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by HB Arnett 22 Oct '18

22 Oct '18

HB Arnett's "Lite" hbarnett(a)fiber.net <mailto:hbarnett@fiber.net> 801 372 0819 Your Subscription to Cougar Sportsline Lite has expired. According to my records, the issue you received today is your last. You can renew your subscription by Clicking Here <http://oldmancougar.com/product/Order-Cougar-Sportsline?ID=3173> . Or you can call me at the phone number above and I will take your renewal over the phone Thanks, HB Arnett Hope you stay on board with your subscription. If you don't, I'll miss you!

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CS Lite, Vol. 38, Issue 13 - October 22, 2018
by HB Arnett 22 Oct '18

22 Oct '18

HB Arnett’s “Lite” <mailto:hbarnett@fiber.net> hbarnett(a)fiber.net 801 372 0819 Vol. 38, Issue 13, - October 22, 2018 According to Me BYU Sports “PUFF” Pieces I’m not a gung-ho fan of Cheetos or the LA Dodgers, but I found myself munching on Cheetos while cheering against the Dodgers and rooting for the Brewers last week. When you least expect it, “lightbulb going on” moments occur at the strangest times. Mine came while I gleefully witnessed Manny Machado strike out against great Brewer pitching. It was during that “Special K” Machado moment that I realized that after just 4-5 chews on the Puff in my mouth, it was reduced to a much, much smaller moist wad of cheese dust. I took a photo of the miniature mush in my mouth, but figured it was too gross to show in public. I then took one Cheeto and smashed it with my thumb. What you see above is what a big deal Cheeto looks like under the lights and under a little competitive pressure. With a bye week in football and time on my hands and Cheetos in my mouth, I stumbled on the idea of compiling a list of “Puff Pieces” I’ve seen in 38 years of following BYU sports. Let me emphasize that this is my opinion only and I am just commenting on my observations of watching highly touted recruits and coaches come and go during the last few decades. The Puff pieces listed below are not ranked in any order but appear according to my stream of thought and filtered through what may be the early signs of senility, dementia, diabetes, incontinence, baldness, blindness, bitterness, obesity, obtuseness and just getting old. Here we go: My impressions of a few players or coaches who didn’t quite live up to their hype and puff upon entering their respective BYU athletic programs. Big Publicity Puff, Little Production Stuff Ben Olson - Football Ofa Mohetau - Football Steve Clements - Football Chris Burgess – Basketball (never played for BYU, but makes the list anyway) Shawn Bradley - Basketball Jake Heaps - Football Lone Peak 3 - Basketball Aleisha Cramer - Soccer Kyle Dean – Baseball Ross Apo – Football Ryan Cuff – Basketball Little Publicity Puff, Big Production Stuff Ziggy Ansah – Football Kurt Gouveia – Football Kyle Collinsworth Yoeli Childs – Basketball Dennis Pitta – Football Wally Joyner – Baseball Heather Olmstead – Volleyball Coach Jack Morris – Baseball Brandon Doman – Football Peter Kendrick - Baseball Taylor Sander – Volleyball Bronco Mendenhall – Football Coach Cody Hoffman – Football Jeff Chatman - Basketball So, What About Football and This Year’s Puff Pieces? I always find it very interesting to see who gets the puff and huff in spring practice and fall camp. Then reality sets in when the football season starts and sometimes the Camp’s Big Shot Cheetos turn out to be more Puff than Productive. On the opposite end of the Puff and Huff scale are those turn out to be much more productive than their preseason puff and sparse lack of publicity. Let’s start there: Not much was expected from Aleva Hifo, but in my opinion, without him BYU would be 3-4 instead of 4-3 at this point in the season. He has gone from chump and change to BYU’s big offensive Cheeto. The kid can play. Dylan Collie certainly received the Cheeto treatment from coaches and press, but he doesn’t see the playing field often enough to produce consistently. Not seeing the field is a statement that speaks for itself. Of course, now we come to the biggest Cheeto of them all coming out of Spring Ball and Fall camp. That would be Zack Wilson. He certainly looked like big puff and stuff in his debut against Hawaii. I want to wait until opposing teams have more film on him and then see how real defenses defend him and how he responds to coaches’ game planning for him. I’m optimistic that he could be among the big-time Cougar Cheetos at quarterback, but want to wait at least until after the Boise State game to give my early verdict. On the defensive side, my big Cheeto is Austin Lee, the safety. He was an afterthought by the press and public but has been a stalwart on the defensive side of the ball for BYU. Sione Takitaki is not a puff piece, but the real deal who will be cashing a real paycheck next year in the NFL. I have a couple