801 372 - 0819 <mailto:hbarnett@fiber.net> hbarnett@fiber.net 1391 West 800 South - Orem, Utah 84058 Vol. 36, Issue 9 - October 5, 2015 Click Here To Order or Renew Your Subscriptions <http://cougarclicks.com/product/Order-Cougar-Sportsline?ID=3173> The French Judge Gave Mangum a 128.79 It's Football not Figure Skating In figure skating it's all about style and presentation. Judges give points based on their assessment of the program as a whole: of its composition, originality, and use of ice, and of the skater's carriage, style, and expression of the music chosen. In football, it's all about scoreboard. The team with the most points posted, regardless of style, sloppy ice, carriage or carnage wins the game. BYU had scoreboard against UConn last Friday night in LaVell Edwards. The final was 30-13. The cumulative total has BYU now at 3-2 on the year. For three quarters, BYU in general and Tanner Mangum in particular, were putting up good numbers statistically, but the ice was still bumpy with the score tied at 10 all going into the final quarter. BYU had plenty of style points and passing yardage, but the game was still in doubt. Tanner Mangum, completed his show by completing 35 of 53 attempts for 365 yards and two touchdowns that were matched by two interceptions. His QB rating for the game was 128.79, BYU, as a team ended up with 539 yards of total offense, but the skating and sledding was still questionable with choppy ice heading into the final quarter. Thank goodness for the defensive Zamboni machine of Bronco Mendenhall. The Cougar defense made the big yardage and measly scoring hold up until the offense could get its double salchow scoring in gear in the final 15 minutes. It was the zip, zap, Zamboni play of Bronson Kaufusi and his interception that cleaned up this game for the Cougars. Defensively, BYU held the Huskies to 230 yards of offense. For the year, Mangum has now completed 101 of 167 throws for 6 touchdowns and 5 interceptions. He is completing 60.5 percent of his throws and has 1084 yards passing. His overall quarterback rating is currently 120.87. In rushing, BYU is currently ranked 114th out of 127 teams in grinding out yardage on the ground. The Cougars are averaging 117 yards per game. UConn is ranked 120th in the nation packing the football with only 99 yards per outing. A permanent fix for the BYU running game probably won't be available until next season. Until then, Mangum will keep sliding as instructed instead of taking hits because without him, the Cougars can't throw it and the running game isn't good enough for BYU to win football games with its defense only. If you are waiting for the BYU offense to look like Baylor's or TCU's, you are going to be disappointed this season. If you are waiting for the BYU defense to look like Michigan's or Utah's, you are also going to be disappointed. But if you are waiting for BYU to keep winning football games, you have come to the right team. If you are looking for them to rack up style points while winning, buy a pair of figure skates and a French judge to put in your pocket. Style points will be down the road, with experience for Mangum to go along with his talent, an improved offensive line and running backs that can actually run the ball effectively and consistently. It's never too early to say wait until next year, but while you do, watch the wins continue to pile up. Piling up and On One of those wins to add to the pile will be against East Carolina this Saturday in Provo. The Pirates are certainly very athletic on both sides of the ball. They played Florida tough in the Swamp and had a chance to win that game earlier this year. They beat Virginia Tech in Greenville and smothered SMU in Dallas last week. This is a very good football team. News Flash! So is BYU, especially if they get a few key guys like Harvey Langi and Travis Tuiloma back on the field on defense. As good as ECU is, they haven't played a quarterback like Mangum. They have played teams with much better receivers and running backs than BYU has, but they haven't faced a guy, even as inexperienced as he is, that can make all the throws and defenses pay if they can't pressure him. Look for Ruffin McNeil, ECU's head coach, to go that route. He is going to get after Mangum by bringing people, lots of them and often. If they don't get home, BYU will light up the scoreboard. It doesn't hurt ECU, either, that McNeil is very, very familiar with Robert Anae, BYU's offensive coordinator. They were on the same staff of Mike Leach at Texas Tech for multiple years. I like BYU here, even more than the 8 point favorite that Las Vegas makes BYU. I call it BYU 41, ECU 21. Get Off the Road Old Man! I'm not a patient driver. I've been known to yell out loud while driving behind an elderly motorist impeding my preferred progress, "Get off the road old man!" I try not to use that phrase when traveling with my wife because she almost always reprimands me with the following retort: "HB, you're an old man. Why don't you get off the road?" I admit, my driving probably also elicits similar comments from those in the same lane following behind me. The funny thing is that I seem to attract drivers who are all deaf. I can never see their lips move, but I always recognize the sign language they use. I was watching an ecclesiastical television show (My wife tells me that correct term is General Conference) yesterday afternoon and heard "Geronimo" used from the pulpit. Again, my good wife kindly corrected me and told me the word used was Gerontocracy. I knew that Geronimo was a Chiricahua Chieftain, and I was pretty sure I knew the meaning of Gerontocracy. To be sure, I looked it up and here is what it said: Gerontocracy is a form of oligarchical rule in which an entity is ruled by leaders who are significantly older than most of the adult population. To be clear, I fully support the Gerontocracy of the institution that was presenting the ecclesiastical television show which I was watching yesterday. I wasn't so clear, however, on what Oligarchy meant. I looked it up. Oligarchy: a country, business, etc., that is controlled by a small group of people. : the people that control a country, business, etc. Hey, I love it when they talk about me. I'm definitely gerontocracy challenged and my one-man business of Cougar Sportsline is as oligarchical as