BYU Review

BYU jumps 11 spots to No. 9 in new AP poll

2009-09-08T10:50:00.001-06:00

BYU jumps 11 spots to No. 9 in new AP poll

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BYU jumps 11 spots to No. 9 in new AP poll

2009-09-08T10:49:00.001-06:00

BYU jumps 11 spots to No. 9 in new AP poll

Posted using ShareThis

Time to get back at it

2007-10-09T07:54:00.001-06:00

We've missed the last little bit here. It's good to be back. Hopefully the Cougars can come back strong after their recent bye week. Our goal here at BYUreview is to get up a quick preview for the game and a quick review of the game. Nothing too fancy...we will be better here.

BYU vs Airforce Postgame Thoughts

2007-09-22T22:03:00.000-06:00

Well, that was a blowout...sort of... The score sure looks like BYU did whatever they wanted to Air Force. Don't get me wrong, the Cougars sure look in control of the game from beginning to end, but it sure didn't have the feeling of a blowout game. BYU really only had one or two BIG plays, other than that they were just methodical and did what they needed to do to win the game. Luckily the Falcons don't have really fast receivers like Tulsa does. In the second half Air Force tried and completed a couple of deep plays. Mark my words: Other teams, especially New Mexico and Wyoming, will give the Cougar defense a run for their money with the deep ball.

My only real complaints from this game are: 1- Still too many penalties! Not as bad as other weeks, but come on guys! and 2- Every game this season Max Hall has been hit from behind for a fumble...someone has to do something about that. Either Hall has to learn to give up the rock faster, step up more into the pocket, or something...Anything! We can't afford to lose the ball every game due to our QB getting creamed from behind. Hey, at least in a month against Eastern Washington we should be safe (I hope).

Good game boys. Good win. Do what needs to be done...lets see fewer penalties against the Lobos this next week.

A Clip From Air Force

2007-09-19T21:48:00.001-06:00

This is a quick clip from BYU's upcoming opponent Air Force. Hopefully the Cougars defend them better than they did Tulsa...

What Do Fans Think About Boise State in the Mountain West Conference?

2007-09-19T21:28:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, the Salt Lake Tribune reported that Boise State is interested in moving from the WAC to the Mountain West. How do MWC fans feel about that?

Personally I think that it would be great. BSU is fairly respected right now, especially with their Fiesta Bowl last season.

I do think that BSU may regret the national exposure of ESPN, but if they want to come to the MWC I would be more than happy to have them! That would make the conference bigger in the nation's eyes. BYU, Utah, TCU, and BSU are all schools that are at least looked at for rankings at the beginning of the season.

BYU takes on Air Force and a Look at the Top 25

2007-09-17T23:57:00.000-06:00

Once again we take a peak at the latest Top 25 Polls. I think that most notable change this week is that the Bruins all but disappeared off the charts...well, okay, they are receiving a few votes. Utah sure didn't help BYU by waxing the bleacher seats with the Bruins' hides. Yep, now the Cougars are 1-2 and it doesn't look pretty.

Don't worry fans it doesn't get any easier with the Falcons coming to town this week. Air Force is playing well so far this year. They are 3-0 coming into Lavell Edwards Stadium. Most notably, they are 2-0 in conference play already. And yes, they are the only Mountain West Conference team receiving votes in this week's polls...BYU and TCU have had a rough couple of weeks.

Really, if you have watched any of the games that have the Top 25 teams in them you can see that teams like USC, LSU, Oklahoma, and Florida are hands down better than teams in the MWC right now...hopefully this can change someday (hey, it doesn't hurt to hope).

Overall BYU has looked like they can compete with just about anyone out there, but can they figure out how to pull off the win? It boils down to one thing (or 14):Too many mistakes! No more fumbles! No more interceptions! And most of all, NO MORE PERSONAL FOUL PENALTIES! These guys need to get their heads together and play. They look spectacular at times and then thirty seconds later they find themselves backed up 20 yards on penalties. Hopefully they perform better this week against the Falcons.

BYU vs Tulsa Postgame Reaction

2007-09-16T00:17:00.000-06:00

Wow, who saw that coming? Once again the Max Hall and the Cougars put a spectacular offensive performance...and somehow find a way to pull off the loss.

