Rhett on :
For the record, Matthews may have pulled down the Ute defender, but HOW DID HE GET THERE! He was pushed down!
Thursday, October 24. 2013Red, Blue And Pigskin
Sometimes, I just hate being wrong. This past weekend was one of them. All that good will Utah got for beating Stanford. All the replays on ESPN all week long, it's gone. Tossed away by a dreadful, unprepared, flat performance on the road in Arizona this past weekend. In the end Utah let Stanford beat them, now they have to avoid letting Arizona turn the Stanford win into two consecutive losses.
Meanwhile, I'm not sure it the Cougars (both of them) couldn't get large enough modes of transportation to get their teams to the game, or what. You remember those signs that kids hang up on their room saying "No Boys Allowed", or "No Girls Allowed", well apparently Houston, and Byu both thought that the defenses would give them Cooties, because it was apparent that Reliant stadium had a "No Defenses Allowed" sign on the door. This week, though, the Cougars better find their defense if they want to pull of Division 1-A history on Friday. Road Woes
There was always a concern that the Utes would not respond well to their first game out of state. While the first 6 games being in the state of Utah was a good thing to help such a young team develop, it also meant that this young team might just get too set in their ways. They wouldn't be used to the changes in routine when someone hits the road. The curfew, the hotel, missing school, missing friends, etc. Combine that with such an emotional game the week before, and all the signs were there for a team to come out flat, and mentally unprepared. Flash forward to the first quarter in Tucson, and that's exactly what happened. Arizona marched all over the Utah defense in the first quarter, and super stud running back, Ka'Deem Carey had nearly 100 yards in the first quarter. While the defense eventually got their heads into the game, there was something clearly wrong with Travis Wilson. Wilson's passes were way off, he wasn't crisp, and in the 2nd quarter, Wilson put the Utes in a damaging hole when over the course of three passes, two of them were intercepted, including one very brutal, very ugly, completely incorrect read, that was returned for a pick six. Eventually Wilson would leave the game, as the injury suffered against UCLA, that crept up again at the end of the Stanford game, was clearly too much for him. Wilson left the game, and the Utes were in a desperate 20-7 hole, with their backup QB coming in. Fight, Fight, Fight There is something that sets this Utes team apart from any Ute team since 2008. Simply it's that this team has heart, and fight. And once again it came through on Saturday, for a little bit. Down 20-7, with a backup QB coming in, the Utes took advantage of the confusion that defenses can sometimes have when a new QB comes in. An Arizona turnover led to a quick score by the Utes, and then the defense responded with a 3 and out. On the next play the Utes went with some trickery, and a Flea Flicker touchdown put the Utes up 21-20, and it looked like this team had finally woke up. Instead, the Utah coaches let the offense go into a shell under Schulz, and put too much pressure on the defense to stop last year's nation leading rusher. With the play calling ultra conservative, the Arizona defense was able to adjust to Schulz. Andy Phillips missed two field goals, and in the end, with Utah down four, desperately needing a stop, Carey busted through the Utah defense for a 44 yard touchdown to finish off his 236 yard performance. A week after shocking Stanford, the Utes came into the game mentally flat, and seeming still hung up on the previous game. They let Stanford beat them after all, and that's all on the Coaches, as is the massive fetal position they let the offense take in the fourth quarter after finally fighting back. Men Of Troy The Utes failed to fight off the hangover of the big Stanford victory. Had the Utes beat Arizona, it would have been bigger than the Stanford win, only because it would validate the Stanford win. Instead the Utes got curb stomped by the Wildcats, and must now hope they do a better job fighting off the hangover of a bad loss. That task won't be easy, as the Utes travel to Southern California to play the Trojans in the Coliseum. Now, it may be true that the combination of Hubris, which led to severe NCAA sanctions, of which the worst are only beginning to start, and lunacy, which led Pat Haden to somehow think Lane Kiffin should be head coach of Usc, has caused the Trojans to be a shell of their former selves. While that is true, there is still some power in the name of Usc and in the Coliseum, especially for a team like the Utes who are still struggling to show they belong. And while NCAA scholarship sanctions, has seriously hurt USC's depth, and injuries have forced Usc to use said depth, what few scholarship players they get, are still big time, 4 and 5 star athletes. (One quick sidebar, speaking of Pat Haden. The names of the 13 member College Football playoff committee have been announced. Is anyone else concerned, that the man who thought hiring Lane Kiffin to coach Usc, is now in charge of determining who will be in the playoff?) To make matters worse, is the question of Travis Wilson. Wilson's hand was clearly bothering him. There were rumors at the beginning of that depending on the results of his X-Ray could be done for the year. Apparently it didn't come to that, as now it's rumored he will start, with a glove, similar to what Ben Roethlisberger wears, and Kurt Warner wore in the nfl, to protect his damaged digits. Either way it's still a major concern. Especially if Wilson falters. How much time and preparation are the Utes going to give Schulz this week. Are the Utes going to adjust the gameplan, so that it can also take into account Schulz' strengths and weaknesses should he have to come in. If so, is it going to hurt the overall offense by hedging bets. It's not an easy position for the coaching staff to be in. From a matchup standpoint, the Utes actually match up much better against the Trojans, than they do against the Wildcats. The Trojans are more of a Pro Style, power run to setup the Passing game style of offense. They like to attack the middle of the defensive line. This is the same type of offense that the Utes faced against Stanford, with decent success. Much like the Stanford game though, the Utes are going to have to play great. The Trojan offense centers around a running game led by Silas Redd, and an air attack to get Marqise Lee open. If there is a weak point on the offense, it's the Quarteback position, which is unusual for Usc. If the Utes defense can get pressure on QB Cody Kessler, he has shown a tendency to struggle