What to Watch for in the Utah Game

It’s rivalry week. It doesn’t matter who is favored. Home team “advantage” has proved to be mythical. Fans of both teams will be seated alongside each other throughout the stadium like a tossed salad. There are bound to be things said and done both on and off the field that will be regretted on Sunday morning. It will be anyone’s game and this is what fans and players look forward to all year.

A few items to watch for as the game unfolds:

• Passion. The Cougars had it last week against Air Force for seemingly the first time. The Utes seem to have it in all the big games. The team that has more of it will likely be ahead at halftime.

• Turnovers. This game has been decided by 7 points or less for of the last 11 games. Essentially decided on the last play of the game in 2005, 2006, and 2007. Every possession matters. The team that has more turnovers, will likely be playing catch up in the final minutes.

• Touchdowns or field goals. It seems that in games with Utah where BYU has been favored, the Cougars have dominated the stat box, but only come away with field goals at the end of several long drives, leaving it open for the Utes to make one fourth quarter drive to take the lead. They will need touchdowns in order to maintain control of this at the end.

• Relax, Max. When Max is relaxed and having fun, he plays well. Sometimes, when he feels the pressure and forced to come from behind, he forces things and drives tend to end quickly in three and outs or sooner with a turnover.

• Run the ball. The Cougs have a history of successfully running the ball in the Utah game. It is almost as if Utah has given that up in favor of defending the pass, daring our offensive coordinator to go to the run more than is in the game plan. If the Utes do that again, Anae will need to have the courage to take what they are giving. Unga will be relied upon heavily to keep the ball moving. Success in this area will be key.

• Pressure Jordan Wynn. With the Cougar defense, it has been all or nothing as far as pressuring the quarterback. When they have opted to apply pressure, in general opposing quarterbacks have shown cracks and the defense has had success (although a glaring exception is the FSU game). In any case, it is in the best interest of the defensive psyche (and fans for that matter), to make proactive mistakes of aggression, rather than passively sit back and give up essentially the same yardage and big plays by being too conservative. It will be essential to keep the freshman on edge.

Both teams are 9-2. Both teams have shown flashes of brilliance and incompetence at various times throughout the season. This game will be decided by the small things—turnovers, penalties, big third and fourth down conversions, a missed tackle here, a dropped pass there. With all of that in mind, I will refrain from predicting the pace of the game, but only the outcome.

BYU 30  Utah 26

BYU-Utah: Battle of Common Opponents

In trying to get a handle on this week’s rivalry game, there are a nearly unlimited number of angles to compare the teams—experience, average statistics, offense, defense, history, coaching, etc. Yet, this rivalry has proven that none of that will mean anything when the game kicks off on Saturday. On the other hand, it doesn’t keep us from taking a look anyway… So, here is a look at how they have fared against the eight common opponents this season:

Utah State
BYU 35-17, Utah 35-17
Both teams played USU at home early in the season and had identical outcomes.
Winner: Even

Colorado State
BYU 42-13, Utah 24-17
Again both teams played CSU early in the season on back to back weeks. BYU jumped out to an early 21-0 lead and cruised to a big win. Utah scored the winning touchdown with 3 minutes remaining.
Winner: BYU

UNLV
BYU 59-21, Utah 35-15
This was the sixth game for both teams and each game was a runaway for the winner.
Winner: Even

San Diego State
BYU 38-28, Utah 38-7
The outcome was never in doubt, but BYU never really put SDSU away until the fourth quarter.
Winner: Utah

TCU
BYU 7-38, Utah 28-55
TCU was clearly better than both teams, as both teams lost by roughly 30 points. In this matchup, BYU’s defense showed better, while Utah’s offense showed better.
Winner: Neither

Wyoming
BYU 52-0, Utah 22-10
BYU dominated the game from the start in Laramie, while Utah struggled at home.
Winner: BYU

New Mexico
BYU 24-19, Utah 45-14
The Cougars could have easily lost this game and never really seemed to engage. The Utes did what they were supposed to do.
Winner: Utah

Air Force
BYU 38-21, Utah 23-16 OT
While the Falcons were able to take Utah into overtime, they never had a chance against a fired up BYU team.
Winner: BYU

Overall it is BYU 3 (CSU, Wyo, AFA), Utah 2 (SDSU, UNM), Even 3 (USU, UNLV, TCU), giving the slight nod in the battle of common opponents to the Cougars.

