Hello,
Last night BYU played USU on ESPN. I was hanging out with one of my kids, which turned out to be good. That's because I let him pick what he wanted to watch on TV. Thankfully I was only able to watch the last 20 minutes of the BYU-USU game. When I started watching the game USU was up 24-13 and I was thinking of ways of dealing with the loss. Also I wasn't going to write about how USU was lucky, no I'd be writing about how they were better. Even though BYU prevailed last night, I'm not entirely convinced that USU isn't better the better team.
The Aggies really need to learn to close out a game. No offense to Aggie fans, but that Aggie team last night is the team we've come to expect coming out of Logan. There's a reason they are never considered seriously by BYU and Utah. USU is the obnoxious little brother that you have to let hang out with you because Mom says. I wish the best for the Aggies and Coach Gary Anderson, but that job is usually a coaches graveyard.
When I finally turned on the game Jake Heaps was no longer in the game. That didn't surprise me or make me sad. Jake Heaps has yet to show he deserves to be BYU's starting quarterback. I'm beginning to wonder if he'll ever show that. It's been many years since seeing a BYU quarterback take the field put fear into my heart like it does with Heaps. Anyway his backup Riley Nelson entered the game. I have to admit I'm not a big Jake Heaps fan. Although I honestly don't think Nelson is the long term quarterback answer either. Although if I had to pick between the two, I'd pick Nelson. But that's only because of his mobility and he seems he plays harder and cares more. He was still trying to get more yards after his helmet came off! Interesting stat of last night's game is that Nelson was both BYU's leading passer and rusher in the game. Nelson passing 10-14, 144 yards and 2 TD's. Nelson rushing: 11 carries, 62 yards. I'm not convinced of Nelson's arm strength but his mobility gives BYU a lot more offensive options.
BTW the shine continues to come off of Jake Heaps. I remember when he announced he was coming to BYU and how happy BYU fans were. I was happy too, but I tried to caution my fellow BYU fans. A lot of players come in to any program very heralded, just as many fail to live up to their hype as do live up to their hype. Sadly I was reminded of the story of the nation's #1 high school quarterback coming to BYU just a few years earlier. That was the much heralded Ben Olson. After redshirting at BYU for 1 year he went on a LDS Mission. After he returned he transferred to UCLA. There he ended up being a injury prone, under performing quarterback. He never came close to living up to the hype. While Heaps is a more durable quarterback, he's dramatically under performing as well. Last night Heaps was 11/25, 107 yards, no TDs, no interceptions. In his defense it seems the receivers dropped several balls.
But when BYU's offense doesn't perform, that puts a lot of pressure on BYU's defense to Rise Up, which they did just enough of last night. I thought the offense would be the best part of this team, however I was wrong. The offense needs to perform a lot better though, the defense isn't going to be able to step up every time. Although I love watching that tough BYU defense. They are a bunch of fighters and scrappers.
Two concerns about BYU. First of all how many mental errors did they make last night? That was highlighted by J.D. Falsev letting USU's final punt go past him. I understand he was being careful, but wow that was crazy. Unbelievably that ended up working out for BYU. Just dumb luck in favor of BYU. Seriously though as I wrote earlier for Dallas, BYU needs to go back to working on the basics. But the thing that was the most concerning was that the crowd rushed the field after the game was over. Really? For beating USU? At home? I think that's a sign about how nervous BYU fans are for their team.
Upcoming: BYU now enters into the embarrassingly weak part of their schedule. Part of their schedule weakness is due to their late switch to being an independent team. But still I'm embarrassed by how bad some of these teams are. Next week BYU plays the terrible SJSU at home, they may be the worst D1 team this season. If BYU doesn't win that game by at least 30 points, that's another sign of how much work this team needs to do. After that BYU goes on the road to play the terrible 0-3 Oregon State team, who'll probably be 0-4 at that time. Oregon State is one of those alleged tough Pac 12 teams that I have to hear about constantly with Utah joining the Pac 12. That being said I honestly expect OSU will go into that game with some pride and beat BYU.
After that BYU welcomes yet another cream puff, the 2-2 Idaho State team. They are so barely on my consciousness that I don't even know who their mascot is, nor do I care. (Alright I looked it up, Idaho State is the Bengals. That makes sense because when I think of Idaho I think of Bengals. I guess it's better than the Idaho State Spuds.) Then BYU closes out this portion of their schedule by playing at Jerry World against TCU on October 28th. TCU is still a good team, although they've dropped off a bit from last season. It's another Friday night game for BYU.
The Utes are playing a pretty equal opponent to them tonight when they welcome in the Washington Huskies and former Cougar Steve Sarkisian. I predict a high scoring affair and a very entertaining game, although this is a game that I won't be able to see either. Local radio station KALL700 has been hyping up this game as Utah's first Pac 12 home game. I'm so sick of hearing about the over rated Pac 12. As I write this blog Washington State-Colorado just kicked off. Hurry to your TVs you won't want to miss a play of this exciting game. Not!
I was under the impression that with Utah joining a BCS conference their national profile would rise. However how many times was the U mentioned on ESPN this morning? 0 times. However even more disheartening for Utah, how often was the PAC 12 mentioned on ESPN this morning? Again O times. The top tier of the Pac 12 is up there with most other conferences. According to the AP Stanford is #4 and Oregon is #9. So far those two teams have only lost once and that was to the #1 team in the nation LSU. Of course it doesn't help the PAC 12's cause that both those teams have byes today. Oregon is off completely and Stanford plays UCLA.
ESPN talked a lot of talk about the SEC, Big 10 teams and of course the over rated Notre Dame Irish. However not one word about the Pac 12 or any of its teams. Maybe the Pac 12 isn't all that? Just saying. Of course they are a more legitimate BCS conference than the Big Least.
themusicaddict
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