Welcome to CrashUtah – Where BYU fans Talk Sports

This game was billed as one of the most competitive bowl games of the season and it certainly lived up to that description. It was a close game right to the very end, and was extremely enjoyable to watch.

What blew me away yet again, was how fast TCU’s defense is. It is amazing how quickly they can recover when they make a mistake, and how quick they get across that line. There were a couple of plays that would have gone for touchdowns if their defense wasn’t so fast. I was at the game when they played BYU and it was surreal in person.

Their offense was obviously not clicking all the way, but they got it done when it mattered and won the game.

While I am not a TCU fan, it is always good for the conference when one of our teams beats a quality opponent and Boise St was certainly that. This just reaffirms to me how great it would be for the conference if Boise St. were to join the Mountain West.

I would detail all of the reasons why, but I have already done that in this blog. All I will say at this point is that if the Moutain West consistently had 5 (BYU, TCU, Air Force, Boise St., Utah) 4 of which could easily be in the top ten in any given year then they would have to be given serious consideration as an addition to the BCS.

I know the Mountain West won’t join the BCS for at least a few more years, but seasons like this, and the addition of a quality team like Boise St., would force the BCS to at least consider adding the Mountain West.

While BYU’s season left something to be desired, it has been a great year for the conference, and though I know it would help the conference in the long run, as I true BYU fan, I have to hope that Utah loses to Alabama. Here’s hoping for another great year in the Mountain West next year.

I’ve already talked about the loss in basketball today which is still upsetting me, and will continue to upset me for a few days, so I won’t say anymore about that.

The football game was even worse to watch. Not only because I will be getting teased at work until football season next year, but because I simply hate to lose in anything, especially a game that was very winnable.

Give Arizona all the credit in the world, they screwed up less than BYU and had a couple more big plays than BYU. Congrats on ending your 10 year bowl drought with a very nice win against a good team that played like crap.

The easiest excuse to make is that they hadn’t played in a month so they were rusty, which absolutely showed for most of the first half, but they started to get it going right before halftime and at the beginning of the second half. Unfortunately that is right about where it ended.

Personally, I have to say the difference maker was the lack of Dennis Pitta. He adds another dimension to this team that makes them almost unguardable. Without him, they are just like anyone else. What I don’t understand is why they waited until late in the fourth quarter to involve him in the offense. I realize he was limping, but it isn’t like his knee got better all of a sudden in the fourth quarter. Had they shown more confidence in him early on, the outcome would have been different.

Arizona’s corners played some nice defense, though there should have been a pass interference call on that bomb to Collie down the middle. They were fast, and always in good position, or at least recovered fast enough to still make the play. Near the end, their line, and linebackers showed up to seal the deal.

If it weren’t for TCU, BYU may have gone undefeated. What I mean by that is that BYU’s three losses all came because of the same reason: the offense got flustered, and the defense couldn’t make a stop. Where TCU comes into it, is that they exposed the defense’s susceptibility to underneath routes. I can’t believe BYU never adjusted to cover those routes. They also had a couple of huge blown coverages resulting in touchdowns.

Seeing as how all we can do is look to the future at this point, I am hoping some of JC transfers will sure up the defensive secondary. I also hope the offensive line will recover with the loss of four good seniors. My greatest fear at this point is that Austin Collie will go pro. The reason that is a fear to me, is that we have no one else to take his place!

Michael Reed is a senior, so he is gone. I think Chambers will be an excellent receiver, but he is not yet a go to receiver. I really have no idea who we would have as a deep threat. We should still have Pitta underneath, and Unga out of the backfield, but it will take a lot to replace Collie if he decides to leave.

My hope is that these two losses leave a bitter taste in his mouth that he wants to get out. They will also have a better shot to run the table next year with utah, TCU, and Air Force at home. Not to mention non-conference games at Arizona St and Florida St. at home. It should be a much better chance to bust the BCS next year than this year.

Only time will tell what happens, and now we have to sit around and wait until next august to see how it all plays out. I really hate the offseason.

So a little bit of sloppiness is to be expected after almost a month off, but it was getting a little out of hand there for a little while. It’s like the ball is greased or something.

BYU does seem to be finding a little bit of rhythm, unfortunately it is half way through the game already. I think the biggest thing killing BYU right now is the absence of Dennis Pitta. I know he is on the field at times, but he is certainly not himself. BYU’s offense just isn’t the same without him.

On defense, BYU HAS to find some way to get some pressure on Tuitama. I would say give Arizona some credit, but BYU is only rushing three or four every down. There have been one or two downs where they rushed five or six, and what was the result, incomplete passes. He is not a good enough quarterback to handle a lot of pressure, but for whatever reason BYU can’t create any.

