In this Desnews article, Dave McCann talks about the list of injuries to our starters.
Thought you guys might enjoy it.
BYU football: For Cougars, 2021 season was all fun and games until … - Deseret News
what else are you going to say when you lay an egg to a no name team?
Yes, many injuries and that says that BYU is very good when we have starters healthy, very beatable when we have 2nd and 3rd stringers starting.
2 points on our defense:
We are terrible at adjusting throughout the game. I’ve coached my fair share, whenever I ran into a team that very good at one thing, like rushing, I would put enough firepower on the line that the opponent is forced to try something else. Nah, BYU just makes zero adjustments and dies from a 1000 cuts.
It is really as simple as making them do things they don’t want to do.
Secondly, Tuiaki has got to go. No pressure on QBs means even mediocre teams can beat BYU you if they have just a few players. Watched Hill and the Saints embarrass Tom Brady and Tampa with creative defense. I don’t think anyone in America thought that would happen.
Fish Tampa Bay generally made Hill throw the ball very quickly by rushing 5 down lineman almost the entire game. New Orleans rushed 4 down lineman and sometimes a 5th on Brady. Of course what do the pros know? Right??!
I’m working up some final season statistics to include in a post tonight or tomorrow, but your point is on point! I will add this: BYU’s problem has nothing to do with not having enough talent on the DL. Could it be better? Of course. But we have several DL who played very well this year, and who are excellent individual pass rushers. The problem is that we don’t pressure the QB ON PURPOSE. Three guys rushing against 5, or even 4 vs 5 and a RB, is a declaration that we do not intend to pressure the QB and do not WANT to pressure the QB, because we believe that if we have one or two extra guys in coverage, and if we allow the QB to throw enough passes without pressure, he will get greedy and throw a pick into double coverage.
Sounds like a pretty stupid strategy when I read that back to myself before hitting “reply”.
Some of the stats I will post later make it just unbelievable that Tuiaki still has a job…
Again, your allegations against Tuiaki can’t be justified because of the wins against 6 P5 opponents this year. The facts about the injuries are true. You have to dance with the person you brought to the dance.
I too did much coaching in basketball and ran my own martial arts school. There are defenses and offenses you can run with more skilled players and students that you can’t do with less skilled and ability players and students. And, you should know this. With all the injuries on defense, changes you want to see just wouldn’t have been possible. We were already having problems with assignments like that last 4th and 7 yards that UAB scored on. Not having Hall to start the game hurt for the same reason and we got down 14 quickly.
Good summary of what has happened this year. Coaching experience is relevant to some posters on this site, but for some it is a sham and ridiculous that they want to be taken seriously. Anyone that knows anything about football, knows you can’t give a decent quarterback with quality receivers a large amount of time in his drop back. The receivers will eventually break open and the quarterback will deliver the ball. Although I missed the game, I have seen many similar situations BYU has been in and in many cases it hasn’t worked out for BYU, unless BYU can simply score almost every time they have the ball. In the future I would like to see more head up man coverage, while trying to force the qb to get rid of the ball in minus 2 seconds. It might mean continuously sending 4, 5 or 6, but in the long run it should force more mistakes. BYU wins with a dominating offense, seldom have I seen them win with a dominating defense in the last few years-too bad. Despite the loss-a good year for BYU, but when Big 12 time arrives you are going to need a coaching and talent upgrade on defense or it might not be a great experience for BYU football. Merry Christmas!
Yes, half of your post is great and the rest a sham. You deny the 6 starters missing for much of the year especially the bowl game. And, without Hall, Romney started off weak and never got much better. Hall was the missing key for the win.
The sting of the bowl game is real and 10 and 3 versus 11 and 2 says a lot. Excuses are ok for an independent BYU FB program. Excuses do not cut it as a member of the B12. If the Cougars (B12) win 6 or less for 3 or 4 years the much higher volume of wailing and gnashing of teeth will be quite noticeable. I echo the statement that a serious upgrade of D coaches and players will be necessary unless BYU is ok with being a B12 doormat, year in and year out. Injuries are just part of the game and unless a team has the superior coaching and talent pool to cover injuries, it is dudsville for that program.
Well you probably hit the nail on the head. It really doesn’t do any good to keep offering excuses for losses. It’s like blaming the rain for a loss. There is work to be done if BYU is to be competitive in the Big 12. We might as well all face the fact, that we will be humbled if some things don’t change. Losing a bowl game kind of leaves a bad taste in your mouth, especially when it’s a team everyone figures you should defeat and it doesn’t help to say stupid things like if we would have had so and so, we would have won.
Once again the only thing that is fictional, is your post. I didn’t mention anything about injuries. They are a part of the game and we won games with significant injuries. The only thing that is relevant is we lost the game because their qb was 19/23 and they out rushed us and the turnovers were even. Close game, but they won fair and square, no excuses, no whining, no wait until next year
I stand on the post as well as many others agree. However, I have stated that what Arkie says about getting more players at a higher level is also important. Seeing the recruiting classes since Sitaki has taken over shows he’s already doing the very best he can. Going to the Big12 makes a difference and already has. Perhaps as we get more better players and deeper, you will see the kind of defense you clamor for. You may want to review the earlier games when we had all the starters on defense and you will see we did rush the QBs a lot more. So, patience is a virtue and an attribute of the Lord. Chill and be kind and remember these players are young men and need fan support. Not rejection. Coaches too.
Based on this comment alone, what you are saying that the reason we won 6-P5 games was because of what the defense did on the field. As if that is the only reason, we won those games.
Scott, that is not accurate, at least two of those games off the top of my heard (Washington State and USC) were won because our offense was able to keep ahead of these teams, not because of anything the defense did. In fact, the defense biggest issue this year was allowing the other team’s offense on the field for long periods of time. Which almost cost us these games.
May I also remind you that those 6 P5 schools only ONE of them was good (Baylor) which we lost, the PAC12 teams by all the experts out there are saying the PAC12 is really down this year. To have USU beat an Oregon State team says a lot about the quality of a PAC12 win this year.
Do you not remember that USC was down several players? and they almost beat us? OR that Boise State was on their 3rd string QB? and THEY BEAT US!
Injuries are a factor Scott, a good coach adjust to his injuries by playing a different scheme that mitigates the issue, which is what Boise State did to us.
Drop 8 defense does not work in the college level.
I didn’t say the only reason for the win was the defense. However, it’s a team game and the goal was to hold teams at 24 points or fewer. At that point the offense must do their job. It the opposition gets above 24 points then the offense has to be even more effective. Saturday, it was not as we needed Hall and his dimension of running was needed he’s a better passer. Especially with the wind blowing as hard as it was.
You can say the PAC12 teams and Virginia weren’t very good. That’s your opinion. I disagree. They are PAC12 and P5 teams. If you recall, the highly intelligent people in here predicted at most a 7-6 record with some 6-7 or worse. You know who you are.