of honorable mention puff pieces on defense in Troy Warner and Butch Pau’u. Both may be victims of various injuries, but they neither have played up to their Publicity Puffs coming out of fall camp. What about Coaching Cheetos? Kalani Sitake is looking for any huffs and puffs he can get into his seniority sail as BYU’s head coach. His hiring of Jeff Grimes was supposed to put a lot of wind and wins in that sail. Grimes looked like the real deal in providing puff into a poor program in the early going of the season, but that sail was torn and shredded by Washington and Utah State. The remainder of this season will determine if Sitake and Grimes have the right stuff or just more puff and fluff. When it comes to sports writers, newsletters, web sites and windshield flyers covering the Cougars, I freely admit that I personally am more Puff than Pulitzer. To prove that point, what you just read has no bearing on how BYU football will finish the season, the current Cougar recruiting scene and Proposition 2 in Utah which revolves around some “puff” next month, but it did take up at least 8 inches of fluff and stuff in this week’s newsletter. All of which backs up my wife’s assertion that there is “no socially redeeming value” in what I attempt to do for a living. Dragnet and DeKalb Forty-five years ago, I interviewed for a job as a copywriter in the advertising department with the Wurlitzer Company in DeKalb, Illinois. I don’t remember much about the interview other than I wore white pants and a polyester green sports jacket covered with white polka dots. I wasn’t offered the job, but I did get a tour of the town and found out that Northern Illinois University was located there. I gave the pants and jacket to Deseret Industries the next week after returning home. I checked last week, and both are still on the rack in Provo. I still have the “John Travolta” platform shoes however. They gave the job to a guy that looked like Joe Friday because he apparently was dressed much more conservatively. The real Friday eventually became a famous TV detective known for “Just the facts, ma’am”. Because I have actually been to DeKalb, and almost rubbed shoulders with a Friday look-alike, who rubbed shoulders with Johnny Carson, click here to see <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgYbogp1Ha0> , I feel like I am qualified to present just the facts about NIU. Here they are: Most BYU fans will be impressed by how close the Huskies played Utah. Not me. I am more impressed by the overtime win on the road at Eastern Michigan. The Eagles are usually a doormat, but they are a real team this season. They beat Purdue at West Lafayette, but I was most impressed with the overtime loss at San Diego State when the Aztecs kicked a 38-yarder for the win. In case you haven’t been paying attention, the Aztecs are playing very good football. They are 6-1. In my opinion, they are coached by one of the top 5 coaches in the nation in Rocky Long. He has never been publicized enough for how good a coach he his. In case you forgot, Bronco Mendenhall learned all he knows about defense from Long. EMU’s showing on the road tells me they are a very good team that an even better team, NIU beat in Ypsilanti. That scares me. The early line on this game has BYU as a 7 ½ point favorite. That should scare us all. BYU is coming off a bye week and so is NIU. Both teams will be rested and as healthy as they can be. BYU’s offensive renaissance will be tested this week against a much, much better defense than Hawaii had. If Zach Wilson can deliver at the same pace he did against Hawaii, it will go a long way in proving what we all hope to be true: The freshman is the real deal. Sports is no respecter of persons or teams based on fame and previous performances. Just ask Lebron James. The Lakers are currently 0-2. BYU’s previous performance against Hawaii will be tested against NIU. I like BYU, but only by a field goal or less. This will be a very, very physical and closely contested game. BYU’s Cougar Tipoff Wasn’t a Very Good Basketball Season Trailer You can’t judge how good a movie is or will be if all you do is watch the trailer. Same with the recent Cougar Tipoff basketball scrimmage last week. We know that there is a star who will carry this team in Yoeli Childs. He scored 35 and made it look easy We know that Jashire Hardnett will have an enlarged role offensively and defensively on this Dave Rose coached team. He put up 18 and showed that he can get to the hoop anytime he wants and now is not afraid to pull up and shoot a 3 anytime he wants. We also know that just like the many remakes of Bruce Willis and Die Hard movies, this is a remake of BYU basketball under Dave Rose. BYU is going to go up tempo. As Steve Cleveland tried to sell in his first seasons at BYU, the Cougars are going to shoot the 3 and play some D. This season’s efforts on finally getting back to the NCAA tournament