BYU Fans – Is this really happening?

BYU moves to 1-4 after a 31-16 blow-out at the hands of the Utah State. (By the way, the last six points were in garbage time. BYU really only put 10 on the board when it mattered)

Let’s start with what we know:

1) They started the year without a QB

Everyone knows when you have 2, you really have none. Heaps is better, was better and always will be better than Riley. For whatever reason, Bronco was reluctant to give the job to the freshman. Bronco seemed to want to reward Riley for paying his dues, being a tough player, a leader, etc. Those are admirable qualities and would have helped win games if he had just been given the job outright. However, there was no decision made. In fact, reports have quoted Bronco as saying he left the decision up to his coordinators. This indecision hurt the team and has derailed the offense. The team would have been better served with one guy and one leader. Heaps is only going to get better as the year goes on. If he is handled correctly during his time at BYU, he should play in the NFL. And that’s why he should have been the go-to guy from the beginning.

2) They desperately miss Dennis Pitta (and Andrew George)

Yes, of course they also miss Max Hall, who won more games than any other QB in school history. And yes, they also miss the all time leading rusher, Harvey Unga. Everyone has focused on the absence of those two though and has forgotten how valuable the tight end position has always been for this offense. How many clutch catches did Pitta have on 3rd and long? How many drives did he keep alive? How many clutch catches did he have in the Red Zone. The lack of these plays is killing the team this year. Supposedly they have 5 tight ends on the roster but they are so highly thought of that Bronco moved O’Neill Chambers from receiver to tight end? That leads to the next bewildering point…

3) O’Neill Chambers is moved to tight end and then is suspended for 2 games

Did he break a team rule, bad attitude, not live up to an obligation off the field? Who knows but it just seemed weird.

4) Receivers aren’t receiving the ball and tacklers aren’t tackling

You don’t need to read any in depth analysis – just watch the games and you see bad football being played.

5) BYU fired defensive coordinator, Jaime Hill

We don’t know the real story here either. Reports indicate he’d had a few altercations with players. Former defensive standout and current sports talk radio host in Salt Lake, Jan Jorgensen, went on record saying Coach Hill was a good secondary coach but was in over his head calling all the defensive plays.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700070440/BYU-football-Defensive-coordinator-Jaime-Hill-fired.html

 

Here is a breakdown of the points allowed through the first five games of this year compared to last:

2009	2010
Oklahoma- 13	Washington- 17
Tulane – 3	Air Force – 35
FloridaState- 54	FloridaState- 34
ColoradoState- 23	Nevada- 27
UtahState- 17	UtahState- 31

 

For those scoring at home:

• 2009 points allowed were 110 with an      average of 22. (Take out theFlorida State blow-out and the average      goes down to just 10 point per game allowed.
• 2010 points allowed have been 144 with      an average of 28.8

Was a shake-up justified? I guess so. The numbers don’t lie. However, the offensive output is way down compared to last year, or practically any year for that matter. BYU has traditionally had a serviceable defense and relied on incredible offenses to win. The year that the offense goes anemic, they blow out the defensive coordinator. Was Bronco pressured to make a change? Are there more changes coming if things don’t turn around?

So is this just a bad football team or is there more to the story? Has the team tuned out the head coach’s constant message of “We just need to execute?” Has the poor start killed their confidence? I do think they are going to win some ball games. There are several games left on the schedule in which BYU should be able to simply show up and win. However, we thought that was the case Friday night and BYU got hammered. Stay tuned. We’ll see if Bronco has anything interesting to say at his press conference today.