Cougar Sportsline, Vol. 33, Issue 9

HB Arnett’s 801 372 - 0819 hbarnett@fiber.net 1391 West 800 South – Orem, Utah 84058 Vol. 33, Issue 9 – October 1, 2012 Click <http://www.cougarstreet.com/products/index.php?type=450&PCID=450:0:0:0:0> Here To Order Or Renew Your Subscriptions Book ‘em Bronco! BYU Busts Hawaii 47-0 BYU produced a new pilot episode last Friday night in LaVell Edwards Stadium as a possible spin off from the current network TV show, Hawaii 5-0. It’s called BYU 47-0. It details the total pounding and pummeling of Hawaii in the Cougar’s shutout of the Warriors in Provo. It’s a pilot that won’t sell very well in the islands. Because of the total mismatch in talent between the two teams and the numerous injury timeouts it certainly didn’t make for very good television. But thanks to some very good performances in this BYU beat down of the Warriors by former Cougar role players on the national ESPN stage, it will, however, make for some very interesting BYU football drama for the future. The storyline will be an instant classic. It will involve Bronco Mendenhall having to make a choice about what will be best for his football family not only for the remainder of this season, but into the future. His choice will be between playing protagonists with whom he has strong relationships based on trust, love, grit and loyalty and players that are obviously more talented, explosive and ready for prime time. A preview of this new drama can be found in a story below. While Steve McGarrett and Dano were the stars of the original Hawaii 5-0 series, it was Joe Friday and Bill Gannon of Dragnet that make the phrase “just the facts ma’am” relevant in reviewing this most recent BYU blowout of Hawaii. “Just the facts ma’am.” Fact 1…Hawaii is not a very good football team. Lots of teams spend money on promoting their Heisman candidates to voters. The best promotion possible for this season would be for that team to have a game scheduled with the Warriors. Big numbers are guaranteed for any Heisman hopeful. Fact 2…There are no Heisman hopefuls for BYU this year, but there were huge numbers posted and put up by BYU’s offense and stingy and small numbers put up by the Cougar defense. For example: Total Yards - BYU 540 Hawaii 149; First Downs – BYU 30 Hawaii 9; Rushing – BYU 396 Hawaii 41; Passing – BYU 144 Hawaii 108. Fact 3…Without equivocation, Taysom Hill and Jamaal Williams were great high school players at their respective alma maters; Hill at Highland HS in Pocatello and Williams at Summit in Fontana, Calif. Based on the small sample size of their performances against Hawaii last week, both looked destined to perform equally well at the college level. While the sample size is currently small, the numbers put up by Hill and Williams against Hawaii were big and impressive. Hill, BYU’s starting quarterback against Hawaii, had numbing numbers against the Warriors. All he did was rush for 143 yards on 15 carries, including a spectacular 68 yard jaunt on a quarterback draw. Hill’s rushing stats would have been even better, but he had yardage deducted because of a couple of sacks. He averaged 9.5 yards per carry. Passing the ball, Hill completed 12 of 21 attempts for 112 yards and 2 touchdowns. He also threw an interception. The touchdown passes were to Ross Apo for a 22-yard score and to Devin Mahina for a 12-yard touchdown toss. Williams was just as spectacular. The seventeen year old running back finally got some significant touches because of an early-game injury to starting running back Michael Alisa. Williams jumped on the chance and all over Hawaii’s beleaguered defense. In 15 carries, Williams rushed for 155 yards and 2 touchdowns. He averaged 10.3 yards per touch on the ground. His touchdowns were from two and three yards out, but his longest gain on the ground for the night was 35 yards. He also had two receptions for 30 yards which gave him 185 yards of total offense on just 17 touches. Fact 4…Light and lean is long gone. BYU’s offensive line performance was much, much better against Hawaii. The improvement started when BYU made personnel changes up front. They went bigger by using Famika Anae, Manaaki Vaitai and Solomone Kafu, coupled with retaining Braden Hansen, Ryker Mathews and Braden Brown. Hansen was also moved to center for this contest and looks like that is where he will stay. Fact 5…The BYU defense is good, very good. They absorbed the season