QB Max Hall Gets the Nod

Cardinals coach Ken Wizenhunt has just announced that former BYU standout Max Hall will start for the Cardinals this Sunday against the defending Super Bowl Champions New Orleans Saints. Hall replaced Derek Anderson in the second half of last week's 41-10 loss to the San Diego Chargers. Hall went 8-14 for 82 yards with no INT's in his NFL debut.

Click here to see the article on ESPN.com.

Bronco takes charge

So Jamie Hill is gone. Is anyone surprised? A year after Bronco gives up the defensive squad, we give up 29 points a game to (hold your breath) Nevada, Air Force, Florida State, and Utah State. Then again, the offense hasn’t been able to do much either. We scored a grand total of 43 points. That is enough points to win one game. That is saying something, something like other teams are tripling or quadrupling our score. So how does Bronco taking over the defensive side of the ball help?

Way to call a time out on the defense, Bronco

For one, Bronco is not afraid to be creative. He has been coaching the special teams for a few years now, and we have seen some trickery and deviance from the norm. Four years ago in the 2006 season, during the first four games or so, every kickoff the four return men would huddle, hand the ball off to one of the players, and then break and hope the opposing team followed the wrong person. Unfortunately, some players couldn’t figure out that the handoff needed to be backward and we got flagged on it several times, but it was really exciting for the fans and at least got the defense a little off its rocker.

This year on special teams, we have already seen a few gadgets. Some have worked, some haven’t. One that did work was the reverse return against Nevada. I still can’t figure out how it worked so well, simply because Hoffman had to run to the other side of the field, get the ball from Di Luigi, and then run back, but it was somehow effective and got us 10 or so more yards in field position for an offense searching for its identity. On the other hand, for one of the plays that didn’t work, Bronco sent in JD Falslev (I think - either way, it wasn’t Stephenson) to punt. Yeah, it ended up being a shank of a punt, but did you see the confusion in the Nevada punt return team? Guys were pointing and yelling and standing up out of position and everything. It made them think twice the next time we punted.

This year, I kind of wish we were cheering for this Bronco

I mean, really, can the defensive situation get any worse? Fuga is gone until next fall. Andrew Rich has been particularly injury prone this year. Pendleton left last game early with an injury. LB Jameson Frazier and S Stephen Thomas were out for all of last game in positions where we have struggled. Why not be a bit creative on defense? I know our secondary isn’t the best, but instead of dropping more guys in coverage, why not send someone like CB Brandon Bradley a few times on the weak side when he would be rushing at the QB’s blind side? Or send Rich in on a safety blitz? Did you see what defense we were playing when we had the interception against Nevada? It was a zone blitz, with the DT dropping back into coverage. Kapernick didn’t even see him (kind of hard when you realize most DT’s are 300 pounds or so). We have a total of 5 sacks this season so far, with none in the last two games. What’s stopping Bronco from taking chances to salvage a currently struggling squad?

Jaime Hill fired after Cougars lose to Utah State

It looks like BYU has found a scape goat, and his name is Jaime Hill. Head coach Bronco Mendenhall let go Hill after the Cougars embarrassing 31-16 loss to Utah State.

The Cougars are statistically one of the worst defensive teams in the nation right now. Ranking 119th (out of 121 schools) in defending the run.  Bronco says that he will take over the defense one year after handing the reigns to Coach Hill.

Romney Fuga Out For Season After Dirty Play

BYU has just announced that Cougar junior defensive tackle Romney Fuga will be out for the remainder of the year after an injury he suffered in last week's game against Nevada. Fuga was chop blocked from behind in what BYU officials are calling a very dirty play.

Click here to see the video of the play and Bronco's reaction.

This was clearly an illegal block with malicious intent by UNR's offensive lineman John Bender. Nevada has yet to issue a suspension on Bender. What type of punisment do you think Bender should get?

Austin Collie has career day in Colts win

Is Austin Collie Peyton Manning's new go-to receiver? He was on Sunday leading the Colts to a 27-13 win in Denver. In case you missed it Collie had 12 catches for 171 yards and two touchdowns. The former BYU standout was seemingly unstoppable when it mattered helping the Colts improve to 2-1 on the young season.

Here is a nice article on Collie from the Indy star.

Platform 9 3/4 vs. the 20 yard line

"But, Hagrid, there must be a mistake. This says Platform 9 3/4, there's no such thing. Is there?"

"Platform 9 and 3/4? Think you're being funny, do ya?"

Not that Harry Potter has anything to do with football, but like Platform 9 and three quarters, there is something magical about the 20 yard line. What is it? Whenever a team punts or kicks off, all the fans go crazy if the kicking team stops the runner at the 19 yard line. The only question is, does that actually affect the players too? Or is it really something to get that excited about? After doing a bit of research, it is apparent that the 20 yard line has been a magical point for BYU’s defense. Sure, if a team gets past the 20 yard line, that gives them better field position, but a lot of the drives that I will refer to that are “After the 20 yard line” are only in the mid 20’s or 30’s to start anyway.

After the 20 yard line – Opposing teams score on BYU’s defense 50% of the time. Out of 16 opportunities, there have been 7 touchdowns and one field goal (and two missed field goals).
On the 20 yard line – Opposing teams score on BYU’s defense 33% of the time. Out of 9 opportunities, there have been 2 touchdowns and one field goal.
Before the 20 yard line – Opposing teams score on BYU’s defense 27% of the time. Out of 11 opportunities, there have been 2 touchdowns and one field goal.

So what? Well, for starters, the one criticism that I have for Jake Heaps in the last game is to take a sack if the collapsing pocket has you blocked off in every direction except for one – backwards. I only played defensive line for one year, but as a defensive end, you just get more motivated to lay one on the quarterback when you see him moving backwards. Just take the sack, don’t try to do anything amazing, and let Riley Stephenson pin the opponent near the end zone. The punt/kick coverage has also been surprisingly good so far this year (on kickoffs, BYU leads the nation allowing less than 9 yards a return - stat from ESPN), so just hand it over to the defense and hope for the best. They have shown flashes of promise, so let’s see what they can do.

Yes, Jimmer, I am itching for basketball season too. Just wait your turn.

There is always basketball

Amid the Cougars abysmal 1-2 start in football I have found solace in one name... Jimmer. While it is has been tough to watch the merry-go-round that has been the quarterback controversy it all might be worth it later this fall when BYU basketball tips off.

How could we forget Jimmer?

Andy Katz recently wrote a nice article about Dave Rose. You can view it by clicking here.

So, the next time J.J DiLuigi fumbles the ball, or O'neil Chambers gets caught on camera flipping the bird at an opposing player...  just think Jimmer.