be the 3 or 4 seeds in the West region. If the Cougars were to advance, they would be in Salt Lake for the Sweet 16 and have great fan support and sell out Energy Solutions Arena. With the 4th seed, they would open up in San Jose and still have plenty of fans down there.

GOOD LUCK COUGARS AND WIN THE FORTH STRAIGHT REGULAR SEASON CHAMPIONSHIP!

BYU Basketball under the radar, right where I like it

2010-01-29T21:24:34Z

From the FanPosts...

The Cougars have been nothing short of amazing this year, but good luck finding many people outside of Utah who realize that. BYU basketball has been flying under the radar this year. Even our #10 ranking hasn't caught the attention of many people. Frankly, I like it that way. I don't want people to be too aware that we have something special here. More importantly, I don't want our team to figure out that they're one of the best in the nation. I've seen our football team go to pieces one too many times once they realize they're pretty good.

So every time I see an article like the this one from Basketball Prospectus touting the Cougars as one of the best in the land, I cringe a little. I want to tell them, "Shh! If you tell them they're good, you'll jinx the whole thing!" Maybe I'm just paranoid. Maybe Jimmer Fredette will turn out to be completely different than Max Hall and thrive under the spotlight

Personally, I don't really want to find out. Let's keep the Cougars out of national attention so they don't realize they're great until they're holding up the trophy after they've won it all in the Dance. I think we'd all be happier that way.

Pomeroy ranks BYU #4

2010-01-27T18:10:58Z

If you're on the same page as I am than you would agree that the "poll"ing system to decide rankings is really quirky and a bit head scratching. Enter Ken Pomeroy. In the eyes of many his system for rankings is as close to unbiased as any ranking system can possibly be. According to his algorithmic quotients based on the rotation of the earths ambiotic components system today he has BYU ranked #4 in all the land for college hoops.

Who's in front of them you might ask? Just a couple of little programs like Kansas, Duke, and Syracuse. Then there's a bunch of little guys behind them like Kentucky, North Carolina, West Virginia, and on and on. Umm, I'm not sure what else to say? One side of me wants to jump for joy, another side of me thinks that's a little too high, another side of me is pissed because BYU isn't getting the respect it deserves (fyi, I'm happy with a #10 ranking, #4 would be sweet, I'm just not sure we're #4 worthy), and another side of me wonders "what if?". Could this be the year BYU doesn't get TKO'd in Round 1? Could this be the 29th Anniversary of the Ainge runner, played by Jimmer Fredette???

VTF Member Se7en: Huge Games Soon

2010-01-21T18:39:50Z

From the Comments following last night's win over Wyoming:

The next two games are HUGE. I know most realists are hoping to split the next two games, but I think we can pull off winning both.

AT SDSU – They haven’t lost at home yet this year, but this is the same team that lost at Wyoming, which is a bad loss. This will be a big test. UTEP is probably as good as SDSU, and we were able to squeak that one out.

AT UNM – The pit?! Pomeroy’s calculations figure this will be the 2nd hardest game of the season (behind at UNLV, of course). However, UNLV was able to beat them on their home floor. Why can’t we?

In normal cases, I would say that splitting is what we need to do here. BUT, we have a different team this year. We have so many threats of people that could just go off. Last year, our only hopes were Jimmer or JT to go off. Lee just always disappeared in big games.

This year, Haws could go off, Emery could go off, or JT could go off, and we have the post presence of Davies and Miles. This is an impressive team. They’ve sucked me in completely. I’m drinking the kool-aid and I’ve lost all sights of reality. But it feels good.

We can do this.

I would LOVE to only see only 2 conference losses this year. How spectacular would that be. We will lose at UNLV. And we will screw up one other game.

After this stretch, we can relax (somewhat) with the next two easy games, and prepare for AT UNLV. After that, we only have to worry about at Utah. (I know Utah sucks, but they beat UNLV! on their home floor! and the Utes always play up. They will be driven to upset us.)

I know it’s completely unrealistic to hope for a running of the table, so I’ll settle with 2 conference losses, and if we can win that MWC, we’d be entering the Big Dance with a big ’ol (32-3) next to our name. Holy Moly. You have to give us a 4 seed with that.

