The Questions Answered!

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.

Haws in the House!

 

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!

Maximum Security

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

The Secret Meeting

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.

Post Game Reflections

Now that the Wyoming win is almost 24 hours old, There are a couple of things that stand out in my mind.

We Should Have Expected a Slow Start

After last weeks big, unexpected, blow-out win over UCLA, how could they not have had a let down.  I mean, all the press, accolades, interviews, and expectations, how could they not have felt that all they would have to do is walk into the stadium and show up against Wyoming.  Even with Bronco, trying his best to keep the weekly routine consistent, and prepare the Pokes, the same as every other game. These guys are still human.  I have always maintained that you can’t get up for every game.  Actually, not a bad week to come out a bit unfocused…. cause you could obviously do that and still get a big shut-out.

The D Looks Good, But have they been Truly Tested?

Let me say that I am impressed with the Defense pitching Back to Back Shut-outs.  I think they have a lot of talent on the squad.  I am especially impressed with the quality of the young players on the squad and think we have as much depth as we have ever had there. But I have to wonder if they have really been tested yet?  After last weeks shutdown of UCLA , I thought I had the answer to that question.  But after this week, I am not sure if the bruins were as tough as I thought they might have been. therefore, we might not have a true assessment of the d until New Mexico or TCU 

 We Missed Reed More Than I Thought We Would.

I always knew Reed was talented.  But I guess I missed the point that there is also an element of timing and trust with Hall, that does not yet exist with the combo plate of Hafoka/Ashworth/Chambers .  It just seemed in the game, that Hall was locking in on Collie/Unga/Pitta and not looking for anyone else.  Now, It’s not bad to focus on some of the best receivers that the Cougs have ever had, but it looked like he was throwing into coverage on several occasions and I have to think that someone else had to be open. Hopefully, another two weeks will help chemistry develop so that by the late part of the season, we have more weapons available, and trust enough to use those weapons.

Was that a good win?

Any win is a good win.  Being 11th in both polls shows some improvement, but the cougs will have to prove their dominance against some better talent. They were able to come out flat, after a week of hype and distractions, and still dominate.  Judging from post game comments, they know they need to be better prepared and better focused.  I imagine that Bronco/Anae/Hill et. al, won’t let them soon forget that fact.  So now they have some time to heal up, fix some things, a game against the Aggies to get back into the flow of things, and then, hopefully, hit the ground running toward a BCS Bowl Bid.

Cougars Roll Pokes 44-0

 Wyoming came out hard, and the Cougs looked a little rusty in the first quarter.  Assited by the Defense, and as the game settled in, the cougars rolled on to thier 17th consecutive conference win.

Things started to roll once Scott Johnson picked up an incomplete lateral pass and rushed into the endzone for the only first quarter score.  The Defense came up big with 5 turnovers two of which ended in touchdowns.

Austin Collie lead the offensive effort with 8 catches for 122 yards and two second quarter tds.  Harvey Unga added 123 yards (95 ground, 27 in the air) and two touchdowns.  Cougar touchdown machine Dennis Pitta went scoreless in this outing, and had 3 catches for 24 yrds.  The Michael Reed replacement team of Ashworth/Hafoka/Chambers only had 2 catches for 7 yards.  Hafoka left early with an ankle injury.

Max Hall had 3 TD’s to offset the pokes 3 ints and was 16 of 27 for 189 yards.  though this was not anywhere near last weeks performance, after the first two series, Max settled down and had a solid outing for the remainder of his 2.5 quarters of play. 

Pretty much all of the starters began their bye week a little early and made way for the subs.  Quality reps were to be had by all of the second stringers, and most of the 3rd (maybe even some of the 4th)  The subs held on for the shut-out, particularly thanks to a couple of great defensive plays.  Several other true Freshmen saw playing time, including Daniel Sorensen, Michael Alisha, Shiloah Te’o,Iona Pritchard, and Spencer Hadley.  Kicker Justin Sorensen also hit his first field goal as a cougar.

Bronco described the effort as “like a flywheel” in that it takes quite a bit of effort to get it rolling, but once the momentum begins, it’s hard to stop.  We hope that in most games, the flywheel won’t take quite so long to start.

Nice win for the cougs

The Perfect Storm

Every once in a while, the heavens align, the elements come together, and a perfect storm appears. It happened when we played Pitt in 83. It happened when we beat a top ranked Miami team. And it happened again Saturday.

Here’s what I mean. In 83, BYU came in after a good year, playing a highly ranked team at the right time. With the Miami Game, BYU was playing Miami at the right time. BYU had to play the week before and had a chance to shake off the Rust. Miami came in, expecting to be able to roll over BYU, and was surprised to have a fight on their hands. Last year, BYU was the victim of a perfect storm when it played Tulsa. Tulsa had a new offense, one that BYU had little tape on and little time to prepare for, and found themselves on the losing side with a team they should have been able to beat.

The UCLA game looked to have few surprises between two teams who would be meeting for the 3rd time in the same calendar year. But Bronco, Anae & company had been working hard on an offensive game plan that would help neutralize the things that UCLA had done successfully against the cougars. Add to that, the injury to So’to encouraged Bronco, Hill & Defensive company, to switch to a 3-3-5 or nickel package on defense, something that Craft seemed unprepared for. BYU executed well, UCLA did not, the balls bounced the cougars way, and a route ensued!

Now if we can just have the “Perfect Storm Season” (like 83……. the one where everytime a team looks to overtake you in the rankings, they lose and the voters have little option but to vote for you). Who knows what could happen!

1980 Miracle Holiday Bowl Highlights

Last updated by Jim at September 17, 2008.

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