Spring football, what we learned

I specifically looked at QB. The guys that played were Hoge, Critchlow and Wilson (got most of the snaps in that order) Romney and Conner got some reps.

Hoge is nimble and big, can scramble but I have never been impressed with his arm. Today he did nothing to show me I am wrong.

Wilson, the Fr. that played ball for Corner canyon, Utah was nervous and not making reads other than a passes out at the edge. Neither Hoge or Wilson were confident enough to throw in the middle. Wilson was over his head. In warmups both guys were hitting receivers but in game time they just were not confident.

Critchlow hit Micah Simmon for a 50 yd pass in his first series (one handed catch was impressive). Critchlow was slinging it with authority and moved the offensive at will. Scored on every drive.

The Oline was in charge. no penalties and they moved the D line pretty much all day. Granted All of the starters were taken out very early in the game but it was the O’s day.

Safety, Ghanwoloku. ran the one and only kick off 90 yards to start the game. ( formerly Lake) He, Micah Simmon and Critchlow were the stars from my perspective.

https://www.heraldextra.com/sports/college/byu/football/byu-football-top-things-to-watch-at-the-spring-scrimmage/collection_7a3b766f-230a-5984-910d-c39b36196b8b.html#10

In the recent past, (Past 14 years), it has been our Defense that has kept us alive. It looks now, like it might be our Offense.

I like very much the improvements that I see with our Offense, while I fail to see much improvement with our defense.
I guess we can’t have it both ways.

If our Offense looks great,that has to hurt the appearance of our defense. If our Defense looks great, it hurts the appearance of our offense. Frustrating. I am ready for the offensive change. Go Cougars. Make us proud.

I have no “feel” for the offense one way or another. The spring game did not clarify much for me as most of the starters sat out.

Critchlow stood out. Ghanoloku moved to safety and will play a big role. The new Kaufusi will be good. Micah is our go to guy…that is about all I gleaned from a very dumbed down spring game.

We’re an underdog and should adopt strategies for winning as an underdog. One of those might be selling out on one side of the ball.

For example, Focus on the offense and develop it into a power, then play an aggressive risk taking defense. If teams are going to score on our defense we might as well gamble on getting a sack or turnover or letting them score quickly as opposed to long drawn out drives that rest their defense. Just one angle they could take.

BYU faces limitations but there are ways to adapt. [quote=“fish, post:3, topic:7944”]
I have no “feel” for the offense one way or another. The spring game did not clarify much for me as most of the starters sat out.
[/quote]

Agreed. It’s meaningless other than to see a single player in isolation and how they move etc.

Clausewitz,

Interesting point of view. I have to think about it before responding.

Ron

There are other ways of thinking of this problem to be sure. But strategy must adapt to the goal and the situation.

My goal is to get a perfect season. I think that elevates the program in a major way (think boise state, utah, TCU), it’s doable (as opposed to championships). But the reality is we don’t recruit like Alabama. So let’s figure out how to beat teams that are better than us anyways. That’s one thing I never liked about Bronco. He was always going to get us 8 wins at least. But he never realized he needed to adapt his strategy if he was going to beat a better team. He played them as if they were his equal. But there are plenty of asymmetrical strategies in football. Be weird, high variance strategies, look for the inefficiencies in recruiting/practice, etc.

Clausewitz,

I like your out of the box thinking.

Do you remember Gary Croton and his #5 ranking for BYU? (HC @ BYU)

Our QB was Brandon Doman and our running back was Luuuuuuuke Stalely.

With all of that success, before finally falling to Hawaii, at Hawaii, last game of the season, and ready to break into the BCS Bowl system, fans still complained that Gary used too many trick plays when he should have just powered through to make all of those points vs. the other teams. Fans never seemed to be satisfied.

We have not come close to that #5 ranking since Gary Crowton was fired.
Reminder: Just before the game the BCS committee announced that even if we beat Hawaii, (which we did’t), they would not let us in the BCS because of our SOS. Winning games is not enough. It was not enough in the BCS system. TCU and Bailor will tell you from recent past experience that winning games is not enough even in the newer P5 play offs. It takes SOS to be eligible. We all know that but we present not to understand it.

To me, just winning for the sack of winning, means nothing unless the SOS is strong enough to truly be proud about it. Having a 8-4 season, 9-3 season, or a 10-2 season without employing the SOS that one could be proud of, seems to me like the Grammer School 4th grade Bully that only picks on the first, second, or possibly the smallest of the 3rd grade students that he knows he can beat. Picking on another 4th grader is too big of a risk.

It seems dishonest to me.

There is no shame in losing to a LSU or a Wisconsin team, but it us utterly disgusting to play like we did against a Portland State or like we lost to all of those other teams ranked below 100 and especially to that UMASS team.

