CougarCorner

Re: BYU will beat Oregon

2022-09-21T07:33:37-06:00

Here are BYU's top ten players in the loss to Oregon thanks to PFF for the grades and SI for the article

The 10 Highest-Graded Players from BYU's Loss at Oregon

1. Kody Epps - 76.5
2. Blake Freeland - 72.5
3. Jaren Hall - 71.7
4. Alden Tofa - 71.2
5. Ben Bywater - 70.0
6. Jakob Robinson - 68.0
7. Connor Pay - 65.6
8. Talan Alfrey - 65.3
9. Clark Barrington - 65.0
10. Chase Roberts - 64.6

Statistics: Posted by byufan4ever — Wed Sep 21, 2022 7:33 am

Re: BYU will beat Oregon

2022-09-18T18:08:23-06:00

I turned the game off midway through the 3Q and decided to do something outside with my family. This was so embarrassing. Maybe not LSU bad, but at least Wisconsin bad (2017). My thoughts:

*Any rumors about the team taking the week off after the big win over Baylor? Cause it's happened before...

*Can we use the $1.5M payment from Oregon on a new DC? Or at least a new OL coach?

*Our running game sucks bad. No push. No holes. And Brooks is way overrated. He runs the play exactly as called (tries to go through a hole even if it's not there) and gets stopped at the first defender. No burst. No bounce. No moves. No power.

*Our defense the past few years has been built on dropping 8 to prevent the pass and get turnovers. Well, we're still allowing big pass plays, getting run over play after play, and not getting turnovers.

*Injuries suck. But every team has injuries.

*Oregon stomped us. Georgia stomped Oregon. Georgia is head and shoulders above everyone else including Alabama, Clemson, etc.

*If we don't stomp Wyoming at home I'm getting worried. If we don't stomp Utah State at home I'm pressing the panic button.

Statistics: Posted by byufan4ever — Sun Sep 18, 2022 6:08 pm

Re: BYU will beat Oregon

2022-09-18T10:06:48-06:00

Is our OL regressing under Funk?

Statistics: Posted by scott715 — Sun Sep 18, 2022 10:06 am

Re: BYU will beat Oregon

2022-09-17T18:41:22-06:00

Fido, you’re spot on. One thing I noticed is that Brooks never cuts back like Tyler did. Not saying that makes all the difference, but when you run where everyone is being pushed, well, there’ll be a lot of guys to tackle you. Oregon owned our Dline. And their Dline OWNED our OLine. That about sums it up. Was worried with two of our starters on the DLine out. Extremely disappointed in our OLine play.

Statistics: Posted by BoiseBYU — Sat Sep 17, 2022 6:41 pm

Re: BYU will beat Oregon

2022-09-17T17:00:45-06:00

Observations:
BYU running game is overrated. The only team they have been able to run on this year is South Florida. If this OL is full of NFL players, you wouldn't know it from their run blocking.

The defense cannot--repeat cannot--stop the run. Teams are finding success by running the ball down BYU's throat.

Jake Oldroyd needs to either prove he can make some kicks or you have to go with the backup kicker (Smith I think?) Smith did well when pressed into duty before and Oldroyd is turning into a head case with 3 not close misses in a row.

Statistics: Posted by Fido — Sat Sep 17, 2022 5:00 pm

Re: BYU will beat Oregon

2022-09-17T15:01:01-06:00

I do not like this game.

Statistics: Posted by Sammich — Sat Sep 17, 2022 3:01 pm

Re: BYU will beat Oregon

2022-09-15T18:01:11-06:00

I absolutely love everything you're saying here, but past experience keeps me nervous anytime we play an undisciplined team full of athletes. Teams like that can pull a great game out of their butts at any time.

Overall, think it's pretty clear we have a better team and will probably end up with a better season, but you just never know what will happen on a given weekend with a team stacked with talent

I couldn't have said it better. Ben Criddle noted that in the last 5 recruiting seasons, Oregon has not had a recruiting class lower than #14--2 of them in the top 10. THAT's a lot of talent. I just hope it's like from the movie Miracle, with Kurt Russell where he's explaining how come the all-star NHL team had lost to the Russians. It wasn't because of talent, but because they never came together as a team. It does seem apparent from our experiences of watching USC over the last decade or so. They have the talent, but they apparently never come together as a team. Here's hoping the same for Oregon.

Honestly, I still can't explain how Puketah just dominated Oregon twice last season. Head scratcher. Oh, I forgot, it's because they had Cam Rising.

Statistics: Posted by EM_Puma — Thu Sep 15, 2022 6:01 pm

Re: BYU will beat Oregon

2022-09-15T12:56:15-06:00

“ absolutely love everything you're saying here, but past experience keeps me nervous anytime we play an undisciplined team full of athletes…”

Of course we didn’t even mention the worst part: injuries. Here’s hoping our players come back healthy!

