Week 2 typically will tell you more about a team than a week 1 result will. Sometimes week 2 will re-affirm what was learned in week 1, while sometimes week 2 will give a completely different result, that will make you wonder if anything from week 1 can be trusted. Then again, the nice thing about football is that nothing is consistent, so teams will always be re-evaluating the lessons learned. So what was learned in week 2? We learned that two is not greater than one. We learned that swinging gates are better left closed. We learned that you can lose without even playing. We learned that redemption is possible.
And finally we learned that white face paint protects you from sunburns better than red face paint.
Cain's Able With Wynn On Sideline
The big story going into the game, was that starting QB Jordan Wynn had sprained his thumb in the first half of last week's game. There was some question as to whether Wynn would be cleared to play this week. With UNLV and New Mexico on the schedule coming up, and neither appearing to be much of a threat to knock off the Utes, they decided to rest Wynn. The move allowed for Terrance Cain to return as the starting QB.
Cain was 7-1 as a starter last year before being replaced by Wynn. However, the offense when Cain played last year never really felt as if it had much of a flow. After Wynn started, the offense opened up, and Wynn secured the starting spot for 2010.
It was time to see if Cain had grown more comfortable in the offense. In the end, there was some improvement. Mainly in the fact that the offense actually threw downfield with Cain, instead of relying on bubble screen's, and slant routes that Cain utilized so much in 2009. Cain also looked much more confident in the pocket, and when throwing, than he did last season. Overall, Cain was very efficient going 13 of 20 for 207 yards and 2 TD's, as he led the Utes to a 38-10 victory.
However, a couple of issues that affected him in 2009 were still very prevalent in 2010. The first issue is Cain's reliance on a single WR. Of Cain's 13 completions 4 were to Brooks, 2 were to Wide. Everyone else had a single reception. This is very similar to last year, when Cain relied heavily upon David Reed.
Secondly, and the bigger issue, was Cain's running of the zone read running play. The Utes running game heavily relies on what's called a zone read. Basically 1 or two RB's line up next to the QB in the shotgun formation. When the ball is snapped, the QB starts to hand the ball to one of the RB's. As he is doing this, it is the QB's job to read the DE's position. If the DE is staying at home he is to let the RB take the ball. If, however, the DE is keying on the RB, the QB is supposed to take the ball back out and run with it himself. The play becomes less effective, if the QB shows that he is unwilling to take the ball out and run it himself, as the DE stops worrying about the QB as a threat.
In 2009, despite being a very athletic QB with some running ability, Cain rarely kept the ball on this play. It was my hope that this was more due to being uncomfortable in the offense, and it would change on Saturday. Instead, time after time, Cain gave the ball to the running back. Even as the DE stopped worrying about Cain, and the yardage gained started dropping to the 2 yards per carry territory, Cain would fail to read. Only once, all game, did Cain actually keep the ball on the zone read. He ended up gaining 4 yards on a 2nd and 5 play. This was also the last time they ran the play all day.
Chances are Cain will play this Saturday against the Lobos so that Wynn can continue to rest. Cain needs to read this play correctly, and show a willingness to keep the ball. He needs to do so early in the game so that the defense will respect his threat. Otherwise, they may as well call it the Illiterate Zone Read.
Redemption
Cain wasn't the only Ute making a return to the field trying to prove something this week. After a disastrous week 1 in which Shaky Smithson fumbled a pass, and then muffed a punt he had no business trying to field, coach Whittingham removed him from return duties, and Shaky saw his receiver duties also limited.
Shaky was given a second chance this week. Presumably this would also be a last chance. If here were to have another game like the one against Pittsburgh, chances are, the only thing Shaky would be catching, would be a case of the slivers after spending a good chunk of the season on the bench.
Instead, Shaky wasted no time repaying Whittinham's faith in him. After the Utes forced a punt on the first UNLV drive of the game, Shaky fielded the 38 yard kick and prompty returned it for 30 yards, setting up the Utes with 1st and 10 on the UNLV 35.
As the Utes came out of Halftime they held a precarious 17-3 lead. After softening up the Rebel defense with two quick screen passes, Cain saw Shaky get behind the UNLV secondary, and hooked up with him on a 55 yard pass. On the ensuing possesion, the Rebels were once again forced to punt. What came next was Shaky putting his full package of skills on display.
Upon fielding the punt, Shaky hesitated a moment as he scanned the field and set up his plan. It helped that this pause lulled the Rebels into thinking a whistle had been blown. Next, Shaky started going to his right, baiting the defenders to follow him. A quick change of direction to his left, and towards the sideline, helped set up teammate Greg Bird, who levelled the Rebels with a brutal, helmet removing, de-cleater of a block. Shaky continued running down the sideline, then quickly made a back step, which took him out of the path of a diving rebel, who instead caught the air as he went out of bounds. Nothing else stood between Shaky and the end zone.
