Scouting Virginia for the win

Football
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Virginia is all skiwampus this year. Bronco has been known for his stingy defenses and this year, teams are averaging 26 pts per game. Virginia, usually stout in the run to keep their defense fresh has ZERO 100 yd. RBs on the team…Not a single running back has had a 100 yd. game this year. Their best reciever, Wicks has 847 yards, 3 TDs…Their best RB, Taulapapa has 258, 2 TDs.

When a team is single dimension, they should on paper be easy to plan for. Pressure the QB, make him look over his shoulder and ruff him up. Unfortunately, BYU is statistically one of the lowest rated squads to pressure QBs
Virginia and 4 year QB Armstrong vs. BYU’s Tuiaki defense, advantage Virginia
BYU’s balanced running/air attack vs. Va.'s porous D? advantage BYU
Can BYU keep up with Virginia’s quick scoring air attack?

Sitake will try to win the TOP in this game with long scoring drives. But will fail miserably if we don’t pressure Armstrong. Still wondering who stole our blitzing soul and replaced it with our worn out drop back 8???

Keep Va below 30 and BYU wins the game!
Sorry but I have seen enough, and VA wins 34-31

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BYU is 6-2 when you were predicting 3-5. So, reverse your prediction by 10 points. BYU 41-31

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More to add. Virginia has a top 11 ranked offense.
Baylor had a 12 ranked offense.

I quit ranking BYU based on hype. BYU can’t score 30 points on P 5 defenses.

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Yet BYU is 4-1 against P5 opponents. Beat WSU in the rain at Pullman who was on a very good 3 game win-streak. I’ll take that over 30 point scoring games with 5 losses.

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Virginia has a great P5 offense and an average defense. BYU has the home field advantage, which usually works out well. I rate this game a toss up. BYU 35-32. I haven’t heard much of your take on Hall/Romney, Chris. I have seen Tom’s opinion, but I would be interested in your’s as well. Give it a shot fish!

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I think that Anae will make Tuiaki look just as bad as Grimes did. At WSU we saw the most passive scheme yet from BYU, and we will see the same vs UVA. The only team that really stopped UVA all year was Wake Forest, which brought relentless pressure, sacked Thompson 6 times, and those same blitzers clogged the running lanes. But there is no way BYU has the guts to do that.

Many think they are “all pass,” but they run the ball VERY well within their scheme.
Their top 4 runners (one listed as a QB but only runs) average 5.1, 7.1, 7.0 and 4.2ypc, and as a team they average 135ypg (only 30 fewer than run heavy BYU). If you drop 8 into coverage, UVA will gladly take 4 yard runs all day, just like BSU/Baylor/WSU etc.

BYU D:
From a practical standpoint, reduces the margin of error for the offense down to nearly zero.

From a statistical standpoint (see below), the BYU D is bad.

From a fan standpoint, the BYU scheme is BORING. TERRIBLE to watch. Who wants to see EVERY opponent just grind down the field over and over and OVER AGAIN?

Pick your favorite statistic, but the BYU D is incredibly boring and average at best: entirely because of our defense, BYU is 100th in TOP (ONE HUNDREDTH)…84th in the country in total passing D, 49th in passing efficiency D, 63rd in run D, 98th in sacks, 81st in TFL, 72nd in total D and 47th in scoring D. AND IN 3RD DOWN DEFENSE…WAIT FOR IT…WAIT FOR IT… 112th…pauses typing to lie on the office floor laughing hysterically…ok, , now I’m back…112th.

And we have not exactly faced a bunch of HOF QBs.

This UVA D is an unmitigated train wreck…it’s terrible…really, really, really bad. I think the way to beat this team is to bring pressure knowing that if they break one, who cares, because they can’t stop us from scoring. I just don’t think BYU will do that.

Our WRs could dominate UVA. But will we see it? We didn’t against WSU–exactly 0 targets. If we are able to run the ball against UVA, and EVERYONE can, I think the game will look a lot like the WSU game and come down to 1 or 2 plays at the end.

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Well written, Tom. I’m hoping that playing at home with 63000 screaming fans, that BYU gets aggressive and turns the defense loose. Not worried about the offense-they will make plays, but the defense will have to slow the Cavaliers down enough for BYU to get the points needed to win

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I think BYU’s ceiling is scoring in the low 20s — even against an ostensible bad Virginia defense. And, I think that BYU will continue to have nightmare TOP and drive disparity issues. I think Virginia is a much better team than WSU, and without the coach drama.

I don’t feel good about Saturday’s game.

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Well, I think it will be close as well. But, I’m wondering why you think this since you just ripped BYU’s defense believing all those things are bad instead of the actual score? The plan as I’ve heard it from Sitaki is to limit opponents to 24 points and under. If that is the goal, then Sitaki has been successful most of the time. The object is to win. Not by how much. Thus, BYU is 6 - 2. A successful season and an exciting one with more to play! What a great time to be a Cougar!

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Spoken like a true BYU Cougar fan. But, fear not. We must be victorious because Bronco is coming to BYU. We will not fear the beast nor give credence to what the nay sayers say for we are the Cougars of BYU.

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Seeing as Tom and I never disagreed on anything I think you summed it up pretty good. This QB may be the best one we’ve faced yet and if we don’t put pressure on him just don’t see how we a better passer than hall. If Hall were to use his feet more than I think we can win with him. Byu was very hard to beat where in either quarterback is playing his basketball game, but I hate to say it but Romney is the better QB because of our outstanding wide receivers and he has never lost a game for Byu

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Who is Rodney???

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Thanks for your opinion. I feel much the same way about Romney and I don’t think Hall has been as effective since his return from his rib injury. Ribs are a tough issue to deal with and affect everyone differently. You can play, but probably a little apprehensive about taking a shot and it could certainly affect your throwing motion

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Ummm…Hall was 15-20 against WSU in the rain. That’s 75%. His rating was 79% QBI rating. Those are the facts.

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Good job everyone on not taking the bait! Very proud of my fellow coug posters!

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I agree that Romney should be the starter and Hall be in relief if things aren’t going well or we need a change of pace. Romney opens the passing play book and actually makes things easier for Tyler. Hall is not a running threat right now …… for whatever reason and so he needs to get healthy on the sidelines as a second string …. As needed QB. It is nice to have both of them but Bronco will figure out a way to stop our run. So Romney is the choice to start.

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Crickets…
Hall will start and will do just fine. Need to let Romney recover from his concussion. But, you don’t care as long as we win (at all costs).

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THawk, I’m working on my zen-like composure and restraint :slight_smile:

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Hall will start.
Armstrong has to be frothing at the mouth.
My big beef with Tuiaki is not the actual score: it’s that he ruins the viewing experience.

Sitake says our athleticism is the best it’s ever been. If so, why could Bronco win 10 games a year with a balls-out, full throttle in-your-face defensive scheme, yet Sitake can’t? It’s not because he can’t. It’s a choice. He afraid of the consequences, and it drives me bonkers because I want to watch Allgeier run and Puka catch bombs, not sit watching another 13 play meat-grinder drive from the opponent.

1 Like
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Something I already have. You’re welcome :relieved: