Well, it was the game BYU fans hope will never happen but fearful will always happen. When BYU plays in (and usually chokes in) a game against a big-name, big-time, big, athletic, fast, tough opponent, usually one of two things prevents them from winning: turnovers on offense or the defense not being able to stop the opposing team. With Florida State last weekend: it was both (to the nth degree). The offense and special teams turned it over FIVE times. The defense NEVER stopped Florida State. The only time Florida State didn't score was when they tripped over themselves on the way to the end zone: no joke, it happened twice. But hey, SOMEBODY had to stop them and it wasn't going to be BYU's secondary. Against Oklahoma they overcame two turnovers and pulled out the victory, thanks to the defense and the fact that there were only two, one more and they were gone. Against FSU, the exact opposite was true.
Why the turnovers: first the fumbles. Rarely does a BYU running back fumble on a running play. The fumbles come on passing plays from WRs, RBs, and TEs trying to make a play in space without any playmaking ability. This has been true of BYU throughout the entire Bronco Mendenhall era. 90% of BYU's fumbles come on passing plays, it's science. For a team that only passes 60-65% of the time, that number is a little disconcerting, um, maybe something to work on in practice with the WRs, not just the RBs. The ball gets spread around to so many different players, and not all of them can hang on to the football. Austin Collie only fumbled a few times in his career, I'm sure Pitta has once or twice (though I can't remember a single instance), and Harvey Unga may have been guilty of putting it on the turf a time or two in his career. The playmakers aren't the ones fumbling the ball. Andrew George, O'Neill Chambers, Vic So'oto back in his TE days, DeLuigi, etc. are the guys coughing it up. Problem is, when Max loses faith in those guys to not fumble, he locks in on Pitta, which leads to problem number two.
Second, the interceptions. Max Hall knows who he can trust to make catches, make plays, and not fumble. The problem is: the defense does too! TCU game last season: Hall's picks were on throws to Pitta and Collie. Utah game: same thing. The other issue that Hall has is not necessarily his own: he throws to guys who have broken off their route. When he locks in on his main guys, the other guys start to get lazy, they stop running their routes (especially if Max hangs on to the ball too long), they don't get in position to catch the ball, and when Hall tries to thread the needle to them, the D is usually in a better position to make a play than the O. The more he spreads the ball around, the more the WRs are going to work. I am not blaming Hall for this at all, it's entirely on the WRs: they shouldn't get lazy whether they get thrown to once or 100 times. I will mention, however, that he needs to get them involved earlier in the game.
Why the defense stunk: first, the secondary. I'm not making excuses or anything like that, but Scott Johnson, the QB of the defense at free safety, was hurt and did not play. He aligns the coverages, makes sure everyone is in the right position, etc. He wasn't in, and it started to look like BYU's secondary from 2008. Bills and Te'o are good safeties, they were usually in the right place doing the right things, but they didn't do nearly the job that Johnson had done the first two games of the season. Plus, they are both strong safeties really, and last year BYU's secondary showed what happens when you have to play guys out of position, and it was bad, very bad. Johnson will be back at free safety next game.
Second, the speed of Florida State. It wasn't necessarily that BYU's players were slower, though they certainly were, but it was that they took poor angles, which can be attributed to not seeing speed like FSU's in the open field. OU has the same speed but they never got in the open field like the 'Noles did (play, after play, after play). You can make up for lack of speed (to some degree) by single geometry. Well, the BYU defense must have missed math class the week of the FSU game because they stunk it up. BYU won't have to deal with angles as much for the next few weeks, since their speed matches up fairly well with the next several opponents.
I am not as worried about the BYU defense having any repeat performances. Looking at the rest of BYU's schedule, the teams with speed that they still play, don't have an OL AND QB like FSU's (TCU has a similar QB, Utah has a similar OL, but neither has both). However, the turnover problem on O and special teams will continue to creep up. It's just the wannabe playmakers coughing it up and Max Hall not checking down fast enough. BYU will probably continue to have that problem against good defenses the rest of the season because the personnel (and the personalities of the personnel) isn't going to change. And buckle up, Cougar fans, next year might be worse with a less experienced QB and the loss of Pitta and George. Oh, and there are a lot of seniors that will graduate in the front 7 on defense, plus the aforementioned QB of the defense, Scott Johnson.
Any chance Bronco can have a rebuilding year like they did in 2007 (11-2, undefeated in conference)? Well, he has upstart Washington at home, travels to Florida State, gets Nevada at home, and travels to another upwardly mobile program in Utah State. In conference they get TCU, Utah, Air Force, and Colorado State on the road. That screams 8-4 to me and a third/fourth-place MWC finish. Give me about 8 or 9 months to look at it more closely before I make an actual prediction though...
No comments:
Post a Comment