will depend on how effectively this team shoots the three. More specifically, it will depend on how three players shoot the three. That would be T.J. Haws, Zack Seljaas and Nick Emery, when he is released to play in December. Those three shot the three at a combined rate of 8 of 21 from beyond the arc in this preseason exhibition. That works out to a 38% average from beyond the arc. Take Emery’s 1-6 production from distance and the three-point percentage of Haws and Seljaas was 46%. Childs shot 3 of 5 from distance which works out to a 60% rate from beyond the arc. He is BYU’s best player and Dave Rose will need to milk him for all he can because based on what I saw, he won’t be here next year because he will be playing professionally somewhere. That is what BYU basketball players do when they get married. Childs married this summer. I never thought I would be saying this, but I actually like Luke Worthington. He showed some limited offense and defensive ability. The problem with his improved play is that I don’t anticipate seeing much of it. He still has foul trouble issues and can’t stay on the floor long enough to prove that he is improved. We will get a lot of answers to our questions when BYU opens the season for real against an outstanding Nevada team November 6 in Reno. The Wolfpack are the real deal (except they were curb stomped by Washington last night in Reno to the tune of 91-73). Don’t expect BYU to beat them, but if they can stay close and make threes, it could get interesting and be an indication of what Rose has for a team. Meanwhile there are two more exhibition games on the docket for BYU. St. Martins will be in Provo this Wednesday, October 24 for a 7 pm tipoff against the Cougars. Westminster will show up Thursday, November 1. Both games tip at 7 pm and both will be televised live on BYUTV. Here’s my early observation on BYU basketball. It has been a 4-year famine for the Cougars from NCAA play. To make an appearance again this season, it will depend on BYU rainmakers like Haws, Seljaas, Hartnett and Emery to break the drought. If they can shoot as a team in the 40’s from three, this team will be scary good. Not good enough to win the WCC outright, but scary enough good to make sneak a late invite into real post season play. Maybe the World Really is BYU’s Basketball Campus BYU basketball received two verbal commitments last week from Shengzhe Li and Bernardo da Silva. Shengzhe will play his senior season at Rancho Santa Margarita HS in Orange County, CA. He is listed at 6’ 11”. His stats are marginal, but his size is impressive. His high school coach is former UVU head coach and BYU assistant coach Jeff Reinert. Da Silva is from Brazil and is currently playing his senior season at Wasatch Academy in Mt Pleasant, Utah. Wasatch is a private boarding school and does not play basketball in Utah, but travels around the country playing other academies and sports factories. Da Silva is 6-9 and also committed to play for the Cougars next year. Both will sign early in November. BYU has had a deficiency in finding foreign players to supplement their basketball roster. The excuse has always been that the foreign prospects can’t qualify in English proficiency to get admitted to BYU. Both new commits have spent at least a year in high school which evidently prepares them to be admitted. >From what I’m told, foreign prospects must score at least an 80 on the TOEFL test before BYU will take them. That’s not unusual. Utah requires the same for their foreign athletes. UVU requires only a 66 score. Utah State wants a 71. Duke needs a score of 90 and Gonzaga requires an 88 score. Gonzaga currently has 4 foreign players on their roster, two of who are legitimate NBA prospects. With the supposedly stricter requirements for foreign basketball players than BYU, it makes this story from ESPN very interesting and peculiar. Click here to read it <http://kwese.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/22848116/gonzaga-b…> as it pertains to foreign players and English proficiency. Am I missing something? If you can’t read campus signs to find your classes, how did you pass the proficiency test? It is obvious that Hachimura is more fluent now <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3QHXaXPWFc> , but how did he get into Gonzaga as a non-speaking foreign player? Whatever the Zags do, BYU needs to find out how they do it. The Big Recruiting Fish is still out there, and he speaks English and can not only talk the talk on the basketball court, he can walk the walk, which translates in Japanese to 散歩を歩. I’m talking Isaac Johnson, the 6-ll guard/post player from American Fork HS. He made a recruiting trip to Ohio State last week and is being pursued heavily by BYU, Utah, Oregon, Ohio State and Stanford. Click here <https://www.buckeyextra.com/sports/20181009/ohio-state-mens-basketball-recr…> to get OSU’s take on the trip by Johnson.