In week 1, Shaky heard his name from the Rice-Eccles crowd. In week 2, he also heard his name from the Rice-Eccles crowd. I'm sure the week 2 version is more of what he wanted. His 77 yard punt return helped give him 205 total yards and two TD's on the day. I'm sure it was much easier to go to Coach Whittingham after his week 2 performance, which earned him MWC Special Teams Player of the Week.
Close the Swinging Gate
Of course not everything went great for the Utes, especially on the Special Teams where a good day was ruined by another blocked punt. As Whittingham has said two punts being blocked in three years is terrible, let alone two in two games. Part of the problem that has led to a rash of punts being blocked for not only the Utes, but many teams in College Football, is the prevalence of the swinging gate punt formation.
In a pro style punt formation all of the linemen are up at the line of scrimmage, or directly behind the initial group of blockers. This requires that those who are going to run down to try and tackle the return man must wait initially to block any potential rushers trying to block the kick. The delay can give athletic returners a few extra seconds to set up a return. Sometimes a few extra seconds are all that's needed.
The swinging gate formation takes three blockers off of the line of scrimmage and sets them about 5-7 yards behind the ball. These three blockers line up side by side, with the middle blocker perpendicular to the other two, so that the snap can go through. After the snap, this middle blocker "closes the gate" and faces the oncoming blockers.
By putting this extra line of defense further back, it allows the players to immediately get into their lines and head after the returner, without waiting to stay back and block. This puts extra pressure on the three back linemen, as those rushing the punt aren't held up at the initial point of attack. Add into the equation the extra delay of the swing man and the rushers are already at an advantage, as the three blockers have to pick up the attack and make sure to block them out of the kickers path.
This formation is a gimmick, and as more and more teams have figured out that splitting up the rushers, causes the three blockers to open up their lanes, blocked punts are becoming more and more frequent. It's time to close the swinging gate, and lock it down for good.
11 ah ah ah, 12 oh no
In Coach Whit's mind an administrative penalty is one that happens outside of the action of the play. These are mainly mental penalties, or penalties that come from a lack of concentration, such as false starts, delay of game, and 12 men in the formation.. These are also the kind of penalties that kept a thoroughly dominated Pitt team in the game in week 1. Through the first quarter and a half of play, it looked like these same penalties were going to keep an overmatched UNLV team in the game.
Utah suffered from an almost delay of game, that required an early timeout. On 3rd and 5, the defense was called for a 12 men in the formation that extended a drive. The hoped for improvement from week 1 to week 2 did not appear to be. To the Utes credit though, they cleared up the mistakes, and played pretty well throughout the 2nd half.
The Utes have a couple more scrimmage games over the next two weeks that they can use to fix these administrative penalties before the heart of the schedule starts.
The View from the Redzone
Two things stood out this weekend while at the game. Firstly I noticed during warmups that UNLV's coaching staff is fiery. They were loud, and very animated during warmups with their team. Coach Houck is known as a disciplinarian. If he can get the Rebels to cut down on mistakes, and get the Rebels to take on the same fiery personas as some of his assistant coaches, UNLV might just win some games.
Secondly, the crowd does not trust Terrance Cain. There was a constant feeling of uneasiness during the game. When Jereme Brooks dropped a sure TD pass on the first drive, and the Utes had to settle for a figgie, there were a few "here we go again" rumblings. When Eddie Wide rambled in for the first TD of the game, the reaction was a bit delayed. As Mad Giggler said, "it was almost as if no one expected them to get it." When Cain connected with Shaky on a deep pass there was shock, before the excitement. It was as if the crowd was expecting the other shoe to drop at any moment.
Trapped
Last week I mentioned that the Air Force Falcons presented a trap game for the BYU Cougars. The Falcons sprung the trap in Colorado. The young Cougar defense was woefully outmatched as the Falcons triple optioned their way to 400+ yards of rushing. Air Force had 6 different rushers who each had at least one run of 10 yards or more. As the running game kept racking up yards, the Cougar secondary had to come up to help in the run, which allowed Air Force QB to find holes in the secondary. When it was all said and done the Falcons had notched a 35-14 victory, and stated their case for inclusion in the MWC "Big Three".
Typically BYU is able to score early on the Falcons, forcing them out of their run game. The Falcons aren't a team that can come from big deficits down. They rely on time of posession, and turnovers to wear down their opponents. However, the Cougars vaunted QB System proved the old adage that when you have two qb's, you have none.
Riley Nelson started the game and drove the Cougars to the opening TD. They did this mainly on the ground, with Nelson relying more on himself, and his legs, than he did his WR's. Of course when one of those WR's is O'Neill Chambers, one could hardly blame him. Chambers had another bad game, with a few drops. On many of the plays as the game went on, it looked as if Chambers wasn't giving max effort.
On the second offensive possesion the Cougars were moving the ball through the air with Heaps, before J.J. Di Luigi fumble turned the ball over. On this fumble was another example of Chambers terrible play, as he was in position to save the ball for the Cougars, but failed to even try. After Nelson scored another TD on an option drive, the Falcon defense started to clamp down.
