September 2007 - Cougarsportsline - mailman.xmission.com

Cougar Sportsline, Vol. 28, Issue 8
by hb arnett 24 Sep '07

24 Sep '07

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Cougar Sportsline, Vol. 28, Issue 7
by hb arnett 17 Sep '07

17 Sep '07

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Cougar Sportsline, Vol. 28, Issue 6
by hb arnett 10 Sep '07

10 Sep '07

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Cougar Sportsline, Vol. 28, Issue 5
by hb arnett 03 Sep '07

03 Sep '07

HB Arnett's COUGAR SPORTSLINE 801 372 0819 hbarnett(a)fiber.net and hbarnett@xmission <mailto:hbarnett@xmission.com> PO Box 50424 Provo, Utah 84605 Vol. 28, Issue 5, September 3, 2007 Click <http://www.cougarstreet.com/products/index.php?type-450&PCID=450:0:0:0:0> Here To Order Or Renew Your Subscriptions As a subscriber, you are allowed to access our new blog. You can view it by going to www.cougarsportsline.blogspot.com <http://www.cougarsportsline.blogspot.com/> Just a reminder that we are now sending the newsletter via two separate email accounts to help solve distribution issues that many subscribers experienced last year. That means you may receive two identical letters. If that is the case, please just discard the extra. HALL AND UNGA ROUT AND RATE IN 20-7 WIN OVER ARIZONA It really was as easy as it looked. With questions galore surrounding this 2007 BYU football team, the Cougars had most of the answers in a 20-7 opening day win over the Arizona Wildcats last Saturday afternoon in LaVell Edwards Stadium. Was Max Hall going to be as good as the hype that has trailed the redshirt sophomore for the past two years since he arrived on the BYU campus? So far, so good. He didn't have a top-ten passing performance against UA, but it was good enough to get your attention, when considering the opening performances of the pantheon of past BYU quarterbacks. Completing 26-39 passes for 288 yards, 2 touchdowns and no picks, was a pretty commercial outing for a BYU quarterback, but it definitely ranks in the top ten of opening debuts for a Cougar signal caller. Can he get better? You bet. That was the beauty of it all. Hall has plenty of room for improvement, but he also appears to have plenty of ability to do just that. Geographically Good? We watched Harvey Unga play in high school. There was no question that he definitely passed the Timpview test when he prepped for the Thunderbirds. We heard rumblings from BYU coaches on how special Unga was projected to be, but we also heard rumblings from Cougar fans who wondered just how good can a Utah County running back really be? Geographically speaking, he is very, very good. The redshirt freshman rushed for 67 yards on just 15 carries. He also caught 9 passes out of the backfield for 127 yards. Did we mention that he also scored two touchdowns? That was two more than any tailback from Tucson. While Unga's rushing numbers weren't staggering, it was impressive. There were numerous times when he was just a half step away from breaking off some serious runs. Arizona's defense is very good and loaded with some big-time athletes. The same can be said about UCLA's defense. Once Unga and BYU get back to Mountain West Conference defenses, we expect much bigger numbers from him. His rushing yardage should be special. Give him another year under his belt and his numbers could not only someday be special, but maybe Staleyesque. More Impressive As impressive as the numbers were for Hall and Unga in their first official Cougar outing, here is a number that is even more impressive. The BYU offensive line allowed only one clear shot at Hall from the Wildcat defense. That was when All-American Antoine Cason came off a corner blitz in the first quarter. Other than that, BYU's offensive front played extremely well in allowing a Cougar running game to materialize and a pass rush on Hall to evaporate. This was a very good UA defense that BYU was able to move the ball against. The BYU defense also turned in a nice performance. They totally dominated the Arizona offense. They only allowed a total of 255 yards of offense to the Wildcats and only three first downs until the start of the fourth quarter. While he didn't have any sacks, we were impressed with the outside speed rush of Chris Bolden. BYU has not had a speed rush option in their defense for as long as we can remember. Overall it was a nice get-out-of-the-gate performance by the Cougars. Concern There was one area of concern, however. BYU's special teams play was spotty and the Cougar kicking game was extremely shaky. Adjustments and improvements have to be made in these areas, or it will come back to cost the Cougars some wins. With the win over the Wildcats, Bronco Mendenhall now has won his first opening game since taking over the BYU program. Bronco's Borg Assimilates Arizona's Offense According to Wikipedia, the on-line interactive dictionary, BYU's defense and the Borg, have a lot in common. Here is the Wikipedia definition of the Borg: The Borg are a race of cyborgs in the fictional Star Trek universe, first introduced in the Star Trek: The Next Generation TV series. They are characterized by relentless pursuit of targets for assimilation, their collective consciousness that enables rapid adaptability to almost any defense, and the ability to continue functioning properly despite seemingly devastating