Sep 27 2007
Cougar Bites
News often comes in bunches and I don’t have time to address each one. Not only that, but it would be a very confusing post to talk about each one, so I figure to make the “Cougar Bites” a weekly column. I’ll try to keep you as current as possible with all the many happenings to the boys in Blue.
First, however, we turn our attention to a young man named Marcus Smith, a wide receiver on the New Mexico team whose mother passed away last week. Marcus is financially responsible for the cost of the funeral, over $6000. If you wish to help out Marcus, you can send a check to:
[Edit: The fund was closed when the full amount was raised. Thanks to all BYU fans who contributed.]
-BYU Injuries: Coach Bronco Mendenhall’s policy on injuries is that if they don’t practice on Thursday, they can’t play on Friday. Collie and Criddle have been out of most practices with ankle injuries, but if they can do it today, they will be on the field on Saturday. Andre Saulsberry has been taking reps at boundary corner in Criddle’s place, but both players are probable for Saturday. Next week is a bye week so there is less worry about the injuries lasting as they will have time to heal after the New Mexico game.
-Wagon Wheel:I forgot to mention in my article last week that BYU and Utah State have renewed their rivalry games and will be playing each until every year until 2012. A free win for BYU and some experience for the Aggies. The series is as follows:
-2008: Logan
-2009: Provo
-2010: Logan
-2011-12: Provo
-2009 BCS run: Several people have noted that BYU’s best players on Offense are, for the most part, quite young. Next year, BYU has a huge turnover on Defense, including 3 of 4 starting linebackers and 4 of 4 in the secondary. However, in 2009, the following players will still be at BYU: Max Hall, Harvey Unga, Austin Collie, Andrew George, Vic So’oto, Dennis Pitta, Tom Sorensen, Brett Denney, Shawn Doman, Jan Jorgensen, Brandon Howard, Mitch Payne, Russell Tialavea, R.J. Willing and Rick Wolfey. Those are just players that are getting significant playing time now, not including players on missions. BYU has had a very solid recruiting class of secondary players this year and has a great one shaping up for 2008 that should provide really good depth and excellent speed that BYU hasn’t seen before. If you start saving your money now, you can take the whole family to see BYU play in January 2010.
-On track for:If Max Hall and Harvey Unga stay on track, they will continue BYU’s streak of 3000 yard passers coupled with 1000 yard rushing. At this rate, they might be joined by a 1000 yard receiving, too.
Max Hall: 13 games (including a bowl game) x 377 yards= 4900 yards
Harvey Unga: 13 x 76.5 = 994 yards
Dennis Pitta: 13 x 81.5 = 1059 yards
I wouldn’t be surprised to see several key receivers closer to the 1000 yard mark as well. Unga, at this pace, could put up some pretty impressive all-purpose yards as he is averaging 140 per game (behind Collie’s 140.75 per game.)
-Big games against New Mexico:BYU has had pivotal games the last 2 seasons against New Mexico and looks to have another one on Saturday. In 2005, BYU came from behind to get Mendenhall’s first D-1 win and put the season on track to be bowl eligible. Last year, the win over the Lobos guaranteed the Cougars the Conference Championship. This year, the Lobos look to be one of the better teams in the MWC and an early test to see if BYU can dominate in conference. It is also their chance to prove they can win on the road, like they did last year against TCU.
-For the BYU recruiting nuts out there: If you enjoy the recruiting game nearly as much as football, this Friday there is a game on TV that should interest you (if you live in Utah that is.) Timpview, BYU’s private training grounds, vs. Orem. It is on KJazz14 at 7pm. You can check out Craig Bills (’09 commit, S), Kevin Bills (’08 commit, DE), Michael Alisa (’08 commit, SLB), and Tui Crichton and Xavier Suafilo, two big ‘09 linemen who are being courted by BYU.
6 Responses to “Cougar Bites”
I heard Bronco Mendenhall say last night on the radio that another possibility of playing Kayle Buchanan at boundary corner and starting Brandon Howard at field corner. Should be interesting to see who takes the field if Ben Criddle can’t go.
Also, I think Harvey Unga will go over 1,000 rushing yards if he gets a decent amount of carries. His current game average is lower because of the UCLA game and having to share carries early on with Fui Vakapuna. Also, he’s not going to be facing any real top-flight defenses from here out, New Mexico being the exception. I’d be shocked if we didn’t see a 3,000-yard passer with a 1000-yard rusher and 1000-yard receiver.
Do you think BYU will ever go back to the 3-3-5? Say Bronco starts recruiting towards having the personnel necessary to run it? I also listened to him talk on the radio and it sounds like he still loves it. I wonder if when the linebacker pool dries up (if they let it) if they go back to the 3-3-5 on defense.
Josh, what about the previously heralded TCU defense? Are they not fitting the bill? Should we expect to take it to them, or rely on our defense to lock down their offense for the win? These questions are obviously 5 weeks early, but since Josh mentioned the lack of high caliber defenses on the schedule, it triggered these thoughts. Ignore them if you will. I will bring it up again at a more appropriate time if that is deemed necessary.
Thanks for the information Peter. Would it be possible for you or another columnist to do an article on possible up and comers on the Scout team? I remember hearing about Criddle and getting excited, among others. Is there anyone on the radar?
Patrick, I think BYU will be a 3-4 team for a while. As Coach Mendenhall has said several times, and we’ve all seen, is that BYU has a lot of success finding very athletic guys for linebacker/TE, but not a ton of success for secondary (though looking at this year’s recruits and last years, it could be changing.) I think this alignment is best for BYU for the long haul.
Josh, Is New Mexico a top-flight defense? They are ranked on the higher end of the middle of the pack in most categories defensively (high of 14 in rush defense, pretty good actually, and low of 52 in pass efficiency) but what of that comes from playing chump teams? They have beat New Mexico St (yawn), Sacramento State (Zzzzzz….) and Arizona. Against New Mexico, they gave up 473 yards and 4 TDs in the air. Against Arizona they gave up 446 and 3 touchdowns. Their stats, and season, are based on a cream-puff schedule, not a great defense. Last year BYU rolled over them for more than 600 yards, Id say this year they get at least 500 if not more.
Patrick, I think the jury is out on TCU’s defense. They were supposed to be dominant and haven’t really been thus far. They are good, yes, but without Blake (who is out for another 2 weeks) we still don’t know how good.
Brandon, The man for that would be Cruiser. I’ll let him field that question or request
I’d say that the area where New Mexico looks to have benefitted most from their early season schedule is on offense. They faced a lot of weak defenses. Without knowing for sure, I’d guess that a lot of the yards and points that New Mexico gave up to their weaker opponents were in junk time. The Arizona game wasn’t like that, but it was on the road in Tucson, where UA is a bit tougher.
I guess the jury is still out on how good New Mexico’s defense really is because they’ve shot out to leads and forced teams to pass on them to get back in the game. I just know that New Mexico always fields a fast defense and our offense sometimes struggles against fast defenders (Bruce Davis, Drew Fowler, etc.).