ending injury to of Eathyn Manumaleuna against Boise State last week without missing a beat against Hawaii. The true test will come against Utah State this Friday. The Aggies have probably the best offense the Cougars will have faced so far this season. Another injury on the defensive line would be devastating, but so far the only devastation being dished out is by the Cougar defense. They just keep making plays. But before we go off the giddiness grid, we want to see what they do with Utah State. BYU-USU GAME PLAN EASY FOR BOTH SIDES The game plans for both BYU and Utah State won’t be hard to figure out. Both teams will focus on forcing the opposing quarterbacks to throw the ball. The Aggies have a very good and mobile quarterback in sophomore Chuckie Keeton. BYU will counter with either Riley Nelson, if healthy, or Taysom Hill. All three are mobile and can extend plays and make opposing defenses pay if allowed to run with the ball. The plan for both teams will be to keep the quarterbacks contained and force them to throw the ball down field. The team that throws the best will win this Friday night. That doesn’t mean that there won’t be production on the ground from other players on both teams. The Aggies have a nice tailback in Kerwynn Williams. He is averaging 103 yards per game. BYU has a nice tailback in Jamaal Williams. In his first real foray in BYU football last week, he rushed for 155 yards. Look for the battle between the Williams backs to also be a determining factor in the outcome of this game. This will be the best offense BYU’s defense has faced this season. If they are for real, we should have it confirmed by their performance this week against the Aggies. What has already been confirmed is that the BYU kicking game is suspect. If it comes down relying on it, the Cougars are toast. We like Taysom Hill getting another start here, but what we really like is the BYU defense. So do the Las Vegas odds makers. BYU opened as a 10-point favorite, but the line is now down to 7 ½. In our opinion, that is not enough. We call it BYU 31 USU 17. Fluff and Stuff We have had several calls the past week wanting to know what the television broadcast plans are for the BYU vs. Oregon State game will be. It is on the schedule for Provo on October 13. No plans have yet been announced. We would expect a decision on this game sometime this week. ESPN holds the broadcast rights for this game and it would surprise us if they don’t announce that it will be either a ESPN, ESPN2 or ABC regional game. Worst case scenario would be an ESPNU game. If ABC gets the nod, then this could be a late morning or afternoon contest. The fact that Oregon State is on fire and now nationally ranked at No. 14 will make it highly likely that this contest will get some national exposure on the ESPN platform. A win this week at home against Washington State would put the Beavers at 4-0 and as a serious contender for the Pac 12 title. It will also guarantee another high visibility game for the Cougars when they go up against the Beavers. ESPN has already announced that BYU’s last two games will be shown on ESPNU and ESPN3. Those are games against San Jose State and New Mexico State. Both contests will be road games for the Cougars. You can expect the Idaho game in Provo to be another BYUtv contest. With the Notre Dame matchup set for October 20 in South Bend and televised nationally on NBC, that leaves only the Georgia Tech game in Atlanta on October 27 in broadcast limbo. BYU Basketball That is also the same weekend that Jabari Parker will be making a campus recruiting trip to Duke. The in-home visits with coaches are now over for Parker. We get queries frequently wanting to know what BYU chances are. Here is my take. From my perspective, all of the media stories and updates that favor Duke and Michigan State or other contenders, all appear to be sourced from Jabari’s father Sonny. There are never any quotes or info originating from Parker himself or his mother. It is my opinion that means BYU is still in the hunt. Also, the fact that Jabari has eliminated Kentucky from the process is also a good sign for the Cougars. Only time will tell. What is already told when it comes to talent is that Dave Rose hit the mother lode this recruiting season and will cash in with the early signing period in November with or without Parker. Ladies and Gentlemen, Eric Mika and Nick Emery are absolutely