Well, rough weekend for BYU. It got really, really exposed in a lot of ways.
First off, basketball. Matt Carlino single-handedly prevented BYU from having any chance to compete with Florida State. Cusick needs to start, and not shoot as much. There is no bench beyond Nate Austin (and that includes a bench that SHOULD include Carlino). Davies will work his foul trouble out. Haws is going to make a run at WCC Player of the Year too. Anson Winder needs to recover and get back in the starting lineup. Josh Sharp needs to exit the starting lineup. He is a great energy guy. He can come in off the bench and play D, block some shots, grab some boards, but he is an absolute liability on offense. This team needs guys who COULD score in the starting lineup, otherwise BYU will dig a lot of early holes this season. Granted, FSU and ND were two solid opponents, but there are plenty more to come and BYU looked mentally and physically beat with 10 minutes to play in both games over the weekend. They will struggle all season, and especially on the road in the WCC if Carlino doesn't pick it up (among other things).
Now, football. Several grievances, and usually I'm a little more calm about these things, but there was a BYU game on national TV Saturday night and there were three other games I was watching and didn't even care to flip to it until the second quarter. I watched until halftime and went to bed. AND I WRITE A FREAKING BYU SPORTS BLOG. If I not only don't get excited to watch but actually cannot stand to watch it, opting to watch other games and go to bed...it's bad.
Riley Nelson: not good. Bronco defends the QB today, saying he does everything to help the team win and he gets too much blame. False. The one thing he hasn't done that would help the team win: step aside and let someone with an arm lead the team. OK, Bronco, we get it, Riley gives it his all. That is great. But it is not good enough to try hard if there is no ability behind it. Tebow is a great story, but he'll never be THE guy in the NFL because he belongs on the bench. The whole situation is mre unfair to BRONCO'S defense. They don't have a chance when they go up against a quality opponent.
So, second grievance: Bronco's unwillingness to see that Riley, while similar to a young, try-hard, Bronco Mendenhall, is simply not good enough to play. Bronco continues to defend Riley's mediocrity on the field of play. If a LB or FS sucked as bad as Riley did, he would get yanked off the field in a hurry, regardless of effort.
Third grievance: Brandon Doman also misidentifies his team's strengths and weaknesses. BYU has a good running game, but it is far from a power running game. Yet on 3rd and short after 3rd and short he employs the power running game with ZERO success. If that wasn't enough, he goes to that well on 4th and short too, after failing to convert on 3rd and short. BYU has a mobile, senior QB (who you have chosen to leave in the game b/c he's not hurt enough to pull: if he can't run a simple bootleg, sit him on the bench! What is he good for then? Leadership in huddle? Great, put him at FB), who would do well on a bootleg with a run-throw option. Instead, he trusts a 17-year old true freshman running behind an awful O-Line against a defense stacked to stop runs up the middle.
I don't know how to rank these three grievances. If Bronco would let BYU play a QB that would move the offense CONSISTENTLY, if Doman would play to his strengths and use his assets, or if Riley were any good, BYU would be 10-1. Any of the three and BYU would absolutely, positively be 10-1. Dare I say it, maybe even 11-0 b/c BYU going stagnant at ND cost them that game in the 2nd half and Riley's late game anti-heroics cost them Oregon State.
Bronco, Doman, and Riley cost millions of BYU fans an entire season. I think it will be hard to get people excited next year. Yes, those in Provo will be excited about the home schedule. Those fans in Virginia, Texas, and the Midwest (and surrounding areas) will be excited for BYU road games to come near to them. I can guarantee you, ESPN does not care about how many butts end up in the seats for those games! ESPN wants to know how many people are tuning in for those games. If I am not tuning in from kickoff to sack-fumble-loss for a nationaly televised game, BYU has some troubles on the horizon. Bronco has some decisions to make. Given his inability to pull the trigger on hard decisions (if one would call the need to bench Riley Nelson really that "hard"), Holmoe may have to force his hand. Doman wasn't ready to be a Coordinator. I think it's his head that's going to roll. After all, something big needs to change, one of the coordinators needs to go: and the other one is Bronco, so...
This is a great post. Love it.
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