"Bad" week for BCS darlings

Both Utah and BYU have been unimpressive in victories this weekend. I don't know what it was, but neither of them looked like top-15 teams. They had turnovers, gave up long drives, gave up big plays, looked anemic on offense. Utah had to score twice in the final two minutes to win. BYU had to come up with a late stop to hold USU to less than 3 scores.

However, look at the bright side too: Utah pulled out a victory against a Pac 10 team in the final minutes, it's not quite storm-the-field worthy, but still nice. BYU played 2 horrible quarters and still won by 20 on the road. There were some other positives too, but if we're talking busting the BCS, you can't play games with "some" positives. You have to be near-perfect.

Brian Johnson looked pathetic for most of the game. He appears to have a switch that he can flip with two minutes left. The problem is that on some game day this season, that will be too late. He has been responsible for a defensive touchdown two games in a row. The other problem for their offense is that all that misdirection and trickeration does not work on a disciplined defense. They rely too much on the big play and have not shown an ability to CONSISTENTLY march down the field. On defense, they have looked solid, but they, too, seem to take possessions off.

Speaking of disciplined defenses, remember BYU's defense last year. This year, they have been way below par as far as discipline is concerned; i.e. staying in lanes, holding contain, penalties, etc. BYU's offense always says: if you double-team Pitta or Collie, that leaves someone else in single coverage and we'll tear you apart. The problem is that Max Hall still tries to squeeze the ball in to that double coverage too often, rather than finding the single coverage. The last two weeks he has not looked very sharp, especially on third down. The receivers are also having an inordinate amount of drops. Michael Reed may be back next week: he will instantly improve the passing game. He is the go-to guy on third down when Pitta's double-teamed.

I know it's a long season, but they have a long way to go. This week neither one of them looked like a team that can survive the season without a loss. Hopefully next week, they'll show something different, as I'm not sure either one can afford to play like they did this week. New Mexico is always capable of putting 4 good quarters together. Playing in Laramie, after some of the rising animosity from last year, will not be an easy task, even with Wyoming looking more like a I-AA team this season. I'll be there in the Utah alum section. That should be an interesting experience...