blows. They have become a powerful symbol in popular culture for any juggernaut against whom, "resistance is futile." Here is the Cougar Sportsline definition of the BYU defensive effort against Arizona and any and all other offenses BYU has faced since Bronco Mendenhall buried his 3-3-5 baby a year ago: Bronco's Borg is a roster of defensive players that exhibit maniacal effort, exactness of execution and mastery of assignments. They are characterized by the relentless pursuit of targets for assimilation, their collective consciousness that enables rapid adaptability to almost any offense, and the ability to continue at a high level of play despite seemingly devastating blows due to unexpected injuries to key players. They have become a powerful symbol in BYU lore for reflecting the personality of their defensive coordinator and head coach. Like The Borg, they are a defensive juggernaut against whom "resistance is futile." Latest Episode The latest episode of Bronco's Borg, which played out in LaVell Edwards Stadium last Saturday afternoon, saw BYU dominate Arizona with the final credits rolling on the scoreboard showing a 20-7 victory. For the Wildcats of Arizona, resistance really was futile. Just how futile, was exhibited in the stats of the first two quarters. Bronco's Borg held UA to just one first down and only 41 yards of total offense. Going into the fourth and final fifteen minutes, the BYU defense had only allowed 3 first downs. The fictional TV Borg is not known for their on-screen attractiveness and flashy facade. They just keep marching forward against any and all that opponents can throw against them. Ditto for the BYU defensive Borg. They don't have the most athletically attractive assets of speed, agility and strength, but like the Borg, the parts are interchangeable and they just keep coming after offensive foes. We admit that we didn't start out being a Star Trek fan when it first came on the air. It eventually grew on us. Past Issues You can go back and read issues of our newsletters for the past two seasons and document the fact that Bronco Mendenhall wasn't our defensive darling either. Jean Luc Picard and Star Trek was an acquired television taste and so were Mendenhall's defensive philosophies. We thought his mantras of "fully invested, band of brothers, higher bars etc, were more fantasy than football fundamentals. We were wrong. This third-year coach is obviously on to something real and rewarding for Cougar fans. As Arizona found out, so did we. "Resitance is futile." Count us on board with the Bronco Borg defensive show. While schemes and athletic abilities may be subject to debate and discussion, the scoreboard doesn't lie or light up. In almost three decades of doing this, we never thought we would ever use the term dominating defense and BYU in the same sentence. That is twice now that Bronco Mendenhall has proved us wrong. UCLA WILL BE A BETTER TEST Despite the decisive 20-7 win over Arizona, we really don't know much until we find out just how good or bad Arizona turns out to be. The same can be said for the Cougars' upcoming opponent. The UCLA Bruins are coming off a decisive win of their own. They slapped Stanford around last Saturday in Palo Alto. The final score was 45-17. The Bruins racked up 624 yards of offense against the Cardinal. What we don't know is if UCLA is that good or if Stanford is that bad. All of those questions should be answered next Saturday when the Cougars travel to the Rose Bowl to try and win their second game of the young season. The Bruins are a balanced offense that will test the BYU defense. Against Stanford, they rushed for 338 yards and passed for 286 yards. Those passing stats were accumulated by former BYU qb Ben Olson. He was 16-29 for 286 yards, five touchdowns and no interceptions. BYU's defense can give up those kind of passing numbers to Olson and still win this game, but only if they can control the ground game of UCLA. That will be the deciding factor here. BYU has to at least limit the effectiveness of the Bruins rushing attack. Conversely, they have to be able to maintain at least a threat of a ground game to have a chance in this game. We don't expect that to happen. We like UCLA in this spot and call the Bruins to put a damper on the early enthusiasm of this season. The early odds makers feel the same way, but they think the game will be more competitive. They have established UCLA as an 8.5 point favorite. The game will be televised live on the Versus network. Kickoff is set for 4:30 pm Mountain time. We call it UCLA 31 BYU 17. FOOTBALL FLUFF AND STUFF Final roster cuts for the NFL took place this past weekend. Only two BYU rookies made the grade. John Beck will be on the Miami Dolphins roster and Daniel Coats made the Cincinnati Bengals roster as a tight end. Cut were Zac Collie from the Eagles, Cam Jensen from the Seahawks, Jake Kuresa from the Saints, Curtis Brown from the Bengals and Jonny Harline from the Colts. Jacob Bower, the former BYU quarterback, who opted to transfer from the Cougar program last January, got his juco career off to a nice start at Bakersfield JC in California. The Renegades defeated Reedley JC and Bower threw for 436 yards in his first start. Two names that were on BYU's recruiting radar last year were Houston Cassita, a running back from Jordan HS, and Simi File, a big defensive