the real deal. The Lone Peak HS duo by themselves will give Rose a top ranked recruiting class. Emery’s credentials on the national scene are well documented. Mika has been a shooting star on the summer AAU circuit, but despite all the Mika hype, he is still not being recognized for how good this kid really is. Here is a tease to get you excited. Click <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwPN5nX5uaI> Here. He is wearing No.45. This was filmed just recently at an event in Houston last week where he won rave reviews against other highly touted high school stars and prospects. Other prospects that will sign in November are Luke Worthington, a 6-9 front court player from Wisconsin, Jakob Hartsock, a 6-7 forward from Oklahoma and Braiden Shaw, a 6-8 forward from Idaho. Hartsock and Shaw, along with Emery will be heading on LDS missions before enrolling in Provo. Meanwhile Damarcus Harrison, the former BYU guard has been granted a waiver from the NCAA and will be eligible to play this season at Clemson. He was headed on an LDS mission this summer after playing his freshman season at BYU, but those plans were delayed ecclesiastically. When he wanted to return to BYU for this fall, his scholarship was already given to Cory Calvert, an incoming freshman guard. Harrison then pursued a transfer to Clemson, just 30 miles from his home in South Carolina. With Chris Collinsworth having to give up basketball and getting a medical hardship, that frees up a scholarship, but because of the timing and because Harrison was already enrolled at Clemson when the Collinsworth decision was made, the scholarship couldn’t be given to Harrison. While Harrison was in the bush, two birds already in hand for this season are Brandon Davies and juco transfer Agustin Ambrosino. Here is an entertaining video of the two facing off against the BYU women’s soccer team. Click Here <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XZsm-IuuW4> . All About QB Earle Bruce, the former Ohio State and CSU head coach, makes a point I have tried to make for years when it comes to BYU football. It is all about the quarterback and always will be. Bruce was responding to a question about why the Big Ten conference was so ordinary this season in football. This is how he responded in a recent ESPN article. "The thing I noticed most is a lack of great quarterbacks in the league," said Bruce, who coached the Buckeyes from 1979-87 and served as an Ohio State assistant from 1966-71. "A team can't get cut short at that position. When I was [in the Big Ten], everybody had a great quarterback. That makes the league a little tougher. "I don't know whether the evaluation of the quarterbacks has been wrong, or they had injuries or whatever, but the quarterback position is down in the Big Ten. There's no doubt about that." BRONCO CATCHES A BREAK Bronco Mendenhall is on a roll after the 47-0 thumping of Hawaii last week. He proved that going for two against Boise State was a wise decision. After watching the dismal BYU kicking game on extra points against Hawaii, Bronco obviously had some inside information in making the infamous call against the Broncos. He still is on the losing end of the Boise State vindication game, however, when he elected to stay with Riley Nelson too long before replacing him with Taysom Hill. That was shown in Hills late game touchdown drive against the Broncos and was unequivocally confirmed by his performance against Hawaii. Mendenhall is now 1-1 in the vindication games. What Bronco needs now in his personnel decisions are a few good breaks. He got those good breaks because of bad breaks for both Michael Alisa and Riley Nelson last week against Hawaii. Alisa broke both bones in his right forearm in the first drive of the night against Hawaii. He is gone for at least three to four weeks. Nelson had his bad break or fracture three weeks ago against Weber State. He has had back problems since and it has definitely affected his play and production. The bad break was finally bad enough that he didn’t play against Hawaii. For Bronco, who openly favors putting players on the field who have “earned” his trust through grit, determination and leadership, he was now forced to go with players who are probably not as trustworthy, but obviously much more talented than those they replaced. Does Taysom Hill and Jamaal Williams ring a bell? Bronco and loyalty were let off the hook