Utah, BYU, TCU, and Boise State all kept rolling. Utah outdoes BYU's 2 QB system, by playing 4 QB's, including 2 of the 3 MWC players of the week. Two Heisman campaigns came into the state and died. A former Cougar came home to LaVell Edwards Stadium, and gave a horrific coaching performance. Gary Andersen takes the state's best QB into Norman, Oklahoma, and scares the crap out of the Sooners, probably making them never want to see a team from the state of Utah again. An exciting opening weekend has come and gone in College Football. Now it's time to make the big improvements from week 1 to week 2.
Also rumors of a football team in New Mexico were proven to be no more valid than sightings of Bigfoot.
When Dominance Isn't
"You stupid dummy, why did you call a timeout." -- Kyle Whittingham
Coach Whit is just reiterating what everyone in Rice Eccles Stadium was wondering. Although some probably weren't as nice as just calling him dummy. With Utah ahead 24-21 and 3 seconds left in the game, Pitt lined up for a game winning field goal. The kick split the uprights, Panthers celebrated, the game was going to overtime. Except Whittingham had called timeout to ice the kicker.
So time to do it again. Kick is up and it's hooked. Missed to the left, stadium is going crazy. But Whit had called another timeout.
Third time was the charm as Pitt kicked a good field goal, and Whit had kept the final Timeout in his pocket. Fortunately for Whittingham, he can talk about 1-1 in icing attempts in a jovial manner because, true freshman Safety, intercepted Pitt QB Tino Sunseri on the first play of overtime. Utah than ran the ball with Asiata to the 2 yard line, before Joe Phillips booted the game winner, 27-24 Utah was victorious.
Of course, the game never should have been that close. Utah put on an absolutely dominating, beat down on the Panthers throughout the night, only to allow Pitt to hang in the game due to stupid mistakes. WR Shaky Smithson fumbled the ball on the first drive, and made a stupid decision, attempting to field a punt he should have just let go out. Instead he muffed it, and the Pitt got the first TD of the game.
Later in the goal line, QB Jordan Wynn floated a pass which was intercepted in the end zone, leaving 7 points on the field. Utah also had a punt blocked deep in their own territory, and committed 11 penalties for 99 yards, including two 12 men on the field penalties.
However, Utah's stupidity was the only chance Pitt had all night. The Utes outgained Pitt 405 yards to 266 yards. Defensively Utah was amazing. Pitt had two 6'5" WR's who were basically non-existant all game. CB Brandon Burton, on multiple occasions out-jumping Pitt Star WR Baldwin to break up passes.
Pitt came into the game with the leading Sack duo from 2009. Utah's offensive line, shut them down. Greg Romeus has been projected as a top 10 pick in next April's draft. Not once did he even sniff the QB.
Pitt Sophomore RB Dion Lewis was a Heisman Trophy Candidate. In 2009 he ran for 1799 yards, and 17 TD's. It looked like he was going to have a big game, running for 18 yards on the first play of the game. After that, though, he became good friends with Utah's interior Defensive Linemen. Utah's DL blew up the OL of Pitt all night, and held Dion Lewis to a career low 75 yards on 25 carries. Everywhere Lewis went, he was constantly getting bottled up by a fast and tenacious defense. As the game wore on, Lewis began to get more and more frustrating. His utter inefficiency left Wannstedt unable to trust his running game in Overtime, and instead tried to catch Utah off guard by throwing with Tino Sunseri. Unfortunately for the Panthers, Brian Blechen introduced himself to college football by stepping in front of the pass, and in doing so became the MWC defensive player of the week.
You're only playing 2 QB's?
A lot has been talked about BYU using 2 QB's this year. Not to be outdone, Utah strutted out 4 QB's, sort of. The previously talked about true freshman Brian Blechen, was a QB in college. When he got to Utah, the Utes continued a tradition of moving players around. Blechen wasn't the only former QB to make an impact in the game.
WR DeVonte Christopher, was one of the QB's last spring competing for the starting job. Instead, the Utes converted him to WR. He caught 8 passes for 155 yards, including a big play in the 4th quarter where he caught the ball and came down with a case of the runs. 61 yards later, he was in the end zone, and had wrapped up MWC Offensive player of the week honors.
Christopher, and Wynn weren't the only QB's competing for that starting position last spring. Chad Manis briefly was in that debate. Instead he red-shirted 2009, and learned his new position of LB. Making his first start, he helped a defense that completely handled Pitt Star RB Dion Lewis.
