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Vol. 38, Issue 7, September 10, 2018
JUST A FEW OBSERVATIONS AFTER TWO WEEKS OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL IN GENERAL AND BYU FOOTBALL IN PARTICULAR
In the NFL, drop back passers who are good like Aaron Rogers, Drew Brees and Tom Brady are at a premium and their paychecks reflect it. None of them make a living off their legs.
They don’t have to. Their job is dependent on their arms and getting the ball to playmakers on their respective teams.
Just my opinion, but in college, there are just a handful of teams that can afford to use a strictly drop back thrower and get away with it. That would be USC, Stanford, maybe Penn State and Oklahoma. In the SEC, Georgia also fits that mold. That’s because they always have future NFL playmakers to whom they can throw or hand the ball off to.
BYU doesn’t.
For those who were deeply disappointed that BYU couldn’t get Tanner McKee, the 6-6 LDS drop back passer from Corona in the recruiting corral, quit fretting. The days of a pure drop back passer like John Beck, Max Hall, Marc Wilson and Jim McMahon lighting up the scoreboard at BYU are over unless BYU can come up with big time receivers and tailbacks.
The game has changed in college. BYU hasn’t. Quick question. Do you think BYU beats Cal if Taysom Hill is on the field? What about Brandon Doman? What about Chase Garbers or Brandon McILwain? Who?
Those are the two quarterbacks that Cal had on the field and they beat BYU not throwing the ball but by running the ball.
The Cal duo did pass for 212 yards between them. BYU and Mangum had 194 yards through the air.
The difference was what they did with their legs. The 2 Cal QB’s rushed for 139 yards between them. McILwain had 74 and Garbers had 45. BYU had a total of just 91 yards rushing. Mangum had -9 yards toting the ball.
Take a look at the play-by-play stats from this game. It proves my point. Just count how many times critical runs by the two Cal quarterbacks converted third downs and kept drives alive and resulted in scores. The best place to get the play-by-play chart is here. It is concise and easy to read, and you can see what really happened and at what stage of the game it happened. It also takes much less time than trying to watch a replay of the game.
Here are the current AP top 5 rankings. Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, Ohio State and Oklahoma. Four of the top five teams in the nation have quarterbacks that can beat you with their feet. They don’t have to because there is loads of talent around them and they can all also throw the ball. But if Nick Saban, Dabo Swinney and Urban Meyer all prefer mobile quarterbacks, it tells you how they see the college game today and what they think it takes to win at it.
Oklahoma’s QB, Kyler Murray, is the $5 million-dollar man at OU. He signed with the Oakland Athletics for that amount to play baseball, but the A’s allowed him to play his final year of football in Norman.
He threw for 306 yards and 3 TD’s against UCLA. More importantly, and to my point, he also rushed 10 times for 69 yards and 2 more touchdowns.
Now my final nail in my cacophonous coffin of drop back passers at BYU is Arizona’s Khalil Tate. Last season he killed teams with his legs. It is now very apparent that he is damaged goods. He can’t run, or Kevin Sumlin won’t let him. Nobody will confirm this, but watching him play this season, every good TV detective can deduce that he is damaged goods. In two games he has rushed for just 22 yards.
That’s like the Beatles singing country music tunes. Nothing against Country music. I love me some Brooks and Dunn. Only in America!
I also love me some BYU winning football games. BYU isn’t going to win many of those games until they get a mobile quarterback.
The only thing wrong with Tanner Mangum is that he is in the wrong place at the wrong time. He has all it takes to be a star at Stanford or USC. He just doesn’t have the feet or mobility to win at BYU.
You are who you hang out with. It’s not his fault BYU has no serious playmakers on its current roster.
So, if I can figure this quarterback thing out that for BYU, that to win, they need a more mobile quarterback who opposing defenses must account for in the running game, don’t you think BYU coaches have it figured it out.
