Very good write up of how BYU's season will go

Football
1

My Gut:
Critchlow will be the QB…eventually. I have seen enough of him, he has the best “feel” and arm of the group. Tanner may be the starter but Critchlow is my guy.

BYU will be much better this year. We start out 3-3 for the season before we get into the weaker part of the season…we finish out 5-1 with a road win @ BSU or @ Utah.

Receivers will be much improved with the addition of Gunner Romney and the transfer TE from USU. As I have posted. Micah is our Trinniman…with hands.

I just think that with a vastly inproved OLine, we will have time to get things done on Offense. I always thought that our D was fine, even last season. It was a matter of getting gassed by a piss poor 3 and out offense.

I know 8 wins sounds optimistic but I think we have enough speed in the right positons and skill at critical roles to be good.
Go Cougs.

2

One game at a time. Right now Arizona is the key game. Defeat Arizona-a great start. BSU is another ranked team at the end of the year. Tough to beat-better count on beating Utah. QB is still up for grabs. I’m not comfortable with Tanner. BYU can’t afford the qb to have a slow start like Mangum did before his injury, but that said he has the most experience. If Zack isn’t going to get significant time then redshirt him-he is the future by most accounts. I hope your faith in the defense is warranted and the offense put Them in a bind but I found the OC predictable and unimaginative. Three More months till fall camp-Going to be a long wait

3

Sundance,

We must never ever forget 2017

And

We must never ever let happen again,
that which we remember about that time.

4

Theme for the 2018 Season: “Show Me-Let’s Wait and See”

5

I agree with you about Tanner. It looks like he lost his mojo after he got down graded in his sophomore season as backup. Last year he never looked like he ever got any confidence back. A roll out to the right seemed to be his only successful play.Too bad, I was rooting for him. But I do think they brought him back too early when he got hurt early in the season.

6

Sundance,

I agree with you completely. Arizona for me, is the only game on our schedule at this time. This is the game that we must plan for, practice for, and win.

Unlike Bronco Mendenhall that said he could care less about the film room because they play the same way for each and every game and all that matters is that we execute well that which is taught/learned.

I believe that it is absolutely imperative that we go over and over and over again each position that we see being played in the film room. The coaches and the players must find a way to exploit the weaknesses of the opposition if we are to play at the highest level.

7

texcoug1492

Are you a sailor like Columbus was? (1492)

I too feel bad about Tanner and I have more questions than answers.
What went wrong with Tanner, other than the injuries?
What prompted him to tell us about his bouts with depression?
Why did he seemingly give up?

I really, really, really do like the kid, but what ever the problem is, other than the injury,
I don’t feel that he is ready yet. I think that he needs to get hungry for the starting job more than he seems to be at this point.

8

texcoug1492

Regarding the (“Show me”) (“Let’s wait and see”)

In the past, I have always washed my glasses with the Costco Lens cleaner that I always get free after the initial purchase, and I could see clearly that we were going to get a 11-1 or 10-2 season and a 9-3 season would be a disappointment while a 8-4 season was not acceptable.

Now, towards the end of June in 2018, I am still in shock after losing to UMass in Provo and loosing to other teams ranked below 100. Hey, we had the best set up in the world. We had Tye Detmer and Ben Cahoon to lead the list with the other great stars we all know and love.

Bang! Shish!! Nothing is certain anymore. Where have all the flowers gone? Strawberry fields forever. I am still in shock. Right now, with all of our new coaches and with all of our new ways of doing things and with all of our new recruits, in my numbness, the best I can say and hope for, is-------Show me. Let’s wait and see. I am extremely, very extremely, cautiously optimistic.

Go Cougars, I hope.

9

Nice writing Ron. I think a lot of us are getting to the show me stage. I do think it’s easier to turn a football program around then bb. BYU fb will do ok this year. Probably bowl eligible. Basketball is a little more complicated. We will see

10

Sundance,

It breaks my heart watching what is happening to our football program and the post Frederick era of BYU Hoops. Nothing is forever, good or bad. I don’t know if I should be happy or unhappy about that.