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Your subscription to CS Lite is close to expiring
by HB Arnett 15 Oct '18

15 Oct '18

HB Arnett's "Lite" hbarnett(a)fiber.net <mailto:hbarnett@fiber.net> 801 372 0819 Your Subscription to Cougar Sportsline Lite is close to expiring. You can renew your subscription by Clicking Here <http://oldmancougar.com/product/Order-Cougar-Sportsline?ID=3173> . Thanks, HB Arnett

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Your CS Lite Subscription is expiring
by HB Arnett 15 Oct '18

15 Oct '18

HB Arnett's "Lite" hbarnett(a)fiber.net <mailto:hbarnett@fiber.net> 801 372 0819 Your Subscription to Cougar Sportsline Lite is close to expiring. You have 5 issues remaining on your current subscription. To renew your subscription Click Here <http://oldmancougar.com/product/Order-Cougar-Sportsline?ID=3173> . Thanks, HB Arnett

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Your CS Lite Subscription is expiring
by HB Arnett 15 Oct '18

15 Oct '18

HB Arnett's "Lite" hbarnett(a)fiber.net <mailto:hbarnett@fiber.net> 801 372 0819 Your Subscription to Cougar Sportsline Lite is close to expiring. You have 4 issues remaining on your current subscription. To renew your subscription Click Here <http://oldmancougar.com/product/Order-Cougar-Sportsline?ID=3173> . Thanks, HB Arnett

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Your CS Lite Subscription is expiring
by HB Arnett 15 Oct '18

15 Oct '18

HB Arnett's "Lite" hbarnett(a)fiber.net <mailto:hbarnett@fiber.net> 801 372 0819 Your Subscription to Cougar Sportsline Lite is close to expiring. You have 3 issues remaining on your current subscription. To renew your subscription Click Here <http://oldmancougar.com/product/Order-Cougar-Sportsline?ID=3173> . Thanks, HB Arnett

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Your CS Lite Subscription is expiring
by HB Arnett 15 Oct '18

15 Oct '18

HB Arnett's "Lite" hbarnett(a)fiber.net <mailto:hbarnett@fiber.net> 801 372 0819 Your Subscription to Cougar Sportsline Lite is close to expiring. You have 2 issues remaining on your current subscription. To renew your subscription Click Here <http://oldmancougar.com/product/Order-Cougar-Sportsline?ID=3173> . Thanks, HB Arnett

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Your CS Lite Subscription is expiring
by HB Arnett 15 Oct '18

15 Oct '18

HB Arnett's "Lite" hbarnett(a)fiber.net <mailto:hbarnett@fiber.net> 801 372 0819 Your Subscription to Cougar Sportsline Lite is close to expiring. You have 1 issue remaining on your current subscription. To renew your subscription Click Here <http://oldmancougar.com/product/Order-Cougar-Sportsline?ID=3173> . Thanks, HB Arnett

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CS Lite, Vol. 38, Issue 12, October 15, 2018
by HB Arnett 15 Oct '18

