HB Arnett’s 801 372 - 0819 hbarnett@fiber.net 1391 West 800 South – Orem, Utah 84058 Vol. 34, Issue 6 – September 9, 2013 Click <http://cougarclicks.com/product/Order-Cougar-Sportsline?ID=3173> Here To Order Or Renew Your Subscriptions 40-21 Win History and Hammering Horns Here’s a little history on something I read and wrote August 12 in Vol. 34, Issue 2 of Cougar Sportsline. “Now it’s another fall camp 12 years later and "It's déjà vu all over again". I am again encouraging BYU fans to get down to fall camp and see an unstoppable offense. But don’t take that invitation literally because they won’t let you in to a BYU football practice these days. But if they did, and you knew only just a little about offensive football, you would immediately get an appointment with your doctor and have your blood pressure and pace maker checked to make sure you will be able to survive the offensive excitement that will be generated by the Cougars this season.” Here’s some more recent reading from last week in Vol. 34, Issue 5 in Cougar Sportsline. “Texas has athletes and they will move the ball, they just won’t put up the points like they did last week. This game will rest on a must-be-improved BYU offense. The Cougars have to be more productive than they were last week…. Again, with two strikes left in the early season at bat for BYU, my Ponzi-Pollyanna pick for Saturday is BYU 24 Texas 21.” I hate it when people bring up the 2 times out of 100 that they were right. Don’t you? Two rights in predictions still can’t make up for the wrong of Virginia and the Cougars’ opening performance in the season debut for BYU, but it sure makes it feel better for me and the rest of BYU football fans. If you want a good comparison of what go fast, go hard looked like between the season opener and last Saturday night, here a couple of video vignettes to illustrate the point. This is what go fast, go hard <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnbNcQlzV-4> looked like against Virginia This is what go fast, go hard <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_v6GBC8JyxI> looked like against Texas…watch to the 1:20 mark And the best video yet <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CVAts6haqQ> that demonstrates the total BYU 40-21 domination over Texas Still not convinced that what you saw is real? Try this empirical data: BYU rushed the ball for 550 yards against the Longhorns. That was the most rushing yardage given up by Texas in their century-plus history of playing college football. Ask Manny Diaz, the former UT defensive coordinator, if it was real. He lost his job the next day and was demoted to some other post in the Horns’ athletic department. Throw in the 129 yards BYU mustered through the air, and BYU tattered the Texas defense to the tune of 679 yards of total offense. Nobody Perfect But nobody is perfect…right? Forget the 259 yards rushing and three touchdowns turned in by Taysom Hill. He completed just 9 of 27 throws and had one interception. Using the Texas reactionary response model, Hill should be benched…right? I prefer to use the Cindy Crawford model. You might remember Crawford from a few years back. She was the super model that looked the part. For most connoisseurs of Crawford’s beauty, she had it all. For others, her beauty sometimes took a beating because she had a mole on her upper lip. Read my lips. Taysom Hill’s erratic passing is his mole. Some BYU fans can wish that he had the mole removed by benching him for a better thrower in Ammon Olsen, the current BYU backup. Personally, I will take the entire beauty of Hill’s game as it is. I’m sure there are BYU fans longing for the glory days of a BYU passing attack that would like to see the mole removed. I guarantee that the Texas defensive coaches would have also voted for mole removal and a benching of Hill. It ain’t happening folks, nor should it. I like my Cougars winning, any way they can, and I like my Crawford’s and Hill’s as a mole models just the way they are. Push my Luck and Locker Okay, I am going to push my luck on prognostication. Despite touting my prediction horn from the last few issues, I don’t think I will be going out on a limb by saying that I think Taysom Hill will dramatically improve in his passing skills. And it will show sooner than later in this season. I’m not saying that he will ever be a Ty type thrower (Detmer), but he will eventually be at least a consistent 50 percent passer. Yes, I acknowledge all the letters and emails I get weekly pointing out Hill’s inaccuracy, poor footwork etc., but that’s my prediction and I’m sticking to it. While Hill will never be a Ty Detmer, he is already very close to being a Jake Locker. You might remember Locker, the three-year starter for the Washington Huskies and the current starter for the Tennessee Titans. Just like Hill, Locker was ordinary as a passer in the season opener for the Titans. He completed just 11-20 passes for a pedestrian 117 yards, but like Hill and his paltry passing performance, both BYU and the Titans turned in wins. As Al Davis of Oakland Raider lore, legends and no longer living said, “Just Win Baby”. I have no lore, am not a legend and still living, but here is what I say: “Just give the ball to Jamaal Williams.” After two games, Williams is currently the No. 2 rusher in the nation. Against Texas, he logged and lugged the ball 30 times for 182 yards. That means in two games he has carried the ball 63 times for a total of 326 yards or 163 yards per game. Did I mention that Taysom Hill is currently ranked No. 5 in the country in rushing? Mole Hill to Mountain In keeping with the Cindy Crawford mole motif, BYU offensive coaches, made a mountain out of a mole hill last Saturday night in Provo against Texas. That is an extremely good thing. I’m talking about the offensive line play for the Cougars. The BYU offensive line progressed from the mediocrity of a mole hill against Virginia two weeks ago, to the Tetons in comparison against Texas. The improvement in play