What a game!

ttexastim wrote:
You must be older than dirt if you remember the Cougars creaming the Utes! ;)

that, or he was born within the last 4 years ;)

mizzoucoug wrote:
Utah has no business being in this game at all if the boys don't play down (as usual) to an inferior Ute team. It's almost as if they crave the drama and suck it up just to have a close game. I never count Utah out because they have more talent year to year than we do and they can make the plays necessary to win. With a senior QB vs. a freshman, this game is nothing short of embarrassing for the team. I'm elated that they won, but this should have been a blow-out. Sadly though, with an average QB at the helm, Utah wins this by 2 TD's. All those deep balls were available if only they had a Q with some experience. Oh well, I guess a win is a win.

Agreed, we played down to Utahs level today.



I'm most disgusted by the fact that even though Harvey Unga went for an amazing 5 yards a carry, that we kept throwing the ball in the 2nd half.

This is the 2nd year in a row where Harvey dominates Utah and still doesn't get the ball enough.

Iceman wrote:
I believe Anae is a ewet spy. His play calling is inexcusable otherwise! I hereby pronounce Rboert Anae, a UTARD! :sick:

Don't want to take too much away from a win, especially one against Utah, but IMO Anae is the biggest thing keeping us from a BCS bowl. With all the thoroughbreds in our offense we sure play a lackluster game. Anyone else tired of vanilla? You can put all the sprinkles you want on it, but vanilla is still vanilla.



Anyways, it was a great game with another classic ending. The games that go down to the wire are always much more memorable and I'm glad the TD went to George (very underrated).

Near the end of the game Utah was putting 9 in the box with only 1 safety back. They were trying to take the run away. Hall was having trouble so that made sense. Hall barely got the past between 2 defenders to hit George for the game winner. I am glad for the new daddy, he will remember that the rest of his life. Hopefully the NFL will give him a shot.

I feel bad that we play so terribly and leave so many points out there. Lucky yewts

I have to vent my comments on the game. I saw three boneheaded plays by the coaching staff.



One, I was ticked with Anae's play calling late in the game. He was passing when he should have been running (before they stacked the box), and then on the last two drives before the end of regulation, he ran the exact same sequence. Run, Run, Pass--punt. That drove me nuts. They had started to stack the box, so we needed to do something else besides run at them. There's this thing called play action he should read about.



Two, that punt from the 35 yard line just about killed me. Let's see, 3rd and five from the 35. Certainly this was four down territory. Why not run it and get a manageable 4th and 2 or so from the 32. Instead, we pass and get an incomplete on 3rd, and then inexcusably punt the ball into the end zone--I presume with the intention of pinning them deep. That's fine if you are on the 50 or even the 45. But on the 35 you better be committed to scoring some dang points if you plan on winning the game.



Third, not calling time out with what would have been about 1:06 to play after Utah's field goal in the fourth quarter. Seriously? Our plan was to play for overtime even though we would have had a whole minute to move into field goal range? I know, people are going to say that a turnover on our end of the field would kill us, which is true. However, a turnover in overtime will kill you just as much, and there is much more pressure to try and force one in their in overtime to score. Some nice conservative swing passes to the sideline to drive the ball down the field would have been nice, rather than hoping that even though Utah had all of the momentum going into overtime that we would somehow outplay them. We got very, very lucky to win that game.



I'm not sure I have ever been more disgusted with a win. We did not come from behind. We let the game slip away and were very fortunate to pull out the win in the end.



All that being said, I sure hope we get a little more aggressive. I wouldn't want to be going for it from my own 35 a la Belecheck (however you spell it), but I also would have a little more confidence to go for it on the opponent's 35 and to at least try to get in field goal range with over a minute on the clock.



Now that I am done venting, I congratulate the players for pulling out the victory despite the way they were handicapped at times by the coaching. I am not calling for a change, but I do hope our coaching figures out how to manage the clock and when it is appropriate to punt.



I hope BYU goes to the Vegas bowl because I will be taking my son to his first live football game there if they do. We'll just happen to be passing through at the time. 8)

Cougarfan87 wrote:
Third, not calling time out with what would have been about 1:06 to play after Utah's field goal in the fourth quarter. Seriously? Our plan was to play for overtime even though we would have had a whole minute to move into field goal range? I know, people are going to say that a turnover on our end of the field would kill us, which is true. However, a turnover in overtime will kill you just as much, and there is much more pressure to try and force one in their in overtime to score. Some nice conservative swing passes to the sideline to drive the ball down the field would have been nice, rather than hoping that even though Utah had all of the momentum going into overtime that we would somehow outplay them. We got very, very lucky to win that game.

I agree with you 100% on your first 2 point. The play calling and the punt choice were questionable at best.



Initially, I was upset about the third point, too, but it only too a few seconds for me to remember the Washington-Arizona State game from earlier this year, which I happened to stay up and watch. Washington got the ball with about 1:20 left and the score tied. ASU had a timout.



