Why do I get sucked into believing BYU might change?

[Archaea]

The pattern of poor preparation for the rivalry game has been set in stone. It is the nature of Bronco. Games involving emotional are beyond his ability to anticipate. He simply does not know how to settle the nerves of his troops.

The little things matter, such as starting together as a line. The blocking is still subpar.

This Utah team is very beatable but BYU played down to Utah's level and was out-coached once again. Maybe both teams are poor. Given how badly Riley Nelson played, it might be a stretch to think he could play better against a good defense.

Bronco appeases upper management and placates the non-rabid aspects of the fanbase with his church talks. He doesn't seem to be engaged in satisfying donors by defeating the rivals more often than he loses. This is an essential factor in almost any other scenario. Perhaps not a BYU.

If you lose consistently to Michigan, you don't stay at Ohio State and vice versa. The main argument for retaining Bronco is relatively poor, but it is, who can we hire to replace him? I don't see a shining star on the horizon.

Thus, we are stuck with a mediocre coach who would rather be a mission president than one who wants to coach elite football and who regularly defeats his rival.

[MikeWaters]

Whittingham has proved over and over that he is the superior coach.

[MikeWaters]

Bronco is a good coach, but not a great coach. He's not a tactician. Partly by intellect (not that smart) and also by demeanor/belief (thinks that execution of fundamentals is the key and will live and die by that).

It's frustrating to see the Ute players so amped up and intense, and then see the BYU players so scared and tentative and fearful.

The Utes lost their starting QB and RB, and still won. Impressive job by KW.

1. Reilly Nelson's weaknesses were on full display. Namely his rag noodle of an arm. He doesn't have a pro arm. He doesn't even have a college arm. But he's heady and gutsy and not a complete basket case between the ears like Jake Heaps was. If you go against Nelson, you control his running game. You take away the throws over the middle (easiest throws for a weak arm). Force him to make throws into tight windows on the outside. Just can't do it effectively.

2. The BYU OL is still very, very unimpressive. We knew that coming into the game. And it showed again last night.

3. Boy was the BYU kicker out of sorts last night. On the 50+ attempt, he started his forward movement way too early. I knew instantly he was going to miss. You almost never see that. It's so basic and elementary to kicking. Based on that, I predicted he would miss the next kick as well. Sure enough he did. No ice in his veins, that's obvious.

4. What's up with Ross Apo? He was supposed to be good. But I didn't hear his name once. Hard to know what's going on without being able to see the routes on the field (dumb game where the TVs purposefully don't show you what's going on).

5. I like Alisa. Too bad he doesn't have a better line.

6. BYU defense was decent. I think they got a little dispirited when they gave up that long touchdown over the middle. But not too bad. Of course, they weren't going up against a very good unit.

7. It's disheartening for me to watch BYU and realize that they are not a very good passing team. That they are not very good at running the hurry-up. The is in contrast to the BYU teams of the 80s where it seemed all they needed was the ball, and a score was guaranteed. We're just another team now, and not even sniffing the elite.

8. When in the hell is BYUTV going to be in HD on satellite? I can't watch this SD crap.

9. Of course the biggest news remains that BYU is shut out of all the action in the future of college football as an independent. And Holmoe is in hiding over the issue, not responding to media inquiries. I don't blame him for not responding. I just hope that he is doing something about it. That is, if BYU doesn't want to end up in the same conference as Idaho.

10. It's hard to imagine what it would take for Bronco to be fired. If BYU had a losing season this year, he would not be fired. And then another losing season next year, would not be fired. It might take four losing seasons in a row. Which I don't think will happen. So, he's gonna be here as long as he wants to be here.

11. When's basketball start?

[ChinoCoug]

While both of you are right on rivalry game preparation, you've been warped by this one game. Bronco has outperformed Kwhit by every single modern statistical test. And the gap will widen when we don't play the game anymore in two years.

[Archaea]

Originally Posted by ChinoCoug

While both of you are right on rivalry game preparation, you've been warped by this one game. Bronco has outperformed Kwhit by every single modern statistical test. And the gap will widen when we don't play the game anymore in two years.

How does Bronco compare in BCS bowl games?

[ChinoCoug]

Originally Posted by Archaea

How does Bronco compare in BCS bowl games?

Focusing on singular data points again. You guys just can't help yourselves.

10, 11 wins every single season is just too boring, I know. But if we keep it up, we will hit the jackpot one of these years. It's a mathematical inevitability.

[ChinoCoug]

Kudos to Brian Johnson on the stellar playcalling.

[ute4ever]

FWIW, despite the outcome, BYU rose to #30 in the Sagarin ratings. Win out and maybe they'll get an upgrade from the Poinsettia Bowl. Not a BCS bowl, but an interesting opponent nonetheless. And isn't that the whole point of college football: to watch entertaining games? So what about the mythical trophy that 119 teams don't win in the end.

[Archaea]

Originally Posted by ChinoCoug

Focusing on singular data points again. You guys just can't help yourselves.

10, 11 wins every single season is just too boring, I know. But if we keep it up, we will hit the jackpot one of these years. It's a mathematical inevitability.

I want interesting match ups, winning most of those, defeating the rival more often than not, and going to a good bowl game, winning those more often than not, while finishing ranked in the top 25 most years and some years top ten.

That should be achievable.

You seem content in winning ten meaningless games against hapless opponents, while lose against the rival and against better opponents. That is not entertaining to me.

[Archaea]

It took three weeks this year instead of two before BYU was knocked out of the national discussion. I suppose that's improvement. Maybe some year, BYU could make it to the fourth week and by a miracle might make it to October some day.