Then we can do some damage in the Tourney. Sweet Sixteen?! We need to make a case to Jabari Parker that we’re the place he should come to.

Alright, sorry for the rant, but my hopes are just too inflated to not share them. This happens every year. But this year is different. I think.

Poll

Does BYU beat SDSU and NM on the road this year?

Yes, of course. Jimmer and Co., are unstoppable

18 votes

Maybe but...They win one and lose the other

12 votes

No chance in he!!...Cougs lose both

1 votes

31 votes | Poll has closed

BYU recruiting makes the cut!

2010-01-21T04:54:09Z

According to ESPN, BYU football is slow racking up a powerful recruiting class currently ranked 24th. If we land Heimuli out of Brighton we can jump to a top 20 real fast!

Max Hall in the East/West Shrine Bowl

2010-01-20T15:38:21Z

Todd McShay gave a Max some props. I didn't really think many thought much of Max.

Jimmer Jammer Human Highlight Reel

2009-12-29T05:47:11Z

Wow....I have never seen a performance like Jimmer's, and on the road no less. I know Arizona isn't the team they usually are but regardless, he was going up against a senior guard who should have been able to do a better job on him.

Now, I'm starting to worry about him staying for his Senior season. 49 Points in the college game is a greater performance than Karl Malone's 63 for the Jazz back in the day. Congratulations Jimmer. Thanks for giving us the pleasure of seeing you perform such an amazing feat. Additionally, I love the freshman dynamic duo and can't wait to see how great Brandon will become. Its a great time to be a Cougar fan.

The Perceived MWC Drop-Off

2009-12-25T19:56:20Z

This excerpt came from an article about the Mountain West Conference by Stewart Mandel at Sports Illustrated, and it got me thinking.

"It's pretty clear at this point that the Mountain West has three very strong, nationally competitive programs in TCU, BYU and Utah. The one thing it's yet to showcase is depth. The perceived drop-off after those "big three" is far greater than that of any AQ conference. The league is nearing the halfway point of a four-year BCS review that measures its average number of Top 25 teams, the average annual ranking of each league's champ and average computer ranking of all eight teams. Right now it's looking pretty good in the first two departments but the third remains suspect."

The MWC has 9 teams with the Big 3 (BYU, TCU, Utah) dominating the past 5 years. The argument against the MWC getting AQ (automatic qualifier) status for our champion in a BCS bowl is that our Bottom 6 teams (Air Force, UNLV, Colorado State, San Diego St, New Mexico, Wyoming) are not the same caliber of competition that you see at the middle and bottom of the six AQ conferences. The key stat used in the 4-year review that Steward Mandel mentioned is the average computer ranking of all MWC schools at the end of the season. I believe the Bottom 6 are unjustly ranked because they are unjustly counted as non-AQ schools and thus perceived as weaker.

The current computer rankings for the Bottom 6 probably only give them in-conference credit if they beat the MWC Big 3. If the MWC had AQ status, more in-conference wins would inherently be given more credit. If Florida beats Kentucky, it’s a solid SEC win. If BYU beats a stout Wyoming team, it doesn’t count as much. Until the MWC gets AQ status, a better way to measure "the perceived drop-off after those ‘big three’" that Mandel writes about is to look at the MWC Bottom 6 and their records against their low- to mid-level BCS conference counterparts. So, I decided to look at the MWC Bottom 6 and their records against the six AQ conferences (Pac-10, SEC, ACC, Big East, Big 12, and Big Ten) over the past five seasons (2005-2009). I chose the past 5 seasons because TCU didn’t join until 2005, so I wanted to look at the complete history of the MWC as presently constituted. Here is what I came up with.