Of course they have. They known they currently have two true freshman quarterbacks on the roster now that fits the job description. What they haven’t figured out is how to make the transition from pure arm to arms and legs.
Or maybe they have, and we are watching it take place right now.
They key words in this equation are true freshman.
How to make the transition at quarterback from good to good with legs? Is that what Cougar offensive coaches are doing right now? Are they waiting until the punishing part of the schedule with Wisconsin and Washington is over before they go mobile?
If that’s the case, then Mangum deserves two Y blankets at the last game presentation. He may not make the Athletic Hall of Fame, but based on his loyalty, integrity, grit, passion and team first mentality, he deserves all the accolades he gets.
I personally think coaches realize this more than we the fans do. They also realize that accolades won’t get BYU back in the quarterback business. It is a good arm and at least decent legs.
They will get four of those decent to good, and if we are lucky, great legs in three weeks with true freshmen Zach Wilson and Jaren Hall. Oh yeah, they can also throw it.
Why throw your future at quarterback to the meat grinder of Cal, Wisconsin and Washington, when if you wait, you can see what you really have for the future against McNeese State, Utah State, Hawaii, UMass and New Mexico State.
A little seasoning of mobile quarterbacks in those games may make the Utah game at least interesting this season. And it will make next season’s seasoning worth waiting for.
For an Even Closer Look at BYU Football
We all know that Kalani Sitake dismissed Ty Detmer, Mike Empey, Steve Kaufusi, Ben Cahoon and Reno Mahe from their coaching jobs last year.
Apparently, Matt Bushman was also released. At least that is the impression I get watching the first two games. Last season Bushman was BYU’s leading receiver with 49 catches for 520 yards. So far this year, he has 3 catches for 46 yards. That includes the 24-yard TD reception against Arizona.
Here are the complete BYU Offensive Statistics after Two Games
More Observations
The sample size is extremely small, but Gunner Romney should be targeted more. So should Matt Bushman.
BYU desperately needs a juco running back signed this November.
You can’t have a kicking game unless you kick it. Kalani Sitake has never been a great game management guy, in my opinion. He is too guts and gung ho for my tastes. With the ball at the 34-yard line on the opening drive and Beau Hoge getting the first two carries of his running back career which weren’t special or productive, why not give your supposed hot shot kicker a chance to prove if he is a hot or just luke-warm kicker.
If I remember, and you should too, BYU gushed over Skylar Southam, the prep kicking phenom out of Wasatch HS when he signed with the Cougars. He had consistent 50-yard plus range is how his recruiting introduction was announced.
Ed Lamb even said preseason that he still had a big-league leg after returning from his two-year missionary stint to Chile. So why not give him a shot on that opening drive for a 49 yarder? My math isn’t world class, but 3 points would have fit in nicely with the final score of 21-18. Worth a look? Worth a try from 49 yards out?
No Observation
Based on the opening line from Las Vegas oddsmakers, we may want to close our eyes on this one. BYU is a 21 ½ point underdog in their matchup with Wisconsin in Madison this coming Saturday.
This is no place for a true freshman, mobile or not. Tanner Mangum will earn his scholarship and medical benefits in this one. To the Badgers, based how they handled BYU last season in Provo, they will be our host but BYU will be their Hostess (cupcake).
My best advice for watching this game: Take two Ibuprofen and at the half switch over to watch the Boise State vs. Oklahoma State game. After watching Boise, take two more Ibuprofen, take a nap and wake up and wait for McNeese State.
TELEVISION TIMETABLE
BYU vs. Wisconsin (Football)
Saturday, September 15 at Madison
Kickoff: 1:30 pm MDT
TV: ABC, ESPN or ESPN2
BYU vs. Utah (Women’s Volleyball)
Thursday, September 13 at Provo
Start Time: 7:00 pm MDT
TV: BYUTV
What Cal Media Said about BYU Loss
Cal Silences BYU White Out Crowd
Cal Makes QB Change and knocks off BYU