BYU vs. Utah State = Biden vs. Palin?
Yeah sure, BYU did beat the Utah State Aggies 34-14. Sure, it wasn’t ever really close. Still, based on expectations it seemed like a moral victory for the Ags rather than another blowout for the Cougs.
Reminds me of last night’s VP debate. Sure, Biden won handily but Palin stayed scrappy and got a moral victory of sorts out of it.
It is probably a very good thing for BYU. It will humble them. The BYU offense was fairly weak (by BYU standards). The kicking game was weak (two missed field goals??). And the defense gave up two late touchdowns. BYU needs work still. But getting humbled in a win is always better than being humbled by a loss so the Cougs roll on. I expect a better game next week.
Thoughts on the game?
Ditto what you said. Humble pie indeed. But I’d rather be “compelled to be humble” in a win than a loss.
Comment by Clean Cut — October 3, 2008 @ 9:41 pm
Man, Max Hall was making really bad decisions. Several times when he had plenty of time in the pocket he threw into double coverage. If I remember right that’s how both of his interceptions happened. He wasn’t hurried, he just screwed up.
U of U had some surprisingly good, speedy talent on offense. I don’t feel too bad about giving up 14 points. Plus, the D continued to force turnovers, which has been an amazing boon this season.
But Hall, geez. Oh well. It was a poor performance and they still won by 20, so that’s encouraging. But that kind of performance won’t cut it against the better MWC teams.
You know, I’m not really all that sure that Hall is very good. I mean, he’s solid but I don’t think he has NFL or Heisman-calibre talent even if he has close to Heisman-calibre numbers. I think he benefits from a very excellent O-line.
Comment by Tom — October 3, 2008 @ 11:26 pm
That game turned into quite the ordeal. It was strange to watch BYU simply start to implode in frustration over time, and I hope they can show more poise in their next games, and against Utah later on.
Comment by Dan Ellsworth — October 4, 2008 @ 2:55 am
They either need to tone down the rhetoric about how they are such righteous guys who have devotionals before practice so they can represent God, or quit being such complete jackholes on the field.
I was travelling, so I only saw the 4th quarter. Even without looking at the scoreboard, it was a total embarrassment. When you accumulate 3 times as much penalty yardage as your opponent, and most of it comes from personal fouls, nobody wants to hear you blather on and on and on about team prayer. Shut up and play, and stop already with all the woofing.
Comment by Mark Brown — October 4, 2008 @ 3:29 am
I’m confused. Does Utah State only get five points for each touchdown?
Comment by Eric Nielson — October 4, 2008 @ 5:39 am
Well, I think voters are looking for a reason to move BYU down in the polls, so this doesn’t help. But hopefully most people will check the boxscore and see that Utah St. didn’t score until the 4th Quarter.
Utah is looking a little shaky too after narrowly defeating Oregon St. and only beating Weber St 37-21 (after which they moved up 2 places).
Did Michael Reed play? I didn’t see him in the boxscore.
Comment by Tim J — October 4, 2008 @ 7:38 am
Here is the reason to take USU (one of my favorite schools – really): there is a veritable orgy of penalties and a flag fest every time BYU plays in Logan. Check the stats. Every game against USU in Logan results in BYU’s largest number of penalties in the year — usually with an equal number against USU. The tech fowls were ticky tacky (they’re always judgment calls BTW). It isn’t that I feel BYU was necessarily treated worse than USU — it is the sheer inability of the refs to control their urge to throw the yellow hanky that is bothersome. It just makes the game tedious to watch. I’d love to see USu have a really good team that is worthy of scheduling both BYU and Utah. As it is, USU has a lot of work to do. So does BYU. Hall played very poorly. I think we can give him a game. He won’t get away with that kind of poor judgment against TCU and Utah.
Comment by Blake — October 4, 2008 @ 7:57 am
Tom: I agree about Max’s decisions. Just because Reed is out does not mean Max must force his passes in to Austin. If Collie is being double and triple teamed that means somebody else must be open.
However I disagree with your last point — I do think Max Hall is as good as advertised. He has always had a rep of a little overconfidence and it showed a little last night.
Eric: Good catch on that typo. I changed the post to say 34-14
Tim: As bad as it seemed to those of us watching, they national media is calling it what it was — BYU jumping out to a 34-0 lead and then coasting to the end. I doubt there will be a drop in the polls (though a one position drop is not too unlikely I suppose).
Comment by Geoff J — October 4, 2008 @ 11:25 am
Some of us are old enough to remember when BYU sucked at football and Utah State was a real powerhouse. Ah, the good old days!
Comment by ken — October 4, 2008 @ 1:46 pm
Well, this was the first BYU game I got to see this year. I thought the first half was phenomenal. A couple of big mistakes, but overall BYU was just dominating. Too bad they let up, but hopefully they get a few bites of humble pie on a win.
Comment by Jacob J — October 5, 2008 @ 11:42 am
I only saw a quarter and a half. (For some reason I forgot they were playing on Friday and only noticed because they had the game on in the restaurant I took my wife to) I was really surprised at the defense in the run that Utah State scored in. They made Utah State look solid. And that’s pretty dang embarrassing.
As others have mentioned though Bronco can use this as a teaching moment. I think they were up and were expecting an other shutout and just stopped trying.
Comment by clark — October 5, 2008 @ 6:48 pm
BTW – regarding Hall. He was doing the same thing the first half against Wyoming. This is a troubling sign.
Comment by clark — October 5, 2008 @ 6:48 pm