Tuesday, September 11. 2012Red, Blue And Pigskin
Two weeks down, and about ten weeks too early, but the Holy War is upon us. And with the Cougars taking care of business against an overmatched Weber State Wildcats, while the Utes come in licking their wounds after being ambushed in Logan, it's time to see how these two teams match up.
Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before
Knock, Knock. Who's There? Pride Pride who? Pride cometh before the fall After a summer spent being the obnoxious big brother, the Utes rolled into Logan for a Friday night matchup, possibly the last one ever in Logan. Based on the way they performed, it seems as if the Utes were also expecting to just roll out of Logan unscathed. Instead Gary Andersen and the Aggies, absolutely took it to the Utes, beat the Utes up, and became the only Utah based team to beat all 4 other Utah based teams since 2010. The Utes were mentally out of the game, committing mistakes from the outset. A Delay of game on the 2nd play. A Blocked Punt. Terrible penalties. A Possible "Punch". An ill-timed snap, and the Utes were sitting in a 13-0 hole And then a career ended. Utah would eventually get things straightened out and fight and claw their way back into the game, eventually tieing the game at 13, and then again at 20, before losing 27-20 in overtime. The best QB in the state, Chucky Keeton, was able evade, and elude pressure all night, causing the line backers, and secondary to get out of position. In the end, a possible promising season, is now sitting on the edge of derailment, after the Utes came into the game having overlooked the Aggies. The Aggies made sure to make Utah pay for it. Thanks For The Memories Near the end of the 2nd quarter, Utah QB, now former Utah QB, Jordan Wynn went down with another shoulder injury. It was announced on Monday that Wynn will retire from the program. Wynn looked to regain some zip on his ball in week one, and it was hoped that he had worked out some of the nerves. It was obvious from the outset on Friday, that this was not the case. Wynn came out and seemed shell shocked from the moment the game started. He was never comfortable under center. Folded too easily from the pressure, and just seemed confused. Even has Wynn not suffered the injury to force his hand, it was obvious that he was done for good. It's a sad thing. I've admitted that I like Wynn. He was a fighter. Unfortunately for him, his body was never able to match up with talent, and desire. As fans we give our hearts and souls to our teams. Wynn gave that, and his body. His body, could never catch up with his talent, and eventually that just played with his mind too much. Personally I will choose to remember the Jordan Wynn from the first of 2010, and the Poinsettia Bowl in 2009, before injuries overtook him. I'm glad that he's making the decision to step away from the game before it does more damage than it's already done. He'll have another surgery, but hopefully he'll still be able to one day hold his children, which wouldn't have been possible if he kept playing. The Next Era So the easy joke when Wynn went down, is that it was the best thing to happen to the Utes. Especially after Hays came in and started 6 of 8, and helped lead the Utes back into a tie. However the truth is the Utes are still unsettled at QB. Jon Hays definitely has the backing of the team, and is a fighter, and has the desire to be a good QB. He just doesn't have the talent. Once the Aggies adjusted to Hays, the Offense fell stagnant, much like it did for the majority of last season. Hays always seems just a moment too slow, either in his passing, or in his decision making. There was hope that if Hays had a full offseason with the team, it would result in a greater mastery of the position, but this just isn't so. As for true Freshman Travis Wilson, he definitely has the fan's edge behind him. He's a big monster of a QB, who definitely enjoys being out there. But the truth is, even in what little we've seen of him, he just is not ready. On the Flea Flicker TD Pass he threw on Friday, it was a pretty pass in the air, but it was a bad decision, and he had to be bailed out by Kenneth Scott. While Wilson also gives the Utes another weapon with his legs, his decision making while running the Zone Read option play is still suspect, as multiple times in the past two weeks you could see Wilson clearly make the wrong choice. Wilson is the future of the Utes. There's no doubt about it. But the future just isn't now. Hays is the guy, but the offense is going to end up being a lot like last year, and relying a ton on John White IV. Unfortunately this year, they don't have two all conference tackles on the line. It Could Always Be Worse At least the Utes didn't suffer the most embarrassing loss