Tuesday, October 13. 2015Red, Blue And Pigskin
Well, that was sure a week of hoopla, and the game on the field didn't disappoint. But this week it's out of the frying pan, and into the fire, as the Utes must wrestle with demons they haven't been able to handle lately.
Mangum's Mission Legs
Say what you want about Mangum, but even if he were to never play again for Byu, he's already got quite a legacy. First he fills in when Taysom goes down and gets a Hail Mary victory against Nebraska. The next week he pulls off another Hail Mary. Apparently he thought things must have been getting stale, because he did the whole "fill in for the injured starter, and lead the team to a last minute game winning TD" thing again. Of course, big difference is he was the starter, and it was his own injury he had to come back from. And boy did Byu need it. After doing just about everything possible to allow ECU to steal the victory, the Cougars managed to escape with a victory. Since the Cougars actually managed to secure the victory, the big story of the game though becomes Mangum's hamstring. Despite coming back for that 4th quarter drive, the extent of Mangum's injury is currently unknown, and his availability for this week's game is currently undecided. Hamstrings are a funny thing. A little bit of stretching and rest could make it feel better, or it could end up being something that affects him the rest of the season. Even if he is back, you can bet that every Byu fan will be holding their breath whenever he scrambles. Battling The Bearcats If Mangum can't go, the Cougars might be in for a world of trouble. After all not everyone is Ohio State, or Utah State can can continue to win with their 3rd string QB. Especially since when Mangum went out you could tell the entire team seem to deflate a little bit, and the offense stalled, which is something the Cougars cannot have happen against Cincinnati. Even with Mangum, the Cougars will need their offense operating at peak to keep up with a Bearcat team that likes to score. The Bearcats score about 40 points per game and rack up nearly 600 yards of offense per game. The last couple weeks the Cougars offensive coaches seem to have started settling on RB Algernon Brown as the workhorse. Last week he responded with 134 yards and 3 TD's. He'll be needed to put in a similar performance this week to keep the Bearcat offense off the field. Once again this will be a game of freshman QB versus freshman QB. Of course for Byu the question is which freshman QB. For Cincinnati it will be Hayden Moore who was given the full time job 2 weeks ago, and has almost 800 yards in those 2 weeks. Of course, Byu has been known to show freshmen a bunch of confusing formations and things they haven't seen before. Just ask UCLA's Josh Rosen. Even before Mangum started to come up hobbled, this was always a game that seemed a bit scary for the Cougars. If Mangum can't go, this could easily turn into a rout for the visitors. If he plays, than it will be key for Byu to limit their own offensive mistakes, and Byu's defense to confuse the young opposing QB. The good news is, after this week, Mangum can rest for the next two weeks to prepare for the final stretch. Trials And Tribulations Gotta give Devon Blackmon props. When he signed with Byu he was immediately a candidate for an eventual honor code casualty. His attitude last year only helped fueled that fire. Something he alluded to with his contender for quote of the year. From Twitter: Devon Blackmon said that he's faced trials in adjusting to Provo, but nothing like the crucifixion of Christ or like what Tupac faced. 1 Point For Each Turnover Saturday, the Utes finally put aside all of the Gameday circus, all of the homecoming festivities, and defeated the California Golden Bears 30-24. The margin of victory was equal to 1 point for every 1 of the 6 turnovers the Utah defense forced. Of course the fact that the Utes required a defensive stand on the last drive of the game, despite having forced 6 turnovers might be a cause for concern. That concern, as it usually does, revolves around Travis Wilson and his consistency. Don't know if it was the bye week giving him too much time, the hoopla surrounding the game or what, but it was very clear, very early that Wilson wasn't comfortable this week. Some of that credit goes to a tenacious, California defense who were up for the big lights. That said, Wilson never really looked comfortable all night, and it bottomed out with two really bad interceptions, on two consecutive passes for Wilson during the middle of the 2nd quarter. This year though, the Offensive Coordinator did something that Dave Christensen never would last year. Instead of fully taking all confidence away from Travis, or leaving Wilson out to dry, Aaron Roderick did a great job over the next drive of setting Wilson up for success. Roderick dumped the stretch hand-off the Utes had been using, in exchange for a more North and South dive type handoff that allowed Booker to burst through the line. Once Booker got going, he then used a quick play action pass to let Wilson get back into routine, that while not completed did draw a Pass Interference call. Next they let Travis air it out on a beautiful 54 yard bomb to Corey Butler-Byrd. Finally, after having restored his confidence, the offensive staff did a good job of taking pressure off of Travis that night by putting the game in the hands of a hot Booker. Wilson was never going to make it through the season without a couple of bad games. Thanks to a masterful defensive performance