Jul 30 2008
Not so brazen predictions
Balanced offense. Balanced diet. Balanced predictions. Once again I follow up Josh’s predictions with my own tempered thoughts. I’ll follow his lead and first own up to my predictions, perhaps gaining (or losing) some credibility in the process.
1. No BYU running back gets over 1,000 yards. Okay, maybe owning up wasn’t a good idea. However, to my defense, at the time Fui Vakapuna was the slated starting HB and Harvey Unga was a practice phenom, but little more. Unga ended up blowing up my expectations by rushing for 1,227 yards and 13 touchdowns on the ground. I stand (happily) corrected.
2. Hall throws for more than 3,000 yards, but barely. I was just tempted to leave off that last part, but I’ll own up to it. Hall exceeded all expectations by throwing for 3,848 yards yards and 26 touchdowns. So I was right. Technically.
3. BYU will continue its winning streak at home. Cha-ching.
4. BYU will finish regular season with a 9-3 record. Glad I could get this wrong. I predicted a UCLA loss and Wyoming or New Mexico. Ouch. Never saw Tulsa coming. Off by one game, not bad.
5. Breakout players of the year: Kelly Poppinga on defense and Dennis Pitta on offense. I could argue that I was right, Poppinga led the team in tackles and Pitta led the team in receptions. If you wanted to argue Unga/Collie or Hall on offense, I’d probably let you win though.
So if you are still reading (hey, 3 out of 5 ain’t bad) let’s move on to 2008.
1. 4000/1000/2×1000: In basketball its the triple-double, baseball the grand slam, hockey is the hat-trick, and football will be seeing a rare occurrence this year: Hall will throw for over 4,000, Unga will rush for over 1000 and Collie and Pitta will each have over 1000 yards receiving.
2. BYU will beat a Pac 10 opponent by double digits. I won’t be so brazen as to say which, but BYU will open some eyes by laying a severe beating on a Pac 10 team. They get two shots early in the season with games against UCLA and Washington. BYU is going to blow a game open in the first half and never look back. I was going to put an OOC opponent, but with Utah State and UNI on the schedule, that is a given.
3. BYU will go 11-1 in the regular season…but bust the BCS anyways. Don’t worry, I’m booing myself as well. I don’t see the stars aligning this season for an undefeated run, but I think 2009 will be the year. Last year BYU nearly made the BCS with 2 losses. If BYU loses an early game (since they will start so high) that they will still creep into the top 12 and into a big money game. This can only be true if the loss is early, a loss to Utah or in November make this impossible. The only reason I think BYU doesn’t waltz through its schedule is young defense. This is the prediction I am least sure of, but I’ll stand up to it at the end of the year and hope I’m wrong.
4. Breakout players of the year: Offense - Ashworth. This is a tough one because the top receivers, running backs, linemen and QB are all back. In fact, very few new faces will see the field this year on the offensive side of the ball. Ashworth was the most impressive to Coach Mendenhall in spring ball so I’ll put him down. Defense- Vic So’oto. Perhaps the trendy pick but with exceptional speed, football savvy and a strong supporting cast, So’oto is poised to really turn some heads. Don’t be surprised to see both OLBs with post-season awards.
5. BYU will be positive in the turn-over margin this year. The problem last year wasn’t the offense putting the ball in the hands of the other team as much as it was taking it away. With Vic So’oto moving to defense, that alone should even things out (just kidding… kind of.) BYU turned over the ball 26 times last season and only took it back 20 times with puts them at 88th in the country. With more experience at the skill positions turning the ball over shouldn’t be as much of a problem. I hope they spend some time in the Fall working on creating turnovers, which should happen with increased speed in the secondary and a better pass rush.
9 Responses to “Not so brazen predictions”
Hafoka is even better than Ashworth. Though DiLuigi should also finally get his shot.
Either one of those could burst onto the scene at WR. Ashworth, IMO, is more polished at the moment but Hafoka has incredible speed once he gets his legs back and has great hands.
DiLuigi benefited most from Tonga’s ineligibility. Instead of being #3 running back, he is now #2 1/2 (I think they will still at times uses Vakapuna as a HB.)
Hafoka better than Ashworth? A bold claim to make considering he’s never seen the field in college. Have you seen either of them play?
I think you are right in naming a younger player on offense to have a breakout year. Too many established players ahead of the young guns for them to get meaningful PT? Perhaps. I think you are safe with Vic So’oto as the breakout defensive player, but you can’t really pick anyone in the secondary because we don’t know who will be starting. We shall see if your pick of So’oto or Josh’s pick of Brandon Bradley will shine more. Maybe both do–yesssssssssssssss.
Probably.
You’re a bold guy, but the only prediction that I really don’t see coming true is Dennis Pitta for 1,000 yards.
But you make a great point with the positive turnover margin. I think BYU not only takes care of the ball better this year, but also gets its fair share of picks and recoveries (great line about So’oto, by the way).
Regarding our final record, if we win at Washington we’ll be undefeated. We won’t lose any other game. We don’t lose in Provo, TCU is overrated and Max allow his team to lose to Utah. Just my gut feeling.
Adam, I hope you are right on the undefeated, I really do.
Pitta had 813 yards last year and Collie was only off by 54 yards. Pitta essentially disappeared for a couple games (1 catch for 5 years against Eastern Washington, 3 for 35 against Utah) which I don’t think will happen this year.
Great predictions! The breakout player of the year on either side of the ball will be DiLuigi. We’ve seen him in high school against the top team in the nation and he was amazing. Those that watched him last year in practice before getting hurt will agree that he is incredible. Now, this spring he showed even more of what he’s capable of doing. It’s been a while since BYU has had a lightning quick RB like him. With Tonga out, there will be even more opportunities for him to see the field. He looks bigger this year as well as faster than the last. I’m excited to see what he will become here at BYU. He could possibly be the MWC Freshman of the Year.
Coaches are expecting big things out of him, just don’t know if he’ll see the field enough to make a huge impact. Our WRs rotate enough that the #3-#4 receiver will see the field quite a bit.
Speaking of receivers… has anybody seen O’neill Chambers? Oh yeah, he wasn’t here for spring ball, but I’m sure he’ll make his mark in the fall. He’s a possible choice for the breakout player of the year if he can crack the WR two deep. (Okay, I’ve started thinking about this as if it were an award, which it could translate to freshman of the year, but I’m going to move on to something else, I promise.)
I actually really like prediction #1 as a virtual lock to happen. The only thing that group lacked last season was experience and the added polish of working together through the offseason should be way evident from the get-go this year.