2008 September | BYU Sports Guy

Utah St. BYU leads series 41-33-3
9-23-06	BYU 38	USU 0
10-4-02	BYU 35	USU 34
10-5-01	BYU 54	USU 34
10-6-00	BYU 38	USU 14
10-1-99	BYU 34	USU 31
10-3-97	BYU 42	USU 35
10-4-96	BYU 45	USU 17
9-30-94	BYU 34	USU 6
10-30-93	USU 58	BYU 56
10-2-92	BYU 30	USU 9
10-4-91	BYU 38	USU 10
11-24-90	BYU 45	USU 10
9-30-89	BYU 37	USU 10
9-30-88	BYU 38	USU 3
10-2-87	BYU 45	USU 24
9-6-86	BYU 52	USU 0
11-9-85	BYU 44	USU 0
11-24-84	BYU 38	USU 13
10-29-83	BYU 38	USU 34
10-30-82	USU 20	BYU 17
10-2-81	BYU 32	USU 26
10-18-80	BYU 70	USU 46
10-13-79	BYU 48	USU 24
11-7-78	USU 24	BYU 7
9-24-77	BYU 65	USU 6
10-23-76	BYU 45	USU 14
11-8-75	BYU 24	USU 7
9-21-74	USU 9	BYU 6
10-6-73	USU 13	BYU 7
9-23-72	USU 42	BYU 19
10-9-71	USU 29	BYU 7
10-24-70	BYU 27	USU 20
11-15-69	BYU 21	USU 3
11-9-68	USU 34	BYU 8
11-4-67	USU 30	BYU 9
10-8-66	BYU 27	USU 7
10-30-65	USU 34	BYU 21
10-31-64	BYU 28	USU 14
11-2-63	USU 26	BYU 0
11-27-62	USU 27	BYU 21
11-4-61	USU 31	BYU 8
11-29-60	USU 34	BYU 0
10-31-59	BYU 18	USU 0
11-1-58	BYU 13	USU 6
11-2-57	BYU 14	USU 0
11-27-56	USU 33	BYU 7
11-5-55	USU 47	BYU 21
10-30-54	USU 45	BYU 13
10-16-53	USU 14	BYU 7
11-15-52	USU 27	BYU 26
11-10-51	BYU 28	USU 27
11-4-50	BYU 34	USU 13
11-5-49	USU 22	BYU 3
10-23-48	USU 20	BYU 7
10-25-7	BYU 27	USU 12
11-9-46	Tie	0-0
10-31-42	USU 9	BYU 6
11-1-41	BYU 28	USU 0
11-2-40	BYU 12	USU 7
11-11-39	Tie	0-0
11-9-38	USU 3	BYU 0
11-13-37	BYU 54	USU 0
10-17-36	USU 13	BYU 0
11-16-35	USU 27	BYU 0
11-3-34	USU 15	BYU 0
11-18-33	USU 14	BYU 0
11-19-32	BYU 18	USU 6
11-7-31	BYU 6	USU 0
11-1-30	BYU 39	USU 14
10-18-29	BYU 7	USU 6
10-27-28	USU 10	BYU 0
10-29-27	USU 22	BYU 0
10-15-26	Tie	0-0
10-24-25	USU 10	BYU 0
11-7-24	USU 13	BYU 9
11-12-23	USU 40	BYU 0
10-7-22	USU 42	BYU 3

The series includes 18 shut-outs and 3 0-0 ties. Utah State has also only won 3 games in the last 30 years.

Source: http://www.cougarstats.com/vsopponents.html#utahst

Sep 30th by Jim

Butterfly Effect: phrase that encapsulates the more technical notion of sensitive dependence on initial conditions in chaos theory. Small variations of the initial condition of a dynamical system may produce large variations in the long term behavior of the system.

I’m not sure there is a better way to describe this years college football scene than chaos. And one of the most publisized parts of Chaos Theory is know as the “Butterfly Effect”. It basically goes like this, A butterfly flaps it wings in China, and wing flap causes a slight variation in the air currents that cause storms to move or change thousands of miles away.

So what are this years BYU football butterflies? These would be single plays that may have had significant impact on the outcome of a season. Example, In 1984, Kyle Morrell’s timed leap over the Hawaii offensive line, helped determine the national champion.

So nominate your plays of the year.

Sep 29th by Jim

I thought it would be interesting to go back and look at the AP poll voting for 1984 and see how this years cougars are measuring up.

AP Poll Date Rank Next Opponent Score

Pre-season NR Pittsburgh 20-14

Sept. 4 13 Baylor 47-13

Sept. 11 8 Tulsa 38-15

Sept. 18 6 Hawaii 18-13

Sept. 25 8 Colorado St. 52-9

Oct. 2 7 Wyoming 41-38

Oct. 16 7 Air Force 30-25

Oct. 23 5 New Mexico 48-0

Oct. 30 4 UTEP 42-9

Nov. 6 4 San Diego St 34-3

Nov. 13 3 Utah 24-14

Nov. 20 1 Utah St. 38-13

Nov. 27 1 Michigan 24-17

Final 1

So in 84, we were 8th in the AP on this date. Does lightning ever strike the same team twice?