Pitta a Finalist

I am sitting here at the SLC International where the RSL fans are creating quite the energy.  But, just wanted to post that Pitta was named a finalist for the Mackey Award with Dorin Dickinson (Sr. Pitt) and Aaron Hernandez (Jr, Florida) earlier this morning.

What We Learned in the Air Force Game

Saturday was perhaps the most solid performance of the season for the Cougs. They played an inspired game against a quality opponent in an Air Force team that had taken two ranked teams into overtime and lost to another by only three points. They boasted the number one pass defense in the country. None of that mattered as BYU dominated from the opening drive. Last week I wrote:

“Hall and his fellow seniors know they only have two games left and will make the most of this one, having fun, playing relaxed, and showing a good first half… BYU 34, Air Force 24.”

They did exactly that, playing with more emotion and fire than in any game since Oklahoma. BYU’s seniors, recognizing the fleeting nature of their remaining opportunities to play the game, made it a point this week to focus on emotion (for the first time in the Bronco Mendenhall era?) and wanted to play fired up. It showed, as they looked almost unstoppable at times. It also showed that “execution” combined with emotion is a potent combination. Here’s to hoping they can duplicate that recipe two more times this season (and against TCU in the next).

What we learned…

• Will BYU’s offensive line be able to open up running lanes on the smaller Falcon D line? Yes, but…. In a rare change-up, the offense came out on the opening drive passing all the way down the field and continued to primarily pass on the second as well. The running game was almost an afterthought. When they did go to the run, it was effective, but the run game was much more limited than in previous years against AFA.

• Will Unga be able to go? Unga played and looked good. He primarily took his reps in the first half and then was “managed,” as Bronco put it, appropriately in the second half. He had a number of pounding tackle breaking runs and even several rare open field bursts into the secondary, but it was on a 4 yard push into the pile that he passed Curtis Brown to become the all-time rushing leader.

• Can the Cougar front 7 continue to contain the run? Yes. Convincingly. It wasn’t until late in the game, when the outcome was no longer in question that AFA was able to string together a drive or two on the ground.

• How much will the team miss Terrance Hooks in the middle? The team seemed to miss Hooks more from a camaraderie standpoint than from a contribution standpoint. Several players were sporting “47” in Sharpie art on the bicep. Doman and Hunter both played well filling in, with Doman doing more of what he has already done this season and Hunter getting more opportunities for the first time.

• Will Dennis Pitta get the big game that he needs to solidify his status as Mackey finalist? Definitely. I predicted that he would need 7 catches, 85+ yards, and a TD, to guarantee a finalist spot. He surpassed that across the board with 9 catches for 111 yards and 2 TDs in what was easily his best performance of the season so far. The finalists were announced this morning and they are Pitta, Hernandez and Dickinson.

• What impact will the weather have? Surprisingly little. Despite the wind, forecasted snow, and low temperatures, the weather didn’t seem to have much impact on the game.

• Can the team come out of this game without any significant health losses going into the rivalry game with Utah? Mission accomplished. There were a few guys that had to be attended to during the course of the game, but nothing serious enough to carry over into next week (at least as far as the team is talking about).

• Will the records finally fall? Many did. Hall is now second to Ty Detmer in just about every quarterback category and leads him in number of wins. Unga leads in rushing and can still get scoring and all-purpose yards before the season ends. Pitta closed in on Collie’s reception mark (needs 2 more to tie) and third in receiving yards (where he will likely finish).

In the books…
o 1 victory for Hall to break a tie with Ty Detmer for all time wins
o 20 yards for Harvey Unga to become the all time leading rusher in program history (67 rushing)
o 203 yards needed by Max Hall to become second all time in total offense (371 total)
o 359 yards needed by Hall to become second all time in passing yards (377 passing)

Almost achieved…
o 105 yards for Unga to move into third in all-purpose yards (only 79)
o 11 catches for Pitta to tie Collie for all time most receptions (9)
o 165 yards needed by Pitta to pass Margin Hooks as the third leading receiver all time (111)