Red, Blue And Pigskin

So Nice He Did It Twice

Last week during the national fawning over Mangum's Nebraska Hail Mary, former Washington Husky QB, and current Pac-12 analyst Brock Huard was on the radio and mentioned that he had never completed a Hail Mary in his football playing life.

Well Mr Huard, Tanner Mangum thinks you failed at life, because not only has he completed a Hail Mary he's done it twice. With an 84 yard bomb mixed in for good measurement, and once again, Mangum pulled Byu's butt out of the fire of defeat in a game where Byu spent the majority of it flailing around like a fish out of water.

While Mangum was the man who hucked up pass, and this week it was Mitch Jeurgens who came down with it, the man responsible for the Byu victory is a man that most Cougar fans love to hate. None other than Offensive Coordinator Robert Anae. After all it was Anae's decision to stick with the run in the 2nd half, despite the fact that it had been entirely stuffed in the first half, that allowed Byu to wear down the Boise State defensive line, and kept the game close as the Byu passing game sputtered and stalled behind a true freshman who, outside of two passes, played like a true freshman. Anae insistence on running the ball, even after a -14 yard first half, allowed the pressure to be taken off of Mangum.

In doing so, the Cougars may have also settled on their main back for the year and it was Adam Hine who toted 19 of the teams 39 rushes, falling just short of 100 yards on the day.

Defensively, the Cougars were happy to see the return of Safety Kai Nacua whose 3 interceptions, including a game ending pick 6, must have seemed like a sucker punch to a Boise State offense that just couldn't seem to get out of their own way. Despite finding great success early on with RB Jeremy McNichols as Boise twice gained 10 point leads, the Broncos seemed intent to put the game in the hands of their QB Ryan Finley. As such, after scoring to make the game 24-14 in the 3rd quarter, the Broncos only managed a total of 12 plays on their final 5 drives of the game, for a grand total of -8 yards, including two of Nacua's interceptions.

Two Sides Of The Same Coin

This week the Cougars take on the UCLA Bruins, another team currently being led by a true freshman QB. There are some pretty big differences between the two teams though.

The first difference is that while the Bruins have the talent, experience and depth that for the most part they are a team that won't need to rely heavily on their true freshman QB, while the Cougars really don't. There is definitely some talent on the Cougars, but the Bruins are a team that return most of their skill position players from last year, including the Pac-12's leading rusher. This is a team that has the depth to be able to withstand the growing pains of a freshman QB and still win most of their games.

The other big difference is that while outside of about three throws, Mangum has looked like a true freshman, Rosen hasn't. During the normal offense of his game against Boise State, Mangum struggled. He was slow to make his reads, struggled to properly read coverages, would hold onto the ball too long, and had a hard time putting the right touch on his passes, often launching rockets for short passes. Many times he'd throw an ill advised pass, hoping his tall receivers would bail him out. Of course, this is everything you would expect from a qb making his first start, and will all be resolved as he gets more playing time.

Where Mangum truly excelled is he never seemed to panic, and always was in control. Most importantly, Mangum has something that has been lacking from the Byu QB position for many years. Well founded confidence in his arm. Which is what allowed him to make the big plays. So far, he's truly been Feast or Famine Mangum. As long as his famine stage doesn't go too long, the occasional feast will be enough.

Rosen on the other hand looked absolutely stellar in his debut, and while he was a bit more pedestrian in week 2, still looked like a QB in his 2nd year, not his 2nd start. As the #1 overall QB recruit, his home debut against a tough Virginia defense saw him shred them for 351 yards, and 3 TD's. It's not just his numbers that looked good, but also his ball placement on throws, leaving them in just the right place for his WR's to make a play, and not have to have his WR's make a play to save the pass. On the road in week 2, Rosen came back to earth a little bit more, hitting only just over 50% of his passes, with 1 TD and 1 Int, but it was a game that illustrated how the rest of Rosen's offense will put UCLA in a great position to be able to withstand freshman growing pains as RB Paul Perkins ran for 151 of Ucla's 273 rushing yards.

This week will be a step up in defensive opponent for Rosen though. Not necessarily because the Cougars are all that much better than Virginia, but because Bronco is a great defensive play caller, who is really good at disguising what he's doing. The key for both teams will be which team is able to get their RB game going, and take pressure off their young QB.

Of course if it's only a 1 score game with under a minute to go, that means the Cougars will have the Bruins right where they want them. Just beware when Mangum rolls to his right because that means he's cooking up a feast.

