Take away the first quarter and this game looked was an offensive nightmare.
Tanner started off good and then played like a true freshmen. His pick six at the end of the half was as bad a pass as you’ll see in college ball this year. I don’t buy into the receiver made a mistake - that was flat out just a horrible pass. And it wasn’t the only one last night. He threw a complete dud to an open Blackman late in the game that would have been a touchdown, he looked nervous all of the last three quarters and held the ball too long too often. Yes, he can throw it but last night was a step back for him.
I realize O line was missing guys. Nonetheless, these guys were horrible much of the game. Possibly the reason why Tanner looked so scared back there? If the blame indeed goes on missing three guys, then Anae and his fellow coaches had better start looking for some backups because this group looked awful. I really can’t remember one hole for the entire night on a rush. Playing running back behind this group has to be a personal nightmare!
Defense had moments both ways. All in all they controlled the field well, but laid some major eggs as well. The fourth down 40 yard run by qb was pathetic. Can anyone tell me what the outside linebacker was thinking on that play? He was unblocked, he’s outside and has no effect on stopping a 1 yard gain up the middle and yet he decides to tear into the middle and jump on the pile without giving one thought to the qb who never hands off and calmly runs by him. Unreal to me that for such an important play, this huge a mistake was made this late into the season. Could have well ended up costing the game. Allowing this fourth quarter, last few minutes long drive against a pretty shaky offense took the entire D from a B+ grade down to a C.
And by the way, can anyone tell me, really, why Henneman starts for this team. Is there truly no one better than this guy?
Conclusion - if this same team shows up next week, they will have a long, lonely trip home.
I’m not usually one who goes after the refs but there was grabbing of the jerseys all game and in the 4th quarter they start calling it on BYU but not SJS. The touchdown run you could see easily Nacua being held the same way we got called twice after being down at the 5 yardline. And the last pass interference was ridiculous. I hope Bronco makes some complaints too.
Aside from that, you are right on everything. After the first quarter the worst played offensive game ever. Possibly because Anae felt we needed to test their pass defense and run very little.
I really don’t understand this BYU football team. I don’t understand the schemes, the game plans, the coaching staff… I just don’t understand them. What is it that they are trying to prove or accomplish? Maybe this independent thing is questionable for more reasons than I imagined.
I didn’t know that SJSU was such a poor team vs. the run and that is why they were 4-4 having beaten nobody of note. I guess that is why the plan was to attack them with the pass… because they can’t stop the run. It worked great for all of the two opening drives. Once SJSU “adjusted” to what BYU was doing (how many times can Mangum sprint to his right and look to throw before the defense easily stops it) the Cougars had nothing new to try. I was all excited when I heard that BYU was finally going to open up the playbook… nine games into the season. I was even contemplating what I wanted to write about how Anae was finally starting to turn the corner and things were looking better in the play calling department. The 14-3 lead was looking good, the defense was looking good, the play calling was looking good… and then everything came crashing back to earth with the pick six, a horrible play call after consecutive sprint right - look long bombs by Mangum.
I should have known better than to think the way I did.
I knew then not to expect any halftime adjustment, any creativity or any real opening up of the playbook. It’s the same song, second verse… and the mwc officials still suck.
I pretty much agree with everything said so far, except the refs. Did not get to watch the game. Depth wise and coaching wise, this is a G5 team and I am personally forgetting about BYU joining a P5 conference. If somehow we do join a P5 conference, we will be a bottom feeder for many years with these 2 issues still hanging out there. And if there are not significant improvements in both of these concerns prior to the start of next season, there will be many long, lonely after-game trips back to Provo next fall.
When they replay a holding call several times and you see what the refs are calling, it is natural to expect that when the opposing team commits the same exact type of holding that it would be called as well. SJSU didn’t get ONE holding penalty, yet they were guilty of the very same thing on several occasions. When they replay a pass interference call several times and the announcers are puzzled not only about the call itself, but the timing of the call, it can cause a person to question the motives of the officials.
