“Lite”
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Vol. 38, Issue 11, - October 8, 2018
The definition of Kolmogorov complexity in a nutshell is the length of the shortest possible set of written mathematical instructions that can produce a given result.
Kalani complexity
The definition of the Kalani complexity in a nutshell is the number of wins he will need in the remainder of this 2018 season and in the upcoming 2019 season to keep his job.
I’m no mathematician, but I can give a pretty good equation explaining this Cougar complexity of Kalani.
USU45>BYU20=3-3 record +(6 more games-2guaranteed losses left=7-5season+<2019 season=Utah, Tennessee, USC, Washington=unemployment unless something changes.
For the above equation to not be valid, here is a more practical equation that Kalani needs to solve before this coming Saturday: 4-2=future is now or never.
Zach Wilson has played in two BYU football games. He can play in two more before losing his redshirt freshman season. The math running through Kalani’s head now must be between saving Wilson for next year or sinking or swimming with him now to get him ready for next year’s even tougher front-loaded schedule. Nothing on the line here except Wilson’s eligibility and Kalani’s job security.
Sometimes Math can be maddening. Sometimes it can save a season and future employment.
Re-run and Re-read
In keeping with the election season and the constant re-running of political ads, to emphasize my point, here is what I wrote September 10.
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 know 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.
THEY CALL IT “FOOT” BALL, NOT “ARM” BALL!
I can think of only a few college teams that can consistently win without a quarterback that can run or scramble effectively. USC is the one college team that comes to mind. Stanford also fills that bill. The ultimate “arm” ball team in college is Washington State.
Coaches and pundits and scouts are always talking about footwork for every position on the field. The only time I ever hear the word arm is when describing the strength of a quarterback’s said appendage.
BYU used to get by with “arm” quarterbacks BC. That would be before cornerbacks and defensive coordinators got more athletic and smarter.
The last 9-win season BYU produced was not with an “arm” quarterback, but with a “feet” QB in Taysom Hill.
Tom Brady and Drew Brees are “arm” quarterbacks, but in college the top teams are those that not only have a quarterback that can throw it, but also can run it and be elusive enough to cause defenses problems.
Need proof. Start watching college football’s top teams. Of the most recently rated Top Ten Teams in college football, here are teams that have QB’s that can throw it but also run it.
Alabama: Tua Tagovailoa
Ohio State: Dwayne Haskins
Penn State: Trace McSorley
Notre Dame: Ian Book
Texas: Sam Ehlinger
UCF: McKenzie Milton
When it comes to the State of Utah there is only one quarterback that can beat you with his arm and legs and we saw both of those appendages in action last Friday when Jordan Love, Utah State’s outstanding quarterback, shredded BYU in a 45-20 loss. It could have been worse.
This is just my opinion, but arm, ordinary receivers and soft schedule made BYU a national name in college football.
I hate to go scriptural, but at BYU football, you can’t trust in the arm of a quarterback to get your wins any more.
You have to put the “foot” back in football. Again, my opinion, but a quarterback with “foot” will improve the arm and anemic current BYU passing game.
Now, I know it is a meager sample, and against second unit defenses, but watch this video of BYU putting a foot back in football and tell me what you think.
Here is the Bruno Mars “Hip Hop” version
Is the BYU “Foot” Ball Future Beginning This Week or Next Year?
Here is the Donny Osmond Version
Is the BYU “Foot” Ball Future Beginning This Week or Next Year?
So, What’s the Hurry?
Try this for urgency for BYU football To Go Change or Go Home. This was sent to me by a subscriber.
Current 2018 NCAA College Football Stats
BYU Offense
Total Offense Ranked 112/130
Points per Game: 21,2 – Ranked 118/130
Total Passing Yards: 1137 – Ranked 92/130
Total Rushing Yards: 699 – Ranked 107/130
Tanner Mangum
Total QBR: 50.6
Ranked 90/130
BYU Defense
Total Defense Ranked 72/130
This Looks Familiar
2017 Total offense for the season: 107/130
2017 Total defense for the season: 73/130
And while we are keeping tabs and score on BYU football’s situation, here is an article doing the same.
