BYU takes care of business in week 2
Final score BYU 54 Tulane 3.
Harvey Unga played a little so he may be back at full strength soon. Kariya looked good in relief for Harvey though and JJ DiLuigi looked quite good too. The Cougars may have lost starting offensive lineman Braden Hansen to injury which is bad. Overall BYU did what a top 10 team is supposed to do. Florida State comes to Provo for another big game next week. So far so good on the 2009 season.
Oh Yeah! You know, other than Hall, the best players on the field were not Seniors meaning we will have them for some time to come.
As for Hall, what a game! He passed to everyone and was sharp. If they can take care of Florida State Hall will be in the Heisman race for sure.
Comment by Joseph Smidt — September 12, 2009 @ 4:23 pm
The defense looks tremendous. Starting safety Scott Johnson went down with a concussion but the backups looked good too.
Comment by Geoff J — September 12, 2009 @ 4:46 pm
So far so good but still FSU, Utah and TCU left.
Start cheering for these 3 and OK to have strong seasons so that BYU is beating quality opponents.
Luckily FSU won after struggling with Jacksonville St. as losses like that would make any Cougar wins look less credible.
Win first and then hope teams on the BYU schedule keep winning afterwards.
Go Cougs
DH
Comment by DH — September 12, 2009 @ 6:41 pm
Glad the Cougars didn’t get lazy with a lower-ranked opponent.
Bring on the ‘Noles!
Comment by Hunter — September 12, 2009 @ 10:01 pm
VERY impressed by DiLuigi. Why haven’t I heard of him before?
I would have been even more impressed by the Cougar defense if they’d gotten to spend any real length of time on the field.
I’m deeply soured by Payne and his kicking. Missed field goals and kicks-out-of-bounds? Even the kick-offs that stayed in didn’t go very deep. That well may be our Achilles heel before the end of the season.
Comment by Chad Too — September 12, 2009 @ 10:16 pm
The second counselor in our stake presidency announced that BYU had won 54-3 in our adult session of stake conference last night. Looking forward to next week!
Comment by Ben Pratt — September 13, 2009 @ 8:26 am
Was that a great cheer and tumult with that announcement Ben? (I hope so)
Comment by Geoff J — September 13, 2009 @ 9:45 am
The Cougs have moved up to #7 in the AP poll.
Comment by Christopher — September 13, 2009 @ 10:49 am
And #9 in the USA Today poll, where we jumped BSU.
Comment by Christopher — September 13, 2009 @ 12:50 pm
BYU looks like the real deal.
Comment by Eric Nielson — September 13, 2009 @ 4:00 pm
We got #5 in the CBS sports poll. I don’t know anything about that poll, but they put us ahead of Penn State and Mississippi.
Comment by Chad Too — September 13, 2009 @ 4:32 pm
No cheers, but definitely a gentle murmur.
Comment by Ben Pratt — September 13, 2009 @ 9:45 pm
The only scary thing is how bad our special teams looked. Come playing time with TCU or Utah that will be important.
BTW – what is up with the Coaches poll not even having Houston ranked and having them behind OK St despite beating them? Sometimes I think the bias on these polls is a bit much. They get a little more reasonable towards the end of the year, but sometimes you just got to roll your eyes.
The big question is what games will be the real challenging ones. Honestly, most teams put out more effort against BYU in our conference. So we have to be careful not to get overconfident.
And Payne’s kicking scares me. It means we can’t depend upon field goals.
Comment by Clark — September 13, 2009 @ 10:39 pm
BTW – when Hall throws midfield into heavy traffic I still get scared. The interception yesterday was a big mistake. He’s come a long way as QB but that tendency really worries me at times. The biggest positive he’s had over the offseason was getting away from having favorite receivers that he throws to. I think that alone really made a difference last week and this week.
BTW – I hear Collie is now starting with the Colts.
Also, while I’m not sure we can do much if a BCS team goes undefeated I think we have a good chance if we can play solid. USC has a green QB and probably won’t stay undefeated. (I think Cal might take them on this year – and Cal may be the team to watch out of the Pac-10) Florida plays LSU but I suspect Florida will win that and go undefeated. The Texas – OK game is the one I’ll be watching. If Texas goes down to a team we beat…
Comment by Clark — September 13, 2009 @ 10:44 pm
Clark,
The kicking game has been a bit of a problem (kickoffs out of bounds mostly and a missed PAT) but I think other than that special teams have been excellent overall.
Comment by Geoff J — September 14, 2009 @ 11:30 am
Yes, the team has been fantastic other than special teams. Even my big worry about Hall throwing into traffic midfield seems to being dealt with. (He only did it about twice this week) I’m extremely happy that our depth has turned out to be much better than expected. A lot of sophomores are really showing themselves off well. And I’m ecstatic that J. J. is showing himself to be a strong runner. (My friend suggested that they should have played him more last year – instead they pulled him after a screwup and didn’t play him much thereafter) Kind of nice when the non-members do well since it is a big sacrifice to come to BYU all things considered.
I’m not sure one can say it’s only Payne who has been weak in special teams though. Some punts have been pretty crappy. And we all remember the screwed up punt return at OK.
Comment by Clark — September 14, 2009 @ 7:48 pm
Payne was missing FGs left and right all through August camp too. Given the strength of the defense, it’s almost better just to go for it on 4th downs whenever they’re past the 40 now.
Comment by Eric Russell — September 15, 2009 @ 12:53 pm
I suspect Bronco agrees with you on that Eric. Payne seems to be getting a shorter and shorter leash.
Comment by Geoff J — September 15, 2009 @ 12:57 pm
I was shocked they didn’t go for it on 4th down on each of their first two drives in the Tulane game. Both were fourth and short and the way the defense was playing Tulane was unlikely to capitalize had BYU turned it over.
Comment by Tim J — September 15, 2009 @ 1:11 pm
Lets be careful saying that BYU is the real deal. I started thinking that last year only to go in person to the TCU game and watch a total blowout. Wait till Utah and TCU have been played.
It does look promising though. Its really hard to make an argument for excluding the MWC and including the ACC in the BCS.
Comment by bbell — September 15, 2009 @ 2:43 pm
I’m not sure the BYU team that beat UCLA 59-0 last season was not the “real deal”. But team psyches can change week to week and I suspect the problem BYU faced was overconfidence after that win. They obviously paid a price for that overconfidence and ran into buzz saws at TCU and Utah in 2008. Hopefully that will not be a problem this year as a result.
Comment by Geoff J — September 15, 2009 @ 2:51 pm