On offense, they simply need to keep doing what they did to finish the half, minus three penalties on third down. The announcers keep talking about how much bigger and stronger BYU is, so they need to use that to there advantage and keep smashing Harvey down there throats. They were starting to get worn down, and it will only get worse.

It was truly a sad afternoon. BYU controlled most of this game, and then simply let it slip away in the end. Tavernari should have taken that one more second he had to attack the basket, and maybe draw a foul rather than just throwing up a crap shot, but there is no way he could have known he still had that much time. He did the best he could given the circumstances.

What most people will probably focus on was the final tip and whether it was a basket or not. It really could have gone either way. I don’t think the refs could have made a bad call because it was truly that close.

The fact that it was that close meant BYU would lose though as the refs were definitely favoring Arizona St. in small degrees. I don’t think for a second that the refs singlehandedly cost BYU the game, because BYU still maintained control right up until the last couple of minutes, and then simply gave it away.

The biggest positive that I saw in this game was the great defense that they played. The aforementioned poor officiating cost BYU a couple of fouls, but the defensive effort was definitely there in this game. Miles put up a huge defensive effort this afternoon. I can’t remember the last time I saw a big man so consistently move his feet, keep his hands straight up, and put himself in good defensive position. There were numerous occassions he left his man with no other option but to kick it back out.

While they absolutely could have, and should have, won this game, Arizona St. was the toughest test so far this year, and in all reality it was a home game for them. BYU played a good game, but simply did not have enough in the end. There are lessons to be learned and hopefully they will be the better for it in the long run.

While in all reality this has no business being a very close game, this year, BYU has made the less challenging games far more challenging than they need to be.

I will give Arizona some credit, and a congratulations on their first bowl in ten years, but not too much credit. What they have going for them is an experienced quarterback, and a vastly improved running game, but that is about it.

Unfortunately, they have the next to impossible task of bottling up Harvey Unga, Austin Collie, and Dennis Pitta. The only team to successfully do that, when they were all healthy, was TCU, and we all know how that ended up. Even Utah didn’t do that, they were just the beneficiary of a lot of turnovers. Arizona should be scared of how bad Max Hall will want to make up for those mistakes this Saturday.

This may come as a surprise to some of you, but BYU needs to get pressure on the quarterback to be successful on defense. That was the key to their success last year, and what has been lacking this year. Give all the credit in the world to Jan Jorgensen for having a decent season being double and triple teamed. If there was even one other player that could command some attention, he would have been an all-american this year.

As I said before, Arizona should be scared about Max Hall’s desire for redemption on Saturday, but at the same time so should BYU. He will be the difference maker in this game. If he comes out fired up having learned from his many mistakes at Utah, he will shred Arizona apart like he was doing early in the season. On the other hand if he comes out with only the emotion, he will start forcing things again and this game could get out of hand the other way.

Knowing how Bronco has been in the past after a disheartening loss I would look for BYU to come out full of emotion just like the UCLA game, and if they get a few fortunate bounces and calls, this game could end up much the same way. More realistically I would say BYU will simply wear them out with a heavy dose of Harvey Unga (what they should have done at Utah) and then pull away with a couple of late scores to finish it off. Final score: BYU 42-Arizona 21.

When Bronco Mendenhall was hired as the head coach at BYU i wasn’t sure how it would work out. I had high hopes because of the success of his defenses while at BYU. The hussle and heart that they exhibited on a regular basis was truly commendable.

Looking back now I am so grateful he is the coach. I am sure Kyle Whittingham would have done a decent job too, but I would much rather have Bronco. I came across a quote in another article that gave another prime example of why I love Bronco.

The hope by Mendenhall is the Cougars meet Arizona with a heightened sense of awareness and resolve.

“If our team chooses to take that approach, and if they don’t, many times it could get worse before it gets better. That doesn’t happen by chance but by choice. And so if we don’t play cleaner and at a higher level — not chance but choice — where they haven’t been quite humbled to the depths where it needed to be to really make changes necessary where it needed to be.”

Then Arizona will be another humbling loss.

“I can point it out. I can impose demand,” said Mendenhall. “But until it comes from personal recognition, choice will determine the outcome. We’ll know at the end of the game if they’ve taken that challenge or not, not to absolve myself, I’m responsible for all of it.

“But when we truly choose to learn the lessons, the program will get better.”

I love this personal accountability that he demands of his players. He takes the ultimate responsibility as the head coach, which is right, but he also puts the players on the spot because it is their effort and execution that lead to the final result.

I know he refuses to say how long he will stay, except that it won’t be as long as Lavell, but let us hope it will be a long long time.