The announcers were generally objective and fair in their analysis and discussion of the game… they questioned the officiating calls that went against BYU on a couple of occasions. In the end, BYU had 7 penalties for almost 100 yards and SJSU had 2 for 10 yards. If anybody thinks that had no effect on the game, they don’t understand much. Many of the calls stopped BYU drives and kept SJSU drives going. In my opinion that is just another example of bias.
Lastly, isnt a 15 yard pass interference call inside the 30 yard line a 1/2 the distance to the goal line deal? On a couple of occasions SJSU got calls that moved them down close to the endzone yet should have been only 1/2 the distance penalties. Am I missing something here?
I saw a number of strange things with the refs. You hit a lot of them. One thing of note, on that odd, some how, pass interference penalty, SJS was holding on Kaufasi. As a matter of fact, I saw them holding him a number of times during the game that was never called.
Another very odd thing happened that even the announcers didn’t pick up on. On a second down in the third quarter, SJS had the ball and threw to their receiver. He was tackled one yard short of the first down. I said, well 3rd and 1. Next thing I know, they gave SJS a first down. Ball was placed a WHOLE yard beyond the tackled spot (an he wasn’t pushed back either). I rewound the play to check it again. Sure enough, the defense put him down a whole yard before the 1st down marker, but the refs gave him another yard and the first down.
Well, in the end, the execution on offense was not there because the offensive line was simply terrible after the two early TDs. We couldn’t exploit their weak rushing defense because the line was inept at opening holes. And we couldn’t exploit the pass defense because SJSU actually has a pretty decent defensive backfield, aided by (1), taking a page from the Michigan game and hammering our receivers at the line, and (2), the refs being rather lenient on allowing contact. Fortunately, the defense won the game for us. As always, it seems that we have a problem with depth, and the lack of O-line depth was exposed pretty badly.
Well we were really playing basketball and this was the WCC rec league-so we should have expected this-right? After-actually what could be considered 2 byes, we have 3 injured OL and a last minute suspension of our best offensive lineman-well go figure why we couldn’t run the ball. It’s a good thing Mitch came to play-the dude is just unbelievable sometimes and an athletic freak. We are lucky that Missouri is pretty much incompetent offensively so we should be in that game at least.
Anything that can be categorized “as always” seems like something that should be looked at a little more seriously. The backups never seem like they are ready to go… didn’t BYU just come off a bye? They had 2 weeks to prepare an offensive line for this game… no excuse.
Depth or no depth, the game never should have come down to the last few seconds… wondering who was going to win.
I came on here expecting a few people to whine about a one point win like it was a loss. Going into the game when I heard 3 O-linemen would be out I was concerned, I wasn’t aware it was going to be 4. I don’t care who you are when 4 O-linemen are out you are going to have some glitches. San Jose has an outstanding pass defense, not much against the run, but with 4 starters out a team is going to have some problems with execution at times. The run game generated almost nothing and that was due to playing 4 non starters on the O-line. San Jose played Auburn very tough on the road so they are not a bad team. I am happy about the win regardless of it being by only one point. If they get the linemen back the offense should be much better. Enjoy the win guys and quit with the petulance. We are 7-2 and so far it has been a good season. I suspect if the season ends up 10-2 somebody will post that it felt like a 7-5 season.
A couple of guys questioned why BYU passed so much against a team terrible against the run. If you watched the game I am sure you may have noticed that the run game generated nothing. Regardless of how bad a team has been stopping the run against everybody else if they are stopping you then you do something else. The passing game was fairly effective except for a few drives in the middle of the game when they started getting some pressure on Mangum. The drive where a field goal was kicked in the 4th quarter the passing game was back on track. Two holding penalties killed the drive.
I disagree with a lot of what has been said. I think a lot of people expected a blowout and were disappointed. The win didn’t do anything to boost BYU in the ratings but it hardly matters because since the Michigan loss it has been a forgone conclusion that it will either be the Las Vegas bowl or the Hawaii Bowl. I did not expect a blowout so I am happy with the win.
I can’t disagree. Lack of depth and preparation, and perhaps looking past the opponent to the Missouri game. Disappointing, but most teams will have a game or two like this. #11 Florida only beat Vanderbilt 9-7. I think that one is similar – we are not Florida, and SJSU is not Vandy, but the disparity is similar. And we actually don’t have a great history following bye weeks.