15 Oct '18

HB Arnett's "Lite" <mailto:hbarnett@fiber.net> hbarnett(a)fiber.net 801 372 0819 Vol. 38, Issue 12, - October 15, 2018 BYU Breaks 3-Week Football Fast With 49-23 Hawaiian Feast I'm an internet expert on fasting. I've tried the 16-hour daily fast to lose weight. <https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/intermittent-fasting-guide> Intermittent Fasting. Didn't work. Too many good taco food trucks and carts available that are still open at 9 pm. In high school we used to play Calexico HS yearly. We would always cross the border at Mexicali to buy the delicious street tacos for a dime each. A teammate made the mistake of asking the vendor what kind of meat he was using. He replied, "Carne es Carne". Translated: Meat is Meat. Don't know what he was expecting for a dime. I watched the Netflix special on the benefits of fasting. It was intriguing and fascinating. I recommend it as a great informative watch. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrZQei5BdcQ> The Science of Fasting. But my addiction to Banana Flavored Laffy Taffy and Diet Mtn Dew is a hard stumbling-block to overcome. I used to be a mormon, but I am now a proud member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Certain Women's auxiliaries of my Church have been asked to fast for various periods of times from Social Media by our Prophet, <https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2018/10/sisters-participation-in-the -gathering-of-israel?lang=eng> President Nelson. A new fasting diet that some are now pushing is called "reverse fasting". This one is simple. You can only eat when you are backing out in reverse from your driveway or parking stall at work. This one is tricky and requires hand to mouth coordination coupled with great rear-view mirror vision in a very short period of time during the day. <https://www.mindbodygreen.com/articles/reverse-fasting-benefits> Reverse Fasting. Thankfully for BYU football fans worldwide, Kalani Sitake, set the standard late Saturday night for breaking a 3-week football fast offensively with BYU's 49-23 win over Hawaii. Sitake used the Blythe, CA. (where I grew up) technique taught to me by my dad. During the summers when the temperatures reached 115 degrees, I would ask my father if we at least could drink some water during our monthly fast. His response was that it would probably be okay if just before we passed out, we could take a small sip of H2O. Sitake used the same technique. His coaching seat was getting extremely hot. Just before he passed out from looking like he had no clue, he took a sip of Zach Wilson and looked like he may have revived himself and BYU football. Ilaisa Tuiaki, the Cougars defensive coordinator, broke his fast at a Las Vegas style buffet of blitzes. Just when it looked like he was passing out as an unimaginative defensive coordinator, suddenly he gorged and gutted Hawaii's vaunted passing attack with blitzes BYU fans had not seen for two years. Forget moderation in all things. He stuffed himself and Hawaii with a mouthful of Corbin Kaufusi. The BYU defensive buffet was serving up Kaufusi in a variety of ways. Middle Linebacker, Defensive End, Spy and Sacker. For Hawaii's offense, Kaufusi was a one-man horror movie called "The Thing" which rhymes with ka-ching, the sound of NFL money potentially to be made by Kaufusi for his herculean performance against the UH Warriors. Wilson saved Tom Hanks from going crazy in the movie <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wO_MYX_Oto0> Cast Away. In this short scene portrayed by clicking above, Hanks is profusely saying sorry to Wilson. Kalani Sitake and Jeff Grimes might be thinking the same thing. "Sorry Zach Wilson, we should have played you sooner". If you remember, Wilson was lost at sea, during a perilous time for Hanks. Nobody knows where he ended up. Now we know. He showed up on the BYU football shore and appears to have shored up what had been an anemic offense of the past year and a half. Based on Wilson's debut performance as a Cougar, we want to get a head start on getting a good nickname for him. How about ZDub? Let's try Kid Rock. With the plethora of freshmen playing offensively for BYU this season, what about Nursery Leader? My vote is cast for "DG". That stands for Darn Good. Since we have already talked movies, my R rated nickname would be HDG. That would be Hoover DAM Good! Fluff and Stuff Taysom Talks the Talk and Wilson Walks the Walk.Here's what Taysom Hill says about Zach Wilson and then watch Wilson walk the walk about which Hill talked by <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSU9KPJY5Q4> Clicking Here.Wilson and Women.The BYU Women's Volleyball team is not a castaway but far and away the best team I've seen in the decades I have been covering Cougar athletics. They are currently rated No. 1 in the nation and are currently 18-0 overall and 8-0 in WCC play. Just how good is this team? They have only lost 5 sets during this entire season. Next up is Loyola Marymount this Thursday at 7 pm in Provo. The match will be televised by BYUTV and will allow you to also see how good this team is.We Do Hard Things was the Michigan Lansing Mission slogan. Tanner Mangum has epitomized that slogan during his career at BYU. With all the polarization and pillaging taking place in the political arena and even in the local pigskin arena, Mangum has shown grace and good despite the public fact checking and editorials concerning his football skills and private life. Despite having his football career and personal life dissected and dissed for two years by the media and public, he has taken it all with the grace of a statesman and stud who