between the two games was hard to imagine, but very easy and enjoyable to watch. Give the credit to Garett Tujague, the Cougar offensive line coach, and Robert Anae, the BYU offensive coordinator. They saw the problem and fixed it. What they accomplished in a week was commendable. While the coaching of the offensive line was commendable, Texas’ defensive front was clueless. Commendable and clueless was a good combination to have last Saturday night for BYU. Next up for BYU is a week off before facing Utah in Provo on September 21. There is still no game time or television plans announced for this contest, but we expect that to happen early this week if not later today. Defense Deserves its Due Thank goodness Bronco backed down. That’s a reference to his ill advised decision to remove the names of players from their jerseys. Of course a compromise was reached and Mendenhall should be given credit for reversing his stance. That’s not good enough. He should have not only restored the names to the uniforms, but on defense, he should have made those names much bigger and bolder so all BYU fans can see just who and how many play makers Mendenhall has on that side of the ball. They are numerous and all showed up against Texas. These guys, this defense and Mendenhall as a defensive coordinator, are not getting enough credit for what they are doing, what they have done the last couple of seasons and will continue to do as long as Mendenhall is in charge. You may remember that Mendenhall wanted to replace the player’s names with Tradition, Spirit and Honor. On the defensive side of the ball he should have opted for Stingy, Nasty and Not in my House. BYU playing great defense is now beyond a one-season fluke. It is now a fate that all opposing offenses will have to face. Who ever thought that defense in Provo could be entertaining? Most of the marquee defensive players for the Cougars are in the front seven. They key guy is still Kyle Van Noy. He continues to be the real deal. He now has a sidekick on the outside in Alani Fua. On the defensive line, you would be hard pressed to find players like Bronson Kaufusi and Eathyn Manumaleuna. Uani Unga and Spencer Hadley are also playmakers at their respective linebacker spots. Throw in Daniel Sorensen and Craig Bills at safeties and this forms the nucleus of another very good and productive unit. Of course, as Texas showed, a good passer and good receivers can still take advantage of BYU corners. Nobody is perfect, but Bronco nearly is on defense. Look for him to scheme those corners some help when they have to face decent throwing teams again. For BYU football aficionados, we should enjoy the names of the defensive players on their backs and how they play. They don’t get the credit they deserve and have earned. BYU’s Top Ten Toughest Teams to Beat this Season 1. Utah State…The Aggies get a gimme this week hosting Weber State. They are coming off an offensive explosion win over Air Force on the road. The final was 52-20. The next two weeks USU will face USC and San Jose State on the road before hosting BYU in Logan on conference weekend. 2. Utah…The Utes will be 3-0 coming to Provo. They beat Utah State and Weber State last week 70-7 and will beat Oregon State, also in Salt Lake City. 3. Wisconsin…Another patsy, another win. The Badgers bludgeoned Tennessee Tech last week 48-0. Now this week we will get a better barometer on the Badgers. They go on the road for a game at Arizona State. 4. Notre Dame…The Irish are now 1-1 after losing 41-30 to Michigan on the road. ND stays out there with a game at Purdue this Saturday. 5. Boise State…The Broncos rebounded from their opening game pounding at Washington by doing the pounding themselves. They beat Tennessee-Martin 63-14 in Boise. The Broncos stay home for a game against Air Force this Friday night. The Falcons are not a good team and the Broncos should be 2-1 by Saturday. 6. Georgia Tech…Home sweet home. BYU will be hard to beat in Provo. GT is coming off a 70-0 thumping of Elon. After a bye this past week, next up for the Yellow Jackets is a trip to Duke. 7. Middle Tennessee…The Blue Raiders are now 1-1 after a 40-20 loss to North Carolina in Chapel Hill last week. They now host Memphis at home this Saturday. 8. Virginia…Oregon exposed what the Cougars should have, but couldn’t. The Ducks poured on a 59-10 win over UVA. Next up is VMI in Charlottesville. 9. Nevada…After a loss at UCLA, Nevada beat UC Davis in Reno 36-7. It won’t be as pleasant this Saturday as UNR travels to Tallahassee to face the Seminoles of Florida State. 10. Houston…The Cougars are now 2-0 after beating Temple in Philadelphia last week. Saturday, they get Rice in a cross city home rivalry game. Others Receiving Votes… BYU was responsible for exposing Texas as an also ran and expelling defensive coordinator Manny Diaz from his job. Next up for the Longhorns are two home games against Ole Miss and Kansas State… Idaho State…The Bengals are guaranteed to have one win against a school from Utah this season. ISU thumped Dixie State 40-14 last week. Now they get to thump Western State. Fluff and Stuff This past weekend was a big one for Dave Rose and his basketball program. He hosted several 2014 prospects on their official campus visits. In addition to the local recruits like T.J. Haws, Dalton Nixon and Ryan Andrus, Payton Dastrup, the 6-10 post player from Arizona was also in town for an official visit. I haven’t confirmed if Arizona commit Jake Toolson was also in town for a visit. Rose always likes to bring in his recruits for a big football game in September. Texas fit that bill this year. Television Timetable BYU vs. Utah Saturday, Sept 21 at Provo Kickoff: TBA TV: TBA BYU vs. Middle Tennessee Friday, Sept 27 at Provo Kickoff: 7:00 pm Mountain Time TV: ESPNU BYU vs. Utah State Friday, Oct 4 at Logan Kickoff: 6:00 pm Mountain Time TV: CBS Sports Network BYU vs. Georgia Tech Saturday, Oct 12 at Provo Kickoff: TBA BYU vs. Houston Saturday, Oct 19 at Houston Kickoff: TBA TV: TBA