From 2005-2009 the MWC Bottom 6 were 12-30 against BCS schools.
The 12 wins included the following teams: @ Notre Dame, Washington, @Arizona St, @Iowa St, @Colorado (plus a home win vs. Colorado), @Arizona (plus a home win vs Arizona), @Missouri, @Tennessee, Virginia, @ Ole Miss.
Of the 30 losses, only 23 came against low- to mid-level BCS teams (teams not in the conference title hunt).
AND GET THIS! Of the 30 losses, 13 came by 8 points or less! 5 of those 13 came by 3 points or less!
Five out of the MWC Bottom 6 have pretty solid records against the BCS schools. San Diego St is the only team without a win. Here’s breakdown: AF 2-4 (Wins: @Notre Dame, Washington); UNLV 2-3 (Wins: @Arizona St, @Iowa St); CSU 2-6 (Wins: @Colorado, Colorado); NM 3-4 (Wins: Arizona, @Arizona, @Missouri); WY 3-5 (@Tennessee, Virgina, @Ole Miss) *An interesting side-note: if you add Wyoming’s 2004, they are 5-6 with two additional wins against Mississippi and UCLA); SDSU 0-8.
Now compare those records in #5 with the Bottom 6 conference records in the Pac-10 this year: USC 5-4, Cal 5-4, Washington 4-5, UCLA 3-6, ASU 2-7, WSU 0-9.

What this shows is that the MWC Bottom 6 are not as pathetic as the national media makes them out to be. If anything, what a comparison of #5 and #6 above shows us is that the MWC needs to develop its "middle of the pack" group some. The top of the MWC and the bottom of the MWC have comparable BCS competition records. What we lack is a stronger middle group (hence the argument to expand by bringing in teams like Boise State). Other than SDSU and their 0-8 record, the 12-22 MWC Bottom 6 record is similar to their BCS lower-level counterparts against BCS competition.

The MWC Bottom 6 have a solid record over the past 5 years against BCS schools and some big wins on the road. The most telling statistic is that 13 of the 30 losses came by 8 points or less. That is huge! This tells us that even though the losses outweigh the wins, half of the losses came down to essentially one touchdown.

Out of curiosity, I also took the MWC Big 3 and broke down their records against the six AQ BCS leagues over the past 5 years. Here are the results:

The MWC Big 3 are 25-14 over the past 5 years against BCS schools.

BYU 7-8 (Wins: Oklahoma, Oregon St, @Washington, UCLA, Arizona, UCLA, Oregon)
Utah 9-4 (Wins: Louisville, Cal, @Michigan, Oregon St, Alabama, UCLA, @Louisville, Arizona, Georgia Tech)
TCU 9-2 (Wins: @Virginia, @Clemson, Stanford, @Baylor, @Stanford, @Baylor, Texas Tech, @Oklahoma, Iowa St)

In the past two years (2008-2009), the Big 3 are 12-4; over the past three years (2007-2009), the Big 3 are 18-7.

Marquee wins include the following: Utah over SEC #2 Alabama in Sugar Bowl; BYU over #3 Oklahoma in Dallas; Utah @ Michigan; TCU @ Oklahoma; TCU over Texas Tech, BYU over #18 Oregon St; TCU @ Clemson.

This tells us that the MWC Big 3 are getting it done and justifies the national media attention on the MWC. Things also get interesting when you look at the combined record of the Big 3 and the Bottom 6:

2005-2009 the MWC overall record against BCS is 32-44 (Of those 44 losses, 17 have been by 8 points or less.)
2007-2009 the MWC overall record against BCS is 26-25.
2008-2009 the MWC overall record against BCS is 17-15.

So, what does this all mean? I began by investigating the claim that the Bottom 6 in the MWC are not equal competition to their BCS mid- to low-level conference teams. Well, many mid- to low-level BCS teams have comparable in-conference records to the MWC Bottom 6 going 12-30. Given that 13 of those 30 losses were by less than 8 points, and given the fact the BCS schools pull in millions more in BCS revenue, it looks like the MWC Bottom 6 are not too far removed from their lower-level BCS counterparts.

If the MWC were given AQ status, then it is likely that any remaining disparity between the levels of competition in the MWC and the current BCS conferences would be significantly reduced. If the MWC were given AQ status, it would bring in millions more in revenue through several sources:

The BCS bowl the MWC champion would play in each year.
Better non-conference games throughout the MWC would bring in more money for each school. Big-time teams would be more likely to schedule MWC teams who have AQ status. (Some would argue against this, but I believe AQ schools are more likely to schedule other AQ schools from the MWC because a win looks better and a loss doesn’t look as bad).
More TV revenue. You have to believe the TV contracts and ads would jump up for the MWC if given AQ status. If The Mtn network survives, it would likely get picked up nationally if the MWC became AQ, and it would likely improve its quality of production.
Better recruits would begin "staying home" within the MWC or coming in from other states because the chance to play in a BCS bowl and play on national TV each week through a hopefully improved Mtn network would be enticing. With better recruits, the quality of play in the conference will attract more booster money, more ad money, and better bowl contracts.

