HB Arnett’s
801
372 - 0819
1391
West 800 South –
Vol. 33,
Issue 3 – August 20, 2012
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TOO MUCH SPECIAL CAN BE SCARY
Bronco is high on this team. He likes it and thinks it will be good. He says that his secondary is the most talented he has had since he arrived in BYU a decade ago.
His assistant coach, Kelly Poppinga, went on the radio earlier this week and said basically that defensively, this group will be the most talented the Cougars have had in over a decade.
That certainly upped my heart rate. It came quickly down, however, when I recalled that what we are hearing from coaches and players during this fall camp is exactly what we heard last fall camp.
We know how that turned out. It went from (Jake) Heapish to sheepish in
a hurry after
And now it really gets scary.
I actually also think that this 2012 BYU football team can be extra
special. I will probably continue to think that way until they line up against
What I am looking for to validate any and all optimism and talk of special is a running game.
If BYU can run the ball against the Utes, then special may not be enough of an adjective to attach to this team. If the Cougars can put up a hundred plus yards against the Utes, then buckle up. It could be a nice ride to BYU’s best chance yet for a BCS berth.
Throwing around the word “special” on the radio and in post-practice press gatherings and in this newsletter is pleasant to the ears, but the Ute’s front seven defensively will quickly separate the “Special” sheep from the goats when it comes to the reality of how good BYU will be this season.
For the last five games, here are BYU’s rushing stats against
2011 - lost 54-10…rushed 22 times for 11 yards
2010 - lost 17-16…rushed 37 times for 65 yards
2009 - won 26-23…rushed 36 times for 131 yards
2008 - lost 48-24…rushed 30 times for 214 yards, but also threw 5 interceptions
2007 - won 17-10…rushed 33 times for 155 yards
We will keep up all “special” patter and chatter about the BYU running game for another four weeks, but BYU’s running game is similar to the current political campaigns now being waged. They are all about promises, polls, predictions and prognostications and stuffing the ballot box.
Against
HOW MUCH IS BYU FOOTBALL WORTH?
A year ago, Forbes Magazine wrote an article and listed the top 50 most valuable sports teams in the world.
Manchester United, the soccer club from the English Premier League, came in at the top spot with a value of $1.86 billion. That’s billion, not million.
Jerry Jones and his Dallas Cowboys came in second, with a worth of $1.81 billion. As a matter of fact, all 32 franchises and teams in the NFL made the top-fifty list for value. The New York Yankees were third on the list and the Texas Rangers came in at No. 50.
At least 10 soccer teams made the list.
All of which got me thinking. How much is BYU football worth? Especially when compared to other top football programs in the land. There is no complete empirical data on which to realistically base my assessment, but if BYU made a top 50 list of financially lucrative lists for college football teams, they wouldn’t be in the upper half of that list, in my opinion.
Let’s get this straight.
BYU football fans are awesome. They support their team through thick and thin. They just don’t support their team through their wallets the way the Big Boy programs do.
The Cougars could very well be a top 25 team this year. They have a very nice exclusive TV contract with ESPN and Cougar fans have television access to their team that most fans at other schools would just dream about.
But when it comes to bucks, especially those bucks generated by ticket sales and the price of those tickets and the demand for those tickets, BYU is definitely not in the Major Leagues. They are also not in rookie ball. Our assessment of BYU when it comes to selling tickets and actual demand for those tickets would put them in Double A ball.
Actually, the selling of tickets for BYU football is not an issue. It is the price at which those tickets are sold that pales in comparison to other big name and big time programs and puts those programs in the Major Leagues compared to the Minor Leagues where BYU currently resides.
It is no secret that BYU has raised football ticket prices over the last few years. That said, the price of those tickets is still not at the levels that the elite of college football sell theirs.
An even more telling example of demand for the BYU football ticket vs. the demand for tickets for the Big Boys is found in the secondary market for tickets, such as Stub Hub etc.
For example, single game tickets for BYU home football games are now
available on Stub Hub. You can buy a single ticket from this internet agency
for the
The
BYU fans appear to be more apt to spend more bucks to obtain the limited tickets available for road games, or the fans of those teams want to see BYU.
If you are looking for a ticket for the
You can still get Stub Tickets for the BYU at Notre Dame game at around
$100. Stanford at Notre Dame tickets start at $120. Georgia Tech vs. BYU
tickets are available on Stub Hub at $21.
The product on the field may be the same, but in reality, the demand for the BYU football product is not yet at the level of many other programs.