of the week. That would belong to formerly 8th ranked Arkansas, who had strong National Championship hope. That is of course until the Karmic Justice sledge hammer came down and womped the Razorbacks for originally hiring Bobby Petrino, and for the way John L Smith abandoned the Weber State Wildcats, as the Razorbacks lost to the University of Louisiana-Monroe. Also at least we're not this lady. Podcast Note There is a podcast to go with this week's article. Unfortunately due to the fact we had to record Friday, prior to Utah State game, when you listen to it, remember the timing, and that it was recorded before certain events dramatically altered the course of the Utes. Although that doesn't excuse the brain fart I had when I said Reggie Dunn wasn't with the team anymore. Savor The Moment It's always astonishing that something that is so good, because of the animosity present in it, animosity that has been involved in the rivalry for decades, and not just since 2003, can produce so many wonderful, enjoyable moments. The Holy War is one of the greatest rivalries in the entire nation. The last twenty years, especially, has seen one magic moment, after one magic moment. Unfortunately, the bomb that has lingered over the rivalry since the Utes were invited to the Pac-12 was dropped this past offseason. There are plenty of reasons, and arguments why, but no matter what side you fall on, it's bad news, that this rivalry will be going away for two years in 2014, and 2015. That means we are left with only two more games, before the first break in annual play between Utah and BYU since World War II. At this time, I would also like to make the announcement, that I will be taking a hiatus from the special holy war roster breakdown edition of Red, Blue And Pigskin for the 2014 and 2015 seasons. However, I'm more than ready to begin the breakdown for the 2013 season. So without further ado. Schedule With only two weeks to go it's hard to get a feel for either teams schedule, as much of the season is left to be played. However, I don't need an entire season to know that BYU's first two weeks was tougher than Utah's first two weeks, if only because the Utes opened up the season against a team that had lost 18 of it's previous 19 games, and was one of the worst teams in Div. 1-AA. It doesn't matter that BYU played one of the worst AQ teams in week one, followed by a better than average Div 1-AA team in the Wildcats. About the only way Utah could have made their first two games tougher would have been to follow up with Alabama, or LSU in week 2, instead of Utah State. Advantage: BYU Quarterback The QB position for both schools will be the most watched, and most scrutinized position all season. Both QB's will be under even more scrutiny than normally comes from the position. The Utes come into the game with serious questions about not on the present, but the future of the QB situation, as I discussed earlier. Down south, the Cougars have a running back playing the position of Quarterback. Riley Nelson is a one read, huck it and pray style QB, but that didn't stop them from running an almost Air-Raid like offense in week 1. Nelson only played a half against the Wildcats, and at times looked great, going 10/10 on the three scoring drives, but there were also plenty of missed passes, and questionable throws to go with it. Nelson also was suffering from back spasms which is why he didn't come back in the 2nd half. Many Cougar fans believe that if Nelson was quarterback during the game last year, it would still have been a blow out, but in the opposite direction. For my money a QB is better than a RB. Advantage: Push Running Backs Both teams are top heavy at the running back position, and hoping that perceived depth becomes actual depth. For Utah, John White IV had the best single season in Utah history in 2011, and is looking to pick up where he left off. In the 2011 Holy War, White's numbers were large, but not representative of some of the success BYU had in the first half. However, White is the type of running back who gets better the more you feed the beast. Backing up White, is JuCo transfer Kelvin York, and Jarrel Oliver, and early returns show that the Utes might finally have some real depth at the position For BYU, the problem is remembering they have a good running back. Alisa is a solid downhill runner, who may just be stuck on the wrong team. Either his offensive coordinator forgets he's around and gets too enamored by the passing game, or they use him incorrectly, trying to get him out wide, when he should be running north and south. Depth wise, the Cougars don't have any. After running off Josh Quezada in the off season, the Cougars will spend the first few weeks of the year finding the change of pace for Alisa. Of course their real