More revenue and more national exposure mean better recruits for the entire conference and a stronger top to bottom level of competition. I believe the perceived drop-off that Mandel and others keep bringing up is not as dramatic as we think, and by giving the MWC AQ status, the perception will likely go away rather quickly. That’s a lot to digest. And I may have just wasted 2 hours of my life researching and writing this, but what do you think?

BCS Academic Top 25

2009-12-22T20:57:59Z

Interesting stuff from By Ben Miller and Lindsey Luebchow. They take the BCS Top 25 and reorder them with academics as a component of the equation. Utah moved up to 6th, TCU dropped down to 11th, and BYU stayed pretty even at 13th. What shocked me most was Boise State at 4th. What's in those taters? I thought all the Broncos were illiterate. I was also shocked that Texas dropped to 25th. I guess Austin needs more tutors.

What BlockU doesn't mention...

2009-12-01T07:30:14Z

It's easy to point the finger at the other guys when you're too cowardly to report the other side. What is this, CNN? Show me again where the Cougar "grabbed" her arm? For what I can see he's flailing to escape a few Utes who didn't like that he was taking a picture via his phone and threw it away. Rumors are surfacing that it was Whitt's son... that explains the "no comment" or non report to police by the Whitt's. If in fact the Whitt's are being the better person in this scenario and dropping the whole incident to stupid fans (the Ute(s) and the Cougar) then maybe every other Ute (that's you blocku) who's trying to make a mountain out of a mole hill should follow their fearless leaders example and let it go. My guess is we'll hear it was Whitt's son.

Those Lowly Utes Deserve Our Pity

2009-11-24T04:08:45Z

Growing up in So Cal, I didn't know anything about the BYU-Utah rivalry until the mid 90s. It's a pretty crazy thing to step into. The thing I find funny about Utah fans in general is they pretty much define themselves by this rivalry. Most that I know don't really follow their team unless it's an undefeated BCS year, then out come the red sweaters, they hop around to Utah man and mumble the words to a song they don't know, and spit venom in the direction of BYU. It's funny, but actually pretty sad. I feel sorry for most Utah fans I know because they don't have a tradition to love. All most Ute fans have to hang their hats on is last year's Sugar Bowl. Very cool. But one year of history is a sad thing to get excited about. So why do Utes hate the Cougs so much? Here's why....

1. Who's your Coach? Ute fans are totally confused about who they love. They ran Ron McBride out of town and don't know how to feel about that. Then Urban came to town with promises and then left in lies (how many of us know Utes who follow the Gators as their adopted second team now?). Then you had to go out and hire a former Cougar to run your team. Do you love Whittingham or do you hate him? He's a Cougar leading the Utes no matter how you look at it. There's no LaVell to name your stadium after. And all Ute fans are just waiting for the day Whit leaves for bigger money and a stadium that pulls more than 35,000 bandwagoners a game.

2. It's tough to love Big Brother. And that's what BYU is and always will be to the Utes. No matter how much success the Utes have, they will always define themselves by their hatred for BYU; hence, they will never be able to exist without us. They will always wish they had the tradition, the fan base, the sellout crowds, the National title, the museum full of conference dominance hardware. You go to a BYU game and you feel the tradition. The few thousand that trickle into a Ute game because their office gave them free tickets feel something if it's a BCS season, but otherwise, they feel nothing because Big Brother has the glory. If Utah disappeared, BYU fans would still fill their stadium and soon forget the Utes. If BYU disappeared, so would half the Ute fans who didn't really follow the Utes - they just had "fun" hating the Y.

