You know as I watched the game in person
 

I got frustrated with how poor the defense is. It is much worse in person than it looks on TV. I think Utah will beat BYU by 17 unless Utah turns the ball over 2-3 more times than BYU.

Saying that, it is lot easier to accept when you realize that this team just has a poor defense. If BYU finishes the year 10-2 that will be a decent year given how poor the defense really is. It is also a lucky year because of how bad BYU's OOC opponents are. I am not frustrated about schemes as much as I am frustrated that the talent level is this poor in year 4. But I still am of the opinion that this coaching staff does a great job of covering up talent issues and recruits about as well as BYU ever has. We shall see if some of these young bucks not yet playing have more talent than what is on the field.

I am also the eternal optimist and believe that the defense will be better next year. I think Rich is already much better than Fowler and Tafuna. From what I saw he is about splitting reps with Fowler right now and that will only increase. I think he will be a solid safety for the next two years. I don't know who the other safety will be next year between Scott Johnson, Shiloah Teo and Pendleton but I hope they are better than Tafuna.

IMO I think the starting defensive backfield next year will be Rich, Teo, Scott Johnson and Bradley. From what I saw only two defensive backs even made an effort to make a play on the ball and that is Bradley and Johnson. Next year I think the defensive backfield will be upgraded to average. Presently this is 2005 part deux. I really think that Utah is going to systematically throttle that zone defense in the air like they did to Michigan in the first half.

I also think the inside backers are not great, but I think the issue is more magnfied by the poor defensive backfield. I stand with those who think that Bradley and Rich should be starting. I think that Scott Johnson should be the other starter and I don't really know who should be #4. Can somebody explain to me how Tafuna was slated to start ahead of Corby Hodgkiss? I think Bradley will be the best cover corner BYU has had since a healthy Jernaro Gilford or Brandon Heaney. He is starting to get the experience and I think if he stays healthy the next two years he will make all conference. He is catching on. I don't see Brandon Howard doing a Justin Robinson type of turnaround next year so in my uneducated opinion BYU is best served by putting Bradley at Field Corner and Johnson at Boundary. I hope Shiloah Teo can step up to play SS.

Is Hooks, when healthy, a potential all MWC type of player because that is what BYU needs at LB. Is So'oto coming back this year or is BYU pushing for a Medical RS for him?

I really hope Manti Teo comes to BYU and is *all that*. Perhaps Alissa can also be a good OLB as BYU needs some playmakers at that position and Coleby Clawson is a steady kid but definitely not a playmaker. It was good to see David Nixon making some plays on those one or two defensive stops.

the team is really awful.

the defensive team that is. It is probably the least talented defensive team Bronco has fielded, save perhaps his first year. That's discouraging.

The DL next year will be as deep as we've had in years. That isn't a worry for me.

The Secondary will be improved. Across the board in the secondary the starters will likely be Rich and Te'o at Safeties and Johnson and Bradley at Corners.

My biggest concern is still at Linebacker.

Coming back next year at linebacker we have: Bauman, Doman, Ah You, Clawson, So'oto, Nelson, Wagner and Hooks. Hooks and So'oto are hard for me to get excited about because they aren't healthy and in many respects are still both unknown quantities. We hear via reports and in practice just how good Hooks is but the guy can't stay healthy and we haven't seen enough on the field to warrant that excitement. So'oto we know is a very talented and has the speed, but again health is an issue.

Bauman, Doman, Ah You, Nelson and Wagner are all slow. Clawson is talented but the transition from DE to OLB hasn't been easy,,,but I do like him.

We lose 4 true Freshman in Alisa, Pritchard, Sorenson and Hadley all to missions. The first 3 I think are the real deal and will be VERY good before their time is up at BYU.

We get Brandon Ogletree off his mission, but he's pretty small..he's Matt Bauman size. I believe we also get Aveni Wang-Lei back off his mission. He had the speed to be a JC All-American, but did the unusual step of playing 2 years at a JC,,then going on a mission.

Signing Te'o, Van Noy and Filiaga are the most important ones left. Signing them is extremely important. I'd take all 3 over Xavier Su'afi-lo in a heartbeat simply because we have O-linemen coming out the wazzou.

It is less talented than the 2003 defense. I will say this much for the guy, it is easier to hid the defencies with this scheme. At least the 3-4 with a zone defense forces the opponent to execute 8 pitch and catches before scoring a touchdown. I am of the opinion that the coaching staff is doing yeoman's work with the pieces they have.

How the pieces got *this* poor is another story. Part of that story is the same old reality that we must face that BYU is going to have this poor of a defensive backfield more often than we want to face. Practicing longer, recruiting without honor code references, holding fewer firesides or douching ex-ute are not going to change that fact. I think the next two years could bring the same solid defensive backfield play we saw in '06 and '07.

Personally because I view BYU football as having a ceiling much lower than many of you gives me greater joy. I was as excited as a puppy with two peters the past two years as the results exceeded my expectations. This year the results will hit about where I expected but with the suckiness of the OOC opponents it is a bit deflating as I expected the defense to be better and the team to be better.

This defensive backfield looks a lot like many I have seen over the years. 2004 and 2005 come to my immediate memory.

I think I agree with you word for word. I will be interested to see if these average LBers look a bit better if the defensive backfield is better. I doubt it simply because it will not be good enough to go man up so they will still have to defend the pass in a zone scheme. My dream is that Hooks and So'oto magically get healthy and play ILB together laying waste to opposing rush games and that Alissa decides not to serve a mission and Manti Teo comes and shows the unique ability to master one of BYU's hardest defensive positions to learn at OLB.

I agree with you on what our starting secondary will be next year. I was able to watch a few practices during camp and was very impressed by Te'o. I wish that he would get more snaps right now. Tafuna is just awful. I just think it can't getting any worse that what Tafuna is doing out there so they might as well give Te'o a chance right now. There is no reason why Rich and Bradley shouldn't be starting.

As far as Hooks. I don't think he is all MWC when healthy but he is head and shoulders above the guys we have out there now. Our middle backers IMO can't move laterally. Hooks could do that at least before the injury. He was the biggest loss to our team over the off season. I really hope Manti comes to BYU. I hope that Ogletree is good coming off his mission. From what I heard he returned home in August and is just working out. Outside of that with some of these freshman leaving on missions the cupboard is pretty empty in the middle.

I attended this game personally as well. I was amazed at how little pressure we got on the quarterback ... I didn't check the stats, but was that critical sack at the end of the game our first? I guess you can say they got it when it counted most, but geez...

I was also a little amazed at how anemic our red zone offense looked in the 4th. Two consecutive short fields left us with nothing but two lousy field goals.

I haven't been able to see many games this year so maybe this is old news, but we telegraphed on Saturday that all teams need to do to beat us is pass.

I would love Pritchard to skip the mission. Can anyone get that boy some beer?

One thing I disagree with is saying anything about the offense. 42 points and scoring on 7 of 9 possessions is unbelievable.

You can't fault the O at all. They were all on the same page on Saturday and played extremely well. I really like how Max played. He distributed the ball to a lot of people on Saturday. I think he watched the TCU film and took some of the things to heart and made some improvements on what he does out there.