1- Wilson hit “Legend Status” in one game. I watched him in his exit interview talking about preparation. This kid is years ahead of his true age. His throwing motion is completely changed from the time I first saw him a year ago. His throws are smooth and effortless. The guys don’t drop balls because Wilson hits them in stride (except one very bad underthrow to Bushman) A+
2- This was Kalani’s 1st QB recruit out there. I remember Grimes recommiting Wilson the 1st day he got out West. It appears that they had this vision of what a duel QB is…still bugs me that we did not see this kid from day one. No one feels better about the QB change then Sitake this morning.
3- Tuiaki felt the ire of cougar nation these past weeks, as in fire the dude. What he did to Hawaii’s Cole McDonald (admit it, everyone of you sang, “Old McDonald had a farm” during the game?) At the party at my house it was busting out routinely throughout the night. Nickels and Dimes all night with full on blitzes, at one time, the commentators said, “there must be 11 Kaufusi s out there”
4- The young guns have spoken and we have a bunch playing out there from the Oline to the receivers. My favorite by far is Wilson to Romney…what a NFL type catch…we should see about a 100 of those through the years.
5- So good to see Dayan Ghanawoku back out there. Saved two TDs that I could see. I was also missing El Bakri a ton.
6-Hawaii did not know what hit them. a Tsnami of Tonga and Kaufusi in the backfield blew up their scheme.
7- Three scores in the 1st qtr…whereas; BYU had 1 TD in the first 6 games after 15 munutes of play. The qb change was looooooong over due. Makes me wonder how we would of faired in the USU game.
8- feels so good to see a cougar team that can strike fast and make a big play. Wilson turned a lot of heads last night with his complete grasp of the offense. Teams will be ready for his tendencies in the future so it will get a lot tougher for him to impose his will. BUT he did not make the mistakes you would expect to see for a kid’s first start. Either Hawaii is stupid bad on defense or BYU had a rare talent at QB.
I know I’m missiong things I will think about later so chime in and tell me your thoughts…but for me, it is just, “WOW” for now.
Fish… I agree with everything you listed! I would add that the RB situation is now better than ever this year … without Canada. Burt is under used and he has break away speed. Should play more. Hadley should have always been a RB at BYU. Katoa is the real deal too. Lots of talent and ability and the lack of playing time … giving tons to Canada hurt us. Hopefully Canada stays out for a few more games to allow these players more playing time … I think they will only get better!!
Sorry, been away from the board for awhile, my mother in law passed away a week ago… Been a bit busy lately.
I did get to see the second half of the Hawaii game…
My take from the game was different than a lot of what I have seen posted and from friends I talk about game with…
To me:
Wilson did better than expected, but he is still green, but I think he will learn when and how to throw in tight coverage.
With the benching of Mangum, I believe Grimes put the fear of god into the offensive players. He basically showed them that they not only need to perform, but also improve every week. I watched the receivers in the game catch balls that were thrown just as badly by Mangum, but what caught this time, while with Mangum they were dropped. I also noticed the O-line playing like they did against Wisconsin, which they opened a hole big enough to drive a semi through.
I noticed they changed RB’s, I know Canada is hurt, but I don’t remember Burk getting many reps before. He is a Williams type player, slasher, and has some serious speed in the open.
I also believe our beloved DC Tuiaki felt the “fear of God” as well. Because what I saw Saturday, was night and day from the USU game. Corbin Kaufusi lining up as as LB? My friend suggested that maybe it was Kalani making the play calls for the defense, but I could not tell from watching TV…
I thought Mangum did something classy, I watched during the game, that every time Wilson came off the field he was there to greet him. One spot showed him talking with Wilson after a 3 and out… I think that speaks well of Tanner.
Tanner is his roommate. They often talk about their friendship and support for each other.
Everything else you listed in terms of players feeling the fear of being replaced or being more motivated…I would surmise in this train of thought…
Tanner could not generate enough points for wins and certainly could not score in bunches, TRUE? That would explain why our defense could NOT take chances. If we got behind because of a big play (which often comes when a defense is blitzing or taking liberties) BYU’s defense had to play sound defense just to keep us in games. Wilson, on the other hand, scores 21 points in the 1 qtr, something that we have not seen for a few years, so with his ability to score fast and often, the defense can and will take risks.
Secondly, Wilson has better vision of the recievers and DBs in his first game while it always seemed that Tanner was behind or waiting too long for a receiver, thus, allowing the defense to catch up. Wilson’s balls sure seemed to be caught in stride, allowing chunk yardage after the catch. Tanner rarely had that happen.
In closing, Everyone on the team, as well as coaches, will tell you that BYU receivers had about 3 feet of space and that Hawaii was far and away the worse defensive team we have played to date SO take if for what it is. I still say that what Wilson accomplished in his first game was Legendary…from a kid that will only get better as he gets experience.
What I found lately, is that fans like to scapegoat Tanner… I disagree with the fact that Tanner was the sole reason they could not generate enough points… I think the offense started being lazy… Whether that was Tanner fault is debatable.
But during the USU game, I watched perfectly thrown balls to WR’s who simply dropped them. Wasn’t Tanner fault, but lack of concentration on their part.
I heard through sources that the reason that Tanner was benched was NOT because he was not generating enough points, he was doing everything they were asking him to do, EXCEPT, the team was not “improving” in learning the system like Grimes wanted them too. So they thought a shakeup was in order, and it would send a definite message to the players. “Improvement” is as important as “Performance”.
Wilson has a better touch on the ball than Tanner, by that I mean he seems to know how to get the ball in the right position for them to catch. Although some of those passes Wilson through in the second half was a bit off. I think it was Milne, that had to stretch out to catch the ball, leaving himself open to get nailed by the defense.
Like you said, Hawaii is awful defense, I will like to see what Wilson does against a Utah Defense. They are far better than most of the defenses BYU has faced this year.
Tanner Mangum, weather you like him as our QB or not, is a real class act.
He, Tanner, and Wilson are room mates and they seem to be friends as well.
I think that from the very start, they have cheered each other on, while the
competitiveness in each of them, always wanted the starting job.
I like both of these kids. (Yes, anyone under their early 80’s is still a kid).
I do wish that Wilson, instead of running out of bounds while being chanced,
would have instead, just thrown the ball out of bounds. I do believe that while
he alone did not do it, he was a major contributor to the whole team playing at
a higher level.
The pick that he, Wilson, threw, was regrettable, however, the good that he did
far outweighed anything that he did as a freshman that could be criticized.
I also think that the coaches did a far better job in this preparation than they did
in the previous two games vs Washington and Utah State. As it turns out, Utah
State is turning out to be a far better team than we expected.
In your second to last paragraph you finally touched on one major difference between Wilson and Mangum on why they catch Wilson’s passes more than Tanner’s. Timing and placement is huge. But, the right spiral of Wilson is a big difference as well. Easier to catch. Seven the diving catch by Romney says it all. And how he led Romney for the touchdown pass.
Wilson also brings in his ability to run as well. Although, he didn’t take off and run that much. Except for the touchdown. That, and the running game success made it more difficult for Hawaii to play man defense too tight. And the fact Wilson makes the long passes better.