3. Where is that fan base? When so many of your fans define themselves by hatred of another school, it's tough to translate that hatred into paying for season tickets and filling the stadium. It's tough to travel more than a few thousand alumni who actually have school pride. The hater fans don't travel unless they think everyone is watching on TV and they can feel a part of the momentary glory of an undefeated season. Hater fans don't pay for season tickets because they don't really care about the "other" 12 games on the schedule. Mice Speckles Stadium is virtually empty compared to the crowds at LES. The Blackouts are cool, but half those "Utes" don't know more than 5 guys on the team.

4. Where's the tradition? Ask any Ute fan 50 and under to name 5 glorious moments in Ute history, and most will only be able to say, "2004 and the Sugar Bowl last year." And even then, they mumble 2004 because they know they went in on a rented coach who lied to the fan base and flipped them the bird for more money, and they played in the lamest BCS bowl ever against the lamest BCS team ever in Pitt. They can't even cheer for Alex Smith anymore. So, most Ute fans can only define themselves by the Sugar Bowl. And when you look at that, it's really nothing. It's one game against a team that didn't want to be there in a bowl that didn't mean anything. Even the Sugar Bowl "Champion" t-shirts don't give much credence to the word "champion." The champions of what? So, Utes basically have a One Year History. That's tradition? The Utes will ALWAYS hate BYU because of the last 30 years of conference dominance, Top 25 rankings, Heisman Trophy, National Championship, bigger crowds, sellouts, LaVell Edward's legacy, and a national fan base the Utes could only wish for. The Utes have no genuine tradition other than hating the Cougs. Sad.

So, on this rivalry week, I begin by feeling pity for the lowly Utes and their lack of tradition, honor, and pride. You have nothing to cheer for Ute fans, except Urban Meyer, your adopted Uncle, if he wins another title. Wear those Sugar Bowl Champion t-shirts one more month, because they will soon have to be retired. I hope you enjoy your time with our Cougar Son, Coach Whittingham. Each win under his guidance is really just another mark in favor of the Cougars. It took one of us to lead you to where you are. Love your Cougar coach, and treat him well until he leaves you and your traditionless program for greener pastures.

Rise and Shout!

Recap: Cruising the Wyoming Sites

2009-11-08T06:56:53Z

After watching a tough Wyoming team that had previously competed in all of their games this season (especially putting up a good fight with Utah and Air Force), I started cruising the Wyoming sites to see what their players had to say after going through the same thing we just went through against TCU - getting blown out at home. I found a post-game series of interview clips on the Casper Tribune site. The video is titled "UW post game reaction" and is 15 minutes long with the head coach and several players. They all kept repeating that "we just didn't execute." Which I find interesting, because this is the same line BYU keeps citing after our blowouts.

The two most interesting comments came from Marcell Gipson at the 8:55 mark and Zach Bolger at the 13:24 mark. Marcell, a cornerback, said, "I thought we was gonna win the game." He repeated that even after the first couple of touchdowns, he still thought they were going to win the game. He also said, "I felt like athletically, we was more athletic than them." This comment blew me away. He followed it with, "We just didn't execute." Zach Bolger, a wide receiver, said that BYU's defense switched up their looks and this caused some confusion. It led to pressure and this led to the QB throwing to guys that weren't really the first option.

I believe the Wyoming players were frustrated because they had run into a superior game plan today. Jaime did a good job mixing things up and blitzing, and Anae ran a great balanced attack today with a lot of shorter passes. One of the cornerbacks in that 15 minute clip - I think it was Marcell Gipson - repeatedly said how accurate Max Hall was. He said their coverage was good, but he just put the ball in there perfect. Hats off to Max with a stellar game. Hats off to Anae for putting him in great situations.

Anyone Else Excited for Basketball?

2009-10-29T20:41:58Z

I know that it is still football season, and that football is king, but I went to the Cougar Tipoff yesterday and am excited to see these guys in action. Even though it was against our own team they look deep and can push the ball hard. It was great to see how fast they were pushing the ball and getting down the court. It seemed like last year they didn't have enough depth to sustain the tempo that they wanted to play, but this year they can go their bench without too much of a drop-off from the starters. I will admit with having Sroufe as one of the administrators on the board I am a little disappointed that I haven't seen anything basketball up here yet since he was such a baller in high school.

Monson's Dichotomy

2009-10-28T16:00:59Z

From the FanPosts...