UW ran the ball twice, and ASU used a timeout. On 3rd and 1 from their own 19 with 26 seconds and with no timeouts for ASU, UW threw deep, which ended in an incomplete pass stopping the clock. UW punted to ASU, who got the ball back near the 50 with 11 seconds remaining.



Next play:



TD pass to a wide open receiver on a seam route.



You can watch the sequence here:



[youtube]lANcioqeCo4&fmt=18[/youtube]







As I was watching the game, visions of this were going through my head. Utah still had 2 timeouts. I can imagine it now given Anae's play-calling (as you noted):



1:06 - 1st and 10 from BYU 25. BYU handoff to Unga for a gain of 3 yards.



Utah 2nd timeout of the half.



1:01 - 2nd and 7 from BYU 28. BYU handoff to Unga for a gain of 2 yards.



Utah 3rd timeout of the half.



0:55 - 3rd and 5 from BYU 30. BYU Hall incomplete pass intended for Pitta.



0:45 - 4th and 5 from BYU 30. BYU Stephenson punt returned to Utah 35.



Going from the 35 to the BYU 30 in 35 seconds in college football wouldn't have been hard for Utah given the way BYU defense had been playing in the midfield area. I grant you that BYU's defense was huge from the 30 yard line in, but I would think the Utes getting into long field goal range was a strong probability.

Well, your reply makes the latter a little easier to swallow. I guess my criticism of not going for it with a minute to go was only exacerbated by the earlier failing to go for it from the 35 and netting a whole 15 yards. I also didn't realize that Utah still had two timeouts. I thought they were out of them, which would change everthing since BYU could completely control the clock and just run it out if they were not making any progress up field. Hence, I withdraw my third criticism.



In the end, it was still a win and I look forward to taking my son to a bowl game. He has turned into a huge football fan, so watching BYU in a bowl game would be awesome for him. For once I will be very disappointed if BYU does NOT go to the Las Vegas bowl.

Cougarfan87 wrote:
I withdraw my third criticism.

I don't. Cal got the ball with under a minute left in the first half of Bronco's first Las Vegas Bowl. They threw a long TD just before time expired. Cal won that game by 7.



BYU had enough time and timeouts to take a few "free" long shots, and they had little enough time on the clock that they could run it out whenever they chose.

GolfDiveNCougs wrote:
I'm absolutely disgusted with my team right now, honestly. I went into watching overtime resigned to the fact that BYU would lose this ballgame.



Tim, you're much more gracious than you need have been. Had two or three of the 15-yard penalties (either unsportsmanlike or kicker interference etc) not occurred, or if two or three of those MYRIAD reciever-WIDE-open long bomb passes not been overthrown, it would have been a blowout in the Utes' favor.



I really don't see a team in the top 5 of the Pac-10 that BYU won't get absolutely SMOKED by in the bowl game this year. And that's even assuming miss Tina Whatser-Face Maaco Las Vegas Bowl lady isn't so disgusted by BYU that she picks Utah for it ANYWAY. We MIGHT be up for an Arizona in San Diego, but even then, I have my doubts!



Sorry for the Dolly-downer post, but I'm just THOROUGHLY unimpressed with basically all aspects of BYU's Football team right now, top down.



And as a consolation to you, Tim, since your team lost a game that they SHOULD have won, your team just put together a potential 10-win season in a rebuilding year, and based on what we're losing (such as it is) next year, and what you're returning, you'll not see much by way of resistance from us this time next year.



GRRRRRR!!!!!

:angry: :angry: :angry: :angry:

So, you're "THOROUGHLY unimpressed with basically all aspects of BYU's Football team right now, top down"? Seriously?



What about capping off the 4th straight 10 win regular season in a row (the best run in school history), finishing the regular season ranked in the top 15 nationally, earning our 5th straight bowl berth, and beating our (ranked) arch-rival for the third time in 4 years fails to impress you? :skeptic:



We must have been watching different games. I thought our CB's and Safeties had one of their best efforts of the year. They kept Wynn and those "fabulous" Utah receivers in check for pretty much the entire evening. In fact, I thought the whole defense played as well as that particular group could be expected to play (how can you not be encouraged by the heroics of guys like Jordan Pendleton and Brian Logan?). They held a good Ute offense to 6 points in the first half!



True, Max struggled through much of the game, but he didn't do anything to kill us, either. He didn't throw any interceptions, he didn't fumble the ball, and he didn't take alot of big sacks despite relentless pressure from a very talented and physical Utah front 7. In short, he managed the game in a way I would expect an experienced senior QB facing a talented Utah defense to manage it. Utah cerainly got their licks, but it was Max hall that delivered the pinpoint strike to beat bracket coverage in overtime.



I'll have to concede that I saw some coaching mistakes, but I think the general approach to the game was sound. I'm confident that there are lessons being learned and applied to make the program better.



Was the game perfect? Of course not. But I like the results.



Was the season perfect? No, but we're 10-2, and heading to a bowl game for the 5th straight year.



If the state of our football program disgusts you so thoroughly, then become a stinkin' Ute already. You are the type of fan that Bronco and Max Hall express frustration with. Seriously...with fans like you who needs enemies?