HB Arnett’s
COUGAR SPORTSLINE
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hbarnett@fiber.net and hbarnett@xmission.com
1391
West 800 South –
Vol. 30,
Issue 18 – December 7, 2009
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BUCKLE
UP BYU, BEAVERS ARE FOR REAL
You should always
be careful about what you wish for.
BYU football
players and fans expressed concern that they wouldn't get to prove just how
good BYU is unless they were able to face a quality team from the Pac 10 in a
bowl game this season.
Wish granted.
BYU will face
It will be the
Cougars fifth consecutive appearance in the game.
It will also be
BYU's biggest test yet in that particular post-season affair.
The Beavers of OSU
had a legitimate shot at being in the Rose Bowl and facing
A 33-37 loss to
OSU finished tied
for second place in the Pac 10 with a 6-3 conference slate and at 8-4 overall.
Stanford and
How?
So how did a team
that finished tied for second in the Pac 10 end up in
OSU started out
Sunday hoping for a berth in the Holiday Bowl.
The Sun Bowl,
which has the third pick from the Pac 10 took Stanford because the Beavers were
in
USC finished
behind the Beavers in the standings, but was taken by the Emerald Bowl with
their fourth pick from the Pac 10 because they couldn't afford to pass up a
bigger name and a bigger TV draw.
The Beavers, in
our opinion, did finish first in two crucial conference categories.
the Pac 10 this past
season. Forget stats, Sean Canfield was the best qb and Jacquizz Rodgers was
the best running back in the league.
They Got
It
If BYU's defense
was looking for the highest ranked and best team they could face, they got
exactly what they wanted.
Canfield,
completed 284-of-406 passes for 3103 yards. He threw for 21 touchdowns and had
just six interceptions on the year.
Max Hall, who will
lead the Cougars, completed 256-of-379 passes for 3368 yards. He threw for 30
td passes and had 14 interceptions on the year.
Rodgers, the 5-9,
195 pound sophomore running back for the Beavers, rushed for 1377 yards on 255
carries. He also accounted for 21 touchdowns.
Harvey Unga carried
the ball 184 times this past season for 1016 yards and scored 10 touchdowns.
In the rankings
department, BYU finished No. 14 the final BCS standings while
In the AP poll,
BYU was No. 15 and OSU No. 16. The
The good news is
that BYU will be able to do the same versus the Beavers.
Four
Losses
In their four
losses, OSU gave up 42 points to USC at the Coliseum, 37 points to
The other loss was
a 28-18 defeat against
The Cougars should
be healthy coming into this matchup.
There is one
department where BYU and
There is some talk
in Corvallis about the Beavers and TCU matching up to start the 2010 season
with a game at Dallas in the Cowboys' stadium, but details still have to be
worked out.
OSU had to kick a
33-yard field goal with 7 seconds remaining to get the win over the Rebels.
We couldn't find
an early
We call BYU a
3-point favorite.
FOOTBALL
FLUFF
Jake Heaps, the
heralded high school quarterback out of
Heaps was the
starting qb in all three title runs and was 15 of 25 for 254 yards and 254
yards. He also threw four touchdown passes in the 45-21 win over Ferris HS.
No official word
on when BYU knew they were headed to the Las Vegas Bowl, but we are betting
that they knew about the invitation a few days before Sunday evening.
We base that on
the fact that the posted basketball schedule of BYU had changed almost
immediately Sunday. BYU was originally set to play
Almost
immediately, as soon as the Las Vegas Bowl invitation was formally announced,
the game time for the basketball game switched and was posted on BYU's athletic
web site from the original tipoff time to 1 pm.
Our supposition is
that BYU knew beforehand and it allowed them to negotiate with the basketball
tournament people for an earlier start time.
It works well for
BYU and the tournament. The tourney folks will get an increased audience and
ticket sales from BYU fans that wouldn't be in town if it weren't for the
football game.
BYU fans get a
two-for-one chance to now support both their football and basketball teams.
BCS IS
STILL BACKROOM
Blame it on
In our opinion,
the BCS backroom boys were so embarrassed last year about having one of their
BCS darlings, Alabama, thumped by the Utes, that there was no way they were
going to allow that to happen again.
In our opinion,
the fact that two non-qualifying teams, TCU and
It is also our
opinion, that the Fiesta Bowl honchos had plenty of help in making their picks.