In his article in the Salt Lake Tribune today, Gordon Monson basically wrote that BYU's football team is faced with one of two choices. Either lower its standards (honor code) or lower its football goals (national championship). I realize Monson's articles are designed to incite reactions to get more readers for his paper to get more advertising dollars and to get more listeners to his radio show to....you got it....get more advertisting dollars. His professional existence revolves around generating advertising money. I can't remember the last time he used a unique angle, genuine insight, or an inside scoop to share with his readers or listeners. I feel sorry for him actually. Other than ad money, he's become a non-contributor to his profession and the sports world. I want to address, though, the false dichotomy he presented. It's a dichotomy buried in hopelessness and false defeat.

I don't see the logic in suggesting that Bronco needs to lower the expectations and goals of the football team. The article suggested that BYU is somehow lacking the talent to compete on a national level at this moment. I don't see this at all, and I'm guessing Coach Mendenhall does not see it either. The program is growing and developing. It has returned to national prominence. We just finished an almost 30 week run in the Top 25 and will likely move back in sometime during the next 3 weeks. We are only 2 years removed from defeating both TCU and Utah 4 consecutive times. We are only two months removed from defeating #3 Oklahoma in Arlington when they had an entire off-season to prepare for us. My main concerns the past two years are the 3 consecutive blow-out losses to TCU and Utah and the blow-out to Florida St. But I don't believe, as I stated in other places on this website, that this is due to a lack of talent. I don't believe BYU needs to lower its standards or its goals to compete. I do believe, we need to reevaluate how our offensive and defensive coordinators and the head coach game plan and make adjustments during the game. It's really that simple. And I'm still holding out hope that our current coaching will take us to that next level. Doomsday predictions that we've reached our ceiling with our current talent base don't fly with me. I don't see it on the field. I don't expect us to go undefeated every year, but I do think we can compete with every team we play against, and one of these years, we're going to break through and make a run at a title. The program is evolving, growing, improving. The next phase in that development is the coordinators taking a step up. Talent will continue to flow into BYU at a greater rate as evidenced by Jake Heaps and the class coming in with him in the spring. Now, we need to put that talent into plans that work within the games they play.

Max Hall and the Ewing Theory

2009-10-27T17:13:47Z

Another terrific observation from heyjoe! in the FanPosts...

I was reading an excerpt from Bill Simmons book on ESPN.com. The book is titled, The Book of Basketball: The NBA According to the Sports Guy. Scroll down to the last paragraph that begins "One last Ewing thought." Simmons shares a theory one of his readers, Dave, developed with him years ago called The Ewing Theory. Basically, it's the phenomenon of a team getting better when their "star" leaves the team for whatever reason. As I was sitting in the stands on Saturday night watching the destruction on our home field at the hands of TCU, I wondered aloud to my brother sitting next to me (my literal brother, not my religious brother), what the team would be like next year with Riley Nelson.

Sometimes a player comes in to low expectations and just "has it" - they have something that just makes things happen. Brandon Doman comes to mind. Well, as I read that excerpt from Bill Simmons' book about the Ewing Theory, I had the unsettling feeling that Max Hall might be an unfortunate candidate for the Ewing Theory. This doesn't doom him to mediocrity forever (see the footnote that has Payton Manning at Tennessee as one of Dave's orginal Ewing Theory candidates). I really like Max Hall. I like his passion. I like his fire. I like his drive to be the best. But I felt a little like a Knicks fan as I read this Simmons piece. Read that excerpt. What do you think?

Coaching

2009-10-25T21:10:31Z

From the FanPosts...

Just after the Florida State game, I posted on here that we should remain optimistic. I wrote that I like our coaches, and that we should be pleased with their development. Well, after another long 3 hour drive home from that game last night, I'm rethinking. These are some general observations of the game from 16 rows up....

1. I saw frequent confusion on defense looking for signals from the sideline when TCU would break quickly and set quickly. BYU guys just weren't ready at the snap and they were getting pushed back 3-4 yards. I credit them with not giving up too many big plays, but this made it easy for TCU to methodically work down the field. Generally, I thought our defense played a pretty decent game. If the offense had put together any long scoring drives, the defense was good enough to keep us in the game.

