Winning despite Anae's coaching

[jonnylingo]

The delay reverse hand-off has got to go. IT HAS GOT TO GO.

that hasn't worked since hall/unga

[redneckjedi]

It's easy to defend Anae as long as we are winning. But even the biggest Anae defender has to admit he does a lot of play calling that is just baffling.

I'm not a huge Anae defender. But I have not been baffled by any of the play calling this year, let alone "a lot" of it. Are there any specific examples you had in mind?

[CrimsonCoug]

One area where I would like to see Anae 2.0 act more like Anae 1.0 is with passes to backs releasing out of the backfield to the flat. That was money for us in '06 and '07, and then started to disappear later on. If your run game isn't doing well on early downs, that can be a way to get ahead of the sticks, and spread out the defensive front 7 enough to start creating some holes. Same thing for a TE curl or circle. They are easy throws to make, you use a guy that is normally blocking to run the route if and only if he doesn't have a blitz to pick up, they'll usually get the same kind of yardage you'd want from a run, and the block-and-release can leave them wide open for a lot more.

I totally agree with this. Manase and Fui lived off this. Dan Coates, too. I still haven't figured out why that has been abandoned. Kane Friel was a pretty good TE. Paul Lasike had pretty good hands. Almost worked with Algie Brown on that 4th down play against NE.

[KingCoug]

It's easy to defend Anae as long as we are winning. But even the biggest Anae defender has to admit he does a lot of play calling that is just baffling.

I'm not a huge Anae defender. But I have not been baffled by any of the play calling this year, let alone "a lot" of it. Are there any specific examples you had in mind?

One thing that comes to mind is his decisions to run the ball or pass the ball and when. For example, with Unga we were running the ball down Utah's throat in the 2008 game. Yet, for some reason, Anae decided to all but abandon the run in favor of passing. And, well, that led to 5 interceptions. In this last game against Boise State, we kept trying to run the ball and went nowhere for the entire first half and part of the 3rd quarter. In fact, we had negative yards at half time if I remember right. I'm not saying we shouldn't have been combining the run and pass but it seems Anae's playbook is rather vanilla when it comes to the run. I swear 80% of his plays are right up the middle. And he'll keep doing it until hell freezes over, even if it's not working. I think the better coaches we play against, especially those familiar with BYU like Whittingham and Patterson, find Anae predictable and are able to shut him down fairly easily.

[Brayden Green]

He is an average coach, that plain sucks at making adjustments (probably because he actually doesn't want to make adjustments. He thinks his gameplan is the best chance to win and rarely goes outside of it.) That is why we steamroll opponents in the first half (normally less in the 2nd quarter as they make adjustments), and lay an egg most 3rd quarters.

Someone asked for an example of bad playcalling? I have two.

#1 WHERE THE HELL ARE THE HB and MID-SCREENS? Any rookie co-ordinator knows that the best way to defend against aggressive defenses that run downhill and blitz often is to use hb screens and mid-screens. At this point in his career, you can't deny that Anae has seen them, and chooses not to use them. They are used at every level, from pop football, to high school, and they are used HEAVILY in college and in the NFL.

http://nflbreakdowns.com/beginner-series-screen-pass" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;





My second complaint would be going downfield on critical 2nd and 3rd down plays, when it would be best to run slants and gain yards and try to pick up the first down. I don't mind taking a shot on first down once in a while to keep the defense honest, but you better get yards on that 2nd and 3rd down (through screens and slants).

Anae 2.0 is better than Anae 1.0 as far as mix of plays goes, but he is still makes critical game errors and puts his offense in positions of weakness too often, instead of positions of strength. Just because we have phenomenal athletes in Taysom and Tanner it doesn't mean that he is brilliant. Especially when his stupid playcalling mistakes, and inability to run basic offensive plays puts the weight of the world on their shoulders game in and game out.