change of pace running back, happens to be playing QB. Advantage: Utah Wide Receivers Both Utah and BYU suffer from the same problem in their Wide Receiving corps. Questions as to whether someone can get them the ball. As for the corps themselves, there is a lot of talent in this state at the WR position. Utes have the depth going with DeVonte Christopher, Dres Anderson, Luke Matthews, Kenneth Scott, Anthony Denham, Reggie Dunn and Quentin Pedroza. One major issue for the Utes is with DeVonte Christopher, and that his desire, and effort are often times lacking. No better example of this than the final play of the game against the Aggies. Instead of going full on after the pass, which would have been a game tying TD, Christopher instead, tried to take the easy way out and hope to get bailed out by the officials with a Pass Interference call. It's clear that Christopher didn't give full effort on the pass. It wasn't the first time this game that happened, nor the first time this season. The Cougars top two match, if not exceed the Utes top two with Cody Hoffman, and Ross Apo. However after the top it's a bit slim pickings, with only JD Falslev really being known. The Utes have slightly more options, and a bit more speed, however the major questions now at QB makes one wonder if, much like last year, the Utes will get the most out of their WR depth. Advantage: Push Tight Ends For years the tight ends have been a position of historical strength for the Cougars, as the Utes decided to ignore the position for years. Now things are starting to change, as the Cougars are in a transitional phase looking for their next TE, while the Utes seem to have a few tools to use. Jake Murphy, son of BYU, and Alanta Brave baseball great, Dale Murphy seems to be getting the early lead as the main man for Utah, and has definitely become a favorite dump off valve for Jordan Wynn. Behind Wynn the Utes have Westlee Tonga looking to surprise, and Kendrick Moeai coming off a season ending injury a year ago. A fourth option for the Utes is Dallin Rogers, who was actually caught passes from Utah offensive coordinator Brian Johnson. For the Cougars Kaneakua Friel had a breakout performance in week one with over 100 yards receiving and two TD's. Other than Friel, the Cougars have a slew of tight ends trying to make their mark with Austin Holt, Marcus Matthews, and Devin Mahina, who's returning from a broken neck. Both teams are unsure about their tight end position. Both teams have a bunch of players still trying to sort out their spots on the depth chart. Advantage: Push Offensive Line How do you replace two all conference tackles? That's the question the Utes are trying to answer. In addition, the Utes are also struggling with a line that is undersized in it's conference. While the Utes brought in a lot of line talent during the recruiting period this season, the line as a whole is extremely unsettled, especially at the tackle positions where they are hoping to be able to replace Bergstrom, and Cullen from last season. Against the Aggies, the Utes OL struggled mightily. Unable to open up holes for White, and unable to protect either of the QB's back there, the Utes OL looked very vulnerable. While this did improve in the 2nd half after some adjustments were made, it's still a very big concern. The Cougars don't have a bunch of depth, but may look to have some solid starters, led by Braden Brown, who could be an all american candidate this season. One area of concern is Bronco Mendenhall's decision to rotate the center during the games. This is nothing but a recipe for disaster. The relationship and chemistry between QB and Center is arguably the most important part of the game, and insisting on messing with it, because the coach can't figure out who he likes best, is asking for trouble. If the coach can stay out of their way, and they can stay healthy, the Cougars could have a stout offensive line. Something they'll need to face the Utah Defensive Line. Advantage: BYU Defensive Line Star Lotulelei is the best football player in the state, and it isn't even close. That's not to denigrate the other players, as the second best player in the state is really freaking good (see Linebackers). Star is just on a level to himself. Because Star is so good other teams must double team him. That's bad news when his line mates are players like Joe and Dave Kruger, Trevor Reilly or Nate Fakahafua. And that's just the first wave. Trevor Reilly is such a playmaker he's listed as a starter in three spots on the depth chart. When Utah has to sub, they are still bringing in players that could start on other teams. Meanwhile, BYU's defensive line is a little bit light on depth. It's anchored by Eathyn Manumaleuna who always seems to give the Utes some fits. The Cougars are