HB Arnett's 801 372 - 0819 hbarnett@fiber.net 1391 West 800 South - Orem, Utah 84058 Vol. 33, Issue 6 - September 10, 2012 Click <http://www.cougarstreet.com/products/index.php?type=450&PCID=450:0:0:0:0> Here To Order Or Renew Your Subscriptions WEBER, WAGER, WHITE and WAVING THE WAND Let's start with BYU's 45-13 win over Weber State. It was the perfect preamble to this week's Utah game. The game itself didn't show Utah jack squat, let those who spend most of their time squatting on the BYU sideline as reserves some much deserved playing time and was good enough to earn the Cougars a Top 25 ranking. At 2-0, BYU is ranked No. 25 by the AP going into the game at Salt Lake City. The win and record in context with Utah's 27-20 OT loss to Utah State last week in Logan, was also good enough for Las Vegas odds maker to establish BYU as a 4-point favorite against the Utes. That takes care of the wager part of the deal if any are so inclined. Now comes the hard part. It deals with John White. BYU will need to contain the Utah running back to ordinary production and numbers if the Cougars want to win.

From what we have seen of Utah in their first two games, they can't protect the quarterback, but they still can run and will have to in order to beat the Cougars.

Bronco Mendenhall and his defense pride themselves on stopping the run. This is one time when pride will have to match production. If White doesn't go wild, BYU wins. BYU has put up some really good offensive numbers in their first two games of the season. They just haven't look spectacular and sharp in doing it. We call that the waving of the magic wand wielded by Riley Nelson. He has looked ordinary so far this season. He has thrown several almost picks and seems a step slow in his scrambling. That said, the numbers are still there. So is the yardage and wins. Magic Happens. So said Austin Collie and Nelson seems to be perpetuating that Cougar carpet ride. We don't expect the numbers to be good offensively against Utah. There will be sacks of Nelson, there will be a sluggish ground game and there might even be a turnover or two. But we still see a win. That's because Bronco Mendenhall has proven that he actually is a very, very good defensive coordinator. Utah has proved so far this season that they aren't a very good offensive team. If BYU doesn't turn the ball over, this game isn't that hard to figure out. We are aware of the history and rivalry of the game. We have zero doubts that Utah will be ready to play. We know that they are very good defensively. We just don't think that they are good enough this season to beat the Cougars. I call it BYU 24 Utah 17. NAMES AND GAMES Hill for Heisman?...Whoa, hold your horses. It's way too early to start that kind of talk. So far, after two games, all we have seen are the previews of the Taysom Hill movie. The previews do look good, however. The freshman transfer from Stanford has carried the ball 8 times and thrown it four. That's 12 touches which have resulted in 3 touchdowns. I hate to continue to pimp the previews, but going back to last year, even before he set foot on campus, we called him "Riley Nelson on steroids". Hill is bigger, stronger, faster, and has a better arm. A Jake Locker clone was another description we used in describing Hill. That said, Riley currently still has the better resume, but Hill is oozing with hints of big time talent. Forget any future Heisman talk. It is all about health. If Hill can stay injury free, you don't have to be an NFL scout to see that he could end up being something really special at BYU. BYU can thank Stanford's football enrollment policy for sending him the Cougars' way. Hill had signed with Stanford out of Highland High School in Pocatello, ID, but never enrolled, opting to first serve an LDS mission in Australia. According to Hill and other reports, he learned while serving his LDS mission, that Stanford does not allow incoming freshmen to join the team until June each year. "Stanford wanted me to come home four or five months early from my mission, and be home for last football season and I didn't want to do that. So they said I could come home when I did, but would be at home for four or five months before I could get into school. I didn't want to do either of those options." According to Hill, he was unaware of the Stanford policy on early enrollees when he signed with the Cardinal in 2009. When made aware of it while on his mission, he and his father initiated contact with BYU to look for other options. He returned home form Australia in December and enrolled at BYU last January. BYU had recruited Hill in high school, so he knew about the Cougar program. "BYU was definitely there and so BYU was available and I did the things necessary in the mission field without taking away from my responsibilities as a missionary. I did those and found out that BYU was where I needed