Max Hall was impressive for the most part. 537 yards passing is not a bad night, but I think that we all could have lived without the interceptions. Still, this sort of performance shows what fans get to look forward for. Just remember that Beck was not all that impressive his first year at the helm. Hall is impressive, except that there are more L's than there are W's in the season record so far.

Another person that looked good (but previously had struggled) was Santiago. All of his punts were high and long. He was really able to boot the ball against Tulsa. Hopefully he won't have to be punting much if BYU can keep scoring, but if he does need to punt I sure hope he kicks like he did against the Golden Hurricane.

Someone who look bad was #74 Travis Bright. Talk about untimely penalties. One would think that a junior would be able to avoid multiple/consecutive false start penalties during the most crucial drive of the game. I also believe the he was the last guy to get a personal foul penalty called on him. Not all the penalties can be blamed on Bright, there were 14 of them total, many other players seemed to have an affinity for losing yards on penalties.

Also, for how great their defense has looked up until this game, they looked bad in the secondary. There were times when they were completely lost. They would just let Tulsa's guys waltz down the field for gigantic gains. Hopefully that will get fixed for the future here.

To end tonights thoughts on a high note: How about Austin Collie's kick returns?!? That man has a knack for seeing the field and maximizing his return yards. I began to expect him to reach right around the fifty yard line...I was almost disappointed if he only made it out to the 40 yard line. Anyway, I think that Collie is approaching pre-mission form. Hopefully BYU can find a way to pull out of these games with victories.

Week 2: Top 25 Rankings

2007-09-12T21:22:00.000-06:00

I would like to start off by saying that I am not the type of BYU fan that likes to see the Utes lose. I actually prefer to see the University of Utah win a lot of games so that the final game of the season is really big and a lot of fun. But this week I am going to have to ask that they get creamed. You see, the Cougars need UCLA to do well for the rest of the season. You are rated by the quality of the teams you play and if BYU only loses to UCLA, and if UCLA is dominant the rest of the season, then the Cougars can find themselves back in the running for getting ranked. Currently the only pole that they are receiving votes in is the USA Today Pole. I do feel that it is odd that a team drops when they lose to a team that they were supposed to lose to (according to the poles). Last week BYU was receiving votes, then they lose to the #13 team and now they don't receive any votes...weird.

MWC teams don't stand a chance when they lose a game...one game and you are out of BCS contention. Currently there are three east coast teams that have 1-1 records that are still in the top 25. I can't complain too hard because those loses came against tough opponents, but I just wish that they had a chance to play in those big games.

To sum up the top 25, it's no shock that USC, LSU, Oklahoma, and Florida, fill up the top slots...it will be tough to dethrone one of those teams.

BYU vs UCLA Highlights

2007-09-10T22:36:00.000-06:00

Sorry fans, these highlights come from a UCLA TV group. Not that they do a bad job covering it. In fact they seem fair objective...until you reach the players comments, but that is to be expected. Olson did seem to throw in a I-AA comment that was a compliment, but could have a little bit of a jab in there too. The video is nothing flashy, but it does the job.

Overall it was an enjoyable game to watch...it was rough to see that final fumble that put the game out of reach.

Some Cougar fans have thrown out the "moral victory" phrase...you will not find that here! To quote a very large old U of U basketball coach, "If we start accepting moral victories then we start accepting mediocrity." We will not accept mediocrity! This game was very encouraging, Max Hall and the Defense looked outstanding against a great team, but no moral victories.

BYU vs UCLA Postgame

2007-09-08T23:34:00.000-06:00

In last weeks poll 60% of respondents thought that the Cougars would be able to pull off a win against the Bruins. Sorry to tell you, but it didn't go as well as fans may have hoped. Despite 435 yards of total offense the Cougars fall to the hands of UCLA.

At the beginning of the game BYU's offense looked a little anemic. The Cougars really struggled to put together any drive at all until the last few minutes of the first half. Right towards the end of the half Max Hall was able to make a few connections that ended up with a BYU field goal. It was nice to see a few points on the board but it looked a little sad next to UCLA's 20 points.

In the third quarter it looked like Max Hall decided to take over the game and bring the Cougars home with a victory. With 8 min left in the quarter he was able to connect with Austin Collie for their first touchdown of the game. Moments later Kayle Buchanan grabbed the Cougars only interception of the game. A couple plays later Hall connected with Collie again for a TD to put the Cougar within 3.