The Return Of Chuckie

Much like the doll, just when you think he's done, Chuckie Keeton returns, bringing fear and havoc with him. Late in the first quarter, Utah LB Sunia Tauteoli lost his footing after jumping over an Aggie blocker and came crashing down into Keeton's twice surgically repaired lower leg. Keeton immediately dropped to the ground holding his knee.

Keeton didn't stay down long however, and jumped up a second or two later in serious page, as he jumped around trying to shake the pain out of his leg. Keeton would end up staying in the game and missing no time.

Last week I said the only way the Aggies stay in this game was if the Keeton of old shows up. Seemingly bolstered by surviving the scare on his leg, Keeton played like the Chuckie Keeton of old, for the first time in almost 3 years as he led the Aggies to a 14-14 tie at halftime. For the Aggies though it wouldn't be enough as the Utes made half time adjustments, and while Keeton would still find success moving the ball down the field later in the game, the stout Utah defense would finally get to Keeton and welcome him to Sack Lake City. Two 4th quarter turnovers would eventually end any last Aggie threat.

Much like the horror movies of Keeton's doll namesake, near success was caused do to key casualties. In the case of the Utes it came late in the first half. Travis Wilson once again was showing command of the offense, and had the Utes moving well during the first half. The offensive success had even seen Booker start to break free. But that all changed when late in the first half Travis Wilson remained on the field. They took him off the field, and when next we saw him, his arm was in a sling, and early reports said it was a broken collarbone, meaning it was now time for fans to see Kendall Thompson.

Be Careful What You Wish For

As Utah fall camp was ongoing, there was a big portion of the Ute fan base, having been worn down by Wilson's inconsistency last year, who were clamoring for the job to be given over to Kendall Thompson. With Wilson out, and it looking like it might be a long term thing, this group was about to get their wish.

It wouldn't take long for them to change their mind. When Thompson came in, the offense went out.

Remember when I mentioned how Mangum struggled and was slow making his reads and deciding when to throw, and how it's typical for a freshman. For a Senior, not so good. Add in Thompson's elongated throwing motion and that means Thompson was a half step slow on the read, and then a half step slow on the throw. These are not good things for a passing game. As the game went on, the few times Thompson did throw you could tell his was just a little bit behind his WR's pace. On one occasion his double delay actually saved an Interception as he missed the defender jump the route, but the defender was anticipating a quicker throw and overshot the interception (and probably pick 6.)

With a threat of a passing game mainly neutralized, the Utes went into a run protect offense. The Aggies loaded 9 in the box, and despite the win, the season hopes of the sold out Rice-Eccles stadium drained away.

Fortunately as the weekend progressed, the outlook got a bit better for Utah. Turns out it wasn't a broken collarbone, but instead an AC sprain in his non-throwing shoulder for Wilson. Next came the news that depending on how he handles the pain, worst case scenario for a return would be the Cal game, and best case would be either the Oregon or Fresno State game. Finally came video of Wilson passing in practice on Tuesday.

The key will be how well can he withstand the hits, as the injury happened to his non throwing shoulder. This is the same injury Byu inflicted upon Oklahoma QB Sam Bradford. Bradford missed a few weeks, before coming back. Two games later he re-injured it on another hit and didn't play again until he was busy sabotaging the St. Louis Rams with check down after check down. The big concern is making sure that when Wilson comes back, it has healed enough to not be reinjured in normal play.

Until then, Utah will need to seriously tweak their offensive gameplan, as it was clear the plan they had set up for Wilson, won't work with Thompson. Thompson, while limited as a passer, does have his strengths, and most of them revolve around the use of his legs. Utah needs to take advantage of that. A heavier dose of the zone read needs to be implemented. It would also be nice to see some of that triple option style attack that puts a runner to the outside, an H back to the inside, and gives Thompson the ability to pitch, or shovel pass. Essentially, after spending the majority of the last 4 years making fun of Byu and the RB playing QB based offense, karma now has me advocating for just exactly that kind of gameplan for however long Wilson can't go.

Also, and this can't be overstated enough. Utah really, really, really, really needs to take the top off the defense. Even if it's incomplete, Utah must throw deep at least two or three times this game, just to establish the threat.

Perfect Place For A Tuneup

One thing I really hate about Utah typically having their cupcake game as the season opener, as they've done in the past (and has just been announced, they will do in 2019, 2020) is that you don't get anything of value out of that game. I've always though, that if Utah insisted on the cupcake game, it should always be the week before conference play. That way you get two good games of data to use, and week to tune up.

