You do not get that kind of statistics doing what I think you called “Trick” plays…
What got us the yards was a good stout Offensive Line that gave the QB and Receivers time to get in sync and make a play.
The other thing that helped the glory years is that most of the receivers felt that if they could touch the ball the could catch the ball… Not happening this year…
We had outstanding Offensive lineman through the glory years. a lot of them were drafted and played in the NFL.
I think if you really look at Roger French coaching…you would see that failing to do your job ended you up on the bench with a tongue lashing that would embarrass a sailor.
I should also remind posters that during the time of Lavell, he never really put much emphasis on the bowl wins… he thought it was a reward for winning the Conference Championship.
That is why Lavell record was less than stellar against “named” teams. He did not put much into the practices… I will also say that it was a different time and different feelings about bowl games than today. So i am not sure you can equate the two in an equal fashion.
That is one thing I liked about Bronco… a bowl win was as important as a championship
I will never forget being at a game when Mo Elewonibi, soon to be named 1st Team AA OL, missed a block and Detmer had to dump the ball out of bounds on a third down. As they got off the field, Detmer went face-to-face, reached up and grabbed Mo’s facemask and lit him up like nobody’s business. Ty must have had spit coming through his mask, because you could see that he was yelling loud. He was demanding that no player on his team EVER take a play off. EVER. No other player engaged because they saw the Boss was getting the job done. Mo went on to crush everyone in sight for the rest of the game. This is anecdotal, but I think the bigger picture is that our line was awesome, everyone from Ty Detmer to Joe Fan expected and demanded near perfection from the OL, we all knew it, and the NFL knew it. Our OL has been a joke for years, and the NFL knows it too. I don’t know enough about our actual talent level, but I sure see lots of bad guys on our side of the LOS when I watch BYU games the last few years. Wisconsin was bad enough, but to see mighty UMass simply steamroll our OL was pretty hard to see.
Not really sure what these folks are looking at when they say the OL was good. They were only good when they were playing teams that had records like BYU. DO YOU REALLY THINK NAVY, ARMY, AIR FORCE , could run a pro style offense and compete? NOT a chance-they had to adjust their offense to their talent level and if BYU can’t out recruit the service academies, they might as well hang it up. Honestly, why is it we can’t discuss athletics without bringing up the apostles or whatever. Everyone feels bad for Detmer, but frankly he only got by last year on the exceptional athletic abilities of Hill and Williams. In time he could become a good OC but I’m thinking he will be an even better HC if he wants to be. 99% of these posts are good, but there always seems to be a clown🤡 Happy Holidays
I see that we had outstanding individuals on the line and the aggregate data for the year looks good, but when you isolate specific games against top line competition during the season or in the bowls, those stats evaporate. If you’re making an argument we should maintain the pro-style and play a much easier schedule, I could see that. But even then I’m interested in schemes that give me the best chance to beat the best teams on my schedule and I don’t see evidence we can overpower those teams. I did notice a few games that stood out initially like Wisconsin 1980. But upon further inspection, that was a 4-7 team that struggled against everyone. I didn’t look at every game to be fair and without having the opponent record it’s hard to say what you’re looking at without pulling up single-year data for that team.
Now you CAN do some schematic things to blunt an opponent’s superior strength by deceptive play in some respects with the pro-style so it’s less of a smashmouth/power game, but those are almost always secondary and require you establish the interior run game and pass protection and force the defense to overpursue as well.
Incidentally, I LOVE leaders who can and WILL establish a culture of accountability so that it doesn’t have to come from the HC or even his assistants. The players will self-police. That’s a major problem with this team. And yes WRs are a problem.
So here is a counter proposal for you guys. What I’m seeing isn’t a team that can recruit hulks who can drive teams off the line and pass block effectively. But I do think, and I see plenty of evidence for this, that we can recruit big bodies who can be excellent pass blockers. Big boys, but big boys who are good at getting in the way. This looks like we could run a modified Air Raid modeling the run game and blocking schemes on a mashup of art Briles offense (with some of their passing qbs to focus on keeping options open and keeping the QB out of the run game), and Mike Leach at Texas Tech not at Wash st. That gives us room to use players like Ula and guys like KJ Hall without featuring the run game. In the passing game, frankly, we can model a lot of what we did back in 2006 complemented with some features you might see a team like Boise State with kellen moore, or Oklahoma state depending on which year you’re talking about. Add the twist of multi TE sets splite wide…that’s a good offense and something we can do.
