This is USU’s bowl game and they are way more invested in beating BYU then BYU cares. The news here should read, “will BYU play USU in the future”…which is sad because Utah, BYU and USU should take every opportunity to play each other.
USU has virtually everyone back from the team that Beat up the MWC and won the title last year so BYU has to take them seriously even if they have played crappy football so far this year. They Beat BSU, who beat BYU last year, so we have to come ready.
BYU has to rush over 150 yards(me), we have to get our outstanding Oline(???) going on the ground game. We are not very good in the Wy game and ND will key on that if we continue to struggle because they (ND) can’t produce a lot of offense themselves. Key to this game and any chances for BYU to have a chance in national talk going forward.
comparisions for tonight’s game:
QB Hall vs. Brenner- big advantage, BYU
Brenner has 8 interceptions in the last 2 games.
Offense, Huge advantage BYU, Vegas has it a -22 for BYU
Despite BYU’s dire rushing game, USU is even more aminic.
Rushing-BYU
Passing -BYU
Hall hit over 80% in the WY game…and to new receivers, new he gets Gunner Romney back
300 yds passing and at least 3 scores USU has 2 really good Sr. Wide receivers but with Brenner’s interceptions in the back if his mind, who knows. I say they score twice and we get at least one pic.
On Defense- all BYU again.
BYU has better stats in defending the run and the pass. I will say this, we are banged up in the secondary so that might factor in.
Special teams:
They ain’t been special-tossup.
I would say this is a close game just because it is USU but we at home
Vegas has it -24, over/under 60.
I will say BYU 36-17.
Well I’m back on the board…never really left it, just a busy 2022 so far with a lot of travel and a LOT of work when I’m back in the office. Here’s my take on the season so far:
Looks to me like we can run against bad teams but not against good teams. But we can throw against good teams…so throw it 50 times a game. Full stop. But If Sitake is anything, he stubborn, and will continue to try to create this narrative about how “tough” and how “physical” and how “nasty” we are on the OL. The USU D has been straight trash and BYU will score 40+ unless Sitake just puts on the brakes in the second half. But if ND stones our running game again, I say scrap it and throw 50 times a game and try to get Hall in the Heisman conversation. As an indy, 2 losses means the season is over anyway, so there is nothing to lose but a lot to gain with a QB and some WR who can make big headlines and do a lot for our recruiting.
I have given up hope that Tuiaki will ever be anything but passive and fearful as a DC. Either that, or he’s lying about how good our 2s are and he honestly believes that if they play man they can’t cover.
I had to stop watching the game because of the lazy defense and allowing USU to run all over the defense.
While playing with my 4 yr old grand son, I was still fuming about our our D-line was getting pushed around by the O-line of USU.
Then it came to me, the reason that our D-line no longer produces great defensive lineman is the same reason our defense looks so bad game in and game out. The D-line is coached by Tuaki!
Worst decision EVER Kalani made as a HC was allowing Steve Kaufusi to “Retire”. wink! wink!
Yeah, it was painful to watch even though BYU won the game. I hate games like this… and like the game last week against Wyoming… and every game where BYU is a heavy favorite and lets the other team control the tempo and make the Cougars look bad. I know a win is a win but these wins just don’t feel right. What will happen if BYU plays like this against a real team like Arkansas?
They’ll get their tails whipped.
Please turn this season around, though 4-1 sounds good, it doesn’t look very good.
I saw this comment in an Article Jim, thought it was “Spot On”…
BYU doesn’t have a rushing problem (both on offense and defense).
BYU doesn’t have an execution problem.
BYU doesn’t have a kicking problem.
BYU doesn’t have a penalty problem.
BYU doesn’t have a consistency problem.
BYU doesn’t have a discipline problem.
“Houston, we have a COACHING problem!”
Until Kalani fixes the COACHING problem, the “problems” listed above will NOT disappear!
So, 2 short field goals missed and a last minute touchdown. If those are erased, 44-20. We would have beat the spread. I don’t know what to do about the kicking except it’s time for next man up.
Discipline is a player’s issue like motivation is. Perhaps more competition when players lack discipline.
The penalty for ruffing the passer was bogus. He was hit in the upper leg, not lower leg. But, did they call the low hit when US hit Hall in the lower legs? Nope. The refs have an issue with discipline and call penalties both ways.
Look, Utah State played a completely different offense than BYU prepared for. We made adjustments at halftime. We have a target on our backs being ranked. Teams get up for us. We have to get up for lower ranked teams better. And, ND and Arkansas should be easy to. Especially ND who broke contracts with us and refuse to play us in Provo. Arkansas I respect for coming to Provo.
Very unusual for a P5 team to come to Provo the first time we have played them. It is usually a deal where we play at their place they come Provo for a game and then we go play at their place again for the third game. Now that BYU is in the Big 12 that won’t happen anymore.
BYU played poorly and USU had a good game plan that worked in the first half until
BYU made adjustments and then they dominated the game. USU played about as well as they can. BYU can play much better. They looked real good the first 2 games and don’t appear to have progressed since the Baylor game.
We are a very experienced team. We lose very little of players from last year. What we saw the first two games was our best and best game plans. I say this every year that other teams less experienced get better every week and see what we are doing to better prepare for us. If you watched the scores of most of the top 20 last week you would see mostly the same thing from those playing weaker teams. Robert Anae says that it takes 6 weeks to really have a better idea of how good teams are. We will see in the next two games where we really are. Are our players as good as they think they are and can we play as a team. With this team, our offense is the key. We have to score more than we have been doing to stay with Notre Dame and Arkansas.
One thing I don’t understand is our schedule. We haven’t had a week off yet and won’t for several more weeks. We need to be smarter about this for injuries sake.
This team has a lot of talent that isn’t over hyped. It is unusual to see that at the Y. However the schemes and philosophy on defense are just mind-boggling. I don’t see anything that will allow us to stop ND or Arkansas in the run dept. That is the biggest issue we face. We have to stop the run and we have to pressure the QB. Those 2 issues will determine the future of this season. I think we have enough talent and depth to play in a NY6 game but our D coaching is not even top 100 in the coaching dept. Fortunately we have players that are top 30 so when you even them out we are top 50-60 (maybe) in the nation.
Sitake will have to remake the defense in his image if we are to beat ND or Ark and he has 2-3 weeks to do it.
He has less than a week to do it, Notre Dame is up next and then Arkansas the week after that. In less than 2 weeks BYU will have played both those teams.