[Goatnapper'96]

and to be honest most of us had inklings coming into the year.

On defense we have subpar ILB play. Usually BYU will have at least one ILB that is all MWC caliber, this year we do not. The defensive backfield is what it is and is what it will be many years for BYU. I do think BYU can find better tacklers at safety, but I honestly feel the struggles on this defense come down to ILB. If the safety's were not as concerned bolstering the front 7, mostly due to not having good ILB, I think they would be adequate. A good front 7 can hide a lot of defensive backfield issues. Right now BYU's front 7 is not good up the gut. That hurts the whole defense. This issue is not going to be fixed this year. Perhaps Terrance Hooks can be that type of player, perhaps it will be an issue for a couple of years. Doman and Baumen are solid support ILB, but neither is good enough individually. If either were alongside a Kelly Poppinga or a Cameron Jensen or a Justin Ena or a Rob Morris or a Shay Muirbrook they would be just fine. IMO this is the most crucial position that needs upgrading.

On offense Max Hall is going through a funk. I don't claim to know enough about the qb position to identify specifically what is ailing him. Perhaps he is locking on to his first option and not going through the progressions. I don't claim to know, but this much I do believe is that this offense should not be performing as poorly as it is. It was too effective last year and returned too many capable and experienced players. Certainly Anae has culpability as his is the OC as does Bronco. However, from my perspective I don't see the issue being playcalling or gameplanning as much as it is the inability of the offense to execute the plays and the gameplan. I think it is something deeper that has been building up for weeks and might take a few weeks to fully fix. But I believe this is very fixable this year.