to be, and it has been confirmed ever since I have been here." There is a little irony in Hill signing with Stanford, serving an LDS mission and ending up at BYU. A few years before, his older brother, Jordan Hill, signed with the Cougars, served an LDS mission and upon returning chose to enroll at Arizona State where he was a starter on the defensive line for the Sun Devils. Offensive Line Getting a Bad Rap.BYU's offensive line is not that bad, despite all the early season criticism from Cougar fans. Despite the fact that the Cougars have rushed the ball for 348 yards in two games and are averaging a very good 4.5 yards per rushing attempt, the perceived impression among fans is that BYU's offensive front is struggling in run blocking. To some extent, I agree. Whether they were fat last year or leaner this year, BYU isn't known as a big time offensive line. But, they aren't that bad. What they do lack, however, is an intuitive tailback. If you watch enough football at the college elite level and on the NFL stage, it won't take long to realize that gaping holes are seldom generated by any offensive lines when they are lined up against decent defensive fronts and defensive coaches with good schemes. BYU's offensive line isn't generating gaping holes that fans seem to think are necessary for a productive run game. Gaping holes, at any level of football, are few and far between, unless there is a total and glaring mismatch in physical ability between teams. Pay attention to the line play at the NFL level and at the college level and you will see that what is generated by good offensive lines are creases and crevices instead of chasms and canyons for running backs to run through. Good offensive lines are made better when they have running backs that intuitively and instinctively see those creases and have the physical quickness and first step to get to and through those small openings. BYU has good running backs, but most of them are not intuitive and instinctive runners. They use power, hard work and grit to gain yardage, but they are not physically tooled to see a crease and get to it and through it. I hate to use BYU's opponent for this week as an example, but it is exactly what I am talking about. The Utes do not have an overpowering offensive line this season and they didn't have one last year. What they did and do have is a back that can see the crease, get to it and then through it. That would be John White III. Watch him, he doesn't need big gaping holes to run through to gain yards. He is a crease and crevice runner that consistently gets 4 or more yards a carry and then occasionally breaks loose for a big gain or touchdown. Can BYU's offensive line be better in the run game? Absolutely, but the biggest improvement would come with the addition of a back that sees a crease, gets to it and then through it. Unfortunately, most of those instinctive and intuitive backs are at the big BCS schools and in the NFL. The good news is that BYU may have a back like that in Jamaal Williams. He won't play much until later this season, but there is a reason that he is already averaging 5.2 yards per carry in mop up action. Go back and watch his carries and see if you see gaping holes that he is running through. BYU may also have another instinctive runner on the roster, but coaches won't risk him as a tailback. That would be Taysom Hill. His value is too high for the long term, but you can see that he could be a very good crease and cut type of back. To make sure you understand that I am not downplaying the talent and significance of guys like Mike Alisa and David Foote, they are legitimate Division I backs. They fit the BYU running back historical mold. They will help the Cougars get a lot of wins this season. They just aren't crease and crevice runners that will help the offensive line shed the unwarranted rap of not being good run blockers. It's a Woman's World.At least it was last week for the women of BYU's athletic teams. It was a good week for the No. 24 ranked BYU women's soccer team. They trounced Texas 5-0 early in the week and then came back on Saturday night to take a 3-1 upset win over No. 6 ranked Penn State. The victory came in Provo before a record crowd of 4922. It should be more than enough to catapult the Cougars even higher in the national rankings. It was BYU's second win over a ranked team this season. They also defeated No. 11 ranked Long Beach State the previous week. BYU is currently 6-1 on the year. The lone loss was to Utah in Salt Lake City. The Cougars will next play Cal Poly on Thursday in Provo. The game is set to be shown live on BYUtv. In women's volleyball, BYU is still undefeated after hosting their own Nike Classic last week. The Lady Cougars defeated Utah, Bowling Green and Portland State in two days of play. Currently ranked No. 21 in the country, they are also set to go even higher in