As for the Starting QB, Jordan Wynn threw for 283 yards and 3 touchdowns, to go with his goal line interception.
The View from the Red Zone
This season I have season tickets. Our seats our N25 Row 5. Deep in the heart of the North Red Zone. The MUSS was out in full force for the season opener. The crowd noise caused 5 false starts by the Pitt offense, a couple times as they were trying to go into score, which instead left Pitt attempting Field Goals, instead of TD's. Big credit to our end zone area, who took it as a slight when during the Overtime coin toss, Pitt chose to come our way, instead of to the South.
As you watch the games, when kicking through the North Uprights, keep an eye out for us.
Whit's Graveyard
Last year, Whit mentioned in an article for the Salt Lake Tribune, that he would like to build a Graveyard at Rice-Eccles, with tombstones for every AQ Team they have beaten. Utah gave him his graveyard, in a way. Early in the game, the video board at the Stadium showed a graveyard scene. As the video rolled through there were tombstones of Utah's Victims. After the game, one more was added.
Although I would have loved for the Graveyard to be an actual physical graveyard, where an entire ritual could have been made of burying opponents after games, I'm glad that at least they built the graveyard in some fashion, even if only digitally.
BYU 2 QB System: 1, Heisman Candidate 0
The state of Utah became the place where Heisman Campaigns come to die. Utah shut down Dion Lewis on Thursday. On Saturday, Jake Locker went into Provo, and had a pretty miserable game. Locker constantly overthrew, or underthrew WR's. Twice late in the game, with his team trailing by 6, the Huskies had a 3rd and medium range play in BYU territory. Both times Locker was unable to convert, and his Huskies fell to the Cougars 23-17.
Locker looked rattled, and uncomfortable most of the time. His passing was very erratic. If that is what the Heisman Finalist looks like, than it's a down year for talent.
Of course, Locker's struggles might not be all his fault.
As for the two BYU QB's. Neither one of them looked spectacular. The good news is, neither one of them looked terrible either. Nelson had the highlight plays of the game thanks to his 2 TD's. Neither QB threw an interception, and interestingly enough both ended up with exactly 131 yards. There were times where the offense for the Cougars struggled to adjust from one QB to another. Fortunately the Cougars had a gameplan of steady mid range throws that didn't force either QB to have to win the game. Overall, neither QB did anything to separate one from the other.
The big noticeable difference between the two QB's, is that Nelson has a bit of a softer touch, while Heaps has a gun, sometimes to a detriment. Nelson also brings a running threat, which the Cougars used effectively with some option.
Had the Huskies scored on their last drive, it was Nelson's turn in the rotation. It would have been interesting to see if Bronco would have stayed with the rotation, or if he would have put Heaps in with his gun.
Are we sure he isn't still supporting BYU?
Washington Head Coach Steve Sarkisian, is of course, the former All-American QB for BYU. He was actually one of the 8 QB's BYU was honoring at halftime.
His QB performances in Provo were definitely better than his coaching performance. Sarkisian coached an absolutely terrible game. It started with how he hamstrung his QB.
Part of what made Locker the Heisman finalist coming into this game was his ability to run the ball, and to make as many plays with his legs, as with his arm.
BYU has had major problems with running QB's the last few years. In 2008, the very same Jake Locker gave BYU fits, as he led the Huskies to a 1 point loss. In a season where Washington would go winless, this was their best game of the year.
Instead Sarkisian, seemed intent keeping his QB hamstrung by forcing him to stay in the Pocket, and pass the ball. As the game went on, you could see there were many times, that Locker wanted to run the ball, but instead stayed in the pocket and was either sacked, or threw a bad pass. It was so obvious that Sark did not want Locker to run, that on the game clinching 4th down play, BYU rushed only 3, dared Locker to run, with wide open lanes as they went to defend the pass.
Sark failed, throughout the day to adjust to BYU's short passing plays, but the game still came down to a big call with 12 minutes to go.
Down 6 points, and having had his awful defense, in the middle of what would turn out to be 3 consecutive forced punts, the Huskies had the ball 4th and 2 at the BYU 23. Smart football says a Field goal here, and it's only a 3 point game. Earlier, Washington Kicker booted a 54 yard field goal, with leg to spare, so trust in his Kicker wasn't an issue. Instead, Sark elected to go for it. A good position to use Locker's athleticism. Instead the pass falls incompleted, BYU's ball.
The decision proved to be even worse, as with 2:00 to go in the game, Washington had the ball on 4th and 7 at the BYU 27. Instead of being able to go for the game tying Field goal, Washington went for the previously mentioned play, where BYU dared Locker to throw the ball. Instead the pass bounced of Ethan Manumaleuna's head, and fail to the ground.
