Welcome to CrashUtah – Where BYU fans Talk Sports

BYU’s early season success was due in large part to a few basic basketball principles. They played great help defense, they made the extra pass giving up a good shot for a better one, and along those same lines they played with a team first mentality.

Starting with a Dec. 20 loss at Arizona St., they started to drift away from those basic principles. Their defense appeared to get lazy. Their passing was inaccurate, and in short supply, and the cohesion of the team as a whole was lacking.

It was frustrating to see them come so close to knocking off two ranked opponents only to fall short at the end of both games.

It is hard to understand why teams change their style when it is successful, but it is not usually a concious decision.

No one decides they want to play poorly, they simply drift into bad habits that cost them games at the end. You also cannot discount the ability of opposing teams to impose their style on their opponents. Quality teams play their style no matter what, and whatever team holds true to their gameplan is usually the victor.

Luckily for BYU fans, this team has rediscovered their style and it is working to quite beautifully. In today’s dominant victory over TCU, BYU got back to basics.

Their defense was solid, repeatedly forcing TCU to kick it back out and take challenged shots. Chris Miles has really come into his own this season on both ends of the court, but especially on the defensive end. He was consistently strong on the low block and wasn’t giving up anything easy.

On offense they suddenly remembered how to pass the ball again. They were working it inside and out, and all around the perimeter. They were taking quality shots and giving it up when someone else had a better one. I was also impressed with the guard’s penetration, especially from the backups. The benefit of having such a quick, surehanded guard is immeasurable.

It was also nice to see a little fight back in the team. They seem to be playing with a little more of a killer instinct again. It is coming out at just the right time too. Now is the time for BYU to assert themselves on a national level so that when UNLV steals the most biased tournament in the country, they will still make it to the big dance.

It has been very nice of late to hear the names of Mountain West teams being mentioned on national sports shows. I have noticed that BYU is almost always mentioned as a quality win for Wake Forest.

Now I realize that being mentioned for losing a game is not exactly the best press you can have, but it says a lot about how far they have come as a program.

A huge part of that recognition is their dominance at home over the years. It is unfortunate that with their first quality opponent outside of the conference in years that they lost, but at least they put up a good fight. In some ways losing may actually have been good because they may be able to entice other quality schools into the Marriot Center and spring a few upsets.

In looking at early predictions for the NCAA tournament, I have also seen that writers are picking as many as 4 teams from the MWC. The four teams are BYU, Utah, UNLV, and San Diego St. It just goes to show that the conference as a whole is improving greatly, and that the balance of power across the country is being spread more evenly.

I also can’t help but think that the conference’s success in football has an impact on it. While having quality football teams does not directly impact your basketball team, it does lead to more attention for your school in general. The MWC is making a legitimate case for being included in the BCS and I can’t help but think that that is helping their case in basketball too.

So as much as it sucks having to go without a game this weekend, take heart in the fact that the conference is gaining respect, and that, more importantly, BYU is being noticed at a national level.

It has been quite awhile since I last wrote, I can thank my baby and job for that, but after reading a ton of comments about this story I just had to say something.

I am sure most of you are aware of the story. As I understand it Kyle Van Noy, a linebacker that was recruited by BYU, was pulled over for a dui last week. When sending in his letter of intent to BYU he included a letter apologizing to the coaches and the school for his actions.

Bronco offered him the ability to take back his letter of intent and go to a different school, or to wait a year and take care of his legal issues and prepare himself to be admitted to BYU in good standing, which was not required by BYU itself, but by Bronco. Van Noy stuck to his original commitment, and so did Bronco.

I simply cannot believe all of the completely stupid comments that people are making about this story.

First of all, the religious aspect. I have read numerous comments stating that because he violated the honor code he should never be admitted to BYU. What these people are saying is that if you want to be accepted to BYU you have to be perfect. Nevermind the true teachings of the gospel which give all people an opportunity to make mistakes, and then learn from them.

It would be a totally different story if he had tried to hide it and pretend it never happened. Instead he decided to come forward, admit that he was wrong, and in essence ask for help. Bronco did the right thing by offering that help, as long as he really wanted it.

How many other BYU students got DUI’s before they enrolled, but were given the chance to make changes and come to BYU in good standing. So many people want to say that the only reason he is being allowed to come is because he is a football player. I say that the only reason we heard about his DUI and not the DUI’s of who knows how many other students at BYU is because he was a football player. He is not being held to a lower standard, but simply a more visible standard.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not approving of his actions. Drunk driving is one of the most idiotic things you can do. Not only are you risking your own life, you are actually more likely to kill someone else through your actions. But, to say that if you make a mistake, however large, you cannot change and come to BYU is denying the very essence of the gospel.

From a football standpoint, this in no way helps BYU. Anyone who thinks that knows nothing about sports. This is going to force him to take a year away from football, with a whole lot of free time to possibly get into more trouble. Besides all of his free time, it will be a hinderment to him physically, as well as to his football instincts. After any extended time off you start to lose your edge a little.

Now I am not under the delusion that he will not be working out and training on his own, but he will not have the structured workouts that come with being a part of a team, and more importantly, he will not be giving and taking hits. At the very least, it is going to slow him down when he first comes back and has to reacclimate himself to not just the football he was used to in high school, but a faster, bigger and stronger football at the college level.