There is no way
the BCS snoots and snobs were going to risk having more embarrassment heaped on
their beauty pageant by allowing the Frogs and Broncos a chance to expose the
fallacy of foibles of the BCS process.
It was a win-win
for the BCS cartel. They can actually point to the fact that non-qualifying
conferences like the WAC and MWC can qualify for the BCS. They also can now
also turn down the heat from possible congressional and anti-trust hearings.
By letting
It didn't come cheap.
Last year's
projected payout for conferences for both participating teams in the Fiesta
Bowl was $17.5 million per team.
Tiger Woods and
the BCS, in our opinion, are both making financial adjustments in order to make
a marriage and a monopoly stay intact.
It was a few years
back when Paul Westhead was the coach at Loyola Marymount in the late '80s. He
was famous for his run-and-gun style of play and had Hank Gathers and David
Spencer, two transfers from USC to help him implement his style of play.
The Lions were
famous for getting down the court and hoisting up threes.
When those shots
fell, they were spectacular and a media darling. When they faced teams that
actually played defense and took away those shots and they didn't fall, they
were exposed as an ordinary team.
BYU likes to push
the ball, but they are a long way from the frenetic pace of Loyola Marymount
years ago.
BYU, however, does
live and die by its perimeter game.
When the shots are
falling, they look spectacular. When those shots are taken away by a team that
defends, they are not exactly exposed, but gaps in their game certainly appear.
That happened last
week when the outside shots continued to be hoisted, but they didn't go down
against the Aggies of Utah State.
It resulted in
BYU's first loss of the year, a 61-71 setback in
BYU followed up
the loss with a 69-43 blowout of
Against USU, BYU
shot 30.8% in the second half and it cost them the ball game.
Against USF, the
Cougars shot 51% and they were never in trouble.
It is obvious that
Dave Rose is aware of the fact that against good teams he can't survive with
just a perimeter game.
He is tinkering
with his lineup by now bringing Jonathan Tavernari off the bench.
Tavernari's
shooting woes are well documented, but he isn't BYU's biggest problem.
The post play of
BYU is so far just ordinary. That will be good enough to get by against most of
the MWC, but it won't cut it against quality teams BYU will have to face in
post-season play. As long as the Cougars can shoot it from outside,
they can win their third consecutive league title, but against
BYU will face
The Cougars will
then travel to
THE FUTURES MARKET
Listed below are
how BYU's most recent signees and future prospects fared during the last week.
Kyle Collinsworth, 6-6
guard/wing,
Later in the week,
Nick Emery, 6-3 freshman
guard,
Anson Winder, 6-3, guard,
Bishop Gorman HS...Still has not played a game as the Gaels season doesn't kick
off until this Saturday against Findlay Prep of Las Vegas.
Jabari Parker, 6-5, wing,
Simeon HS, Chicago...In his high school debut as a freshman for perennial power
Simeon, Parker was the leading scorer for his team with 14 points in a 50-37
win over Thornton HS. The game was part of the City-Suburban Basketball
Showcase held at
In referring to
his performance in the season opener, Simeon Coach Robert Smith said Parker
reminds him of Derrick Rose, who also played for Simeon, then played one season
with Memphis and is now with the Chicago Bulls.
DeMarcus Harrison, 6-4,
guard,
Harrison debuted
at his new school on November 10 with a 95-79 win over
Two days later,
Harrison had 15 points in a 79-59 win over
In a national
tournament in
TELEVISION
TIMETABLE
BYU vs.
Tuesday, Dec 8 at
Tipoff: 8:00 pm Mountain
Time
TV: The Mtn
BYU vs.
Saturday, Dec 12 at
Tipoff: 8:00 pm Mountain
Time
TV: none
BYU vs.
Wagner
Thursday, Dec 17 at
Tipoff: 7:00 pm Mountain
Time
TV: BYUTV
BYU vs.
Saturday, Dec 19 at
Tipoff: 7:00 pm Mountain
Time
TV: BYUTV
BYU vs.
Tuesday, Dec 22 at
Kickoff: 6:00 pm Mountain
Time
TV: ESPN
BYU vs.
Tuesday, Dec 22 at
Tipoff: 1:00 pm Mountain
Time
TV: BYUTV
(Game was originally set for
8:30 pm start, but moved to 1:00 pm start to accommodate BYU's Las Vegas Bowl
appearance. Cougar fans can now see both games)
BYU vs.
Wednesday, Dec 23 at
Tipoff: TBA
TV: BYUTV