2. Our offense, on the other hand, was impatient. We were RUNNING THE BALL ON THEM! Yet, we didn't keep it up. Harvey was chewing up 4-5 yards per carry, but we kept trying to force long passes. If we had stuck with the run to set up the pass, then we could have moved the ball on those guys. We did it repeatedly, but Anae and Hall kept looking for the long throws. I believe it was the 2nd drive of the game when we had moved into TCU territory and we faced 2nd and 2. Instead of running Harvey, we dropped Hall back to pass and he got sacked. Stick with what is working! It's like we're so proud of our passing game that we refuse to accept the fact that we just might have to beat a team with 3-5 yard runs mixed with some short passing. It blew my mind that Anae couldn't change his game plan to match what they were giving us. To me, our offensive woes were directly tied to coaching. Anae has to learn to adjust in-game to what is working.

3. Tying into #2, I'm worried that BYU is more dedicated to the principles of maintaining an offensive/defensive identity/philosophy than they are about finding and exploiting the other team's weaknesses. TCU obviously struggled with Manase and Harvey lining up in the I and running right at them. Use that to set up everything else! Use that to set up some play action that involves short passing or Max rolling out. I just don't get it when we refuse to change our identity for a game. Saying, "We're BYU, this is what we do, and we will out-execute you even though you know what's coming" just doesn't work all the time. We need to have the guts to change within a game.

4. I thought the players on BYU looked equally skilled as TCU's players (I felt the opposite with Florida St.). There is no reason we should be getting blown off the field by TCU or Utah or any other team. If we lose, fine. But getting blown off the field? We had the players and the effort yesterday, but the coaching was terrible. You could see delays in getting the defense set yesterday, and you could see that TCU had some weaknesses on defense (nothing major, but there were holes) that could be exploited by an adept coordinator. BYU has now been blown out by TCU twice, and Utah once in the past three games with those guys. There is no reason this should be happening given our talent and experience on the field. Our coordinators need to adjust.

5. If I hear one more player or one more coach say the players just need to execute better, I'm going to puke. Getting beat 38-7 on your home field isn't about players not executing game plans - at least not in this instance. From the stands, I saw guys working their butts off within their assignments, from one play to the next, and I felt like guys were doing what the play called for. However, I felt that the plays being sent in were not effective. To me, this game was about coaching. Gary Patterson and his staff out-coached BYU. Of course, there were a few plays that could have been better executed (Chambers dropping that long pass down the east sideline), but I didn't walk away from that game thinking I had just watched poor play and a lack of effort. It was clear to me, and the people sitting around me, that the coaching needs to step up. Again, I'm not expecting a win every game, but we have the athletes and the experience to be competitive every game, especially within conference.

Well, that's my two cents. I still like our coaching staff. But I believe the time has come to stop blaming execution and start looking at coaching. The coaches need to step up and at least get the team ready to compete each week. I think the Y is spending too much time worrying about how to approach the season or the game (having fun vs business-like; Quest for Perfection vs One Game at a Time). Football really comes down to one thing: is the game plan good, and are the players executing it? I felt like the players were executing the plan yesterday, but I don't think yesterday's plan was a good one. That's coaching.

A Tale of Third Downs: The Key to Saturday

2009-10-20T20:18:07Z

Last year, TCU owned BYU on third downs, killing momentum and keeping the Cougars punting, and giving BYU it's worst loss (32-7) since 2005. TCU's all-everything, Jerry Hughes, dominated the game by making BYU miserably one-dimensional.

In 2006, a game I covered for the Daily Universe, the Cougars shocked TCU by ending the nation's best 13-game winning streak, due in large part to John Beck converting with receivers and Harline on long third downs (3rd and 5+)...

This year, BYU is protecting its own win streak: With a win Saturday, BYU would extend their conference record home win streak to 14 games; more importantly, beating TCU would give BYU two wins over top-10 opponents for the first time in school history and further their argument for getting into the BCS with one loss, as we've mentioned already

THE KEY TO THE GAME: The Cougars' offense is the best in the nation in third-down conversions 64.4 percent. However, the Horned Frogs' are fifth in stopping third-down conversions, limiting opponents to a 27 percent success rate. Whichever team holds true to its season-long character will--or at least should--win the game.