HB Arnett’s
COUGAR SPORTSLINE
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hbarnett@fiber.net and hbarnett@xmission.com
1391
West 800 South –
Vol. 30,
Issue 7 – September 21, 2009
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Seminoles
Shellac Cougars 54-28
The Florida State
Seminoles have one of college football's great traditions. Their 54-28 thumping
of BYU last Saturday in LaVell Edwards Stadium added to that tradition.
In games which the
Seminoles deem the outcome significant and important, they take a piece of sod
from the field of the defeated team and plant it in their "
A piece of BYU's
new grass field now has a celebrated resting place on FSU's campus.
Not to be outdone
in football funerals, the Cougars also added another embarrassing epitaph in
the BYU Boot Hill of Blowouts.
Every time the
Cougars and their fans start thinking they are one of college football's elite
programs, they bomb out and add another tombstone in their Boot Hill of
Blowouts.
If you haven't
visited lately, besides the newest plot being dug for the
2008 - TCU 32 BYU
7,
2007 - Tulsa 55
BYU 47 (not a blowout, but a defensive disaster)
2003 - CSU 58 BYU
13,
2001 -
More mature
markers from the '90s include:
1993 - UCLA 68 BYU
14
1990 -
BYU is a very good
football program. They just aren't an elite program.
Like BYU, elite
teams all lose football games. Last week USC lost to
Elite teams lose,
but they don't get blown out of the water when those losses take place.
BYU is a good team
and a good program, but their Boot Hill of Blowouts, is too full to be
considered one of college football's elite programs.
Get Over
It
While blowouts are
bummers, they usually are quickly forgotten, unless guys like us continue to
dig them up.
Rehashing blowouts
proves our point. They are extremely painful for a week, but the disappointment
dissipates as soon as the next win comes around.
That will also
happen with the
The fact that BYU
is still in the national rankings in both polls says the Cougars are considered
a very good team. They are No. 19 in the AP poll and No. 20 in the Coaches
poll.
They are just not
an elite program.
Will BYU ever
reach that elite status? Bronco Mendenhall thinks so.
In one of the
ironies of the past week, Mendenhall was in Salt Lake City a few days before
the FSU-BYU matchup telling the Cougar Club that a national championship was
the goal and that in his opinion, it could be achieved with the current model
and players recruited within that model that is currently in place in the
Cougar football program.
The message was
warmly received.
Model
The model is
certainly fine, but a look at BYU's Boot Hill of Bombs would indicate that the
players certainly need an upgrade on the defensive side of the ball.
BYU is an equal
opportunity employer when it comes to blowouts. Dick Felt, Ken Schmidt, Bronco
Mendenhall and now Jaime Hill have all been bludgeoned by offensive blowouts
while serving as defensive coordinators.
It isn't about the
defensive scheme or coaches. It is about players.
Good football
teams and programs require a two-car garage. BYU has almost always had a
top-of-the-line offensive automobile parked in their garage. Defensively, they
continue to drive a car that at its best is serviceable, and at its worst,
mostly leaks a lot of oil in games against good and elite teams.
That is why we
still maintain that BYU's best football team was not the 1984 National
Championship squad, but the 14-1 1996 Cotton Bowl team.
They were very,
very good on both sides of the ball.
BYU fans like to
talk and gloat about the Cougar offense.
When it comes to
recruiting talk, most of it centers on offensive players, especially quarterback,
receivers and running backs.
Everybody can name
the two latest and greatest offensive commits for this coming BYU recruiting
class. If you need a hint, how about Jake Heaps and Ross Apo?
Now name the
defensive commits that you think will make an impact.
Offense will get
you a ticket to the ball and national rankings, but by itself, it won't get you
into a BCS game.
SPEAKING
OF BCS
The earliest
chance BYU will have for a BCS appearance will now be in 2011.
Even if the
Cougars don't lose again this season, an 11-1 record won't get them an invite
because of the 54-24 blowout to
If the Cougars
were a member of a BCS conference, there is a slight possibility that the
blowout would be forgotten, but as a non-BCS outsider, it will be something
that can't be overcome.
If you want a
glimmer of hope for this year, in 2001,
Don't expect any
BCS bowls next year either. BYU will be breaking in a new quarterback and that
never bodes well for the Cougars or BCS hopes.
HOLY
After BYU whipped
Tulane, Bob Toledo, head coach of the Green Wave, said that BYU was very good,
but that his team made the Cougars look better than they actually were.
It sounded like
sour grapes then, but actually sounds about right now.
Bobby Bowden, the
coach of
We will use the
That doesn't sound
very credible after watching FSU gash and gore the BYU front seven with 313
yards of rushing.
It happens
sometimes to even good teams.
BYU couldn't get
off the field against FSU's ground game.
The Seminoles ran
77 offensive plays, of which 49 were runs. They completed 22-of-28 passes for
another 199 yards.
What killed the
Cougars is what has always been their Achilles heel defensively.
Mobile
Quarterbacks
They can't defend
mobile quarterbacks.
We saw it last
year with Jake Locker at
Ponder isn't as
elusive or talented as Locker with his feet, but he was good enough to keep
drives alive by taking off out of the pocket and converting critical third
downs.
