Trip To Texas

Heaps Not There Yet
For all of the hype about Heaps, he clearly has some problems.  First: he has ZERO confidence in throws over the middle.  Second: he loves the fullback too much.  Third: he loves the deep ball too much.  If this BYU offense is ever going to take flight, he must fix those three things.

His completion percentage is too low for the level of difficulty of his throws.  His yards per attempt is atrociously low.  His yards per completion is even worse.  He has a cannon.  He throws a pretty ball.  However, until he figures out where he needs to go with the ball to gain real yardage, BYU's offense will fail to put points on the board in sufficient numbers.  The first half, he delivered the ball over the middle.  The first half BYU moved the ball because Heaps took some risks.  The second half, the only risk he took was the fade.  He must throw slants, posts, digs, drags, or anything that is not an out or a fade.  His completion percentage will go up.  His yards per attempt/completion will go up.  BYU's point totals will go up.

Doman Not There Yet
While Brandon Doman does take more shots down the field than Robert Anae, he does not move the ball as efficiently as Anae.  I thought he came out with a good game plan, but failed to adjust to the pressure and the blitzing of Texas.  His answer to the blitz was throwing the deep ball in man-to-man coverage.  In his defense, he did run a couple of draws to counteract the blitz, but BYU's OL is not a run-blocking line.  What he needed to do was steal a page from Texas' playbook: a screen pass.  I'll have to go back and watch but I think BYU only threw one screen the entire game.

Doman either needs to figure out how to run the ball effectively against a good defense, or he needs to find a new strategy for rushing the football.  BYU clearly cannot run the ball up the middle.  Of BYU's 23 rushes, I would guess that at least 16 of them went between the tackles.  It seems the only time BYU ever gained 4 yards or more was getting outside.  Also, another question for Doman: why is the backup fullback getting a toss sweep play near the end zone but JJ DiLuigi NEVER getting one?  I'm not one to second-guess playcalling.  I realize it's a difficult business.  But 23 rushes for 43 yards: it's time to try something different.  While the pitch to a fullback is "different," a pitch to a halfback might have a better chance of being both different and successful.

Can't Stay On The Field
The defense came up with enough stops to win this game.  The defense did its job to win the time of possession battle.  The offense just couldn't stay on the field in the second half.  BYU had a substantial time of possession advantage in the first half.  They were aggressive.  They were physical.  They were in control.  But after Heaps threw that interception late in the first half, the offense pretty much went into a shell the rest of the game.  I will have to go back and look at the stats, but I would be shocked if BYU had 100 yards of offense in the ensuing 35 minutes.  BYU also lost the time of possession battle in the end, after holding a sizable lead at halftime.  The offense just couldn't move the sticks in the second half.

Couldn't Get Off The Field
As a result of the offense's woes, Texas had a lot of opportunities to poke and prod at the BYU defense.  While they were not amazingly successful, they had enough of a sample size to know a trick play would work.  They knew they could get away with screens, which killed BYU in the second half.  They knew they could run the zone-read play, which killed BYU in the second half.  Because the offense couldn't stay on the field, the defense was unable to get off of it in the fourth quarter.  They came up with a lot of stops.  In the end, they came up with two too few, thanks in large part to the offense going into "BYU" mode as Shane calls it.  (BYU mode is where BYU freaks out because they are beating an elite program and choke and go into a shell and look like a high school offense.  Did I describe that OK, Shanerz?)

More To Say, But Tuesday Tidbits Should Say It
There is a lot more that could be said about the game, but I will go back, watch the game, analyze some key stats, and post that for Tuesday.  As far as the "experience" goes: the stadium was impressive.  The atmosphere was good.  But I would go to a game at Ole Miss 10 times before heading back to Austin.  Just the "experience" of Oxford killed Austin.  I had a co-worker who bragged about Austin tailgating, but it was actually kind of lame compared to Ole Miss (though BYU isn't even on the same map as those two).  Ole Miss fans were more gracious in defeat than Texas fans were in victory.  Maybe the win taints my perspective, but both were great experiences and worth the trip.  I'd still take the Grove over the 100k+ capacity stadium.