Detmer has done really well at ALA-QC and ALA-GN. His play-calling and knowledge of the game are beyond question. I think (no insider information) that he was forced to play a mentally broken Tanner Mangum, even when he was clearly cooked between the ears (remember when he was doing the “poster child for depression” schtick while he was still playing? And then played in a way that would give anyone depression). I think that was Detmer’s biggest problem, and I think he was forced to stay with him and then scapegoated.
I will always love Mangum’s hail Mary’s against Nebraska and Boise St., but if you take both of those away (which are fluke plays, even when they work), his career was actually kind of bad. Having succeeded on not one, but two Hail Marys boosts his legacy artificially, I think. And Detmer was a casualty of those who didn’t want to be seen as pulling the plug on a poster child for depression.
I think Mangum’s freshman year was quite good. He had a number of good games in addition to the two Hail Mary games. A lot of people at the time were saying he should start ahead of Hill in 2016 because he was a much better passer than Hill. I think it all unraveled for him in 2017 and he could never get his confidence back. He had a couple of ok games in 2018 early in the season and then it unraveled again and he lost his job to Wilson. My assessment is that he had one good year and 2 bad ones. He was actually a highly rated recruit out of HS.
Detmer had nobody else he could play in 2017 other than Mangum and Mangum got injured and wasn’t very good even when he was healthy. The fact is Detmer didn’t have a good QB in 2017.
I don’t need to provide my insider information because it isn’t really unknown information. I guess it isn’t that much insider stuff but I am friends with a former player (actually a couple of former players) who knew Ty very well and there is more to the story but I think everyone hit the basic bullet points and gave a pretty good picture of it. I have enjoyed getting to know one of the all time BYU greats on a personal level as a friend over the last decade or so. He is a genuinely good human being and knowing that he played a big role in the success of BYU football and is super humble about it all makes it even better.
I never knew the back story in Detmer. Thank you to Floyd and others for filling me in. The Mangum story is fascinating. Some great highs such as Nebraska, but then things fizzled. He lives about .5 mile from me now here in Oregon. He has an older brother Parker who is also nearby. Parker was a great athlete himself as a college baseball left handed pitcher then transferred to BYU to play football. He was a TE and QB but had injuries that didn’t allow him to really ever play.
Belated, but good on A-Rod (and Sitaki of course for making the right call). Sound like it wasn’t really all that close. The great news it should mean that Bear is REALLY good or that the other two weren’t all that good, mediocre at best. Either way, we win!!
Season prediction.
Similar to last year’s prediction, I’m going with BYU and Utah will be undefeated when they meet in Provo. (BYU did their part last year, Utah was?, whew, el Turdo!). Unfortunately, I am predicting a Utah win in Provo. 3 interceptions, one fumble by Bear. Has to have a disaster game sometime. Utah defense will match BYU defense all year.
Only loss for BYU all year. One loss Utah (all their big games are home games) also goes to B12 championship game. BYU exacts revenge and Bear is stunning in the win. Both go to the playoffs. Two conference and overall loss Iowa State (losses to BYU and TCU) also goes to playoffs based on huge beatdown of Iowa - Iowa because of narrow home wins vs Penn State and Oregon. Extremely top heavy B10 sends 4 - OSU, Penn State Iowa and my second favorite team Michigan. Notice no Oregon. Sucky SEC also sends only 4. Yeah, I know, I’m sure my math doesn’t work if 12 teams, but since I’m just making stuff up…
Ok, now I’m ready for Saturday and the season!
That would all be great but I would be happy with a spot in the conference championship game and a beat down of Utah in Provo and of course a spot in the playoff. I would be fine with Utah imploding again and Whittingham retiring and then seeing the U FB program reverting back to seventies and eighties form when BYU nearly always beat them and quite
often badly. Things in the universe would then be back in balance.
People are all over the map on BYU. Will Bear come through? I gut tells me that he will surprise everyone. Jake was great at big plays but did a lot of dumb stuff at the wrong times of games. this is what I think
1 Retzlaff was good but not great and Bear is going to take his lumps his freshman year but….. I think Bear is a big upgrade and will be much better then we think
2 BYU’s D is the reason why BYU went 11-2. I think the D will be better against the run this year but not as good against the pass. And that is why I think we can “hide” a new rookie QB long enough to get him the reps to prepare for BYU 12 play.
Anyone see the Cinn game vs. Neb last night? Cinn QB had 25 total yards passing in the game and were on track to take the game to OT til the QB had to throw…..interceptiion ballgame……..BYU is light years ahead of Cinn in the QB game, just sayin.
I think ISU is the team to beat in the Big 12 and that game will be BYU’s loss at their place but BYU would beat them in a Big 12 playoff senario.
Fair enuf. I think Kyle HAS TO open up the offense to be a top 10 team. Question (to your point) will he? can he? I think there is some chance - 40% - because he is heading for the career exit door and has to roll the dice more. Who would want to end on a whimper? We all want that “blaze of glory” but many can’t pull the trigger.
My ute relative is certainly counting on a much, much improved offense and he follows utes practices/news intently. He also said we have two former utes that they sorely miss - Carsen and Tanuvasa obviously.