the rankings. The current record stands at 9-0 with the Cougars off to the East coast for games at the George Washington Invitational where they will face Princeton, New Hampshire and host GWU. In women's cross country, here is BYU's latest release detailing the women's first meet and win of the year. RENO, Nev. - Freshman Ashleigh Warner and three other newcomers finished their first collegiate race in the top six to give BYU its first win of the year at the Reno Twilight Classic. "This was just a fun meet to be apart of," head coach Patrick Shane said. "Our freshman led our team, and we all saw a glimpse of what we have the potential to become. Going into this race, we set a goal to have all 13 of our runners in the top 20, and we ended up accomplishing that goal." Warner finished first for BYU and second overall crossing the line in 14 minutes 44 seconds. Teammate Danica Wyson finished just two seconds later to finish second for BYU and third overall (14:46). Rachel Stewart finished third for BYU and fifth overall (14:54), while teammate Laura Young finished fourth for BYU and sixth overall, one second behind Stewart (14:55). To close out the Cougars' top five, Makenna Smith came in at 14:59 to finish eighth overall. BYU finished with a total of 24 points, 14 points ahead of the University of Nevada, which finished with 38. Utah (83) and UNLV (102) finished third and fourth, respectively. Last Week's review and results.Here is a look at a review and results from BYU's football opponents and some results from some of BYU's current crop of football commits. Washington State: defeated Eastern Washington 24-20 in Pullman. Now 1-1 on year and will face UNLV in Las Vegas on Saturday..Weber State is currently 0-2 with loss to BYU. They get McNeese State at home on Saturday.Utah is 1-1 coming off a 27-20 overtime loss to Utah State in Logan. They get BYU in SLC this week.Boise State had the week off. They are 0-1 with the loss on the road to Michigan State. Ohio will be in Boise this week.Hawaii had time off to lick their 49-10 loss and wounds at the hands of USC. They host Lamar this Sunday in Honolulu.Utah State is on a roll and 2-0 against in state schools. They blasted Southern Utah 34-3 in the opener and whipped Utah 27-20 in OT last Friday. They head to Wisconsin this week to take on the Badgers..Oregon State opened their season with a bang and win at home over Wisconsin. The final: 10-7. The Beavers head to Los Angeles this week to face UCLA.Notre Dame is 2-0 on the year with a 50-10 win in Dublin over Navy. Last week they eked out a 20-17 win in South Bend over Purdue. This week they will be in East Lansing to face Michigan State.Georgia Tech is 1-1 on the year. They opened the year with a 20-17 OT loss to Virginia Teach on the road. The pounded Presbyterian 59-3 last week in Atlanta and now get Virginia at home on Saturday. Idaho is 0-2 currently losing 30-3 to Eastern Washington in Moscow and falling 21-13 at Bowling Green. It gets worse. The Vandals will be in Baton Rouge on Saturday for a payday and mauling at LSU. San Jose State beat UC Davis 45-13 last week in San Jose. The previous week they narrowly lost at Stanford, 20-17. This Saturday, they get Colorado State at home.New Mexico State opened their year with a 49-19 win over Sacramento State, the team that whipped Colorado this past week. This past Saturday, the Aggies were drilled by Ohio in Athens 51-24. NMSU takes the short trip to El Paso to face UTEP on Saturday. Last Week's highlights from BYU football commits for 2013 Trajan Pili, Centennial HS, Las Vegas, had two tackles for loss and a fumble recovery Michael Davis, Glendale HS, Ca., had 6 catches for 2 touchdowns and 127 yards Billy Green, King's HS, WA, Threw for 419 yards in first game, now has 6 td passes Talon Shumway, Lone Peak HS, Had 6 catches for 73 yards and 2 tds Nathan DeBeikes, Thousand Oaks HS. Had 91 yards on 15 carries. Fluff and Stuff Last week we detailed the recruiting visit of Luke Worthington to BYU. He has since given Dave Rose a verbal commit to play for the Cougars. He is 6-9, 230 pounds from Homestead HS in Mequon, WI.A few years back, BYU was recruiting an LDS lineman from Delaware named Timothy Gifford. He is currently starting on the offensive line at Clemson.If Oregon State keeps winning, it will be no surprise if ESPN picks up the BYU-OSU game and shows it nationally on one of their platforms. The game is currently listed as TBA for time and television. Television Timetable BYU vs. Utah Saturday, Sep 15 at Salt Lake Kickoff: 8:00 pm Mountain Time TV: ESPN2 BYU vs. Boise State Thursday, Sep 20 at Boise Kickoff: 7:00 pm Mountain Time TV: ESPN BYU vs. Hawaii Friday, Sep 28 at Provo Kickoff: 6:00 pm Mountain Time TV: ESPN BYU vs. Utah State Friday, Oct 5 at Provo Kickoff: 8:15 pm Mountain Time TV: ESPN BYU vs. Oregon State Saturday, Oct 13 at Provo Kickoff: TBA TV: TBA