and fade during the course of the game. In the end though, this game will come down to Travis Wilson, or Adam Schulz. How healthy is Wilson? If he can't go, did the Coaching staff get Schulz adequately prepared. The coaching staff let this team down immensely last week by not getting them over the Stanford game. This week, the coaching staff has their work really cut out for them, let's hope they do a better job. Return To The Wacky WAC Byu's matchup against Houston this past week looked more like the old days of shoot 'em out, high scoring affairs of the old Wacky Wac days, than a Bronco Mendenhall era battle. The two Cougars combined for nearly 1200 yards of total offense and 93 total points. Byu tied an NCAA record with 115 offensive plays. Houston wasn't far behind with 95 plays of their own. Fittingly, in a game where defense was far and few between, Alani Fua clinched the game for Byu with a defensive interception in the final minute. While I'm sure Bronco Mendenhall is happy to get a win, you know that he had to be hating this type of game where his defense was getting torched. Credit though, must be given to Taysom Hill, who has made dramatic improvement in the last three games, compared to his first 5 and a half games of his career. At the beginning, Hill was a guy who couldn't read a defense, was easily confused by a defense, and couldn't hit the broadside of a barn. In the first four weeks the best, most accurate pass he threw in his career was the one that hit Matthews in the back of his jersey, as Matthews was on the ground after yanking down the Utah defender, on the final hail mary of the rivalry game. Now, Hill is reading defenses, and more importantly, is confident in his defenses. His accuracy has also improved. He's still hit or miss on his decisions, and the Houston game was a good example of this. One moment, he'll roll out to avoid a sack, not pay attention to his position, and step out of bound while attempting to throw. Or he'll mis read defenses and throw three interceptions, including one early that let Houston in the game in the first quarter when Byu looked like they were about to put some distance on their opponent. Unlike earlier this year though, Hill rebounds well. Like he did on that final drive of the game, when Hill led the Cougars 44 yards, and found Sklyer Ridley in the end zone with 68 seconds left. Most amazingly of all this, Hill is making this improvement, with an offensive line that still sucks. Bust The Broncos, Bust History Last year, the Cougars met up with the Boise State Broncos on the smurf turf, for the front end of a 2 week stretch of some of the worst, most boring football in recent memory. This was the game that Taysom Hill came in at half time and took over an offense that was dormant. In the end the Cougars lost the game thanks to Bronco Mendenhall's ridiculous decision to go for two, instead of kicking the PAT and going into overtime. This year, it's the Broncos who will be having to rely on a backup quarterback. Starting quarterback Joe Southwick broke his anke on the first series against Nevada last week, and their backup, Junior Grand Hedrick came in to lead the Broncos to victory. In Hedrick, the Broncos have a quarterback very similar to Taysom Hill. A guy who prefers to be on the move, instead of sitting in the pocket. Someone who can make just as many plays with his legs, as he can his arm. The big difference for the Broncos, is that while Byu's defensive weakness may be in the secondary, their strength is the front seven, who will probably be extremely angry after last week, and who also tend to give running quarterbacks a hard time. Much like the Byu offense, who uses the run to set up the pass, so do the Broncos. Byu knows their secondary stinks, which is why they compensate by locking down the run game Boise State's defense however, really struggles against the run. If Jamaal Williams is able to play, the Broncos will struggle to be able to stop both speedy running backs in Williams and Hill, which will then open up the passing game for Quarterback Hill. If Williams can't go, it's an easier task, but the Byu running game may still be too much for Boise. This game will be a tough test for a rebuilding Bronco defense. If the Cougars can pull off the victory though, they will make history on the Division 1-A level. No team from the Beehive State has ever beaten a Division 1-A Boise State team. In fact, the Broncos have not lost to a Beehive State team since November 1, 1997, when as a member of the Big Sky, they lost to Utah State. The Broncos are currently riding a 21 game win streak against teams from the Beehive State. This matchup is the best chance for that streak to end in a long long time. A win also means Byu fans can start booking their travel arrangements for the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl. Jake Heaps Tracker Being gone on vacation made me forget about the Jake Heaps Tracker last week. This is a shame, because it appears the Jake Heaps Tracker is not long for this world. This past week Jake Heaps combined running and passing for a grand total of -3 yards of total offense. Heaps was 5/13 for 15 yards passing and 1 Td. He was also sacked 3 times for 19 yards lost. Heaps was so bad, that with a minute to go Charlie Weiss pulled the redshirt off a true freshman to let him get his first game action. While it was only 3 runs, and Heaps played the rest of the way, this is a bad sign for Heaps' future. Talk out of Lawrence is that Weiss is wanting to start giving the redshirt more playing time, and begin a move to the future. This means at best Heaps splits time the rest of the season, and loses his starting job next spring or fall. More likely as Kansas continues to lose, and eventually get disqualified from bowl eligibility, Weiss will make the move this year, and Heaps will be benched. Trackbacks
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Rhett on :
For the record, Matthews may have pulled down the Ute defender, but HOW DID HE GET THERE! He was pushed down!
Sideshow on :
Keep telling yourself that if it's what you need to do to cope with four losses in a row. Walker did tug on the Jersey when Matthews made his cut, but there was no pushing by Walker. Mathees grabbed him and yanked him down. At best it should have been offsetting penalties (hold by Walker, offensive P.I. by Matthews) which would have ended the game anyways.
Besides as terrible as Hill was in that game, the extra 15 years wasn't helping. That's the real question Byu fans should be asking, why was a hail Mary on the very last play of the game thrown about 10-15 yards short of the end zone, and in a place where had he caught it, Matthews is immediately knocked out of bounds? |
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