The Wind Bowl

[MikeWaters]

Has proven to be great entertainment so far. When Oregon State came out, I thought 'uh-oh' as it looked like BYU was going to lay over, with both OL and DL being dominated. Suddenly it was as if a righteous wind blew into them, and the BYU players fought like dragons.

Not over yet, but BYU appears to be headed towards a dominating win, which is great for the seniors.

[MikeWaters]

My impressions of the game:

I was impressed that BYU was able to turn the game around and dominate OSU. My initial impression was "here we go again with bad game planning" that didn't account for the wind." This was at the beginning of the game. But the coaches turned it around fast, and as we saw, dominated in terms of game planning on both sides of the ball.

Moreover, given that Riley was 5-0 in bowls, this was not a team/coach that would just lay down in a bowl game. Though no doubt, they were disappointed to not be in the Rose Bowl.

Kudos to the announcers. So much better than Mushmouth and the Oklahoma pretty-boy. Who would have spent the entire second half talking about Alabama vs. Texas. I'm glad we had guys that were focusing on the game in hand. I've always been a fan of Lou Holtz, and it was a real treat to have him calling our game.

Now this would not be a Mike Waters post without some fault-finding and criticism. Oneill Chambers. This guy has been a big disappointment for me. 32 catches, averaging less than 12 yards per catch. Not to mention some key miscues. We had hoped he would be an athletic gamebreaker, and it is clear that he is not. He is a possession receiver, and so far, not a very good one.

HAVING SAID THAT, we had a QB in Max Hall who was neither inclined with the notion nor the ability to get the ball out to the wide receivers. McKay Jacobsen only had 23 catches on the year. Sure he was injured. But to have your two top WRs only catch 55 balls total? That's terrible. You get the impression that Max really only had a few things he could do: 1) look for the TE on short, intermediate throws in the middle of the field (this is among the easiest throws to make, esp. for a weak arm), 2) check downs and screens to the running backs, 3) WR screens (again, no reads really necessary, just hike and get the ball out), 4) pre-ordained one-route, or one-side timing throws to the WR (Max was not good at this), 5) medium-long throw down the field (strong arm not required for this).

This is why the WR stats are so terrible. They could improve greatly w/ a different quarterback.

So one of the big questions is this: does Unga stay? When Unga came on as a freshman, I was convinced we had a NFL RB. Since then, I believe he has become much slower, much less explosive. And I have been skeptical that he can be a NFL RB. He does have great hands going for him. Maybe he could be a Tom Rathman type fullback in a west coast offense. Or maybe he could be a smaller, slower Brandon Jacobs. Regardless, it seems if Unga gets half-decent informal evals, he will not return.

And then we will be hurting at the RB position. Unless there is some JC transfer or freshman recruit that is going to tear things up. Breaking in a new QB with a Kariya and Diluigi is not going to be so great. Hague? Don't think he is the answer.

The LBs have not been thrilling (*exception: Pendleton). And we will be losing most of them. So in my mind, not really having followed the depth chart and the pipeline, it is a concern. Safety as well. Maybe Bills is staying on, who knows.

Bronco has something left to prove. Without doubt. Here is a guy that has lead the program to more wins in the past 4 years than any other program, save about 5. And yet he is not even mentioned as a candidate for major job openings. And it's not just because of the Mormon connection. He is respected, but not truly respected as someone that could step in anywhere. Then again, neither is Whittingham. And it's only this year, that I think Gary Patterson has gotten some long-due respect in the form of rumors to other schools. It's a tough business, where you can win more games in 4 years than anyone else ever in the history of the school, and people still grumble a little. This really should have been BYU's year. With the shocking win over OU. I have to say, that the FSU loss was one of the most devastating I have ever seen, even worse than the Hawaii loss in 2001, worse than the Holiday Bowl loss against A&M. I still haven't recovered from it, and essentially, the season ended for me that day.

We will let the fanboys sniff the jocks of the high school athletes, and wax rhapsodic over some 3-star from Idaho, who has hands like vice grips due to milking the cows in the morning on Christmas so Daddy can see the kids open Christmas presents. But for the rest of us, it is time to go into college football hibernation until August. Another year, another dream, another punch in the gut tempered with meh satisfaction, distilled from the wisdom of realistic expectations of a mid-major fan.