BYU-Utah: Six Cougar Turnovers Help Utes Clinch Second BCS Berth

You would have thought, after reading my preview of last Saturday's BYU-Utah game, that I would have been prepared for what happened, considering I picked Utah to win and only missed their final score by three points. But what I was not ready for was the way it happened.

I had to take yesterday completely off from everything and bury my thoughts in anything except the game, I was so upset. I would end up making fun of Notre Dame fans on Xbox Live. That would cheer up anyone.

Well, now to the game. With the 48-24 win over BYU Saturday, the Utah Utes clinched a spot in their second BCS game in five years. Utah quarterback Brian Johnson threw for 303 yards, four TDs, and completed an amazing 30 of 36 passes.

The Utes played a fantastic game and deserve their BCS bowl game and should dominate a lowly Big East opponent again.

But what I want to talk about is what happened on the other side of the ball. What drove me to near insanity yesterday was not that I feel Utah won the game, but that BYU lost it.

Cougar quarterback Max Hall has been fantastic this year, but as we saw Saturday, forces the ball far too much. I would call this Brett Favre syndrome, as where he stops taking what the defense is giving him and just tries to make too much happen. When this happens, his throws are errant and his reads are nonexistent.

As a result of this, Max Hall accounted for all six of BYU's turnovers on five interceptions and one fumble.

After a slow start, the Cougars defense played well enough to win in my eyes. I can't hold it against them that the offense continually gave them horrible field position and always had to come out on quick changes.

Granted, they did allow Brian Johnson to do what he wanted, but we expected something like that. We did not expect them to be able to contain the run the way they did, allowing the Utes only 108 yards on the ground.

Most importantly, though, they came up with stops when the Cougars needed them and put their team in a position to take the lead or tie multiple times in both halves.

But despite all the defense's efforts, the offense never could get going and fell short on several occasions where they could have taken the lead or even blown the game open. That is what is so frustrating as a BYU fan. Great teams take advantage of opportunities like that.

Great teams also adjust to the game as it is happening. This is BYU's largest flaw as I see it. Offensive coordinator Robert Anae seems to have a mental block in his mind to running the ball, because BYU averaged a blistering 7.7 ypc on Saturday and could have pounded the ball with Unga and Vakapuna all night.

When your quarterback is struggling the way Hall was, five interceptions compared to 7.7 yards per carry, I would think that would be a no brainer—but I'll let you decide.

Something has to be done about BYU's inability to adjust on the fly, or they will never get to where Utah is now—looking at a BCS game.

Not all was bad for the Cougar offense. Harvey Unga once again looked like himself and was running with power. He would finish with 116 yards on 15 carries.

Austin Collie started his game off with a bang as he took a kick return 70 yards to put BYU in scoring position, but BYU would settle for a field goal. He would finish the night with 104 receiving yards on 10 catches. That makes 10 straight games of 100+ receiving yards for Collie.

The Cougars now will wait to see what bowl game chooses them and who their opponent will be. Most likely it will be the Las Vegas Bowl simply because Las Vegas is pretty much BYU's South campus. They always pack the house with at least 30,000, and they usually win too. The other option is the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth, TX.