Cougs on Cougs: Coaching from the Couch after BYU Football’s loss to Utah

Well, y’all. Here we are again. I know we’re probably all mostly desensitized to losing to Utah by this point, but I know I would personally be lying if I said I didn’t get my hopes up a little bit prior to Thursday night’s game. I really thought BYU might have a chance. And it kind of looked like we did for a little bit! But alas, Utah prevailed, 30-12, crushing Cougar fans’ hopes and dreams, and extending the winning streak to 9-0. If you went to bed and need a recap, you can get that here.

One of our Cougs on Cougs segments is Coaching from the Couch. If you’re unfamiliar, it’s where Jess (Coach Tyler) and I (Coach Blanchard) break down a thing or two from the game, regarding what went right and what went wrong for BYU. If you want to simplify things from Thursday night: The first half went pretty right for BYU, and the second half went oh-so-wrong.

Coach Tyler, who welcomed a new baby a few days ago (yay, congrats!) said that for her, special teams were a positive. They gave us good field position a few times. She says defense did surprisingly well with Zack Moss the first half (and Coach Blanchard agrees). As for what went wrong? “Turnovers obviously killed us,” she said. “Two pick sixes!? Ugh. Bad penalties, too.”

As for what went wrong for Coach Blanchard, I think it can come down to a couple of key things. For me, and I know a couple of others, I keep thinking of that face mask call against D’Angelo Mandell in the third quarter, when it was third and very long for the Utes. If anyone has any proof that there actually WAS face mask, please share. I haven’t seen anything at all to prove that it actually happened. And I’m thinking that call was a major tide-turner (Coach Tyler also added her agreement on this one). Utah just generally came out more hyped after half time than BYU did, for whatever reason, and then that call was really the nail in the coffin. It’s like any prayer for momentum was gone after that penalty.

Aside from that, I think our former QB Tanner Mangum summed up some things that went wrong best, and I don’t feel like I need to add much to his words. Isn’t it awesome when these guys can finally chime in with their opinions? “Self-inflicted wounds hurt the worst.”

Okay, well I already don’t want to talk about this game anymore, so I’ll touch on a couple of things that didn’t go so terribly and end it there.

First of all, Ty’Son Williams had 7 carries for 45 yards and BYU’s lone TD of the night. KEEP FEEDING THE DUDE. He could potentially be a very bright spot for the Cougars this year.

Second of all, BYU’s stats from the first half were not bad. I mean, does it matter if your stats are good if you don’t have the points to show for it? Who’s to say. But still, the first half was quite enjoyable to watch (while the second half was, uh, not) so I’ll take it. BYU was up in almost every category before half time, only had one turnover at that point, time of possession looked solid... See the stats, below:

BYU is at Tennessee next week. Hopefully that will be more fun to relive. Cougar fans, leave your ‘what went wrongs’ and ‘what went rights’ in the comments below!