Flubs, Flukes, and Decisions

I correctly predicted via twitter that I would have nightmares about blocked kicks. And so it was. I can't get it out of my mind, that one play with time running out, that one play that lately has always gone BYU's way, that one play that would have been the crowing moment in Mitch Payne's BYU career... when the game should never have hinged on a play like that.

But it did.

Pretty much everything that can be said about the game has been said. There are the bright sides, like how Jake Heaps showed incredible poise in that final possession, moving the ball down the field reminding us of all the great BYU quarterbacks and their precision. As a fan, with very little understanding of everything that goes on in the strategizing of the coaches minds, I would have loved to see them keep pushing ahead, using the clock a little sparingly but still running it down, but getting closer to the end zone. I would have loved to have seen Heaps throw a touchdown pass to beat the Utes. That would have been so satisfying. And it would have felt right, the way a BYU game should end. Somehow we don't really equate big BYU last second wins with field goals...

Could the Utes have been more lucky in this game? The shanked punt that went off BYU and Utah recovered? The Brandon Bradley interception that ended in a (controversial) fumble? The flubbed handoff between Heaps and Quezada? And all the other breaks that went their way.

Really, this game meant very little for BYU's program. The season was already decided for the most part. They are going to a bowl game regardless (please not New Mexico, please not New Mexico), and the turn around of the team, both offensively and defensively, defines this season as a whole. That loss in Logan was a turning point for the young players and I think we can all look forward to next season with confidence that this team will compete.

Anyway, I will be haunted for a while by this game, it would have been so satisfying to win it, but ... ah!

Play Calling

Far be it for me. I mean, I know very little about coaching and play calling. Maybe it's because I couldn't watch the game, so I listened to it on KSL and my opinion was influenced by Greg Wrubell and Mark Lyons.

Whatever.

Let me just say, let me declare right here once and for all, that I am a Cougar fan who would not complain if BYU reinvented itself this year as a power running offensive team.

Honestly, not a single complaint. They have a great offensive line, they are tough, and seem to really love driving defenders backward while Kariya pounds ahead for four or five yards. Granted that's not like Max Hall throwing his customary 50+ yard pass once or twice a game like we got used to watching over the past three years. That was exciting to watch. But you know what?

Four or five yards is freaking FOUR OR FIVE YARDS!!

I'm watching Wisconsin take on Ohio State right now. Ohio State, you know, the top ranked team nationally. Big favorites to win this game. Wisconsin is ahead by 11 points right now half way through the third quarter.

And they have got most of their offensive yardage by running the ball up the middle.

It works for them, and their offensive coordinator doesn't seem to mind calling the play many times over. Because, again, it's working for them. So why stop, right?

It's satisfying to watch a football team utilize something that works.

Unlike the BYU-TCU game earlier today.