Good Enough...

Well, it's nice to finally have a game to write about, after a bye week led to more BCS speculation than anything else, and I'm sure many of you tired of me projecting and guessing and wondering about BYU's place in the world of ballots and bytes. So, let's talk about some football that was actually played last night in Logan...

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First and foremost, BYU won again, for a 15th straight time no less, and that remains THE most important thing to come out of last night. Style points notwithstanding, going up 34-nothing and winning handily on the road is something a lot of Top 25 teams would like to get done on gameday.

BYU is now three full weeks removed from the game Bronco Mendenhall called the "most complete game" of his tenure in Provo, and it's fair to say BYU has failed to execute at as high a level since its 59-0 dismantling of UCLA.

Granted, the bar was set pretty high that day, but the Cougars have struggled to put together four full quarters in the the ensuing two wins (44-0 over Wyoming and 34-14 over Utah State). Tough to fault a defense that has allowed only 14 points in 12 quarters of play, but the offense has been a bit inconsistent, owing to some different factors.

Against Wyoming, a distracting week of overwhelming media attention was partly to blame for a sluggish start that featured no offensive points and only 40 yards gained in the first quarter. Once Max Hall and Company caught fire in the second quarter (20 points, 195 yards), the game was essentially over, and again, Hall was lifted from the game in the 3rd quarter. The backups failed to get into the end zone, as BYU essentially ran the game out in the closing quarter. The game was also the first without injured WR Michael Reed, and his absence was noticeable, as no other wide receiver other than Austin Colie had more than one catch.

Against Utah State, BYU was almost expected to start slowly, coming off a bye week, and playing an overmatched opponent. But there were the Cougars, scoring a touchdown on their opening possession (for the 13th time in the last 16 games--amazing), and cruising to a 24-0 first quarter lead (BYU's biggest 1st quarter since scoring 28 in the opening quarter v. Utah in 1989). In hindsight, the big early lead may have been the worst thing to happen to BYU, as the Cougars seemed to perceptibly lose focus, knowing the game was likely already won. Atypical dropped passes, delay of game penalties, personal foul penalties (all kinds of penalties, really; 12 in total), a missed field goal, a field goal blocked, throwing into coverage--all of these things led to BYU being outscored 14-10 by the Aggies over the final three quarters of play.

Before the game, Bronco told me he thought the game would be close for a while; maybe an early punch to the gut by the Aggies would have been just what the Cougars needed to shock the system. Instead, things came too easily, too quickly, and BYU failed to finish in a way to which fans have become accustomed.

And to me, that is the story of the game, and of the program. BYU Football is at a stage where many view anything less than four quarters of dominance as unacceptable. Perhaps that is a bit of an overstatement, but scoring 34 points while winning by 20, on the road against a pumped-up instate foe is seen by some as a failure of sorts. It may not be entirely fair, but by going 27-4 over their last 31 games, the Cougars have created a monster of sorts, and feeding that monster seems to get tougher week by week.

Bronco may seem at times frustrated by the frustration of others, but it's because he realizes the value of victory and the difficulty of obtaining it--regardless of the caliber of opposition. You need only witness the number of upsets on any given weekend to know that a surprising setback is sometimes only a play or two away. BYU was never in danger of losing last night's game, and there is value in that, too.

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Indeed, kudos to BYU for putting the opponent in an early hole once again. A long scoring drive to start the game, a defensive touchdown, a field goal after takeaway, another short field touchdown after another takeaway, and the Cougars were off and running. BYU's foes never get up on top, and it changes the way they are forced to call the game. Credit BYU for taking teams out of their game plan week after week.

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BYU defenders were tenacious in Logan, piling up 13 tackles for loss and five sacks on the night. Seven different players had TFLs, led by Brett Denney's four--all in the opening quarter.

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For the second straight week, Austin Collie was the only wide receiver with more than one catch, but that should change next week as Michael Reed makes his return from arthroscopic knee surgery. Collie was his usual self in Logan--8 catches, 132 yards, 2 touchdowns. He has seven receiving touchdowns in only five games, and despite two uncharacteristic drops last night, has proven to be as reliable a downfield option as BYU has ever had. His second touchdown catch was a thing of beauty, but as he described it on our postgame show, he "just threw his hands up" and came down with it. Trust me (and if you saw the game you know what I'm talking about), that catch was not that easy. It appeared to an end zone overthrow when Max Hal released the ball, but Collie turned it into a graceful touchdown grab--his 22nd receiving touchdown as a Cougar (tied for 5th alltime with Gordon Hudson).

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Injuries to LB David Nixon and DB Scott Johnson were described as leg and thigh contusions, respectively. Bronco told us in the postgame show that it will likely be Monday before their availability for the New Mexico game be assessed. Nixon spent a long time down on the turf, and sitting next to the BYU coaches (as we were in Logan), watching linebackers coach Barry Lamb's reaction was to see a coach who had to be fearing that he had just lost his best player to a serious injury--in the fourth quarter of a game his team was winning handily. I can only guess about what was going on in Barry's mind, but I'm sure "why did I have him in the game?" was one of the thoughts running through his head. But, defensive and offensive coaches were striving for consistency last night, and you can't fault a coach for keeping a player like Nixon in the game, especially since outside linebacker depth has been an ongoing worry for some time now.

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Speaking of linebackers, Grant Nelson and Terrance Hooks may be ready to go for the TCU game, but coaches are being cautious in predicting a return date. While both have made remarkable progress in their recoveries, neither can be expected to be in game shape, and they will be handled carefully. Nelson will be able to play both strong and weakside positions (he was cross-trained last year), while Bronco told me Hooks is being looked at primarily as a "Mike" linebacker.

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I should have made this point last night, but regarding questions about whether Max Hall was "horse collared" when being sacked last night, the horse collar rule does not apply "to a quarterback who is in the pocket," or a "runner who is inside the tackle box" (Rule 9-1-2-p).

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