- Baylor did to BYU EXACTLY what some of us predicted if BYU played a soft, retreating defensive scheme.
- Our defense has been exposed as an ineffective fraud. We are now 96th worst in 3rd down defense. There are many reasons for this that we can debate, but the scheme is the main cause. RGIII said that Tuiaki told him on Friday that BYU’s goal is to hold runs under 4 yards and passes under 6 yards. He is basically saying that our INTENDED SCHEME is to allow any team any number of first downs, as long as they are patient and take what we intend to allow. Shaking my head…
- I love Kalani Sitake as a person and would want him mentoring any of my 4 kids.
- I doubt Kalani Sitake as a coach after he said he would “learn” from the debacle vs BSU and then rolled out the same defensive game plan against an even better Baylor team, with even worse results. He is clearly “ride-or-die” with Tuiaki, his best friend and cousin, with a blind spot a mile wide (see #2).
- Our WRs are the best I’ve seen since Kozlowski and Bellini–two NFL players. I think Roderick has done a great job of calling plays to get them downfield. Roderick is just hamstrung by the TOP issue.
- It was a bad look for ESPN and incredibly annoying to listen to RGIII cheer out loud for Baylor. I had to mute my TV the entire second half.
- We now know what BYU football is this year: a little better than average. I don’t get too disappointed because as an independent, the only two games that matter are the Utah game and the first loss of the season (which normally coincide
), because whether we finish 11-1 or 6-6 we go to the same lame bowl anyway. Being in a P5 conference will make it way more fun, because your bowl designation is dependent on where you finish in conference play–literally every conference game will matter.
Good post. Thank you for the honest and forthright analysis and comments.
Mark was in my youth sunday school class yesterday (my calling after being released from bishop) and he made a couple of good comments that helped my discussion go well. I love the guy, he has become a good friend over the last several years.
Did you all know that when he went to BYU he wasn’t supposed to be a receiver? That sort of happened by accident and he just went with it. All american and pro for a couple years, you would never know it talking to him. He is a humble, soft spoken man with a good sense of humor and testimony of the gospel. His conversion story is pretty cool too.
Mark Belini lives in Ojai? He’s humble, soft-spoken and good sense of humor…I guess opposites attract
Good times. Both Bellinis were fantastic players–Mark was such a great downfield threat stretching the field, and Matt had over 200 career catches as a RB…you will remember in those days guys like Lakei Heimuli and Kelly Smith also had LOTS of catches…LaVell was a such genius at using short passes to the RB to draw defenders closer to the LOS and then run WRs behind them downfield. Also his TE would have 50-60 catches almost every year. BYU’s O doesn’t even remotely resemble that anymore…
Well the next two games you have Mirror teams-lots of offense and little defense. Not sure Virginia isn’t better than Washington State. Of course I would expect a Mendenhall defense to be better than Washington State’s but it’s on the road in rainy Washington
newsflash - Washington State will be without their head coach and possibly several assistants. He would not get the vaccine so the stupid, liberal state of Washington has fired him.
News flash? I have a thread established on this. Talk about dementia 
The last two games have significantly eroded my faith in BYU football this year.
The BYU football PROGRAM is an average to a little above average program. And it has been that way for many years. Last year was an aberration and we know why. And the program will struggle the first 5 to 7 years in the B12
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Arkie: Agree on all points. I hope and expect BYU basketball to compete sooner than BYU football at a high level sooner in the Big12, because A) our basketball coach really IS a truly elite level coach, and B) one or two of the right recruits can take you from good to great in hoops, but it will take about 20 top end recruits to go from good to great in Big12 football.
We all saw what we saw vs Baylor and can’t deny it. The gap is not small.
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This is from DC Tuiaki:
“We need to coach better and execute our game plan better and that is my job. We need to tighten up our techniques and fundamentals — and not do other people’s jobs but do their own 1/11. That falls on our shoulders as defensive coaches to make that happen. “We have to be better inspire-ers of our game plan.”
Beautiful coach-speak…am I the only one who notices the difference between what he says: “That falls on our shoulders as defensive coaches to make that happen,” and what he really MEANS, which is “the game plan is perfect but the players let us down due to their poor techniques and fundamentals and selfishly doing others’ jobs.”
Tuiaki should run for office.
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Yeah, that was bad.
We live in a society that feels completely unaccountable for anything. The coaches may say one thing but it is obvious they don’t mean it…
Sorry the design has been flawed for years. I’ve seen similar defensive designs from college through the NFL and the majority of the time it ends up hurting the team, unless you are playing somebody significantly less talented than you are and end of pressuring the quarterback with a 3 man rush. Most quarterbacks in division one football are capable of picking a team apart with 4 or more seconds in the pocket and it’s even worse when they break containment
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No, don’t encourage him! Our government would be even worse!
Tuaki and Sitaki must get together and practice their schtick. I guess they really believe that we who have heard this crappola for 25 to 30 times do not laugh till our sides hurt.
Roderick ran into the same problem working for Whit.
Where to start? BYU was terrific in the Utah/ASU games. Unpredictable and timely blitzes. Last two games? Sadly predictable.
Scouting WSU…Play Romney and open up the offense to our ridiculously talented Nacua/Romney/Pau’u studs. Somehow we have got to produce more points then our defense give up.
It will be raining. We have to be able to run the ball. Hall has to run 8-12 times. That will open up the run for Algiers. Hall needs to keep a space between his hand and the ball when he passes when the ball is wet. He will do fine in the passing game. Main thing, don’t get stuck and make mistakes deep in the WSU side.
I would like to see a no holds barred aggressive scheme vs WSU. So they may get a couple quick scoring drives? Who cares? Not me. Our current defense is statistically one of the worst in the country. So the current scheme is a demonstrable, abject failure. If we are allowing TDs anyway, I’d rather allow quick TD drives while putting pressure on the QB with a chance to disrupt him than give up long TD drives while letting the opponent have all day to do what they want.
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tlarimer, I completely agree with your reasoning. We have to take chances at getting our D off the field more quickly and allowing the offense more time and scoring opportunities. A 9 minute TD drive is much more of a killer than a 3 min drive with a big play. If you are successful one out of 4 times at making them punt and we limit the TOP it is a completely different game. The added benefit is that our D is more rested when we have to have a stop and we might force a team into throwing more. Pass rush, blitzes and a little chance taking with our DB’s is a good thing. But, most of us know the weak spot in this program in the D coordinator. Don’t hold your breath.
It’s going to rain. How many fumbles do we expect? Or are we going to be prepared? 🥸