that confused Jared Goff into 5 interceptions, and pressured him for 3 sacks, many hurries, and never let him get comfortable, the Utes were able to survive Wilson's first bad game of the year. Now it's up to Wilson to continue the growth he's shown early on this year, and not let 1 bad game, turn into 2. Especially with Utah's own personal Devils up next. The Devils You Know, And The Devils You Don't More than any game on this year's schedule, this is the one that scared me the most. I can't decide if it's good or bad that I won't be in attendance, but either way I'll be a nervous wreck. During the first 4 seasons in the Pac-12 no team has given Utah more problems than the Arizona State Sun Devils. Not Oregon who Utah played pretty well in losing efforts. Not Usc. The only other team that could make a claim really are the Arizona Wildcats. For some reason, the Utes have had massive problems with the Arizona based team. The first 2 meetings against the Sun Devils were miserable, embarrassing shellackings that truly showcased just how out matched the Utes were those first 2 years, and really emphasized the difference between a Power 5 school, and everyone else. The next 2 meetings Utah was no longer outmatched, and instead were 2 of the more gut wrenching, heart breaking losses. First in 2013 in a game that set passing offenses back a few years as Taylor Kelly, and a hampered by a hand injury Travis Wilson combined to go 25/52 for 265 yards, 3 TD's and 2 Interceptions. Numbers that are mediocre for 1 QB, and really bad for 2. This was a game that Utah led until a TD with just under 2 minutes left put ASU up by 1 point, before the next two drives ended in Interceptions. This would also be the last game Wilson would play before they discovered the aterial injury that almost sidelined his career. If the 2013 game was difficult to stomach, last year's affair took it up another notch. Once again, Travis Wilson did not have a good game as he managed to get only 57 yards passing, yet still manage to have the Utes up 3 late in the game before an ASU field goal sent it into overtime. In overtime, rather than push it with an ineffective offense, the Utes decided to rely on their dependable kicker, only to see Andy Phillips miss the kick. Then to make matters worse, Utah DB Dominque Hatfield just barely missed an interception on the ASU possession, as the Devils kicked the game winner a couple plays later. And That's the Devils the Utes know, the one that seems to have their number. The Devils the Utes don't know, are this year's team. This year the Sun Devils struggled early in the season in losses to Texas A&M to open the season, and seemed to had bottomed out when they were destroyed by Usc 42-14. Since that point they managed to save their season with an upset of top 10 Ucla in the Rose Bowl and then did to Colorado what teams do to Colorado. The Sun Devils seem to have righted the ship, and come into Rice-Eccles with a renewed confidence. Last week the Utes showed they could handle the hype. This week the Utes have an entirely different battle in front of them. The Utes haven't beat ASU since 1976, a streak of 10 games, and most of those games haven't been close. Before Ute fans can really begin thinking of any of the hype that's surrounded this team, they first must exorcise some demons that have haunted them for a long, long, long time. View From The Redzone Rice-Eccles was amped this week. Between College Gameday being in town, and a kickoff that got moved from 8 to 8:30, a fan base that doesn't usually arrive until middle of the first quarter, had packed the stadium prior to kickoff. As such the stadium was loud and into the game. At times the stadium was more electric, and louder than it's been since Freddie Brown caught a touchdown from Brian Johnson in 2008 against TCU. Kudos to the crowd. In the past they've been known to get down on Quarterbacks, and especially Travis Wilson when they've struggled. Last weekend though, after he had thrown his second consecutive interception, Wilson was greeted with a round of applause when he came back on the field for the next possession. It was nice to see the crowd pick him up. The hit that Gionni Paul laid on the running back near the North End Zone was nasty. Boobie Hobbs completely got away with pass interference on Cal's last play. The new turf looks really cool. The red is really vibrant and stands out quite a bit. No Drive This Week With both Oregon State, and Utah on bye last week there was no drive this week. Next Week On RB&P The Sideshow family will be visiting the Happiest Place On Earth next week, and therefore there probably won't be much of a Red, Blue And Pigskin that week. Television Preferences This week Byu gets another weekday game which takes a day of recovery away from Mangum. Fortunately for fans the game should be over before Saturday Morning as it will be a 6 p.m. mountain time kickoff, and will be broadcast on ESPN. The Utes meanwhile will once again be part of #Pac12AfterDark with a kickoff that (currently starts at 8 p.m. mountain time, and will also be broadcast on ESPN. Kickoff times for the following week have been announced. If anyone wants to bother watching the 3rd and 4th strings get plenty of reps against Wagner, good for you. It'll be a 1 p.m. mountain time kickoff and is the annualy Byu Tv scrub game. Utah that week will once again be on broadcast television as they take on the Usc Trojans at 5:30 p.m. mountain time, and will be broadcast on Fox 13. Trackbacks
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