also hoping that Romney Fuga can return to the form he was showing prior to a brutal injury two years ago. This is the biggest mismatch between the two teams. Advantage: Utah Linebackers The only well known linebacker for the Utes is Trevor Reilly. Yes the same Trevor Reilly who plays on the defensive line. Outside of Reilly, Utah's linebackers leave a little bit to be desired, and are generally considered the weak link on the defense. This was evident last Friday, as the LB's were constantly out of position, opening up the middle for Chucky Keeton. The LB's were also very concerned about Keeton and his legs, as they would bite too much on the play action. Things should improve a little bit when Brian Blechen comes back from his "Being a moron" suspension. For BYU, they only happen to have the second best football player in the state roaming the field as their Lineback. Kyle Van Oy is an amazing freak of an athlete. Van Oy is able to move from sideline to sideline in the blink of an eye, and is very reminiscent of a Brian Urlacher or a Ray Lewis, only much more raw. If there is a defensive play being made, you can usually bet Kyle Van Oy is involved. Much like Lotulelei's mere presence on field must be accounted for by Utah opponents, Van Oy roaming the middle is something that all opposing players must watch out for. Uona Kaveinga and Spencer Hadley are too good, to very good linebackers who round out BYU's biggest positional advantage. Advantage: BYU Secondary The Utes have been known for their secondary for the past few years. Unfortunately it's been a secondary that they've had to completely rebuild each of the past two or three years. This season it's not the case. The Utes have senior leadership at the corner positions with former WR Mo Lee, and Ryan Lacy. In Nickel will be Reggie Topps, who the Utes plan to use in a fashion similar to Lamar Chapman in 2010, when Chapman had 5 sacks. At the safety position the Utes will feel the pain of Brian Blechen's suspension most in this game, but still are led by Eric Rowe who turned heads as a true freshman last year. Quade Chappuis will feel in for Blechen. Bronco Mendenhall likes to say that this year is the most athletic secondary they've had in his time there. He seems to like to say it every year, but at least they don't have a 5'6" starting cornerback. The secondary for BYU is led by junior Daniel Sorensen. Senior Preston Hadley will try to take over the hard hitting role vacated by Jordan Pendleton and Travis Uale. The Cougars secondary must still prove to everyone that they have the speed to match up. Advantage: Utah Special Teams Utah's kicking game will cost them at least two games this year if something doesn't get figured out. Coleman Petersen has been shaky at best, and dreadful the rest of the time. The only hope for him, is that since BYU isn't from the state of Colorado, maybe all of his kicks will make it through the upright. Of course, the real hope, is that the Utes just get fed up with him, and go for it on 4th down, and go for two every time, and not even give him a chance to screw up. BYU's kicking game meanwhile is dependable, if not spectacular, which in all honesty is really what you hope for. In the return game, both teams have players capable of making big contributions, but have yet to find the consistency hoped for. Advantage: BYU Coaching Two people who are probably not too upset over the hiatus of the rivalry are coaches Bronco Mendenhall, and Kyle Whittingham, if only because it means that for those two years, their interaction with each other will be lessened. Mutual dislike aside, the two have found success at their current gigs. Bronco is 67-24 in his career as is Kyle. Last year's 54-10 blowout put the record in Kyle's favor during the rivalry game at 4-3. Postseason Bronco has won 5 of his 7 bowl games, Kyle has only lost 1 of his 8 attempts. (Kyle is recognized as co-Head Coach for the 2005 Fiesta Bowl.) Big Game Criteria is now separated into two eras, pre and post Pac-12 (Pre Pac-12 covers 2010 and earlier). For both era's there are some similarities. Notre Dame, Ranked Teams, Rivalry Games, and Bowl games count. For the Pre Pac 12 era there are other situations that need to be taken into account. For 1 the rivalry both teams had with TCU, meaning TCU pre Pac-12 is considered a big game. Also due to the national significance of any non-AQ versus AQ win, all games against teams from an AQ conference were considered big games pre Pac-12. Post Pac-12 only ranked opponents from AQ conference count, as well as any team of extremely national significance such as (Alabama, USC, Florida, Texas, Michigan, Ohio State). With this criteria in mind Bronco is 15-19 in big games, while Kyle comes in at 20-14. High point for Bronco is still 2006-2007 and 2 consecutive undefeated years in conference. 