Unfortunately 17-20 would be the closest the Cougars would come to winning the game. UCLA did not look that great, but BYU found ways to make stupid mistakes to help the Bruins on to victory.

As a fan I can handle mistakes. The fumbles like the one by So'oto in the first half happen. Anyone watching the game could see the Bruins swiping and grabbing at the ball all day...you are bound to lose one someday. But some penalties really frustrate me, like the one called on Michael Reed in the second half. He was excited or something and started swinging at a UCLA player and it cost the Cougars 15 yards. That sort of action can completely change the momentum of the game and throw the flow of the game way off. The team just needs to focus and let their game do the talking. In the end BYU was penalized 11 times for 84 yards compared to UCLA's 4 for 30.

I will give credit to BYU's special teams, they looked a lot better than last week. Hopefully Santiago will be able to put a few more yards on his punts. Other than that they didn't look too shabby. All field goals attempted went in (granted there was only one).

In the next post we will get either highlights from the game or a breakdown of individual players.

Cougars' Big Day Against UCLA

2007-09-08T00:39:00.000-06:00

Aren't some people getting too hyped up about Ben Olson? Yeah, he was supposed to be the next big quarterback for BYU, but sometimes people change their minds. Olson had a dilemma, go back to the Y or find another team. I'm sure Olson could see his options... at the time BYU was filled with questions. Bronco Mendenhall was a brand new head coach and the Cougars had a developing talent in John Beck. It will be interesting to see fans' reactions to the game. If Olson thrashes the Cougars then fans will be upset that he's there and not in Provo, but if BYU wins then fans will probably be just fine and brag about how nice it is to have Max Hall at the helm.

This game will be big. Cougar fans will finally get to know who their team is. Can Unga really hold his own against a big team like he did against Arizona? Will Vakapuna get his legs back under him and pound through some guys? Will Hall be able to avoid turnovers like he did last week? And most important: What about BYU's special teams? Hopefully they look a thousand times better today.

If the defense can hold UCLA even half as well as they held AZ then the Cougars have a real chance of winning this game. But if the special teams keeps playing like they did last week then they are going to have a tough time leaving with a W. The Cougars are going to need to make all their extra points and find a way to put in a field goal or two.

Enjoy the game feel free to leave your comments and thoughts concerning BYU vs UCLA.

Around the Mountain West Conference

2007-09-06T22:37:00.000-06:00

Current MWC Rankings:

BYU 1-0
Air Force 1-0
TCU 1-0
UNLV 1-0
Wyoming 1-0
SDSU 0-0
Colorado State 0-1
New Mexico 0-1
Utah 0-1

Some things to know about the competition:
Air Force- They beat South Carolina State 34-3 with a balanced attack by QB Carney Shaun Carney and runningback Kip McCarthy. This week the Falcons take on Utah in Salt Lake City.
Utah- During week 1 the Utes had bad luck with injuries to Matt Asiata and Brian Johnson. The Utes lost to Oregon State 24-7.
TCU- Last week the Horn frogs beat Baylor 27-0 and jump to #19 in both national polls. This week TCU has an in state battle with Texas.
UNLV- The Rebels beat the Utah State Aggies 23-16...kind of a close game against a struggling team. They will need a lot of luck to beat Wisconsin this Saturday in Vegas.
SDSU- Had a bye the first week...must have been those rough two-a-days...but will see their first action this week against Washington State in Seattle.
Wyoming- The Cowboys had a dominant performance against Virginia during week one, winning the game 23-3. This weeks match up against Utah State should go smoothly.
CSU- The Rams lost a heart breaker in overtime against Colorado. CSU looks forward to playing Cal next.
New Mexico- Lost 10-6 to UTEP. Hopefully they can redeem themselves against New Mexico State on Saturday.

And of course BYU takes on UCLA this week in the Rose Bowl!

Week 1: Top 25 Rankings

2007-09-05T20:20:00.000-06:00

Yesterday the first week's top 25 polls came out. It's not too surprising that the Cougars aren't in the Top 25, yet. Arizona is only the middle to lower end of the PAC 10. For BYU to move into the top 25 in any poll they will need to prove themselves this week against the Bruins. If they beat UCLA this week they are a shoe-in for the rankings...but that is quite the challenge.

