We are all stubborn in various ways -it is part of the learning process and even though we have never met I know you are a good person on the right path and all the things you said about RA I can relate too. This team, especially the defense grew and became better. Losing Hill was tough for RA and despite the accolades for TM -he was still a freshman who made numerous inexperienced mistakes that Hill probably wouldn’t have made. All in all-not a bad year and hopefully more improvement to come
I watched the Whittingham interview after the game and agree he knows he was outplayed for three quarters and was lucky to win. He also said the bottom line is the score and he is right.
Whittingham is also either 8 and 1 or 9 and 1 in bowl games, a very good winning percentage. He also owns 28 BYU turnovers to Utah’s 5 in the Mendenhall/Whittingham series and owns a five game winning streak.
While I am pleased BYU made a good game of a disastrous beginning, I am not pleased with 0 and 5.
I hope Sitaki can change the bottom line next year. .
It will be interesting to see how Utah generates offense next season. I don’t know if Booker will stick around. Witt says he is excited about a JC transfer at QB but he never seems to get a top rate QB. If he did, with his defenses, he would dominate.
Sitake will be taking today but I think it is premature to ask him to name any assistants. The rumor mill has a certain Texas boy coming to be part of the OC team. Now that would be a great Christmas present. Merry Christmas everyone and be safe.
You know, I’m not big in conspiracy theories. But, 28 and 5 in turnover comparison? And like in this game, all in the first five times we have the ball? Knocked down passes and and easy fumbles? Could Utah have somehow got a hold of our scripted first plays?
Everyone in the media world said the keys to the game was for Utah to pressure TM into throwing hurried passes. Everyone!
The fumble, back to back interceptions were simply Utah’s Dline knowing they could over power our Oline. I talked about it before the game. I said that if our Oline could hold their own, BYU would win easily. If they could not, all bets were off. That game played out exactly the way everyone said it would.
That is way I was sooooo critical of Bronco. He knew Utah would have trouble generating any kind of offense without Booker and Covey. Instead of mixing it up and keeping Utah guessing, we acted like we were up against Baylor or some team that could score at will. This was an easy game and Bronco blew it.
I don’t know Chris, do you think the BYU offensive line was that bad? I thought there were numerous times where they blocked well and gave Mangum time to throw. BYU had over 400 yards of offense and 28 points. I think overall they did a pretty good job. The turnovers to start were tough but I am skeptical about the veraity of those turnovers. Blackmon was absolutely interfered with on the first pick 6 and I saw a BYU player get up with the fumble after they cleared the pile. The touchdown call at the goal line wasn’t a touchdown… there were several calls that seemed suspect. It was like the game was scripted for Utah to start.
Fish: I would say “I agree with you on 100% of this post,” but that would diminish how much I agree with you.
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I think the officials messed up several calls, especially early. However, Utah won the game despite all of our excuses and rationalizations. If the game was the exact opposite but in the Y’s favor, we would all be singing a different tune. The coaches was unprepared for the start of the game and Holmoe should have denied Bronco and the other UVa coaches to coach the bowl game. Do we speak truth or not?
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Jim- The first 5 possessions when Utah won the game…Our Oline got a F-
I don’t know how much more clearly I could of stated it…Utah won the game in the first 5 minutes by doing exactly what they had to do, what everyone in the football world said they had to do. Pressure Tanner into bad decisions. We made it EASY by being one dimensional, passing on every down. Witt. will be crying for months knowing that Bronco is gone along with those easy wins.
Did we dominate the game after the first quarter? Were we the better team? Did Bronco see a moral victory in the end? All that does not matter as Witt says, “We won” and the world says Utah won.
I’m not going to argue with you. Bronco blew it. We all knew Utah could not generate offense. It was an easy win just sitting there to be plucked. So tired of Bronco and his inability to see the obvious.
I hate woulda coulda shouldas and hind sighters. Rule #1-when you are playing a team favored to win by Vegas. the turnover battle determines who wins the game. Rule #2- refer back to Rule #1.
Roy, You could tell when Witt said at the end of the game," I’m a little concerned about the offense". So the narrative should go something like this…Should Bronco been allowed to coach after the announcement? I don’t know but I will say this; there is not a single BYU player, BYU fan, future or past coach that does not feel that we gave Utah the win on a platter. and that we can not wait to play them again and soon.
Holmoe on Utah," We’ve got some ideas". Ya think?
With Sitake on board and his intimate knowledge of how Witt works, I freakin’ can’t wait…one thing we will not continue to be fooled on is Witt’s sneaky punt kickoff fakes. Geeeezzzzzz.
I think it might be time to let it go… it seems like there is a considerable amount of pent up anger there.
I will admit that I was not a happy camper watching the debacle unfold, but I had to get over it quickly.
I honestly kept thinking to myself (and SG can concur) that Bronco and Bob were giving BYU and the fans the proverbial middle finger. I couldn’t believe I was thinking it and I still can’t, but that was what was running through my mind as the game began. It was almost unbelievable that it could be that bad.
Having said that, I am over it now. It only took a day or so for me to get there. I have real world things going on that bring me a lot of joy and happiness. I have a son who will be serving a mission in less than a month and another who will put in his papers soon. That one has an eagle scout board of review tomorrow, so my life is good right now. I can’t let some dumb football game get in the way of that.
I am feeling better about the future of BYU basketball. Not the immediate future but moreso over the next couple of years. This year is all about triple doubles and Fischer shooting as much as possible. I have been impressed with Emery and his fire and tenacity. I am more hopeful about the Lone Peak group than I was before because I know what we have with Mika coming back and if TJ Haws is half as good as everyone says then yeah… it should be a good thing.
Yes, there were bad calls. But, I agree with you. The blame is the preparation and the play calling in the beginning. The passes to the side when the pic 6’s happened were not well run. The fumble by Canada was a coach trying to do what? Canada didn’t belong in the game at that point. He will be great in years to come. But, brown should have been in there.
We can’t control the officials and how much of a hangover they had. We can only control what we do.
I’m done now but had to give a parting shot.
BYUTV just shows the press conference introducing Sitaki. Stay excited! No reason to be down about next season and the future!
No reason to be down but with a new coaching staff, the 2016 wins are likely going to be much more difficult. However, I am stoked about this new direction and will give KS some slack next year.
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Rumors say that Ed Lamb from SUU and Ty Detmer are coming.
twas the night before Christmas…
Depends how the new coaching staff approach the change. If they don’t radically change the good things Bronco and Anae were doing and simply bring in some new better approaches to game preparation and play calling, the players may respond well and do better than this year.