The top ten schools demanding the most for average single game tickets on the secondary market are: 1. Nebraska: $262; 2. Ohio State: $227; 3. Oklahoma: $207; 4. Notre Dame: $206; 5. Alabama: $205; 6. Iowa: $202; 7. Texas A&M: $189; 8. Michigan: $185; 9. West Virginia: $172 and 10. LSU: $158.
We mentioned that BYU at
BYU is currently making some nice renovations and innovations at LaVell Edwards Stadium to increase fan enjoyment of the games. That’s nice, but click here to compare
the amenities of LES to Darrel K Royal-Memorial Stadium at
My conclusion? BYU has a nice fan base, but when it comes to the credit
card commercial that asks, “What’s in your wallet?”… Apparently
not as much as what is in the wallets of
YOU CAN’T CONTACT JABARI, BUT
YOU CAN STILL TAKE HIM TO THE BANK!
On Thursday of this week, the BYU athletic compliance office sent out a tweet, hoping to reach most BYU fans.
It said: "Boosters/Fans: Please do not use
@'insert prospect twitter handle' to encourage enrollment at BYU. Leave the
recruiting to the coaches!"
That is code for leaving the recruiting of Jabari
Parker to BYU coaches because it could cause some potential recruiting
violations by “boosters” trying to influence a recruit to attend
their favorite school.
The timing of the tweet wasn’t a coincidence, in
my opinion. It went out one day before Parker was on the BYU campus for an
unofficial visit. We have had subscribers tell us that they saw actually saw Parker
on campus yesterday (Friday).
You may remember that Parker was on campus last April
while on a trip to
BYU coaches weren’t here, however, because they
were at the coaches’ convention in
Again, we had people telling us that they recognized
Parker while he was visiting professors at the business department and meeting
with people in the administration building.
He definitely didn’t play any pick up basketball
while in
In preparation for the trip, Parker and the
Here is some of what Paul Skrbina wrote in his June
22, 2012 article in the Chicago Tribune:
A scare was answered with prayer,
according to Jabari Parker’s father, Sonny Parker.
Sonny Parker posted a message to Instagram saying Jabari
Parker, the 2012 Mr. Basketball of Illinois and the Gatorade national high
school basketball player of the year, got a hairline fracture in his left big
toe during a Team USA U-17 practice in
Colorado Springs, Colo., after it was stepped on.
An X-ray after practice revealed the fracture, but a second
showed the injury was not as bad as first thought.
"Forty-eight hours ago he had a hairline fracture on
his big toe and now it's healed," Sonny Parker told the Tribune on Friday
afternoon. "That's the power of prayer."
Initially it looked like the injury might prevent Parker
from representing Team
Sonny Parker wrote in Instagram that Jabari was
“completely healed.”
The “power of prayer” referred to by
Parker’s dad, who is not LDS, but attends church with his family, is code
for Parker receiving a “blessing”.
Out of respect for the privacy of Parker, and the two
LDS men who gave the blessing, I won’t go into any detail, but I will
just say that it is a very, very interesting story that has BYU basketball
connections.
If you have a twitter account, you can’t contact
Jabari Parker, but you can still cash in on him for a limited time.
You may remember that in June, I ran the Jabari
Jackpot special. The deal was that if you renewed or extended your subscription
to Cougar Sportsline and Parker
didn’t sign with BYU, I would give another free year extension of that
subscription.
With Parker’s unofficial visit to BYU this
weekend, this isn’t a tweet, but it is still sweet…as in a sweet
deal for you. For another two weeks, I am again offering the Jabari Jackpot deal. Click Here
for details and to take advantage of either my largesse or lack of business
sense.
If you don’t like clicking, then let’s try
ticking…as in ticking off the current BYU basketball commits and omits
(Damarcus Harrison).
Commits
Eric Mica, 6-9,
Forward, Lone Peak HS…had a blow-up summer showing and has moved into the
national top 100 prospects lists of all recruiting services. Did not playhigh
school basketball last year because of a UHSAA ruling on his transfer from
Nick Emery, 6-1,
Guard, Lone Peak HS…A scoring machine in high school and on the AAU
summer and spring circuits, but will have to wait a few years before scoring
for BYU. Has said that he will serve an LDS mission before enrolling in
Braiden Shaw, 6-8,
Forward, Eagle HS, ID…Averaged 11 points and 8 rebounds as a junior.
Hasn’t shown much on the AAU radar, but you can bet he has been seen
enough by Rose at BYU camps. Rose doesn’t offer if he doesn’t think
they can play. He thinks Shaw can play. He just won’t play for a while.