The surprising thing about the rankings is that in all of the polls (except for ESPN.com's Power 16) Michigan has received more votes than BYU. Yes, the same team that had their lunch handed to them by Appalachian State last Saturday. On ESPN.com you can find both the AP Top 25 and the USA Today Top 25 rankings. Notice at the bottom under "Others Receiving Votes" that Michigan is above BYU.

I'm sure that there are a lot of schools and fans out there saying this same thing in behalf of their favorite teams (and rightfully so), if you lose to a Division 1 AA team then you should not be receiving votes to be in the top 25...unless the ASU Mountaineers were included as one of the top teams. Granted, this last week was probably a fluke and Michigan is probably going to bounce back hard, but until they do they should receive no votes. I am okay with Max Hall and the team finding themselves outside looking in this week, but for Michigan receiving more praise I give the voters a big thumbs down.

Look Who We Play Next:

2007-09-04T00:04:00.000-06:00

BYU is going to be seriously tested this weekend. Check out the above video for some highlights from the UCLA/Stanford game last week. UCLA has some great receivers, and one heck of a runningback in Kahlil Bell. Bell averaged 10.3 yards per cary for a net total of 195 yards. Markey and Ramirez were able to put up 71 and 55 respectively. Luckily BYU's defense looked pretty good against Arizona, but this week against UCLA we will get to see what this team is really made of.

When Arizona started putting the ball in the air they were able move the ball. Ben Olson has an arm and will do better than Arizona. His play during the first week was impressive enough to get him nominated for the AT&T All-America Player of the Week Award. Olson completed 55% of his passes and threw for 286 yards. Hopefully the secondary is ready for the challenge.

Postgame Video: Bronco and Players' Commentary with Highlights

2007-09-03T23:31:00.000-06:00

Links for local writers, report card, and stats

2007-09-03T02:06:00.000-06:00

Gordon Monson for the Salt Lake Tribune writes about Hall and the Cougar defense.
Dick Harmon for the Deseret News give his two cents in his post game thoughts.
BYU's report card from the first game.
BYUCougars.com official game stats.

Postgame: BYU vs Arizona

2007-09-01T22:33:00.000-06:00

Many questions that Cougar fans have are beginning to be answered:

--BYU is able to succeed with Max Hall as quarterback. Hall's numbers looked pretty good. He went 26 for 39 (66.7%) passing. He was also able to put up 288 yards and no interceptions in his first NCAA game. While his numbers give fans a lot of hope for the future Hall does have a few things to work on. He showed patience in the pocket, but often it felt like he held too long. Waiting to make the play can create some exciting football, hopefully it doesn't come back to bite him in the future...luckily he has a big front line to protect him.

--The Cougars are able to move the ball. While there weren't any long flashy passes like we saw last year we did see conservative consistent plays that were successful at moving the ball down the field. The running game looks sound and Harvey Unga looks like a stud. Unga netted 67 yards rushing and 127 yards receiving...not bad for a freshman.

--The kicking game looked bad. Granted at the stadium my angel may not have been great, but the majority of the punts looked a little bit like ducks that got shot right after takeoff. To give Santiago credit he did a good job pinning Arizona on the one yard line on one of his kicks. Place kicking was also rough. Missed extra points and field goal attempts that weren't even close. Most of the time it's a good idea to kick a field goal on fourth down when you have the lead and are right outside of the end zone...the Cougars' place kicking was having a rough day and Bronco opted to go (unsuccessfully) for the QB sneak on fourth down. If BYU wants to win a conference championship this year they need to improve this part of their game.

Overall the game wasn't pretty but it was a win and it was fun to watch. We were able to gain some insight this week but the real answers will come next week as the Cougars take on the UCLA Bruins.

Football Starts Today!

2007-09-01T14:04:00.000-06:00

Today is the big day! BYU had a wonderful season last year under the reign of John Beck. A new era is about to begin. How will Max Hall respond after not playing in a real game in 4 years? How long will it take for Austin Collie to return to his pre-mission glory? Will the secondary be able to improve again this year? Will BYU be able to earn themselves another Mountain West Conference championship this year?

These are all questions that Cougar fans want to know the answers to. Check back later for a review of the BYU/Arizona game in Provo. We will also be looking forward and previewing the upcoming contest between BYU and UCLA.