In the past Fresno State wouldn't typically be considered a tune up game, or a cupcake. This year, they would be. Fresno is bad. Fresno just got done getting thrashed by Ole Miss 73-21 in a game that wasn't even that close. That being said factor in having to bring Thompson up to speed, there is a slight Ackbar Alert factor to this game.

Utah isn't as good as Ole Miss to put up 73 on Fresno (Ole Miss isn't as good as they looked either, but that's a different argument) but Utah's defense is stout enough to limit Fresno into making some crucial mistakes. Even if Thompson struggles a bit, this should be a perfect opportunity for Booker to get back on track.

In regards to Wilson, there are some who think if he's healthy, he should play. Personally I'm of the belief of giving him the extra week to heal before a hugely important Oregon game. After all, it's not like we can trust Wilson to be careful with his body.

View From The Redzone

When Chuckie Keeton was on the ground holding his knee, it sucked the air out of the stadium. Usually when an opposing player gets hurt, the crowd typically waits and talks amongst themselves. When it's a Utah player, the crowd is usually silent waiting to see how bad. Keeton's injury was the first time I can remember an opposing player getting a home player reaction to an injury. Of course, as I said Keeton managed to get up, and suck the air out of the stadium again going into halftime 14-14, and cause a very tense stadium to worry.

Sorry, but nope. First Quarter, 3rd Quarter. I don't care when. Corporate sponsored waves are wrong. Even though this one actually succeeded in getting started, I refused to stand up for it, and I will continue to refuse all season long. I will not allow ISIS to win.

One more thing. To the rest of the Mountain West Conference, on behalf of the Utes, sorry about that whole waking Chuckie Keeton up, and now you have to deal with him thing.

New Information Means Time To Re-evaluate

Before the season I made my usual predictions. As the season goes along and we get more information, I am going to occasionally revisit and re-evaluate them.

I'll start with Utah State who I originally predicted a 8-4 season with losses to Utah, Fresno, Boise State, and Air Force. So far the only one of those I'd for sure change would be that the Aggies shouldn't have any problem with Fresno State. I'm not ready to pull the plug on Air Force or Boise State game, but I will say that the Air Force game might be the more difficult of those two.

Next up is the Cougars who I said would go 7-5. Obviously I'm already off by 1 as Mangum Miracle #2 meant I missed last week's prediction. At this point, that's all I would change.

For Utah the first thing I would change was that prediction about Utah taking advantage of freshman mistakes by Josh Rosen. Yea that's not happening. There's two other predictions I'm not ready to change, but will admit might be different than expected. First up the Cal Bears. In both games our defensive backs have shown a propensity for letting the WR get behind them. If that doesn't get fixed, it could be a long day. Secondly the Oregon game, and news that QB Vernon Adams has a broken index finger. Watching his game against Michigan State, he struggled down the field, and his accuracy just wasn't there. Utah has the right type of defense to keep games against Oregon close, and Utah knows first hand from a couple years ago, just how badly a jacked up throwing hand can hurt a qb.

Get Your DVR's Ready

This week, if you want to watch both Byu and Utah, you must either get your channel changing game up to mid season form, or record one, as both teams kickoff Saturday at 8:30 p.m. mountain time. The Byu/Ucla game with be on Fox Sports 1, while Utah gets to relive their Mountain West days on Cbs Sports Network.

The Aggies meanwhile will face off against Washington at 5:00 p.m. on the Pac-12 Network.

Yet Another Reminder...

...that early season polls are stupid. And no, despite the fact that I think Byu jumping 8 spots is a bit ridiculous, their two impressive, and newsmaking wins means they should be ranked, so they aren't who I'm referring to.

Instead I'm referring to the idiotic Coaches Poll, who somehow equate the #7 team in the nation losing a 3 point game to the #5 team in the nation equivalent to the #6 team in the nation, getting completely outplayed and needing Overtime to beat a Division 1-AA team.

That's right despite the fact that the by the logic of the polls Michigan State (at home) was expected to win a close game against Oregon, the ducks were punished by dropping 8 spots. Meanwhile Auburn, who struggled against 1-AA Jacksonville State, and needed essentially a botched punt to allow them to force overtime also dropped 8 spots. Although let's be honest, we're all kind of shocked that Auburn dropped at all, usually winning teams, even when winning ugly don't drop.

The polls make me so happy that we have a committee that can actually discuss these games. At least the AP only dropped Oregon 5 spots, but that's still about 3 or 4 spots too many, and dropped Auburn 12 spots.