It’s USA Today College Football Misery Index. Click to read. BYU is in good company. The article talks mainly about Auburn, but also laments Louisville, Kansas State, Michigan State and at the end, BYU. I thought it was interesting reading.
The article mentioned the defensive deficiencies of Oklahoma which were remedied yesterday when they fired their defensive coordinator Mike Stoops. That coincides with BYU and Bronco Mendenhall’s firing of their defensive coordinator, Jaime Hill 8 years ago in 2010.
Coincidentally, the firing came after a thrashing by Utah State in Logan.
Here are the salient sentences by Mendenhall giving his reasons for dismissing his defensive coordinator midseason.
Mendenhall discusses decision to fire defensive coordinator
PROVO -- BYU head football coach Bronco Mendenhall is explaining the firing of defensive coordinator Jaime Hill.
Hill was shown the door Saturday after the team went to 1-4 with a loss at Utah State, marking BYU's worst start since the early 1970s.
Mendenhall says it was the right choice, motivated by "feelings, instincts, promptings."
"I did what I thought was best for the program," Mendenhall told reporters Monday at his weekly news conference. "Difficult decision, but I've aligned myself now with the way that I think I can make a real difference in our program at a deeper level."
Mendenhall said he fired Hill because of differences in coaching and leadership philosophies, but he also wanted to have more influence over his team.
"I think my influence on the defense -- that's what I consider my strength, it's where I think I can have the most leverage, and it's where I think I can influence our program the most," Mendenhall said.
Contacted over the weekend by KSL Newsradio, Hill said he was the "scapegoat" and BYU had "no reason" to fire him.
Mendenhall said the scapegoat comment was "not accurate."
Hill did not return calls to KSL Newsradio when asked for further comment Monday.
Mendenhall hopes taking over as defensive coordinator will instill some "heart" and "soul" into his team.
"I don't think right now we're getting their personal best, and that is something that is the most lingering issue to me that I really want to help them with, and maybe they haven't seen it from me," Mendenhall said.
You can read the entire article reported in October 2010, by KSL.com by clicking here.
Random Thoughts on Firing Coaches Mid-Season
If I was a head football coach, I personally wouldn’t fire my brother who was serving as a defensive coordinator. Neither did Bob Stoops at Oklahoma.
He kept his brother Mike on as DC for years. I don’t know what Stoops rationale was for keeping his brother on the payroll, but I know what my rationale would be.
If I fired my brother, who would bring the potato salad at the next family reunion?
There is a BYU and Bronco Mendenhall connection to the firing at Oklahoma. Ruffin McNeil was hired by Bronco at UVA after McNeil was fired as head coach at East Carolina. McNeil worked for Mendenhall for one season before he left to coach the defensive line at Oklahoma where Lincoln Riley, the OU head coach also named him Assistant head coach.
Riley had worked for McNeill as his offensive coordinator at East Carolina.
This season’s BYU defensive showing has not been good. Maybe serviceable is the best that can be said about it.
If I notice it and almost all BYU football fans notice it, don’t you think that Kalani Sitake notices it?
Ilaisa Tuiaki is not Sitake’s literal brother, but I’m wondering if there hasn’t been some thought given about who’s bringing the potato salad to the next reunion.
Potato salad didn’t figure in with the removal of almost an entire offensive staff after last season, but maybe it might be time to re-stir the defensive salad at BYU and give Ed Lamb a shot at the texture and taste of said current salad.
Sorry, just thinking out loud when it comes to a defense that is playing like potato salad.
Speaking of reunions and potato salad, regardless of how soggy, sour or spoiled the BYU football potato salad is, I am always going to go to the reunions. Family trumps potato salad every time.