Any OC that runs KJ Hall up the middle and Ula on sweeps needs to be fired! Detmer did that type of thing all the time. Frankly, Riley Burt should have played lots more and Dye should have never been run up the middle either. Some of the injuries were self inflicted by calling the wrong play for the athletes in the game! One more thing, Hopper and some others continue saying the the 2 best tightends on the team were hurt during the season. That is hogwash, the best tight end was and is Bushman. He played all year. I will also say the decision that Mangum was the best QB was probably what cost Ty his job. He continued playing Tanner after it was evident to all except Ty that Tanner would have had a hard time playing at the JC level. We even witnessed Tanner playing hurt after we knew he was bad while playing healthy! Things got worse when everyone thought it would be almost impossible to get worse…
I did think this was odd. I was wondering if he was trying to be tricky there. I don’t have breakdowns on attempts and plays yet but that’s an interesting angle. I’m ok if KJ did that occasionally but most of the time I want him attacking the edge. Then the run up the middle is surprising.
I don’t know about that. We didn’t get to see how Moroni changed and adapted over the off season and it’s possible he and bushman could have been great tandem TE. I don’t know.
I’ll disagree and redirect here. I think Tanner could be good in the right system. Few and fast reads, deceptive route combinations, etc. But yes, He didn’t look good coming into portland state after having a year to understand and master the system and that makes me question things.
Something did happen to his mechanics…thinking too much, maybe, I don’t understand it.
I enjoy athletics when it relaxes me and is entertaining. I enjoy the challenge of discovering myself in relation to God’s plan for me. I personally feel that Christ could care less about sports, only what we learn from athletics and the good image we portray while participating. I will never bad mouth a coach or player, just assess their skill levels or strengths or weakenesses within their sport. I feel bad for coaches that get fired and wish they didn’t, but like it or not it’s a business and it has to be treated as such
Football and Basketball make it possible for all other sports to survive at BYU. IT IS A GAME to be enjoyed and it’s a business to make other things possible. We should all keep it within the scope for which it was intended. Positives such as fun, enjoyment, opportunity to enhance our talents, missionary tools (how many nonmembers have been baptized being athletes at BYU) A common interest to bring us closer to gather not farther apart(why I won’t respond to obnoxious posts). Sports are not ecclesiastical but an opportunity to display our refined selves and be a light to others.
I especially agree with the last half of your posting. That is not to say that I disagree with the first half.
Your wish has now come true with the hire of Grimes.
I would not rule out Andy Reid as a future HC at BYU unless we insult him with a ridicules low dollar contract.
" The OL did not meet expectations. “They were boys amongst men against LSU, Wisconsin and Mississippi State. It’s time to take off the blue lenses and see things for what they are, both in football and basketball.” Add to that list, Utah, and Boise State. The rest of the games looked like High School teams vs High School teams, and we lost most of them also.
It is my opinion, that the University/Church, must show more commitment to Excellence in the football and basketball programs with dollars and not just words. We are not keeping up with the times when it comes to Football.
The Church/University, (in my opinion), needs invest in football like it invested in Newspapers, Radio Stations, TV Networks,
Department Stores, Railroads, CocoCola Company and the many other Church investments. When the investments have run it’s course, and is no longer profitable, cut the ties and go onto new and better investments.
Ron,
One thing you should keep in mind… The Church (Organization) pays their people below market value in just about everything they do… From IT to Accountants to Football coaches…
You work for the church because you feel it is a calling or that you can not find another job at the time…
I know it sounds harsh, but I have applied for position at the church and laughed when they told me the salary they were willing to pay… needless to say, I walked out not being hired.
I would be very happy to have you as a friend and as a neighbor. I do not always agree with you, and probably more often than not, you would be likely to not agree with me. I know that my thinking is in the minority. I like you because you are always respectful with your differences and you appear to always be open minded. I really like that. Merry Christmas.
I totally agree with your entire post. “Your wish has now come true with the hire of Grimes”.
I want to add that I also love Detmer and I hope that he is kept on in some important part of the team. QB Coach would be an excellent position along with recruiting. He has done far too much for all of us to from 1990 foreward to the present, to cut him lose.
Merry Christmas to you and best wishes from each of us for our BYU Cougar Football Team.