The 3rd Player of the Week
A big part of the reason that the Cougars won the game, was because of their punter. Riley Stephenson helped BYU control field position. He forced the Huskies to start inside the 15 yard line on 3 of his 5 punts, and inside the 20 on 3 of his 5 kickoffs. Forcing Washington into long drives was a big part the Cougars beat the Huskies. It's enough to make one remember when BYU fans laughing and calling a
kicker the best player on the Utes. If Stephenson continues to perform like this, the Cougars might just have found 2010's best player on their team.
Hell Week Approaches
BYU must travel to the Air Force Academy this week to take on the Falcons. Preparing for the Falcons is one of the toughest weeks of the year. Because of the offensive system that AFA plays, teams have to prepare differently than any other week o the year.
Due to the undersized Offensive Linemen of the Falcons, they practice cut blocking. This drives Defensive players crazy, as it can threaten careers. Teams must also play the most sound game of the year. Defending the Falcons require assignment football. One player out of position, and the runner can be 65 yards down field.
BYU has not lost to the Falcons since 2003. Part of the reason, is they typically play later in the year. The Service Academies usually wear down as the season goes on.
To quote Admiral Ackbar "It's a trap!" This game gets the very first Trap Game Alert. BYU is coming off a big victory against the Huskies. They have a road game against #17 Florida State coming up. Combine that with the recent domination of the Falcons, and this being the MWC opener, this could be a trap game for the Cougars.
Aggie Alert
Utah State Aggies, were oh so close to giving the Sooners their second season opening loss to a Utah based team in as many years. QB Diondre Borel threw for 341 yards, and 2 TD's. Unfortunately, Borel's 3rd interception of the day, came on the final drive, and allowed the Sooners to escape with a 31-24 victory.
Coach Gary Andersen has already started to turn around a program that was in disarray. Last year the Aggies won 4 games, after winning 6 combined games in the 3 previous years. This year, the Aggies are thinking Bowl game. More performances like the one in Norman, and they'll get there.
Adjustment Time
There is a cliche that the biggest improvement for a team comes between weeks 1 and weeks 2. The reason for this is because no matter how hard you practice, you can't recreate game experience. Utah, as mentioned above, had a lot of self-inflicted wounds.
One would assume that their week 2 opponent, should give the Utes, an easier chance to test out their adjustments, as they welcome UNLV to Rice-Eccles Stadium. Of course, as every Utah fan remembers, and every BYU fan is happy to remind Utah, in 2007 after an impressive dismantling of UCLA, UNLV embarrassed the Utes 27-0. This game was Whittingham's low point of his head coaching career.
It also served as a turning point. Since that point Utah has lost 4 games. Don't think for a moment that Whittingham will allow his team to get big heads and overlook the Rebels. Instead, expect Whittingham to remind the team, how they almost blew it against Pitt. Expect Whit to bring up that 2007 butt kicking. He might even play excerpts of former UNLV Coach Mike Sanford laughing at the Utes.
Keep on Rolling Along
Utah and BYU weren't the only teams to strike a victory for the Non-AQ Banner. TCU went to Jerry World, and defeated the Oregon State Beavers 30-21. On Monday, Virginia Tech made just about every possible special teams mistake as they Spotted Boise State a 17-0 first quarter lead. Virginia Tech's comeback attempt fell short when Kellen Moore hooked up with Austin Pettis 69 seconds from the end of the game to clinch a 33-30 Victory.
Possibly more important than the on-field win for the Broncos, was an Off-Field victory. The game scored an overnight rating of 6.8, making it the most watched Labor Day game since 1990. Since one of the arguments against Non-AQ's is that people won't watch them, this is a solid victory indeed.
And The Other Side of the Coin
Of course, While Utah, BYU, TCU, and Boise State were giving it the big boys, the University of New Mexico was trying to disprove the myth that they have a football team. New Mexico's 72-0 defeat to the Oregon was beyond embarrassing. Combine this defeat, with the tumultuous 2009 campaign, if I were a UNM alum, or fan, I would be storming the the AD's offense, and demanding that the Mike Locksley era come to a swift and merciful end.
Of course the real question is, what is the more embarassing defeat of the season. New Mexico's 72-0 defeat against Oregon, or Former Oregon QB, Jeremiah Masoli's new team, Ole Miss, blowing a 31-13 second half lead, and losing in double overtime to FCS Jacksonville State?