My thinking is this. We are not really getting any worse. We just are not keeping up with everyone else that is getting better.

We are not doing less to help our teams. We just are not doing as much as other Universities are doing to help their teams.

It seems that we are big on rules, but we are not quite as big in our commitment to BYUFootball excellence. We need to do better. I am thrilled that we got our LSU line coach to come and be our new OC. I would have been much more thrilled to have the OC from LSU come to be our OC at the Y.

Nothing is free in life. There is no free lunch. Somebody, (the tax payers) pay for it. I am grateful that I am on the paying side and not needing to be on the receiving side. I consider that a great blessing and I am not complaining. I just think that those with the keys to the cash register, needs to invest more in the best coaches that money can buy and coaches that can attract the best athletes to our program.

11

I think you have to be honest about where your programs are right now and you have to be subjective as a fan and not having unrealistic goals. BYU football has been on the ebb for a while now. If it wasn’t for superb athletes like Williams and Hill we would have noticed it earlier. I like this years team, although according to the news we are missing a couple of players as of now. The only thing that will bring previous succes to the program is innovative coaching and hard work. Basketball is a whole new Pandora’s box. I’m not so optimistic about it. It’s going to take a whole new attitude and possibly coaching changes to right the ship. You make good arguments Ron, and it does seem anymore that the more cash you throw out there the more success you have

12

this season will be a “getting back to the basics” year. Coaches are keeping their heads low. There are a lot of coaches with proven track records on the offense now as opposed to total rookies over the past two years. Makes me feel secure looking forward. We will see stability on both ends of the ball with vastly improved linemen.

Juices are starting to flow…go cougs.

13

fish,

Are the juices that you see starting to flow, orange juice or lemonade?
So far, I see no real improvement in our over all recruiting. Do you? As we
continue to recruit like a G5 team, our growth as an Independent P5 team
is stunted, and the 2017 season is evidence at least in part.

There is a person on this site, that I respect vert much and value his opinion,
that challenges me on this issue. He says, "How can this fantasy of mine,
getting more 4-5 star players come true. (I paraphrase because I don’t
remember the exact words).

My answer comes in almost ever post I write. Please read them, It’s all
amount commitment and the money that backs up that commitment.

I respectfully disagree with you that this 2018 season will be a getting back
to basics year. While BYU states that our HC is not on the Hot Seat,
national magazines have him listed as #5 in the nation for being on the
Hot Seat. BYU admits in part, that the seat he sits on is getting Warm.

The HC can not afford to treat 2018 as a getting back to basic year. He
must have his assistants and Coordinators come up with some real changes,
lest they suffer a stroke or otherwise departure.

No more nonsense of losing to teams ranked at 100 or below. Yes, we can
lose to Arizona, Cal, Washington, Wisconsin, Utah, and yes, even Boise State,
and we can still survive and the coaches can still survive if we lose respectfully
where the Press can say that BYU gave them a heck of a fight. It looks like
they are on the way back.

And just as importantly, we must not lose to any of those other G5 teams.
In fact, we must dominate over all of those other G5 teams as much or more,
than the P5 teams we played dominated over us. If that is not the case.
We desperately need changes, not only from the coaches and players, but
from the decision makers that control then purse strings when it comes to
hiring coaches.

14

fish,

We seem to be about 50/50 on what we agree on and what we do not agree on, but I like your positing and respect your football educated opinions even when we disagree.

I do agree with you that the first games will give us a 3-3 start. I will stick my neck out much further than I am comfortable and in doing so, state that there is a long shot possibility of a 4-2 start in our first 6 games.