nose guard from Cottonwood HS. Fili signed with Oklahoma State, but he and Cassita are currently on the roster of Eastern Arizona JC this season. Fili is listed at 379 pounds on the EA roster. Is Bronco Mendenhall mellowing with old age? We doubt it, but he has softened. We actually saw him smiling in the game against Arizona. Normally, nary a smile will cross his lips until the final second has ticked off the clock, but we did see a significant smile shared with his defensive players as they were coming off the field with just over a minute to go in the game against Arizona. What's next?. Will Mendenhall and Tom Kirkland, the host of the coach's show, share courtship stories on the air and both be seen smiling at each other? In recruiting reviews, junior running back Adam Timo of Snow Canyon HS in St. George, rushed for 91 yards on 22 carries this past Friday. Snow Canyon was defeated by Canyon Springs of Las Vegas 42-35. Timo has already committed to play for the Cougars and will sign with Bronco and BYU in 2009. Sausan Shakerin, the top running back is Utah, is still being recruited by BYU. Because of a knee injury, he has only played in two games, the most recent, a 28-12 win over Clovis East of California. Shakerin is not putting up big numbers, but is averaging around 70 yards per carry in his limited action. After an opening week of Mountain West Conference action, it looks like there might be some teams that were overrated and some that were underrated. Based on what we saw last weekend, we think there are two teams that likely won't win the conference title, certainly could determine who does. Colorado State and Wyoming appear to be much better teams than they were last season. It still looks like TCU and BYU will be the top dogs in league play, but either Wyoming or CSU could pull an upset against either team. Wyoming gets BYU in Laramie in November and TCU also must travel to Laramie for a game the first week in October. The Pokes thumped Virginia this past week in Laramie 23-3. Basketball Briefs The Tyler Haws recruiting sweepstakes is already starting to amp up. Haws is the 6-4 guard from Lone Peak HS in Highland, UT. He is already considered one of the premier shooting guards in the west for the class of 2009. Haws and his Lone Peak teammates dominated the Roy Williams North Carolina team tournament in June, but his play on the summer AAU circuit was limited because of a wrist injury. When he finally made an appearance in the Las Vegas Summer Classic in late July, he was spectacular. Haws averaged 35 points per game in Las Vegas. He is the real deal and the top recruiting priority for BYU and Utah. Dave Rose and Jim Boylen, the head coaches from both schools, were at all seven games Haws played in Las Vegas. The talented guard has already made several unofficial visits to both campuses. The latest we saw was when he was at BYU with his father, former BYU player, Marty Haws. BYU was practicing in the field house for their trip to France and Haws and his dad were seated in the field house stands observing practice. Every BYU coach, made a point to visit with the pair. You would expect it for coaches when they get a free and legal chance for contact with their top recruiting priority for 2009. You know it is a special recruit, however, when hugs were given the pair by the coach's wife during that same visit. Haws is also on the UCLA recruiting radar and on the verge of becoming a serious national caliber recruit. Many local Cougar fans have seen Haws play during the televised state playoffs in Utah last spring. Out of state fans can get a glimpse of him in December when Lone Peak will be in Albuquerque for the T-Mobile Invitational national high school tournament. The tourney will take place Dec. 28-29 and will be televised on the Versus network. In addition to La Cueva HS, the host team for the tourney, national powerhouse programs St. Anthony HS from New Jersey and Centennial HS from Roswell, GA., will participate. Here's a note from a subscriber who has been active on the local AAU basketball scene for the last few years and closely associated with the Utah Pump 'N Run team. He indicates that BYU may have a big-time sleeper on board with the commitment of Charles Abuou, the 6-5 wing from Logan HS. Here is what he said: "It should be noted that at two of the largest tournaments the Pump 'N Run attended this year, I was told by numerous coaches of opponents and observers from other teams alike that they felt that Charles Abouo was either the best player or at least one of the two best players in the whole tournament that they watched play. That is really saying something since the tournaments we are talking about had 172 teams in them! No one could tell who the 5-star recruit was versus a virtually unknown (Charles) when matched up against each other. The kid really has made great strides in his game and has what can't be coached...athleticism galore!" Abouo will play this coming season for Brewster Academy, a prep school in New Hampshire. TELEVISION TIMETABLE BYU vs. UCLA Saturday, Sept. 8 at Pasadena Kickoff: 4:30 pm Mountain Time TV: Versus Network BYU vs. Tulsa Saturday, Sept. 15 at Tulsa Kickoff: 7:00 pm Mountain Time TV: CSTV BYU vs. Air Force Saturday, Sept. 22 at Provo Kickoff: 1:00 pm Mountain Time TV: Mtn Network

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