He is better, but he still is only average, and will get beat routinely by good teams. (Boise St is not good, Wisconsin is probably good, but BYU deserved to lose that game - and should have - if 5 defensive backs weren't in the back of the endzone just having a party, watching Matthews waltz in with the game winning catch).

[SpiffCoug]

I definitely noticed Tanner's preference for rolling right. Even when it appeared there was a clear lane left, he went right into traffic. End result was a sack (at least it looked clear on my screen )

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

Every quarterback prefers rolling to their throwing arm. Because it is easier to square their shoulders and "step into" a throw.

Lefties prefer rolling left.

[SpiffCoug]

The delay reverse hand-off has got to go. IT HAS GOT TO GO.

Has it ever worked for positive yards?

Yes, but not since Ty Detmer was delaying the hand off to Peter Tuipulotu.

[SpiffCoug]

He is an average coach, that plain sucks at making adjustments (probably because he actually doesn't want to make adjustments. He thinks his gameplan is the best chance to win and rarely goes outside of it.) That is why we steamroll opponents in the first half (normally less in the 2nd quarter as they make adjustments), and lay an egg most 3rd quarters.
.

Yep, his adjustments have stunk so much this year that BYU has only out-scored opponents 30-0 in the 4th quarter (or 23-0 if you discount the Nacua Pick-6, but if you do that, then I'm tacking on the non-taken XP vs Nebraska).

[hawkwing]

It's easy to defend Anae as long as we are winning. But even the biggest Anae defender has to admit he does a lot of play calling that is just baffling.

I'm not a huge Anae defender. But I have not been baffled by any of the play calling this year, let alone "a lot" of it. Are there any specific examples you had in mind?

One thing that comes to mind is his decisions to run the ball or pass the ball ...

Well, it's going to be hard to please if you don't want him to run or pass the ball.

[BYULV]

He is an average coach, that plain sucks at making adjustments (probably because he actually doesn't want to make adjustments. He thinks his gameplan is the best chance to win and rarely goes outside of it.) That is why we steamroll opponents in the first half (normally less in the 2nd quarter as they make adjustments), and lay an egg most 3rd quarters.

Someone asked for an example of bad playcalling? I have two.

#1 WHERE THE HELL ARE THE HB and MID-SCREENS? Any rookie co-ordinator knows that the best way to defend against aggressive defenses that run downhill and blitz often is to use hb screens and mid-screens. At this point in his career, you can't deny that Anae has seen them, and chooses not to use them. They are used at every level, from pop football, to high school, and they are used HEAVILY in college and in the NFL.

http://nflbreakdowns.com/beginner-series-screen-pass" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;





My second complaint would be going downfield on critical 2nd and 3rd down plays, when it would be best to run slants and gain yards and try to pick up the first down. I don't mind taking a shot on first down once in a while to keep the defense honest, but you better get yards on that 2nd and 3rd down (through screens and slants).

Anae 2.0 is better than Anae 1.0 as far as mix of plays goes, but he is still makes critical game errors and puts his offense in positions of weakness too often, instead of positions of strength. Just because we have phenomenal athletes in Taysom and Tanner it doesn't mean that he is brilliant. Especially when his stupid playcalling mistakes, and inability to run basic offensive plays puts the weight of the world on their shoulders game in and game out.

He is better, but he still is only average, and will get beat routinely by good teams. (Boise St is not good, Wisconsin is probably good, but BYU deserved to lose that game - and should have - if 5 defensive backs weren't in the back of the endzone just having a party, watching Matthews waltz in with the game winning catch).

We haven't even played Wisvonsin, what are you smoking? And why does BYU deserve to lose these games? We played tough throughout, made plays when it mattered on offense and stopped them when needed on defense. Not sure how that makes us undeserving of winning. Good teams find a way to win. There is a different feel to this years team. Even being down 10 late in the BSU game, it did not feel like we were in trouble or going to lose. It had the feel of those early 1980's teams that you knew would score and win the game.