bleeds BYU blue. Barring an unforeseen injury to Zach Wilson, we won't be seeing him on the football field again, but the character he has shown in his career at BYU, guarantees that we will be seeing him again as a successful contributor to society somewhere in this life. He has been the face of BYU football for the last three seasons and faced adversity personally and as a player and done it all without movie makeup or makeover. Just my opinion, but he is the genuine grace and goodness of a true statesman and spokesman for what is right with BYU and the world.Bronco Mendenhall is making waves in Virginia. <https://www.dailyprogress.com/cavalierinsider/three-things-we-learned-about -virginia-coach-bronco-mendenhall-in/article_fbbc0990-cff8-11e8-a688-2f0690c b0c3d.html> Click to read what they are saying in Charlottesville about the former BYU coach and his former BYU staff after a 16-13 win over ranked Miami. Just in Case Hawaii Won.. I like to be prepared for any occasion. Here is what I penned last week before the Hawaii/BYU showdown in Provo in preparation for a BYU loss. Robert Frost Weighs in on the Future of BYU Football The Road Not Taken BY <https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/robert-frost> ROBERT FROST Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I- I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. America's Most Widely Misread Literary Work According to The Atlantic, the magazine Robert Frost's poem "The Road Not Taken" is often interpreted as an anthem of individualism and nonconformity, seemingly encouraging readers to take the road less traveled. This interpretation has long been propagated through countless song lyrics, newspaper columns, and graduation speeches. But as Frost liked to <https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/89511/robert-frost-the-road-not-t aken> warn his listeners, "You have to be careful of that one; it's a tricky poem-very tricky." In actuality, the two roads diverging in a yellow wood are "really about the same," according to Frost, and are equally traveled and quite interchangeable. In fact, the critic David Orr deemed Frost's work "the most misread poem in America," <http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2015/09/11/the-most-misread-poem-in-amer ica/> writing in <http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2015/09/11/the-most-misread-poem-in-amer ica/> The Paris Review: "This is the kind of claim we make when we want to comfort or blame ourselves by assuming that our current position is the product of our own choices. The poem isn't a salute to can-do individualism. It's a commentary on the self-deception we practice when constructing the story of our own lives." In the final stanza, we can't know whether the speaker is sighing with contentedness or regret as he justifies the choices he's made and shapes the narrative of his life. Frost wrote the poem to tease his chronically indecisive friend, Edward Thomas, who misinterpreted the meaning and enlisted in the military shortly thereafter, only to be killed two years later in WWI. BYU Fans Most Widely Misread Perception on BYU Sports, Particularly Football and Basketball, According to Me Here are the two roads that must both be traveled by BYU coaches. There is no option if you want a paycheck. HONOR CODE and ACADEMICS. The way it is now with BYU athletics, both of those roads eventually lead to less talented athletes overall than other competing schools have to deal with. I don't care if it is Robert Frost, Scott Frost, Nick Saban, St. Nick, Leach, as in Mike or Lingo, as in Johnny, no other school or coach in the nation has to traverse those two roads. I'm old enough and have followed BYU athletics long enough to remember when the two roads of Honor Code and Academics were much less visible and consequently much more flexible for coaches of an earlier era. The biggest detriment to BYU football and basketball, in my opinion, are cell phone cameras and social media. I'm not advocating a revisit to the old days. I'm just pointing out that it doesn't make a significant difference who coaches at BYU as long as the two Roads and blocks are what they are. I'm not advocating a change, just pointing out what I consider to be the unalterable facts. Regardless of whose face is leading the program and what road they choose. Until those two roads are widened, paved and made more passable, even Robert Frost couldn't compete with the big boys for the talent needed to compete on the college football biggest stage. Now after the game, here is my new take on "the road not taken". Consulting a Google Map would have been very helpful in determining the decision on who would be the BYU starting quarterback before the season started. Knowledge of where each road was headed and ended could have saved a lot of anguish for coaches, players, fans and Robert Frost. It still wouldn't have stopped the road-kill drubbing put on BYU by Washington and Utah State. But, according to the inalienable 20/20 hindsight of myself and all BYU football fans who have shouted to Sitake, "I told you so", it is always appropriate to remember what Jean de La Fountaine reportedly said about BYU football results, records and recruiting: "A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it". For those of you who may have forgot, de La Fountaine was a 4-star recruit from France and one of the most widely read and recruited poets of the 17th Century. He was recruited by Alabama, Texas A&M, Ohio State, Harvard and Princeton. He took the road less traveled to Arizona Western JC in Yuma. That's why he is quasi-quoted in a less traveled and less read rag like Cougar Sportsline.

