I know I'm a little late on this. People have dissected the game, people have been disgusted with the outcome of the game, etc. For me, I'm a little concerned about the direction of the offense (or really the program in general) right now. Robert Anae's "Go Fast, Go Hard" offensive scheme has basically turned into a Hurry-Up Air Raid offense. The whole point of Go Fast, Go Hard is to wear teams out. These are 19-23 year olds BYU is playing: they can run for days. You can't wear them out by making the DL pass rush and the DBs chase (slow) WRs. To wear them out you hit them every single play. This is why Navy can still pull off a few upsets every now and again: 11 guys hit 11 guys on every play. Go Fast, Go Hard works when you run the ball a lot and when you pass the ball effectively. It doesn't work as well if you pass the ball a lot and run the ball effectively. You can't run 30 more plays and gain 190 more yards and lose time of possession by 6 minutes. Two of the 3 4th quarter turnovers against Nevada were on called pass plays. When you have a running game that can be dominant against an inferior opponent, you have to use it early, often, and to the end.
I understand that BYU is really short on RBs right now. It destroys some confidence from Anae in the running game. I get that. However, the RBs averaged 7 yards/carry against Nevada last weekend. Nate Carter averaged over 12/carry. Nate Carter. Even Toloa'i Ho Ching got his first action of the season in a blocking role this past Saturday. But what I see is the OL is actually coming together in the run-blocking these past few games, just as the number of carries is plummeting.
Robert Anae called 102 offensive plays. He called 77 pass plays and 25 run plays. Christian Stewart was sacked 6 times and scrambled 8 times, bringing a little balance to the final numbers (63 pass attempts and 39 rushes). That means he is not comfortable in the pocket on 18% of pass plays. On the 63 plays he did throw the ball, he completed 62% of his passes, averaging 10.5 yards/completion. There was one designed running play the entire game that got 0 yards or less (and that was really a broken play). So there is a 96% chance of positive yardage against Nevada if we run the ball. Contrast that with passing the ball: you have a 39% of 0 yards or fewer (and an 18% chance of your QB running for his life). At some point, Anae has to look at the percentages, and they say to RUN THE BALL 3/4 OF THE TIME INSTEAD OF 1/4. Even if he wasn't looking at the percentages: BYU was ahead by 15 points in the second half! Run the ball! Go Medium, Go Hard...eat clock, wear them down, kill their morale.
77 called passes would have been awesome if Steve Sarkisian was throwing to Kaipo Maguire, Ben Cahoon, James Dye, KO Kealaluhi, Chad Lewis, Itula Mili, and Ronney Jenkins. 77 with Christian Stewart to Mitch Matthews, Jordan Leslie, and Paul Lasike? That kind of stupidity earns you a loss to a 3-3 middle-of-the-road MWC team. Just a few weeks after Bronco proclaimed that a 4-0 start and beat-down of Texas proved BYU was ready for a P5 league, BYU lost 3 straight games to G5 schools: 2 of them at home. And they aren't out of the woods yet either. If BYU loses to Boise and beats UNLV, they will be 1-3 against the MWC: that would place them at the bottom of either division if they were still in the conference.
Analyze away all you want. The reason BYU lost to Nevada was the number 7. Only 7 carries for a guy averaging 12 yards/carry. And 77 called pass plays when the run-blocking was as dominant as it has been this season since the Texas 2nd half. I said before the season started, I felt BYU needed 10 wins or they lose the fan base. That would require them to win out, including a bowl game. That won't happen until BYU starts running the football for 4 quarters. If it was good enough to beat Texas, it would have been good enough to beat Utah State, UCF, and Nevada. But we are left with 77 called pass plays, two 4th quarter rushes against UCF in a game we led by 2 TDs, and a complete abandoning of the running game against Utah State in the 3rd quarter.
Run. The. Football. For 4 quarters. Run it with Nate Carter. Bring Alisa back to offense (if Utah State can bring a LB with zero career carries over and put on a display, surely a former college RB can give you something). Put Trey Dye in the backfield (Stewart can tell him which way the play is going if he doesn't know the playbook). Just pound the football. Or lose. Plain and simple. And I'm not just talking about the game.
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