Sep 28th by Jim

Sep 27th by Jim

What We Knew

The Cougars came into this season with a lot of confidence on the offensive side of the ball. After all, pretty much every starter was returning except Sete Aulai, Matt Allen, and Manase Tonga. With a flood of young talent coming to help fill in the gaps, there were few doubts about the offense

What We Didn’t Know

The Defensive side of the ball, however, was quite different. The departure of Manumaleuna to a mission, and the return of Russel Tialavea left the defensive line pretty much un touched. But now also gone were names like Kehl, Criddle, Poppinga, Gooch,Gabriel, and Buchanan. With most of the starting linebacker corps and defensive secondary gone to graduation, the big questions were about who would man the defense.

Linebackers

David Nixon provided a solid starter to build a linebacking corp around. But before practices could even hardly get going, they lost Terrance Hooks to injury and later, an early season injury cost them Vic So’to. But fortunately, linebackers Shawn Doman, Matt Bauman, Jadon Wagner, and CJ Ah You all returned with significant playing experience. A good group of starters, but very little depth.

Secondary

With no returning starters from the secondary, safety’s Kellen Fowler and David Tafuna, having significant playing time, were counted on heavily to ancor this group. Backup Brandon Howard, and walk-on Scott Johnson filled out the roster.

Bring in the Reinforcements

Just like an old-time western movie, just when you look to be in trouble, in comes the cavalry. New names like Bradley, Rich, Clawson, Putnam, Pendelton, Sorensen, Te’o, Alisha, and Pritchard came rumbling onto the scene. this group of reinforcements filled out the depth charts, are seeing significant playing time, and making great contributions to the defensive effort.

The Future

Bronco and company have put together recruiting efforts that should keep the team, and especially the defense strong for years to come. Coach hill and his staff are doing an excellent job of teaching technique and developing performance. Colby Clawson looks like a beast and Putnam, and Bradley have also made some big plays. Given that the Defense should only lose Fowler, Tafuna, and Nixon, that side of the team should have answered the question for next year as well.

By the Numbers

After four games, the Defense is holding opponents to a per game average of:

Rushing: 107 yrds

Passing: 196 Yrds

Touchdowns: 1.25

Points: 11

Take-aways: 3

This Cougar defense has put up two straight shut-outs, and those with the first string sitting on the bench by the end of the third quarter.

Sep 26th by Jim

Wondering what to do during the bye week? Here are a few suggestions:

10- Watch BYU reruns on the MTN

9- Spend the week voting for the Cougs on all the Internet polls

8- Practice doing the wave in your living room.

7- Organize an Elder’s Quorum Social to eat brats and play flag football.

6- Go to the zoo and watch “the cougars” play

5- Learn the words and hand actions to Popcorn Popping!

4- Go to Metropolitan Salon on University Avenue and get your hair dyed cougar blue!

3- Rehab your vocal chords

2- Ding dong ditch your Ute neighbors

1- Finally mow your lawn. It’s been growing since August!

Sep 26th by Jim

Video on this Kid

I was impressed with the first video I saw of this kid. But it wasn’t on the basketball court. It was in a presentation by the LDS Church General Young Men’s Presidency. Tyler was serving as his wards Teacher’s Quorum President, and their meetings were video taped to show how to correctly work with Aaronic Priesthood Presidencies. Tyler stood up and took control as quorum president and ran things the way they should be run. I know, I know, when you put a camera on a group, they tend to step and and perform. I was assured, however, by Brother Burgess (another great Alpine, Utah name), and uncle to Sam Burgess, that this was how they functioned all the time. I was impressed with his leadership skills.

Numbers on the Court

His numbers on the court would also bare this out.

Points per Game: 21

Rebounds: almost 5 per game

Assists: 3.1

Steals: 1.5

Accolades

He also brings with him a long string of recognitions.

2 time 5A MVP

2 time 1st team All State

Deseret News Mr. Basketball for the State of Utah

Utah Gatorade Player of the Year

1 of 100 Seniors Nationwide invited to NBA Player Association Camp

Excited

Cougar fans everywhere are excited to see him follow in his father’s (Marty Haws) footsteps. I don’t ever remember a kid who has gotten so much fan attention for so long. Coach Dave Rose will be happy to have Haws in the House. I will be looking forward to seeing him on the hardwood in cougar blue!

Sep 25th by Jim

The name “Max Hall” has been all over the air waves this fall. And deservedly so. Hall’s statistics this year cry for attention from Heisman voters, and are helping to fuel media attention for the University. I mean, look at these numbers after 4 games.

Attempts 144

Completions 107

Yds 1284

Int 2

TD 15

That’s over 74% completion rate with 7.5 touchdowns per Interception. But The man who is getting “Maximum Air” will be the first to tell you, he’s not the only reason.

