Q: What does BYU need to do to stop the option attack?
A: During his tenure at BYU, Bronco Mendenhall has had success against option teams. Since taking over at head coach, Bronco's defenses have given up a solid average of 22 points per game against teams that primarily ran the triple option (Georgia Tech and Air Force). In those 7 games, Bronco's teams are 6-1. Last year, against a Georgia Tech team that averaged almost 34 points a game and 311 yards rushing, BYU's defense didn't give up a touchdown (shockingly, Riley Nelson threw a pick six and there was a special teams TD) and only allowed 117 rushing yards. What (to me) is most interesting about this is that the school I attended last year (East Carolina) used BYU's exact same defensive game plan against Navy. Navy would go on to score 56 points due in large part to the Midshipmen's 512 rushing yards. I think we can all agree that is a little more than BYU gave up.
 |
| Riley Nelson...probably after another pick six. |
So, the question is why did BYU's defense do so well? I think it is because the triple option plays right into BYU's defensive strengths. Defending the triple option is all about staying in the right gaps and tackling well. BYU has a strong front 7 that are disciplined. Teams have found it particularly difficult to run against this year and last year's D because of this. And contrary to Mack Brown's beliefs that poor tackling is a nationwide epidemic, the Cougars (front 7 and secondary) are very sure tacklers. Everyone knows that the way to beat BYU is through the air. Georgia Tech only threw for 40 yards in last year's ball game and is 115th in the nation this year in passing yardage. While I do not think BYU will hold Georgia Tech to just 157 total yards this year, I see no reasons why they should not be able to contain the Yellow Jackets' offense.
Q: How do you think Taysom Hill will do this week in the passing game?
A: Taysom looked much better in the passing game (at times) last week against Utah State. His good passes were actually hitting guys in the chest and in stride. Perhaps most exciting to BYU fans is that some of these passes were on vertical routes (it seems like a decade since we had a guy that could throw a decent fade ball) and went for big plays. Utah State has a very solid defense so this was encouraging. However... he still only completed 54% of his passes. While this is admittedly much better than he did in the first three games of the season, it is still average.
I think a lot of things have been combining to make BYU's passing game the weakest link. The most obvious has been that Hill has been erratic and has thrown passes that looked like they belonged in a Pop Warner league. When his throws were catchable, they were often not hauled in by the receivers. This is partially the WRs/TEs fault, but pass catchers need to get in a groove just like passers. Hill being all over the place has made it hard for his targets to get into a rhythm and gain the confidence they need.
Potentially the biggest problem, though, has been the protection. Hill is often scrambling for his life in passing situations and has not been able to plant and throw on many passes. On this note, frankly the o-line didn't look much better, last week. Hill was consistently pressured while throwing and at least some of the low completion percentage was due to that.
Georgia Tech has a pretty solid defense. They are ranked 25th in points given up per game (19.2) and 37th in passing yards allowed per game (210). This week will be another good test to see if BYU's continuing to make progress in its passing game. I am going to say that Hill will throw for 250 yards and 2 TDs.
Q: Have you lost enthusiasm about this year's BYU team and did last week's win help to boost that?
A: Personally, I always sip the blue Kool-Aid. I thought BYU was going to be a Top 25 team, last year. I felt like Riley Nelson would be the Tim Tebow of BYU. I was right—Riley was akin to the Broncos/Jets/Patriots Tim Tebow but not so much the Heisman winner. Coming into this year, I thought we had a very good team on our hands. I still think this team is capable of winning 9 or 10 games with a bowl win. However, it seems that many people in Cougar Nation have already checked out. While I am not one of those people, my enthusiasm has waned a little bit. Although Taysom has been getting better in the passing game, I think BYU fans are struggling to accept a complete identity shift in which we are a run first, run second, and maybe even run third type of team. BYU became famous because of its quarterbacks and it will take some time to accept this new Midwestern-ish approach to the game.
More than that, though, is that BYU fans have such high expectations for each season that early season losses kill the buzz. Particularly when one of those losses comes to a very mediocre Virginia team (the loss is looking worse and worse each week) and the other is to the Utes. I think BYU fans could have forgiven the Virginia game and chalked it up to bad weather conditions and a new offensive scheme if they had beaten the U. Four straight losses hurt, particularly when BYU was favored in each. Fair or not (and I think it’s not) LaVell Edwards’ success ramped up expectations by the media and fans each year to the point where it is almost impossible to match. As hard as it is for me to admit, the U’s entrance into two BCS games has only exacerbated these expectations. Bronco has had 5 seasons with double digit wins and still many people are calling for his head. Suddenly, 11-2 is just ok.
I don’t think the win over Utah State has done much to alleviate these feelings of discontent in Happy Valley. While I feel like it was a good win over a solid team in a hostile environment, it seems that the general feeling is that BYU won because Chuckie Keeton got hurt. While Keeton is no doubt a major player on their team, he was not having success before his injury and has had limited success against BYU’s D in the previous two matchups. So, I think the win gave me hope that this can still potentially be a top 25 team but I think the general consensus is that most fans will not be too interested unless we manage to win one or both of the games at Wisconsin and Notre Dame.
Q: Prediction for this week?
A: I think BYU will win this one going away, as it did, last year. We frankly were not a great team overall, last year, and we beat them by 4 scores. I think the offense is already better than last year’s was and I feel like it is getting closer and closer to clicking. The defense will continue to have its typical success against the triple option.
BYU 35, GT 14
No comments:
Post a Comment