Welcome to CrashUtah – Where BYU fans Talk Sports

It’s fall again and BYU football is back. I can’t tell you how excited I am for this season. There’s just something beautiful about the feel of a football stadium. Everything from the look of the well kept grass to the cheering makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Well, this year it looks like I’m going to have to put Family First. Yes, that might shock some, but family is more important than football. Let me just give you an idea of how important family is to me by recounting my travel plans to be able to see my family.

9/5/09 – Trip to Arlington, TX to see my brother and tour a new building their in Arlington

9/19/09 – Trip to Provo, UT to celebrate my father’s 60th birthday (he’s a BYU grad too)

10/10/09 – Date night with my wife in Las Vegas and possibly a double date with my brother and sister-in-law if they happen to come for a visit

10/17/09 – Visit to my older sister who just moved back to San Diego, CA

11/14/09 – Trip to Albuquerque, NM to visit my new twin nieces

11/28/09 – Thanksgiving in Salt Lake City with the family

That’s a lot of traveling for “Family.” I hope they realize that in my life it’s all about Family First!! Now I just better check how that coincides with BYU’s football schedule.

I must admit that I was shocked when I heard that BYU was matched up with Texas A&M again. I remember the feeling last year and A&M just isn’t a really good match up for us. They just have more athletes. However, we were in the game and so I think we still have a chance. On top of this, I think there are a number of other reasons why I’m still optimistic about BYU’s chances against Texas A&M in the tournament.

Jimmer Fredette – Jimmer is the future of BYU and thankfully he’s here now. He’s the first point guard at BYU in my lifetime (or at least memory) that can take someone off the dribble, get penetration and take it to the hoop. Plus, Jimmer just seems like a big game guy who seems to really get up for big games and I think he’ll do the same on college basketball’s biggest stage.

Team Defense – I haven’t heard nearly enough about BYU’s defense this year. I mentioned this a while back, but I think that BYU’s help defense and rotating to cover the open man is the best I’ve ever seen it. Add in quick hands by Jackson Emery and the JT’s ability to cause steals and turnovers (which is a surprise to me) and I have reason for optimism.

Underestimating Lee Cummard/Jackson Emery – Let’s be honest. If you looked at Lee Cummard and Jackson Emery for the first time, would you be nervous? Sure, they’ll have a reasonable amount of tape and hype on Lee, but he’s so long that I think that it takes teams a little bit to realize what he’s capable of doing. Emery should surprise people even more. Just wait and see if the A&M coach isn’t singing these 2 guys names after the game.

Miles Free Throw Shooting – I’m too lazy to look up the specific numbers, but we’re all familiar with Miles past troubles at the foul line. I’m not sure what has made the difference, but I’m not getting a heart attack every time Miles goes to the free throw line. In fact, he really seems to have some confidence on the line and won’t be the reason we lose the game.

Any other reasons that I’ve left out? I can’t wait for the game!!

If you told me at the beginning of the season that BYU would have a share of the MWC championship, I would have been very happy. Well, I actually am happy for BYU, but it seems to be a kind of empty happiness.

This is one of the oddest seasons I’ve experienced. Usually BYU has one killer marquee win that makes you feel like the team has potential to be really great. Of course, that major marquee win (or two) is almost always paired with some loss which should have never happened.

A quick look at the losses and you see that BYU Basketball basically won the games they should have won and lost the games they should have lost. The only exception was the loss to UNLV at home. However, I don’t think anyone is really all that surprised that UNLV could beat us at home. UNLV always seems to find something extra special when playing BYU and so the loss wasn’t a huge surprise. Disappointing, but not surprising.

I think the hollow feeling I have is related to two losses to UNLV (which makes me really sick since I work at UNLV) and a loss to the Yewts (this is never good). Add in the near marquee win becoming a 1 point loss to Arizona St on a change of call alongside a competitive game against Wake Forest until the last 5-10 minutes and I sit here wondering if this team is for real or not.

The question remains of whether this team can finally do the deed and win the Las Vegas Invitational and then a win in the NCAA tournament. They haven’t given me a reason not to believe, but they haven’t given me a reason to believe either.

My greatest hope lies in Jimmer. We’ve dreamed about having a player at BYU who can take it to the hoop. We finally have him and I believe he’ll be the difference in March.

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.

I’m too surprised and upset to write about tonight’s football game. My silence should say a lot.

In other amazing news, today the report came out that Chris Collinsworth had been jumped with his companion while on a mission in Australia. I’d always heard that Australia was a pretty rough mission for Americans that went there. However, I still can’t imagine what would bring someone to want to jump 2 missionaries. Maybe I’m wrong, but I can’t imagine Chris Collinsworth doing anything to provoke someone to do something like this. On my mission in Italy a few missionaries got into a tussle with some drunk locals. It’s sad when things like this happen.

I send out my best wishes to Elder Collinsworth, Elder Ferguson and their families.

Here’s an excerpt from the story that describes the incident:

Elder Collinsworth and his companion (an Elder Ferguson from Montana) were jumped from behind by three men, believed to be in their 20s, about 8:30 p.m. as they were walking back to their apartment. When the first attacker jumped on Elder Collinsworth’s back, he flipped the assailant over his shoulder and onto the pavement.

As Elder Collinsworth was busy fighting off the first attacker, a second man then began assaulting him. When Elder Ferguson tried to pull the second attacker away, the third man stabbed and slashed both of the missionaries with a small knife. During the tussle, the attackers managed to pull Elder Collinsworth’s shirt up over his face and tackle him to the ground. While on the ground, and with his shirt over his face, Elder Collinsworth was kicked and slugged repeatedly.
“They beat him up pretty good,” said Jeff Collinsworth, father of Elder Collinsworth.