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CS Lite, Vol. 38, Issue 11 - B, October 12, 2018
by HB Arnett 12 Oct '18

12 Oct '18

HB Arnett's "Lite" <mailto:hbarnett@fiber.net> hbarnett(a)fiber.net 801 372 0819 Vol. 38, Issue 11 - B, October 12, 2018 All Signs and Sources Indicate That Zack Wilson Will Start at QB tomorrow night against Hawaii Which makes this email received from a subscriber this week very appropriate. YOU KNOW YOU HAVE A BAD TEAM WHEN. . . . everyone is talking about a quarterback change, mid-season. That got me to thinking: Has a QB switch, mid-season, ever made much of a difference at BYU? Mostly, no. A bad team is a bad team. But there have been a few times. . . when it HAS made a difference. Here are three years that come to mind: 1. 1975: My memory is a little foggy here, and I don't have box scores for all the games. But it seems to me that Gifford Nielsen came in after a few games had already been played. Possibly he was practicing with the basketball team before that. He was recruited (out of Provo High School) mostly as a basketball player. But he had been quarterback for the Provo High football team, so that was in the back of everyone's mind. BYU lost its first three games in 1975, then beat a bad New Mexico team by one point. It looked like it was going to be a long season. But then something happened, and that something was Gifford Nielsen. BYU won the rest of its scheduled games that season, except for the one against ranked Arizona. BYU was not yet used to beating Utah, but in 1975 the score was BYU 51, Utah 20. That was news back then. (It would be news today, too.) 2. 1987: BYU was floundering under non-passer Bob Jensen. After six games it was 3-3, and the schedule hadn't been all that tough. This was a team going nowhere. At some point, in 1987, Bob Jensen sat and a new guy named Sean Covey took over. Covey almost looked like a new BYU great at first, and BYU did finish the season with six straight wins (before a bowl loss to Virginia). But it was an illusion. Covey was too small, too fragile, and probably not as good as he looked when he first joined the team. Still, he really turned things around in 1987. 3. 2000: This is the one time that a quarterback change made a gigantic difference, and it doesn't reflect well on LaVell Edwards, who was finishing his tenure at BYU (along with Norm Chow). BYU had been going with Charlie Peterson, and then with strong-armed Bret Engemann (after Peterson got hurt). They also had a guy named Brandon Doman sitting on the bench (he'd been on the bench the year before too) but Norm Chow insisted that Doman wasn't good enough to play for BYU. Doman was strictly a reserve, said Chow. Not a good passer--that was the word from the geniuses who were running BYU's offense. Eventually all of the other quarterbacks were hurt, and Doman had to play. Guess what? He was spectacular, and he saved the season all by himself. BYU had been a dismal 4-6 going into the penultimate game against Rocky Long's New Mexico team. It looked like LaVell was going to go out a loser. But then Doman happened--because he was the only guy left. And Doman kicked butt. The Doman Cougars beat New Mexico 37-13. Remember, New Mexico was a Rocky Long team. 37 points against a Long defense was a big deal. Then BYU played Utah in the final game of the season. And BYU, in a ferocious comeback and in one of the many magical games in LaVell's long career, won that game too, 34-27. Doman went on to win the first 12 games of the 2001 season, under Gary Crowton. So he won his first 14 games as a starter. That was the last time--the last time--I felt that BYU football was something special. They've been good since, but not magical good, like they were under Doman (and Luke Staley). Don't look for a change like that this year. BYU doesn't have the receivers, the brains, the magic--that it had under LaVell and under Crowton too, at the beginning. This is a prosaic team. But sure, play Zach Wilson. I'd like to see what he can do. Robert Garrick In the Spirit of Full Disclosure. Quarterback controversies are good for business. People pay attention and are interested. I always feel for the quarterbacks involved in the controversies, but regardless it fuels readership and discussion. After Saturday against Hawaii, the current 2018 BYU QB controversy will either be resolved or exacerbated until next March and the start of spring football. I'm talking the Zack Wilson vs. Jaren Hall debate on tap for 2019. A season opening schedule of Utah, Tennessee, USC and Washington guarantees a QB controversy between them. Wilson will have the head start and could have a lock on the job depending on how he performs during the remainder of this season. But don't discount Hall, the returned missionary from Mapleton. So, let's get started early because it is coming. Zack Wilson.Jaren Hall <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKoEax6Xqrc> Click to Watch Wilson <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Q8Y8v6Q5SY&t=95s> Click to Watch Hall Finally, here's BYU's scary Halloween video for tomorrow. That would be UH's sophomore QB Cole McDonald. There is no QB controversy in Honolulu. This was his first start against CSU on the road. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcEaZcNtvaE> Click to Watch McDonald

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