He will sign in November, but like Emery, serve an LDS mission before
enrolling.
Jakob Hartsock, 6-7,
Forward, Bartlesville HS, OK…The younger brother of Noah Hartsock will
sign in November, but will also leave on an LDS mission out of high school.
T.J. Haws, 6-4,
Wing,
Dalton Nixon, 6-7,
Offers
Luke Worthington,
6-9, Center/Forward, Homestead HS, WI…This LDS prospect has a BYU offer,
but is not yet committed. Stanford, with the recent hire of Mark Madsen as an
assistant is making a big push now for LDS prospects. As of early August,
according to his father, he now has his choice of college trimmed to 5 schools:
Payton Dastrup,
6-9, Center, Mountain View HS, AZ…A big man who will be a junior this
season and can’t sign until November 2013. Has a lot of offers from big
name schools, but BYU was slow to offer because they saw him play this summer
in Provo and he had trouble getting his shot off against Eric Mica and Ian
Harward and couldn’t stop them from scoring. That accounted for the
hesitancy. Dastrup subsequently went on a tear on the AAU circuit and BYU kept
watching and finally decided to offer. He reportedly has offers from
Omits
Damarcus Harrison, 6-4,
Guard, BYU…Harrison, a
seldom used guard last season, told Dave Rose that he was leaving on an LDS
mission this summer. Rose opted to ask recent signee Cory Calvert of
FOOTBALL IS STILL KING SO LET CROWN BYU’S 2013 FOOTBALL
COMMITS
At the bottom of this list you find some of the early highlights turned in this week by some of these commits.
Keegan
Hicks, 6-3, 280 OL from South Jordan, Utah (Bingham High School)
Brayden Kearsley, 6-6, 250 OL from Portland, Ore. (Aloha High School)
Trajan Pili, 6-2, 200 LB from Las Vegas (Centennial High School)
Dallin Leavitt, 5-11, 196 Safety from Portland, Ore. (Central Catholic High
School)
Moroni Laulu-Pututau, 6-4, 190, TE from Hyrum, Utah (Mountain Crest High
School)
Talon Shumway, 6-3, 190, WR from Highland, Utah (Lone Peak High School)
JonRyheem Peoples, 6-6, 300 OL from Rigby, Idaho (Rigby High School)
Maataua Brown, 6-5, 290, DT from Norwalk, Calif. (Cerritos Junior College)
Kalolo Manumaleuna Utu, 6-2, 250, LB from Compton, Calif. (Compton Junior
College)
Nathan DeBeikes, 6-2, 196, LB from Thousand Oaks, Calif. (Thousand Oaks HS) Johnny
Tapasoa, 5-10, 190, Safety from Kahuku, Hawaii (Kahuku High School)
Addison Pulsipher, 6-5, 240, DE from Temecula, Calif. (Temecula Valley High
School)
Billy Green, 6-2, 196, QB from Shoreline, Wash. (Christian King's High School)
Hayden Weichers, 6-0, 165 WR from South Jordan, Utah (Bingham High School)
Kai Nacua, 6-2, 200 LB from Las Vegas, Nev. (Liberty High School)
Patrick Palau, 5-11, 240 FB from Salt Lake City, Utah (East High School)
Thomas Shoaf, 6-6, 265 OL from Columbus, Indiana (Columbus North HS)
Garrett England, 6-3, 185 WR from Salt Lake City, Utah (Skyline High School)
Michael Davis, 6-2, 180 WR from Los Angeles, Calif. (Glendale High School)
Inoke Lotulelei, 5-8, 175 WR from Salt Lake City, Utah (Cottonwood High School)
Darrin Laufasa, 6-1, 220 RB from Bothell, Wash. (Bothell High School)
Merrill Taliauli, 6-2, 305 DL from Salt Lake City, Utah (East High School)
Talon Shumway,
Moroni
Laulu-Pututau, Mountain Crest…caught 1 td pass, 22 yards in 54-14 win
over
Television Timetable
BYU vs.
Thursday, Aug 30 at
Kickoff: 8:15 pm Mountain Time
TV: ESPN
BYU vs.
Saturday, Sep 8 at
Kickoff: 1:00 pm Mountain Time
TV: BYUtv
BYU vs.
Saturday, Sep 15 at
Kickoff: 8:00 pm Mountain Time
TV: ESPN2
BYU vs.
Thursday, Sep 20 at
Kickoff: 7:00 pm Mountain Time
TV: ESPN