I also don’t agree with all of the comparisons between Kyle Whittingham and Bronco. Kyle is a good man just like Bronco. He is building a quality program based on whatever standards he sees as right. To say that one or the other has stepped away from those values because of separate DUI incidents at each school is childish. They each had unique situations that they responded to under the given circumstances and not one of us is in a position to judge what they did because we do not know all of the details.

I hope this isn’t digressing, but I also feel inclined to address the comments stating they were at parties where they saw BYU athletes and/or recruits drinking and thus breaking the honor code. My response is very simple: I am sure the athletes were not the only students there so why is it that you choose to single out the people that it would do the most damage too? It also dawns on me that you are probably a BYU student too, so what are you doing at a party like that if you are so perfect that you are in a position to judge other people?

My hat is off to Bronco for his handling of this situation. It would have been easy to simply tell this young kid go away and deal with your problems yourself. Instead he stuck with a guy that was very forthcoming about his problems and made a very clear statement. That the principles of the gospel, including repentance, are right at the top of his list where he says they are. He stuck to his commitment and may very well change this young man’s life forever.

To Kyle Van Noy, you screwed up big time, but my hat is off to you as well for allowing millions of judgemental BYU fans and other members of the church to criticize you for your actions. It says a lot about your TRUE character that you were willing to expose yourself to that in order to make a change in your life. You made a commitment, and when given the opportunity to take the easy way out and run away from your problems, you chose to take the high road and run into the fire head on. I look forward to watching you running into opposing running backs head on in 2010.

As a true BYU fan it is impossible for me to congratulate the heathen university to the north for anything, so let me thank Alabama for getting completely manhandled by a supposedly inferior opponent. Not only did you give me another win in my office pool, which I am sure no one else won, but you exposed the BCS yet again.

While I did not expect Bama to play that terribly, I knew that they were not the 10.5 point favorite that many expected. What was even more pathetic was how much the refs tried to help them win calling crappy pass interference calls throughout the game, and refusing to call anything on Bama.

I just love it when the better team wins despite having the odds, the fans, the refs, and the vast majority of America against them. It was truly an impressive showing, earned by a team that I truly hate.

What surprised me even more was all of the comments on the internet this morning in support of Utah as the number one team in the country. There were over 400 comments on one webiste, the vast majority of which agreed that Utah should be number one.

While it would be stupid to think they would kill USC, Texas, OU, or Florida, it would be difficult to argue that they wouldn’t at least give them a good game. Unfortunately the current system makes that impossible.

The case is actually quite simple for Utah: they are the only undefeated team in the country.

Some might say their schedule is weak. While the Michigan win lost its luster, no one would have expected that. Oregon St. beat USC, and while you could argue every team has an off week, apparently Utah didn’t, or at least they found a way to win on their “off” week. They also beat 3 teams that were in the final BCS standings (BYU, TCU, Alabama).

You could argue that the rankings were not accurate, but those same rankings that ranked those three teams, and kept Utah from a national title shot are the same rankings that put two teams with more losses than Utah into the national championship game.

Unfortunately, we are talking ourselves in circles because the powers that be don’t care about crowning a true national champion, they care about money. If the fans truly wanted to invoke change, they would boycott one or all of the BCS games. If the BCS lost all of that money they would be forced to make some changes. But that will never happen.

One comment I read asked how long the “mid-majors” like Utah, Boise St., BYU, and TCU would do nothing about changing the current system. This person obviously has no clue that all the non-bcs conferences have been begging for a long time for change, but the BCS refuses to budge.

What I really don’t understand is why the BCS is so afraid. If these other conferences are truly so inferior, they would never be ranked high enough to play in a BCS game, their “power conferences” would keep all of the money, and it would cease to be an issue. The reality is that just like in college basketball the playing field is leveling, and they want to keep their greedy little fingers on as much of the money as possible.

I place the blame on the NCAA for allowing a few money hungry people to control the biggest money maker in college sports. But, like everything else, I am sure the NCAA leaders get their cut and so they sit idly by letting someone else run their sport. Shame on them for letting the beautiful nature of sport and competition get taken away.

Let us all hope that someday they see the error of their ways and create a playoff system. It doesn’t need to be complicated, and it shouldn’t take an act of congress to make it happen.

The top 8 teams in the final standings of the season are selected regardless of conference affiliation, and regardless of how many times their universtiy presidents have gone fishing together. Their should be no automatic bids because some years you don’t deserve one (the ACC and Big East this year for example).

These four games are played at the four current BCS bowls (or you could add the Cotton Bowl and one more to save the bigger games for the “holy” BCS bowls).

The two semi-final games could be played at the remaining BCS bowls, if you chose to add the Cotton and one more.

The championship game location is selected just like the Super Bowl and gets played all over the country spreading the wealth and building the health of the sport as not only four cities in-turn get to profit from the game.

Once again we have seen that, just like the goverment, the BCS system is broken. Unfortunately, also like the government, the people that are in a position to make change care only about the money, and refuse to make a change. Thank you Bama for exposing them once again.

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.