On the last drive of the half for the Cougars Heaps made his freshman mistake and threw an interception. What happened next was a massive blunder by Bronco and the Cougar coaching staff. Heaps never saw the field again, as Nelson was the QB for the entire second half. The second half was filled with three and outs, and many examples of Nelson showing that he would rather run it himself than throw the ball.
The yanking of Heaps was a terrible move. Heaps is a freshman, he's going to make mistakes. To bench him after the interception and not put him back in, could give him confidence issues. How is he supposed to trust that he won't get the same reaction the next mistake he makes.
Hey Bus Driver
Bronco, in his weekly press conference, said he was not involved in the decision to yank Heaps. He implied that all decisions involving the QB's were left up to QB Coach Brandon Doman, and Offensive Coordination Robert Anai. According to Bronco, not only was the decision to pull Heaps and play Riley their decision, but the main decision to go with two QB's was initially left up to them also.
Bronco was also asked about the gameplan defensively. In years past, Bronco, as well as other players have come out and said that in Air Force Week, Bronco has extra involvement with the defense, and is a major part of the defensive gameplan. According to Bronco, he wasn't involved this weekend, and although he overlooked the gameplans and approved them, they were setup by his coordinators.
It's not uncommon for Coordinators, and Assistants to have more involvement in the gameplans. It's also not uncommon for them to be involved in QB play. But for Bronco to basically separate himself from the decisions made this weekend, is unacceptable as a Head Coach. He is the leader of the team. It all comes down to him. Sure all coaches delegate assignments, and deficiencies in their department are dealt with internally. However, final say always rests with the Head Coach.
If Bronco disagreed with the two QB system, and thought Heaps was better, than he should have said so before it got to game 2. Instead, Bronco says he now has a better idea of what's going on with the QB's. According to Bronco the experiment is over. For Cougar fans, it should be. Riley Nelson is a fine option QB, but BYU is not an option system. Nelson doesn't work. Heaps always was the smarter choice.
My personal belief is the two QB system was a way for the Cougars to get through the first four weeks. I don't think Bronco ever expected a loss to Air Force. The only thing worse than the beating the team took on the field, was the beating the assistants took from Bronco off the field. I hope they enjoy their new location under the bus.
The Week's Biggest Loss
Despite the embarassing performance, the Cougars did not suffer the biggest loss of the weekend. That would have been suffered by a team that didn't even play. Boise State's postseason destination is out of it's hands. They have to hope that the two decent teams they have on their schedule don't completely fall apart. So when Virginia Tech was upset by James Madison University, it was the Broncos who suffered most.
Lost was a marquee win for the Broncos. Lost were 7 first place AP Votes. Lost were 26 points in the coaches poll. Lost were rankings in the computers. 4 of the BCS Computers put out rankings throughout the season. The Broncos dropped in all 4 polls, including a double digit drop in one of them.
Of course the fact that Ohio State and Alabama looked so well didn't help, but if the Broncos go undefeated and are left outside looking in at the National Championship game, when a 1 loss team is playing in it, the Broncos can look back to this weekend and thank Virginia Tech.
Week Three Curse
Next week the Cougars travel for their longest road game of the year. They go to Tallahassee to play the Florida State seminoles. Last year the Seminoles came into Provo, and absolutely crushed the Cougars, who were still on a high from a week one victory over Oklahoma. The big issue for the Cougars last year was how were they going to match up with running qb Christian Ponder. Ponder remains the big issue this year.
Last week the Seminoles got slaughtered by Oklahoma. Oklahoma QB Landry Jones had a field day with a secondary that looks even worse than the one they had last year. This means that if the Cougars have any hope, they will have to do it with Jake Heaps, who has the ability to throw down the field, and relegate Riley to at most 20% of the snaps.
The interesting stat of the week involves this game. Bronco Mendenhall is 1-4 in week 3 games, including last year's defeat versus the Seminoles. Though it really has no effect on the game it'll be interesting to see if that slump still continues. Things that will have an effect though are, will the Seminoles be angry after this week's performance? What will the QB situation be for the Cougars?
Bottom of the Barrell
In all honesty the only issue the Utes should have this week is themselves. New Mexico is in disarray. After being blown out by Texas Tech by the score of 52-17, they have been outscored 114-72. How coach Mike Locksley still has a job is a complete mystery. However, as early season lessons have shown, anybody can win at any time. Just ask Virginia Tech, Kansas, and Ole Miss, who each have lost to FCS teams Jacksonville State, North Dakota State, and James Madison.
Of course, all three of those teams are better than New Mexico. As long as the Utes focus on this week, a victory should be easy. More important than the score, will be the performance. Can the Utes finally fix some of their "administrative penalties"? Can they avoid turnovers? Can they go a game without a blocked punt? This game is a chance to rest some early season injuries (Wynn, Zane Beadles). A chance to fix some early season mistakes. With any luck the Utes can get up big, get the second and third stringers some playing time, and come home with a win, and without any major injuries.