it comes. So. Consider this the "oligarchical get off the road" excursion of an old man. The chances of BYU ever winning a national title in football or basketball in the next thirty years are about as good as me ever using the terms "Geronimo or Geriatrics" in public from the pulpit at the LDS Conference Center. It isn't happening. What is happening, however, is that BYU football and basketball are going to win enough games and present enough personalities to the national media to favorably represent the LDS Church. This season is a great example of why BYU athletics is doing exactly what the Church wants. Turns out that Nebraska and UCLA are not as good as they were portrayed in the early part of the season. Doesn't matter. They are national brands and BYU played well against those brands. The media is always looking for an angle or an anomaly. BYU provides both. They are the ultimate anomaly. They can occasionally beat the big boys, with an honor code, with returned missionaries and with players that have nice stories to tell. If you wonder why the national media jumped all over Tanner Mangum and flooded BYU with interview requests, and if you wonder why Taysom Hill was the same last season before his injury, it's not hard to figure out. They can complete a sentence, are articulate and have a personal story to tell in a football context. Those stories reflect well on them individually, their families and the LDS Church. Sure there are other LDS college athletes that choose not to attend BYU that have stories to tell, but those stories will never match up to those told by BYU athletes, because they are just part of the national football factory story. Their stories are not anomalies, just more of the same, even if they are great LDS returned missionaries. BYU's backdrop promotes off the beaten path coverage from the media. That is why I always shirk my shoulders when an LDS athlete says that he will do more for the LDS Church by letting his talents speak for themselves in a non BYU setting. Name me one LDS college athlete that has ever generated as much national attention for the LDS Church that athletes at BYU do? There will be local coverage and attention paid to those non BYU, but LDS athletes in the local Utah market, but national coverage and attention doesn't come unless the anomaly angle is played because of BYU winning and how they do it and with whom they do it. You can say what you want about Bronco Mendenhall (And I've said plenty that is negative), but he is the ultimate anomaly when it comes to coaching and the LDS Church angle. He may not win as many football games as fans want, but he is doing exactly what the LDS Church wants. They want their story told. I'm well aware of the fact that there are those who think Bronco and his program need to make way for another coach. Hey I'm old, but not dead yet. I occasionally read BYU related sports message boards. It all sounds familiar. I used to be one of those guys who wanted to fire LaVell Edwards and Norm Chow every time they lost a football game. I was sure there were better LDS coaches out there. I know there are those who think there must be a high school coach or juco coach out there somewhere who is innovative, bright, ambitious and anxious to be the next BYU coach. Notre Dame thought that once, when they hired Gerry Faust. There is usually a good reason high school and juco coaches are still at high schools and junior colleges. At this point I'm sure there are multiple subscribers who want to get behind me in their cars on the freeway and practice their sign language skills. To appease those progressive thinkers and national title dreamers, here is a suggestion that would not only rock the anomaly and Church angles in bringing national attention, but it would crash the glass ceiling of Mormon feminists everywhere. Hire Sherry Dew as the next head BYU football coach. The Church and BYU wouldn't be able to count the national satellite trucks parked at the SAB if that announcement ever happened. Yes, it may seem farfetched, but Dew does have skills. She is a proven manager. She would be great at pre game firesides and she is more LaVell Edwards than Gary Crowton. Look, Mitt Romney was not a proven expert on running the Olympics, but he was a proven manager. So is Dew. She just needs to hire good offensive and defensive coordinators and a great Human Resource manager to handle recruiting. If they don't produce, you make changes. That is what all great managers do in business, Church and life and especially football. BYU has men as head coaches for women sports. What about a women as head coach at a men's sport. And what if she actually won games along with generating the most interest ever nationally in BYU football. And for those who think that it is archaic for BYU to have to have an active LDS female member serve as their head coach in football and basketball, who do you want? Nancy Pelosi? Okay, that's enough of Sherry and my excessive drinking of Mountain Dew for this morning, but the reality of BYU football, basketball and all Cougar Sports programs is that the so-called gerontocracy of the LDS Church is getting exactly what they want from the BYU athletic department. It is my opinion that the sooner we as BYU fans yell Geronimo as we jump from the high cliffs of expectations and get in line with the reality of BYU sports, the happier we will be. Hey, I've been there when we should have fired every coach who didn't win every game. Heck, I thought coaches should have been fired because they didn't beat teams by enough points. There weren't chat rooms and message boards years ago, but I had my own. It was called Cougar Sportsline. Heck, I've had hate mail, once even from a lower echelon General Authority, and I'm still on board with the oligarchy. That is why a few sign language symbols on the road doesn't deter my driving. A bad play call, closer than expected win or an expected loss also doesn't affect my being a fan of BYU. That's my old man oligarchy and getting gray gerontology story and I'm sticking to it. Television Timetable BYU vs. East Carolina Saturday, October 10 at Provo Kickoff: 5:30 pm MDT TV: ESPNU BYU vs. Cincinnati Friday, October 16 at Provo Kickoff: 6:00 pm MDT TV: ESPN BYU vs. San Diego (Women's Soccer) Friday, October 9 at Provo Start Time: 7:00 pm MDT TV: TheW.tv