Statistics: Posted by Yzzazz — Thu Sep 15, 2022 12:56 pm

Re: BYU will beat Oregon

2022-09-15T11:59:16-06:00

I absolutely love everything you're saying here, but past experience keeps me nervous anytime we play an undisciplined team full of athletes. Teams like that can pull a great game out of their butts at any time.

Overall, think it's pretty clear we have a better team and will probably end up with a better season, but you just never know what will happen on a given weekend with a team stacked with talent

Statistics: Posted by tmoney35 — Thu Sep 15, 2022 11:59 am

Re: BYU will beat Oregon

2022-09-15T10:35:10-06:00

... And another thing!

I have been trying to make sense of the question "What kind of team is Oregon?" I think I finally have an answer and it is found in the other "O" state.

The sports media and Las Vegas have two false assumptions going for them right now:

1. Oregon is a really good and talented team.
2. The PAC 12 is on par with other P5 conferences.

Oregon has had a roster full of talent as evidenced by the fact that 11 players left their team for the NFL in the last two years. Six from last year's squad. That's impressive.

When Oregon beat Ohio state, IN COLUMBUS at the season opener last year, it solidified the public perception on both assumptions, and the impact carried through the entire year. So much so that no one predicted Utah would beat Oregon twice, both by healthy margins. That is the same Utah team that BYU in that same year. Oddly, the same Utah team that lost to Ohio State.

So Oregon beats OSU, but Utah beats Oregon and OSU beats Utah. How?

Call it the talent trap.

What happens when you are legitimately talented, but also young and sure of yourself? You are overly prone to be "undisciplined." Specifically, you assume you can solve problems, or make up for unforced assignment errors, with your speed or strength or both. Championship teams in college football rarely, if ever, are littered with a roster full of undisciplined players. This is likely the explanation to the triangular performance of those teams last year, and, combined with a first year coach, the reason for Oregon's stunning defeat against Georgia.

Georgia is both talented and disciplined. You don't make it through the CFP without both. Oddsmakers and ratings systems (Massey, Sagarin, FPI, etc.) have objective means for calculating the relative value of talent on a roster, but they don't really have great metrics for discipline. Largely because even the most disciplined team can play in a very undisciplined way at any given moment, or for an undetermined period of time.

This is not that time for BYU, largely because of the leadership of the coaches and Jaren Hall. Did you notice that story Jay Drew wrote yesterday detailing the Oldroyd moment from Jake's own perspective? What really stood out to me was that Oldroyd said he go flooded with positive, supporting comments, and ZERO negative ones.

I strongly doubt the sweet temperament of the BYU fanbase is the reason for it. That is almost entirely because EVERYONE saw or heard about Jaren's actions at the end of the game. Leadership made a difference. Humans are more likely to be disciplined (that is to stick with an assignment or plan) if they are following a disciplined leader they trust. BYU has that this year.

Oregon does not.

Lanning is probably a swell guy and a great coach, but Oregon is a young team and he is in his first year. He didn't have time to establish a culture of discipline and with his roster being drained of its NFL talent the last two years, what he was left with going into the season opener is talented youth. It was a hotbed for undisciplined behavior and it showed up in every drive Oregon made.

That was likely the explanation for OSU's loss to Oregon in the year before as well. Third (second if you don't count COVID) year coach Ryan had to rebuild after losing 12 players to the NFL. That number is high even for Buckeye teams over the years. He still had a lot of talent, but it was youthful and prone to leaving an assignment.

If this is the reason for the inconsistent performance of Oregon and OSU in the early season games, then it bodes well for BYU fans on Saturday. Neither Baylor nor BYU can afford to be undisciplined. If they are, they will easily lose to more talented teams. Both of those teams played very disciplined game, with Baylor (penalties) breaking discipline slightly more often that BYU.

I do not expect Oregon's sophomore-heavy roster to be fully disciplined yet. Even against EWU there was evidence of missed assignments. The most consistent knock on Bo Nix over the years has been this very thing. Could they bring it all together and rise to the challenge BYU represents? Certainly they could, but I don't think they will.

Because if the last two games were any indication, BYU will play an excellent script to start the game and they'll get a lead early. This could reduce the crowd as a factor, allowing BYU to put the game away early in the fourth quarter.

If Oregon plays a disciplined game and keeps it close into the fourth quarter, the BYU will have to rely on a miracle finish. I think this is a lower probability than BYU getting the lead and keeping it.

Statistics: Posted by Yzzazz — Thu Sep 15, 2022 10:35 am