Too much passing by BYU. No running game. The worst game that we have played this year, even when you consider the Michigan game. Bad coaching, bad O line, Mangum’s worst played game this year.
I dunno Reed… I understand your point but it just sounds like more excuses again. That is too easy, to make some excuse for what happened. When did the linemen who were out, go out? BYU had 2 weeks to prepare new guys… why are the backups NEVER ready to step in?
I think we should be happy about a win as well, even though it was one play away from being a loss.
You mentioned the question about why BYU passed so much but one reason the run game didn’t generate anything is because they didn’t do anything to establish one… at all. They came out throwing from the very beginning so from that perspective, SJSU didn’t have to stop anything related to rushing plays because there weren’t any… they need those plays to help wear down the defense. Why did Bernard, who was up and coming, only get 2 carries? The OC makes it too easy to find things wrong with his gameplan… which is difficult to understand a lot of the time. A lot of the supposed pressure on Mangum was a result of the play design, where he sprinted to his right and threw on the run way too often.
Everything is too cerebral, no feel for the game. Also, everyone knows BYU is VERY fortunate to be 7-2. They could so easily be under .500 or barely over.
Honestly, I don’t think most people expected a blowout, unless a 2 td win is a blowout. Regardless, a one point win and having to defend a 2 point conversion to secure that win at the end of the game was likely very unexpected. What was the spread? What did you expect?
I did not expect a blow out win (to me 3 TDs or better) but would have taken it. If we are truly a middling good team and that is all there is then the injury excuse makes sense and 6, 7, 8, 9 or sometimes 10 win seasons, AGAINST OTHER MIDDLING GOOD TEAMS, is fine and dandy. Then we should expect a ranking of 30 to 50 and that is what we have gotten for how many years??? But if BYU wants to be a perennial top of the heap team (1 to 20 ranking) then we have to have the depth to absorb injuries and a coaching staff that can consistently outcoach the other team. I no longer believe the folks who administer the program nor the University administration want to be a top notch team. And that is ok but they should stop the rhetoric about desiring to be a team challenging for a NC. Then we can expect and enjoy the 6 to 9 wins against other middling good teams each year. As for me, I got caught up in the hype at the beginning of the year as I have previously (but not as feverishly). But I have decided that upon the close of this season, I am becoming a casual fan and hope for wins but will be ok with whatever happens. Bronco’s / Anae’s tenure has worn me down.
Jim I understand everything you are saying but there were about 30 running plays generating something like 36 yards. I watched the game and the passing game worked for the most part. Last year people were bitching about too much running and one bad game running the ball people are complaining about not running enough.
I thought BYU would win by 10-14 points but wouldn’t have been surprised at a loss. San Jose is not that bad and with the O-linemen out I was worried. I thought it was the perfect trap game. I think San Jose is very comparable to East Carolina or Cincinnati in terms of the level they are on. Playing a team on the road fighting for bowl eligibility and a team a lot of people expected BYU to roll over, playing with 80% of the O-line out had the makings of a trap game. Maybe the players thought it would be easy as well and it was looking that way until the pick six. San Jose played Auburn very tough on the road so they are capable of beating good teams.
I’m fine with that and your clarification helps. I think reading Roy’s post helped as well.
I feel like a fool a lot of the time because I too will buy into the hype and this idea that BYU is playing to make it into the national championship picture/discussion. There are so many reasons why it cannot happen that I should be smarter when I am led to believe that it could happen. I guess we could send a man to mars someday but I don’t see it happening anytime soon…
Unfortunately… here we go for round 2 this year in talking about the basketball team. It is the same hype and conjecture about how well they will do. After watching the team play UA-Fairbanks the other night, reality got a wake up call and I realize that there are so many reasons why it cannot happen. Interesting that many of those reasons have nothing to do with the talent level of the team.
Oh well, once again I recognize the pitfalls of being a BYU fan.
stick with the tried and true then…Teams without elite athletes only win when they have veteran leadership. Take it to the bank. BYU will have very good seasons (and this goes for basketball as well) when we have seasoned leaders at the helm. Football was on track to be special until Hill whet out. Basketball is on track…now we will see.