The good news is
that BYU won't see another mobile qb this year. Oops, we forgot Diondre Borel
of
Watching Ponder
play reaffirms our opinion that despite the hype about Jake Heaps and the
return from missions by James Lark and Jason Munns, Riley Nelson will be the
starting quarterback for the Cougars next season.
He also is no Jake
Locker and he has no special speed, but he is elusive and can make plays with
his feet when a play breaks down or a pass attempt is not there.
We saw how that
worked out for Ponder and FSU.
Nelson is also not
in the same league with his legs as Steve Young, but again, a mobile qb who can
make just enough plays with his feet presents major problems for opposing defenses.
Just ask Jaime Hill about last week.
New
Dimension
Nelson will give
that dimension to the offense. None of the other candidates have shown us yet
that they have that ability. They can all throw it extremely well, but Nelson
has that extra dimension to his game.
Our early
assessment is that Nelson could be another Brandon Doman, who is the current
BYU qb coach. Doman was not a spectacular passer, but he was a great playmaker.
Despite the
defensive deficiencies, BYU had a chance to still win this game if they had
been able to hold serve offensively.
Moving the ball
wasn't a problem for the Cougars, hanging on to it was.
BYU had five
turnovers. Max Hall threw three interceptions and O'Neill Chambers fumbled once
along with Jan Jorgensen, who coughed it up on a kickoff return.
This game also
showed why Harvey Unga is still the premier running back in the BYU stable.
Bryan Kariya and
J.J. DiLuigi have both had some nice performances in the first two games, but
they are not at the same level of Unga.
All he did was
rush for 97 yards on 10 carries, before tweaking his lingering hamstring injury
again.
CATCHING
UP ON
Now seems
like a good time to take a look at the remaining teams on BYU's football schedule.
The Rams are 3-0
on the year with wins against
They should have
lost the Weber game and it took a big stroke of luck and a quarterback/center
bobble to give the Rams the win.
We look for a big
bounce back here from BYU and especially the Cougar defense. We call it BYU 42
CSU 17.
UNLV...The Rebels are
2-1. The loss was to
SDSU...Despite the
addition of two tough-guy coaches in new head coach Brady Hoke and defensive coordinator
Rocky Long, the Aztecs still look like the Aztecs. They are 1-2 with losses at
UCLA and
TCU...The Frogs look to
be the cream of the crop in the MWC. We will know a lot more after they face
Clemson in
Air Force...As usual, the
Falcons will be competitive and play hard. They will beat at least one of the
MWC big three this season. Currently they are 2-1 with the lone loss on the
road at
QUARTERBACK
QUEUE
Max Hall...Completed
20-of-31 passes for 306 yards and two touchdowns. Those are almost exactly the
same numbers he produced a week ago in a win over Tulane. This time those
numbers resulted in a 54-28 loss to
Riley Nelson...The
James Lark and Jason
Munns...Both are still serving missions. Lark is due back in January and Munns
will return in May.
Jake Heaps...Skyline HS
suffered its first defeat of the season, a 28-25 defeat at the hands of Oaks
Christian HS of California. Heaps reportedly played sick and completed just
13-of-31 passes for 256 yards and a touchdown. He also threw three
interceptions. Oaks Christian has two BYU verbal commits on their team in Zac
Stout a linebacker and Alani Fua, a defensive end and tight end for his prep
school. He had two touchdown receptions in the game.
Tanner Mangum..It wasn't
a good day for Mangum, the LDS sophomore from Timberline HS in
Alex Kuresa...In a
low-scoring affair, Kuresa completed 7-of-10 passes for 62 yards in a
BASKETBALL
BRIEFS
Kyle Collinsworth
is still the top recruiting priority for Dave Rose and his BYU basketball
program.
They will have
some stiff competition for the 6-7 guard from Provo HS.
Rose and BYU have
already had an in-home visit with Collinsworth and will have him on campus this
weekend for his official recruiting visit.
USC is still
pursuing Collinsworth heavily. They like him because they reportedly think he
is one of only a handful of players in the nation coming out of high school
this year that can play either the 1, 2, or 3 spots.
Collinsworth made
his official campus visit to USC on the weekend of Sept. 4-5. His escorts were
Jordan Cameron, the former BYU basketball player who is now playing both
football and basketball for the Trojans. James Dunleavy also helped host
Collinsworth. Dunleavey is the son of LA Clippers coach Mike Dunleavey.
Collinsworth has
also unofficially visited
Bennett also was
recruiting Collinsworth hard when he was at
TELEVISION
TIMETABLE
BYU vs.
Saturday, Sept 26 at
Kickoff: 4:00 pm Mountain
Time
TV: The Mtn
BYU vs.
Friday, Oct 2 at
Kickoff: 7:00 pm Mountain
Time
TV: The Mtn
BYU vs.
UNLV
Saturday, Oct 10 at
Kickoff: 8:00 pm Mountain
Time
TV: The Mtn
BYU vs.
Saturday, Oct 17 at
Kickoff: 4:00 pm Mountain
Time
TV: The Mtn
BYU vs.
TCU
Saturday, Oct 24 at
Kickoff: 5:30 pm Mountain
Time
TV: Versus