11 wins both seasons, and beating Oregon and UCLA in consecutive Vegas Bowl. Kyle's high point also hasn't changed, but it's hard to top 13-0 and beating Alabama in the Sugar Bowl to finished as the 2nd ranked team, and only undefeated team in the nation. Low Point for Bronco is the ridiculous decision to go with, and stick with the two QB system in 2010, and then trying to distance himself from any responsibility for the decision. For Kyle it's hard to get lower than being shut out by UNLV in 2007. Coaching Staff: Bronco still likes to handle the defensive coordinator duties, and Offensive Coordinator Brandon Doman is still getting accustomed to life in charge of the Offense. Meanwhile for Utah, Brian Johnson is not only in his first year as Offensive Coordinator, but he's the youngest OC in the country. Johnson will experience some growing pains during the season, and hopefully as the season go along he'll look less and less like Andy Ludwig as early returns seem to suggest. There are many think defensive coordinator Kalani Sitake is in line for a head coaching gig of his own in the very near future. Discipline And Adjustments: Both teams are typically light on off the field incidents, Brian Blechen's moronic suspension not withstanding. On the field both teams tend to be a little to prone to penalties. Adjustment wise, the Utes tend to be better in the second half, especially the third quarter, while with BYU what you get in the first quarter, is typically what you get in quarters 2, 3 and 4. Coaching will be a huge factor in this game, as the Utes staff needs to bounce back, after being out classed against Utah State, while the Cougars coaching staff must make sure to keep the Cougars grounded after playing to weakly talented teams so far this season. Advantage: Utah The Crowd The Rice-Eccles crowd is going to be rowdy. This is going to be a crowd that makes BYU Graduate Assistant Max Hall laugh. With kickoff being so late in the day, it's going to leave Utah fans with a lot of time to tailgate. Unfortunately that also means there is going to be a lot of time for some Utah fans to be drinking. Factor in the added facts that this isn't just any opponent, and it's the last Holy War in Rice-Eccles until 2016, and this crowd is going to be amped up, excited, drunk, and belligerent. While the noise will be good, and the Muss and North End Zone will be rocking, I dread listening to the post game incidents that are sure to happen. Advantage: Utah... Until Post Game X-Factors There are some things in this game, that as a Utah fan have me a little uneasy. First off is the whole power play move of Utah's. I've said before that I think putting the rivalry on Hiatus has done more post Pac-12 to reignite the rivalry than anything Utah could have done. Being such BYU will be gunning to stick it to Utah to make their last game at Rice-Eccles before the Hiatus, which Utah is responsible for, a loss. Add into it that BYU is wanting to make up for last year's extreme embarassment. It's also been publicly said by BYU Coach Mendenhall, that without a conference, BYU's first goal every season is to win the State. There's also the fact that it's extremely hard to win three times in a row during this rivalry. Finally Brian Blechen's suspension will hurt the Utes the most in this game. Blechen is great sneaking up from his safety/line back spot and spying the back field, especially a qb out of the back field. Blechen would have been a great Riley stopper for this game. As it is now, a key for Utah will be finding someone who can keep Riley Nelson in check. Advantage: BYU Final Thoughts Utah was definitely the best team in 2011, but they weren't 44 points better. They were closer to the team that led by 24 points with only a +1 turnover margin, before BYU gave up last year. The team that led only by 4 points to start the 2nd half. In all honesty, as a Utah fan I worry about this game, and I did before the results of last Friday. Before week two, I would have (and did on the podcast) say that on paper, the Utes shouldn't really have a problem this year, but that is when weird things happen in this series. After last week's game, I still believe that, on paper, the Utes are still the better team. But how much better they are remains to be seen. Were they simply overlooking the Aggies, and had read too much of their own press clippings? How will they respond at the QB situation? I still think Utah will win this game, but I'm bracing for something closer to the memorable moment creating norm of the Holy War, than the blowout outlier of 2011. Trackbacks
Trackback specific URI for this entry
|
Handy LinksItems of InterestCategoriesBlog AdministrationSyndicate This BlogPowered byTheme dropdownBookmark |