It all Starts Up Front

A quarteback is only as good as his offensive line, and BYU may have an outstanding one this year. Coming in to the year, the only starter from last year to not be returning was Sete Aulai. And Tom Sorenson was lined up to take his place. But when Sorenson was lost in the pre-season, the cougars had enough depth to move Dallas Reynolds to center, and bring in his “little” brother Matt to replace him at tackle.

The Best

Coach Mark Weber called them ” The best offensive line since I’ve been at BYU”. Having coached for 27 seasons, at schools such as UCLA, North Carolina and Fresno State, Coach Weber has seen some pretty good talent. He even went on to say they have the potential to be the best line he has ever coached.

By the Numbers

The Statistics for 2008 would support Coach Weber in his accolades for this bunch. After 4 games, 0 sacks (though it could be argued there should have been one in the UNI game), 0 holding penalties, and only a hand full of hits on the quarterback. For a team that throws as much as the cougars, those are some awesome stats.

The Running Game

But it’s not just the protection and success of the passing game that is impressive. Harvey Unga and crew are putting up some great numbers on the ground as well. In fact, the most impressive thing to me was the way that the cougars were able to run against Washington and UCLA. They have not had great ground games against any BCS schools in quite a while. They are allowing Unga to run with Maximum Power!

Recognition

Offensive Line is a position where few see when you do your job, and everyone notices if you don’t. They will walk by the line of reporters waiting to interview Max, or Harvey, or Austin, or Dennis. They will then quietly smile to themselves knowing they are the guys that make it all possible.

The starting five
Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Class Hometown
Matt Reynolds LT 6-6 315 Freshman Provo
Ray Feinga LG 6-5 334 Senior West Valley City
Dallas Reynolds C 6-6 332 Senior Provo
Travis Bright RG 6-5 327 Senior Queen Creek, Ariz.
David Oswald RT 6-8 330 Senior Sandy

Sep 25th by Jim

The Story

Yesterday, on Quinn Gooch’s blog, (http://deepshadesofblue.com) there was posted an excellent article about a secret meeting held between a group of defensive players, and then interim AD, Tom Holmoe. This article is a must read for any cougar fan, and gives great insight into the backroom dealings and player interactions in the hiring process of coach Mendenhall.

The Rest of the Story

There is another piece of the hiring story, that I learned from a friend close to the program. Apparently, when Bronco first interviewed, His loyalty to Coach Crowton led him to treat the interview, not so much as an employment opportunity, but as a forum to try to convince the group that they had not given coach Crowton a fair chance, that the program was making some progress, and that they had made a mistake in letting him go. (I don’t know the specifics, but that was basically how it was relayed to me.) I was told that after his first interview, Bronco figured he probably wouldn’t be considered after that discussion. And the offer was made to Kyle Whittingham.

The Second Interview

But when “Benedict Whittingham” turned his back on the program, fertilized his goatee, and moved into his office up north, Bronco got another opportunity. (No doubt, helped greatly by the secret meeting that Quinn Gooch referred to.) This time, Bronco went in with a new focus. Armed with a vision, he was also prepared to make his case to be the guy, to turn the perceived negatives into strengths, and to take the program back to greatness. The rest is well know to Cougar fans young and old.

What Might have Been

I have often asked myself, what might have happened had coach Crowton been given a few more years, or had coach Whittingham taken the job, where would the program be? It’s possible that coach Crowton may have figured out the unique aspects of BYU and turned things around. I think we can look at the U and see what Whit would have done. (Glad we dodged that bullet.) But I think we can all be grateful that whatever the back story, or elements that played into it, Coach Mendenhall was the eventual, and totally right choice to put the cougars back on top.

Sep 24th by Jim

BYU has only finished its season in the top 10 four times. This season shows BYU currently at 11, which if the winning trend continues, BYU will definitely finish in the top ten, which hasn’t happened since 1996!!!

Year	Record	AP#	Coaches#	BCS#
1977	9-2	20	16	n/a
1979	11-1	13	12	n/a
1980	12-1	12	11	n/a
1981	11-2	13	11	n/a
1983	11-1	7	7	n/a
1984	13-0	1	1	n/a
1985	11-3	16	17	n/a
1989	10-3	22	18	n/a
1990	10-3	22	17	n/a
1991	8-3-2	23	23	n/a
1994	10-3	18	10	n/a
1996	14-1	5	5	n/a
2001	12-2	25	24	n/a
2006	11-2	16	15	20
2007	11-2	14	14	17
2008	4-0	11*	11*	-

Source: Wikipedia

Sep 24th by admin

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BYU vs USU Series Summary

The Butterfly Effect

A Comparison with 1984

For Your Bye Week Viewing. BYU vs. UCLA

The Questions Answered!

Top Ten Things to Do During a Bye Week

Haws in the House!

Maximum Security

The Secret Meeting

History of BYU’s Top 25 Finishes

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