Stating the Long Shot, I see a possibility, (because our need and our focus is so great) that we will defy the 15 point difference that Las Vegas states and bring an upset over Arizona. (1-0)

Because Cal is at our home, (and again, this is a long shot), I see a possible win over Cal. (2-0)

We are not going to beat #5 in the Nation Washington at their home in Washington. (2-1)
We are not going to beat, (tied for #5) in the Nation Wisconsin. (2-2)

We will be Utah State in Provo or demand a change in the policy makers that control the purse strings that hire our coaches. (3-2)

If we lose to both #24 Boise State and Utah, we should win all the other games giving this long shot prediction a season of (7-5).

I think that it is more probable that we get a 6-6 season than it is probably that we get a 8-4 season, but I am hoping for at least a 7-5 season.

Go Cougars,

15

That’s a logical assessment and I totally agree with you. Grimes is a fundamentals kind of coach and he has experienced assistants. I’m getting pumped for football and anything that says bowl eligible is goid enough for me.

16

Sun Dance,

Regarding your, " it does seem anymore that the more cash you throw out there the more success you have "

Using the old Monopoly Money where one can buy a Hotel on Board Walk for $350.00 let’s use that money as an example for today’s Football investments.

FCA teams want to pay $100.00 per year average for their HC, $75.00 for their OC, $75. for their DC and an average of $50. for each Assist.

G5 teams want to pay $200. per year on the average for their HC, $150. for their OC, $150 for their DC and $75, on the average for all Asst. Coaches.

P5 Teams pay on the average $400. for their HC $300 for their OC, $300. for the DC and and average of $150. for EACH assst coach.

ND, as an Independent pays the same as the P5 teams. Army, as an Independent pays the same as the G5 teams UMASS pays the same as the FCS or almost as much as the G5 teams and they are getting a lot better because of it. (Provo 2017)

The other Independent team is BYU. BYU wants to be respected as a P5 team, but will not pay much more than the top of the FCS teams or bottom of the G5 team.

What is more important? 1.) Investment in BYU Football ? 2.) INVESTMENT IN COCO COLA COMPANY? or #3) Investment in Pharma ?

Should we take a vote?

17

Its OK, Ron, I enjoy reading all your posts. You have been around for many years, enough to see many things come and go. I was very excited when they brought in Legend, Ty Detmer, but they did not allow him to choose his own assistants, rather hiring them for him and telling him to, " go and make due". It was a tremendous failure. We have closed that page and hired experience. Proven coaches with layers of experience. That should show up is scoring.

We also had a slew of injuries at QB last year. Had guys starting that had never been on the field before. That to is gone. Now we have 3 QBs with experience. Tanner, Hoge and Critchlow. That is a big improvement

We also had a bunch of receivers that were unproven. Trinnamin was our go to guy and he dropped the ball half of the time. Our true go to guy was a true freshmen, Bush , at tight end. This year we have Hifo, Simon and the lone peak kid, Shumway and Bush. Now here is where I think we will be no just a little better, but a bunch better…Gunner Romney has NFL talent, Pau’u showed us big time play making skills. and there are a couple of more out there. Dye at slot. SO I think receiver will be much better.

Our run game sucked and with Tolutau out for now, I don’t feel too optimistic. Riley Burt is back at RB and I hear good things from Fonua so we will see.

I have always felt good about our defense and it would seem that we are “loaded” in the back field, we are always good at LB so if we can get prolonged offensive possessions, we should be in a lot of games this year.

So, yeah, Ron, I do feel good about this year and I would feel it is a successful year if we can get back to a bowl game.

18

Come on Jim, it ain’t that bad.

We do have a lot of veterans coming back. We get Emery back (I’m choking when I say that) these Lone Peak guys have played about a 100 years together. Hahahaha Imagine what we would have been saying if Childs had left?

19

fish,

Thank you for your post. As usual, I always enjoy your well educated football posting that is always very objective with the subjectiveness weeded out.

I do think that one of us, misunderstood what the other was saying , as I completely agree with everything that you said in reply to what I said.

Thanks again.
Ron