So I have not really trash talked the yewts in depth this year, because I honestly feel it is a waste of my time, and mostly self explanatory. However, I had to say something about one of the lamest acts I have ever seen in a sporting event.

In utah’s game last night against Oklahoma the joke named luka drca blatantly tripped one of the Oklahoma players. They were jawing a little bit as they started going down the court, but then being the coward that he is he kicked the other guy’s foot, tripping him. It is something you could see in any elementary school hallway without even looking hard.

I realize that the yewts suck this year, more than I can ever remember them sucking, but this was pathetic. Maybe he was just taking a cheap shot at Oklahoma because he feels the football team got robbed, but we all know that is not the case.

I am not one for blowing things out of proportion, but he really should be suspended for a game if you ask me. People do stupid things on the court all the time where they get technicals and that is sufficient, but this was a blatant shot that could have seriously injured the other guy.

Lets just hope they don’t pull some stupid crap like that when they play us.

In closing, congrats BYU on remaining undefeated, this season just looks more and more promising every week. Go Cougars!

BYU put on a shooting clinic tonight and boy was it fun to watch.

The first half of this game was what most people probably expected with it being a close game. Everytime BYU pulled away a little bit, Boise came back to within a few. It was exciting all the way until the second half started, and then the fun began.

BYU just started shooting lights out. Had Boise St. been able to keep a handle on the ball and not turn it over so much, it may have been a slightly different story. But obviously that didn’t happen. BYU came down the court and almost everytime that ball hit the bottom of the net. It was a shooter’s dream to watch.

Their passes were crisp, they were giving up good shots for better shots, and everyone had a hot hand. At one point they were shooting near 80% in the second half, and a lot of those were threes. It was nice to see everyone getting in on the fun too.

The defense is what has impressed me in previous games, but tonight the offense took center stage. It is so much fun to watch this team because they are just that, a team. They are all out to win, and not for personal accolades.

They also have very sure hands. Any number of players can bring the ball up the court with confidence. This allows for all kinds of fast breaks and open shots, because the other team is not able to set up and get ready, and that leads to open shots and layups which BYU had plenty of tonight.

The more I watch this team the more excited I get about their success because it is coming from both sides of the ball, and from all the players on any given night. A player or two going cold will not kill us like in the past. The Mountain West better watch out, because BYU is rockin this year.

So i found this article on the deseret news website. I found it to be truly entertaining, and hope you get a good laugh from it. Somebody deserves some credit for it, but like they said in the article, the author is unknown. Here it is just in case the link doesn’t work:

BCS DECLARES GERMANY WINNER OF WORLD WAR II… US Finishes Ranked 4th

After determining the Big-12 championship game participants the BCS computers were put to work on other major contests and today the BCS declared Germany to be the winner of World War II.

“Germany put together an incredible number of victories beginning with the annexation of Austria and the Sudetenland and continuing on into conference play with defeats of Poland, France, Norway, Sweden, Denmark,Belgium and the Netherlands. Their only losses came against the US and Russia; however considering their entire body of work–including an incredibly tough Strength of Schedule–our computers deemed them worthy of the #1 ranking.”

Questioned about the #4 ranking of the United States the BCS commissioner stated “The US only had two major victories–Japan and Germany. The computer models, unlike humans, aren’t influenced by head-to-head contests–they consider each contest to be only a single, equally-weighted event.”

German Chancellor Adolph Hitler said “Yes, we lost to the US; but we defeated #2 ranked France in only 6 weeks.” Herr Hitler has been criticized for seeking dramatic victories to earn ‘style points’ to enhance Germany’s rankings. Hitler protested “Our contest with Poland was in doubt until the final day and the conditions in Norway were incredibly challenging and demanded the application of additional
forces.”

The French ranking has also come under scrutiny. The BCS commented “France had a single loss against Germany and following a preseason #1 ranking they only fell to #2.”

Japan was ranked #3 with victories including Manchuria, Borneo and the Philippines.

USU dominated the Cougars on the boards with 39 rebounds to BYU’s 29. Add in the 14-7 advantage in offensive rebounds and it makes you wonder what BYU’s big men were doing. I didn’t need to look at those numbers to know we’d been dominated. Just watching the game we all knew that USU was killing us on the boards, but those numbers sure drive the point home.

I’d be completely upset with our big men, but I think it’s probably more accurate to say that USU has some talented boys in the paint. USU is going to win a lot of games on the backs of Wilkinson and Wesley.

Despite USU’s talent, I thought BYU double teamed very well. In the past BYU has been regularly hurt by passes out of the double team that lead to open shots. This wasn’t the case against USU and it was fun to see BYU executed the double team so well.

Of course, my favorite stat of the night was BYU’s 12 steals. It sure is nice to have Jackson Emery back from his mission.