Can the BYU Cougars Fix Three Major Ailments Before the Year Is Lost?
BYU fans are getting nervous. Four games into the season, the Cougars are sitting on a 1-3 record and three straight losses.
The reasons (or excuses) for the State of the Program are wide and varying, and there isn't a single problem the Cougs must address to right the ship.
But here, we play Doctor (and not in a dirty way, Ute fans) and address three BYU Cougar Football Ailments and determine whether they can be overcome before the season is lost.
Youths, Not Utes
1 of 3
One of my favorite moments from a movie was when, in My Cousin Vinny, Joe Pesci is speaking to the judge about his clients, calling them "These two Utes (youths)."
Like Marisa Tomei and Ralph Macchio at the time, BYU is a very, very young football team.
It's hard for Cougar fans to admit, but in the past two years BYU has had to replace arguably the best players in school history (and statistically for sure) at four key positions.
Max Hall, Dennis Pitta, Harvey Unga, and Austin Collie are all gone. You don't just manufacture their replacements overnight. The players filling their roles are still young.
P.J. O'Rourke said, "I'll take age and experience over youth and a bad haircut any day." Today, so would the Cougars.
The question is, can these Youths gain enough confidence to keep progressing and improve rapidly enough to get to six or seven wins? Or is their confidence shot, leaving games against bad teams up in the air?
The schedule hasn't helped (as we will discuss in the next slide), but a game against Utah State this week will be a good barometer.
If the Cougars can drum up a lot of offense against the Aggies and get a win under their collective belt, they may be able to get themselves right for a schedule that doesn't get easier right away.
The Fickle Game of Scheduling
2 of 3
BYU's schedule, as it turns out, is not at all conducive to a young team trying to develop. With San Diego State and TCU in the next three weeks, it's going to remain very tough.
Had BYU had games against New Mexico, UNLV, San Jose State, and Wyoming in the first half of the season, these young players might have gained a little experience and confidence and been better off going into the tough games like Air Force and Nevada.
As it is, however, you play the schedule you have. So the Cougars are in a tough spot. A win against Utah State might make the home date against San Diego State competitive. Then, TCU looms.
A 1-2 record in those games would leave the Cougs at 2-5, with four games against awful teams. That might allow the Cougs to get to six wins and a bowl, giving the young players a taste of success (such as it is in college football) and a foundation to build upon for next season.
The Secret Play Isn't Working!
3 of 3
I'm not convinced the BYU coaching staff is very comfortable this year. Without any playmakers developed and with an inexperienced team on both sides of the ball, the staff is in a place it hasn't been since its first season.
This puts more pressure on coaching to tailor the schemes to player strengths. So far, they have failed to do that—especially on offense.
Until the second half against Nevada, the offensive play-calling was terrible. In the bleachers, fans were predicting the play calls with astounding accuracy. It was predictable, poorly designed, and completely ineffective.
And the fade pass simply wasn't working—yet time after time Robert Anae called it.
This coaching staff will need to mature as much as the players. Like them, we have to wonder if they can develop fast enough to salvage the season.
If the play-calling continues to be poor, the results will continue to be the same.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