Fortunately, a man passing by in a car saw the scuffle, pulled his car up and shined his headlights toward the attack — which scared the assailants away.

“That man probably saved their lives,” Jeff Collinsworth said. “At the very least, Chris probably would have lost his teeth.”

Elder Collinsworth spent Tuesday night in a Sydney hospital with a substantial stab wound to his back, but was released to the mission home Wednesday morning.

“He said he’s ready to get back to work,” Jeff Collinsworth said.

Elder Ferguson sustained substantial cuts to his legs, arms and hands and underwent surgery on Tuesday and remained hospitalized Wednesday.

BYU fans have often discussed the benefits and reasons behind BYU having a football program. The discussions always include the fact that BYU doesn’t spend tithe dollars on football and is followed up by a discussion of the missionary benefits and challenges that BYU football provides. I think those things are interesting, but they don’t nearly cover the depth of impact that BYU football has on BYU fans.

I just finished cleaning up my house. I wish I could say that my motivation for cleaning the house is that I love living in a spotless home. Sure, I enjoy the house being clean, but I did have the BYU game in the back of my head while cleaning. I knew that the BYU game was on this afternoon and I’m fully aware of what will happen if the house is a mess when I sit down to watch a 4 hour (or how long are the games these days…they feel like about half an hour when I’m watching them) football game.

Don’t get me wrong, my wife is very supportive of me watching BYU play football, but there are often unspoken costs if I do so when the house is dirty. I wonder how many other hundreds and thousands of BYU football fans have been motivated to clean the house in preparation for a BYU game.

I’m not saying that BYU football is the best reason or best motivating factor in why you should clean your house. I’m just saying that I think it’s probably a strong motivation for many to do things like clean the house before the game. Not to mention how many sons and daughters see and learn how to clean their house in preparation for a BYU game.

Of course, Elder Oaks has an oft quoted talk about the motivations to serve where he espouses that Love is the best reason (if I’m remembering right). So, I guess using that criteria, Love of BYU football is the reason many people are found cleaning their house today.

For me….House clean!! Bring on New Mexico!!

My friend sent this to me in an email, so I can’t link to it properly. However, it’s too good of a post to pass up.

Opening the mailbag: Ball State, BYU and Bush

October 7, 2008 8:01 PM

Posted by ESPN.com’s Ted Miller

Let’s just dive in…

Adam from Berkeley writes: Hey Ted, What exactly has BYU done to deserve a top ten spot? I’m looking at the teams that they’ve beaten and their opponents schedules thus far and there is nothing truly impressive other than that they have won games by a huge margin. It seems like the only reason that they’re in the top ten is because of their preseason ranking along with their victory over UCLA (right after they beat Tennessee). Seeing how that is no longer a noteworthy win, why don’t they drop in the polls?

Ted Miller: Know why BYU is ranked really high?

Because folks who do the rankings think the Cougars are really, really good.

Why do they think BYU is really, really good?

Because BYU has really, really good players. And a really, really good head coach.

If you’re looking for accomplishments, well, there are plenty of teams that haven’t done much — Texas Tech, Texas, Penn State, Florida, Oklahoma — that haven’t done a whole lot.

Why are those teams ranked highly?

Because folks think they are really, really good.

I couldn’t have said it better myself. Now I just hope we can keep playing like we’re really, really good.

We’re only five weeks into the season, yet the maximum number of BCS unbeatens we can have is already down to four. That figure is going to dwindle with time, and the likelihood that there are no perfect teams in early December is very strong. The biggest beneficiary? How about BYU, the 410-pound Cougar in the room? Attrition is going to take a bite out of the big boys over the next two months. Oklahoma still must play Texas and Texas Tech. Alabama hosts LSU on Nov. 8. Penn State must go on the road to Wisconsin and Ohio State in October. All the while, BYU, now No. 8 in the AP poll, will climb closer to one of the top two spots, creating a ferocious national debate that’ll make the folks in Provo swear.

Source

The last part made me die laughing. Good stuff. Of course, I’m sure I’m not going to swear about it. The ironic part is that the reason I’m not going to swear is the same reason I think BYU is going to stay focused. Tons of pressures might make you want to swear at times, but I don’t even notice them since I’m so focused on other things. It’s just a habit I’m in. Bronco seems to have done a very nice job of maintaining the focus of the team so that playing with heart and being assignment sound is just a habit. It’s a habit that’s going to win us a lot of games.

No Holding Penalties on the Offensive Line
No Official Sacks
32 of 41 third-down conversions (78.1 percent)
#11 and #14 national ranking (depending on poll)
No end zone celebration penalties (ie. “flipping” the ball)

Now if only we could have 0 turnovers. OK, now I’m just getting greedy.

I decided to go over and watch the BYU vs. UCLA game at my coworker’s house. This isn’t the normal coworker. He’s an 86 (give or take a year) year old pharmacist. The guy is absolutely hilarious and I had a wonderful time watching the game. Of course, it was made even more wonderful watching BYU just clobber UCLA.

This 86 year old man couldn’t stop talking about how wonderful it was to watch BYU’s offensive line at work. Maybe in his short life he’d never seen a BYU offensive line.

All of that stuff aside, my favorite part of the BYU drubbing of UCLA was the first time that UCLA attempted a field goal and blocked it. I leaned over to my coworker and told him that BYU was going to block the field goal. I told him BYU had been practicing it and I just felt like BYU needed to prove the mess that was last week’s BYU vs. UW blocked extra point wasn’t an abnormality.

I couldn’t have been happier than I was at that moment as BYU in some small way seemed to vindicate themselves by blocking that first UCLA field goal.

Looking to Wyoming
Mendenhall took issue with a reporter’s premise that the Cougars should “cruise” past 2-1 Wyoming on Saturday, saying “I don’t think that ‘cruise’ and our philosophy here match.”