last week because a couple of good breaks for him, and a couple of bad breaks for Alisa and Nelson. It is my opinion that injury is the trump card that now allows Mendenhall to put his best talent at quarterback and running back on the field without having to compromise his coaching credo of grit, determination and trust. It’s the biggest break Bronco has received this year and it will be an even bigger break for him as the season progress and next year shows up on the horizon. If BYU football was all about feel good stories and determination, grit and trustworthiness, the Cougars would be reigning national champions. Unfortunately, it is also about putting your most talented players on the field. We saw that happen for BYU last week on the offensive line, at quarterback and at running back. If it was all about “feel good and good guy” football, Michael Alisa and Riley Nelson are All American. Their stories are inspiring. Talent also is a factor. If this was BYU fantasy football and you were picking your team and wanting to win, who do you choose? Riley Nelson or Taysom Hill. Michael Alisa or Jamaal Williams? Thought so. Bronco has got a break and has a way out of his predicament of staying true to his coaching credo and putting his best talent on the field at the same time. It’s just unfortunate that his break had to come in the form of bad breaks for Alisa and Nelson. Last Week’s review and results…Here is a look at a review and results from BYU’s 2012 football opponents. We are now going to start including San Diego State because if they get to 6 wins, they will face BYU in the Poinsettia Bowl. Washington State lost to Oregon at home in Pullman 51-26 and are now 2-3 on the year. They are likely to be 2-4 after this week and an excursion to Corvallis to take on the undefeated and nationally ranked Oregon State Beavers….Weber State is currently 0-5 after a 37-13 loss last week to UC Davis. This week it will be Cal Poly in Ogden…Utah is 2-2 and coming off a bye last week. The week before they were thumped big time in Tempe, losing to ASU 37-7. USC will be in Salt Lake City this Thursday to face the Utes…Boise State is coming of a 32-29 win over New Mexico at Albuquerque. That makes them 3-1 with a game on the road this week against Southern Miss...Hawaii is now 1-3 after the 47-0 loss to BYU. The Warriors now get San Diego State in San Diego this week…Utah State is a missed chip shot field goal at Wisconsin from being 5-0. The Aggies are riding high after their 35-13 win over UNLV in Logan last week. BYU in Provo is next…Oregon State is playing big boy football. The Beavers are undefeated at 3-0 and have won two consecutive road games. The latest was a 38-35 win over Arizona in Tucson. OSU is ranked No. 14 and will face Washington State this week in Corvallis...Notre Dame is 4-0 and ranked No. 9 in the nation. They had a bye last week after coming off a big 13-6 win over Michigan at Ann Arbor. This week ND hosts Stanford…Georgia Tech is now 2-3 after falling at home to Middle Tennessee State, a team BYU will host next season. The final was 49-28. The Yellow Jackets are on a 2-game losing streak after dropping a game in overtime a week ago to Miami. Next up is nationally ranked Clemson on the road… Idaho is 0-5 and counting. The losing streak will be tested this week in Moscow when 1-4 New Mexico State makes an appearance. Idaho’s latest loss was a big 66-0 shutout at North Carolina. Here’s hoping the check from the Tar Heels doesn’t bounce… San Jose State beat Navy on the road last week. The final score was 12-0. The Spartans have won their last 4 contests. They are 4-1 with a bye on tap this week…New Mexico State is just the opposite of SJSU. The Aggies are 1-4 and on a four-game losing streak with the latest happening last week at home to Texas-San Antonio. This week it is on the road at Idaho…San Diego State is now 2-3 after coming off a 52-40 loss to Fresno State in Fresno. Hawaii is on tap next in San Diego. The Aztecs will have to step it up soon if they are going to get to six wins and a Poinsettia Bowl appearance against BYU. Television Timetable BYU vs. Utah State Friday, Oct 5 at Provo Kickoff: 8:15 pm Mountain Time TV: ESPN BYU vs. Oregon State Saturday, Oct 13 at Provo Kickoff: TBA TV: TBA BYU vs. Notre Dame Saturday, Oct 20 at South Bend Kickoff: 1:30 Mountain Time TV: NBC BYU vs. Georgia Tech Saturday, Oct 27 at Atlanta Kickoff: TBA TV: TBA