Tell me about the rise and the fall of BYU Sports. Tell me why? To me, it all boils down to a lack of commitment on those that are the decision makers regarding the program(s), especially football and basketball. I see it as a shameful act of just not seeing the importance of sports, and an even more shameful act of passing that lack of importance to all of the thousands of fans.

Can you explain how Hawaii got in the BCS playing Georgia at Sugar Bowl 1/1/2008? Hawaii went undefeated with lousy SOS most of the season. They got beat badly to UGA 41-10.
Hawaii season: 2007 Hawaii Rainbow Warriors Schedule and Results | College Football at Sports-Reference.com

2001 We came close going Undefeated before facing Hawaii and yes we were told by BCS that we would not get in. Well, it didn’t matter because we lost and lost Luke Staley with broken leg vs Miss State when Luke was not needed near the end of the game.

So can you explained why Hawaii got in after their poor 2007 SOS season? You know, I thought it really doesn’t matter because there are biased in the BCS system and now the CFPlayoff system too as in today. Utah and other 9 Pac12 schools will never get in CFPlayoff IF THEY DO GO UNDEFEATED. I hope that I am wrong. And I may be wrong if when many others (not Bama, Ohio State, Oklahoma, etc top dogs) will be left out still. College football has gotten so boring after since BYU won the NC. They fix the problem that BYU and G5 will never get in the playoff and the NCAA is not doing anything about it.

Sorry, I guess that I am going crazy. But it is true P5 are getting stronger and richer that I DON’T CARE!

We certainly do need to take on a meaningful schedule. I am not for playing a load of cupcakes. I am just saying that we should recognize our weaknesses and find ways around them instead of either ignoring them or using them as an excuse.

There is definitely a logistical problem here. And if BYU wants to say no, we’re not going to compete at the high level we as fans hope, then fine. Say so, cut prices and drop the hype pretense. Its tiresome.

Clauswiz,
We are definitely on the same page with our thinking.
We need to stop finding excuses and replace those excuses with improvement.
We can truly recognize our weaknesses as they are indeed abundant and easy to see.
We need to stop being in denial and face the facts. We can not make orange juice out of lemons. We can not compete vs 4-5 star players on P5 teams like LSU, Wisconsin, Washington using only 0-1-2-3 star players. We can not compete vs the Urban Myers and the Nick Sabers and the Perversions using our FCS coaches that we get for far less money.

Some coaches get more money than others, (much more) for a reason, just like
some coaches will work for far less money than others for a reason.
Far too often is the reason between success and failure.

dew,

Perhaps you are correct with your questioning about Hawaii getting into a BCS
bowl with their weak SOS schedule, but would not let us in the BCS bowl with a weak
SOS? I really can’t answer that.

Shall we brainstorm?

Could it be that Hawaii is better liked than BYU? I don’t know?
Is it because Hawaii is less arrogant than we are? I don’t know.
Is it because Hawaii is easier to get along with and less demanding than us? Don’t know.
Is it because Hawaii doesn’t get into political controversy like we do? Who knows?
Is it because we seem to always have a target, (blacks before 1978, Latinos with Mexican branches in the 50’s , and 60’s, or our stand on the LGBT community now? Who knows?

NAW, PROBABLY DONE OF THESE THINGS BECAUSE WE ARE ALL GOOD PEOPLE AND WE NEVER DO ANYTHING WRONG.

SO DEW, YOUR GUESS IS AS GOOD AS MINE AND PERHAPS BETTER, so why do you think the BCS Committee let Hawaii, with their weak SOS have a BCS bowl, but they would not let #5, in the nation, BYU, with their weak SOS have a bowl?
Is the committee just bias against us with no reason??

You may be right. But what if we did go undefeated before the year this BCS expires. Could we be accepted to BCS like all those G5 (Utah 2x, BSU 3x?, Hawaii, TCU and others) schools did? Who knows? But 2001 didn’t matter because we lost to Hawaii and we went home and we didn’t say anything to argue. We lost end of story.
Yes we are toooooo nice of who we are and we will stick to our principles or beliefs of who we are and our HC. All we can do now is get better between now till possible new P4 come around. I don’t want to talk about TODAY what if when P4 come about (IF).

I am ready for this summer fun time activities with my family and nothing else. Well, Go Cougars Volleyball, Baseball, Rugby, etc.

Dew,

Again I do agree with at least part of your post, as most often I do: " All we can do now is get better between now till possible new P4 come around. "

Good points fish. Spring games are going down hill as an indicator of the strength of a team. All I can say is that we have hope with the new OC. Otherwise no real information.