Opening Up Our Notebook On BYU

I expect Hall to test our secondary much more than Crompton did. With Verner’s solid play last week, this could mean that Norris will get picked on early and frequently. A challenge for us will be covering their TE Pitta, who is 6-5, 250. Last week, he racked up over 200 yards receiving on 11 catches. Our LB’s and safeties will need to keep an eye on him on every down to refuse the big pass plays. Ultimately, we’ll again have to rely on our D-line to put pressure on Hall and disrupt his rhythm. We won’t fully contain him, but we may just do enough to slow their passing attack. I look for Coach DW to throw in different blitz packages to confuse Hall and keep him guessing.

I think the best thing we can do to contain Hall is to keep him off the field. Our offense needs to be able to sustain long drives that gives our D time to rest. There was a huge time of possession disparity last week against Tennessee. We can’t afford to do that to our defense in this game as they won’t have the benefit of a home crowd to keep them inspired. Hopefully, our RB’s will be able to establish some sort of running game to keep our drives alive and keep the clock running.

hate to break it to you but our defensive backs outside of Verner aren’t much better than our OL. Ware and Viney made no impact on the game, Moore recovered a fumble and Norris made some great tackles…great, so we’ll be ok if BYU fumbles or breaks some long runs. Bottom line is that Tennessee had guys open all night and Crompton couldn’t get them the ball. It wasn’t all pressure either, he flat out missed guys the entire game. The new OC at Tennessee didn’t help him out by calling anything close to a good game, a stark contrast to Chow’s masterpiece. Don’t get me wrong, I love these guys but you have to watch a game with your eyes and not your heart sometimes to be able to realistically evaluate your team. We’ll get better over the course of the season and Walker will do a good job of protecting the young guys but for the time being, we are going to be thrown on with ease versus a good passing attack.

I am in the media and have had a bit of experience evaluating football teams professsionally. Let me tell you, the Bruins are a joke. Do you really think that by hiring an ethically challenged twit for a head coach that suddenly UNLA will be called by Zeus to climb Mt. Olympus and live forever with the Gods? Hell, No!! Is SIr Rick the male equivalent of Sarah Palin? NOOOOOOOOOO! You have got to comprehend and accept the fact that a fish rots from the head down. And the Bruins have a moldy fish running the football program. It stinks and the source of the odor comes straight out of Rick’s mouth.

Granted, Walker and Chow are great coaches. But they both have to kiss Rick’s butt. That smears them with the same stench as Rick. Chow, by the way, is hated among the BYU faithful because of his stupid allegience to the draw-trap. Didn’t work then, and you will find that Chow will pull off boneheaded stuff and refuse to give it up when it doesn’t work. He is your version of BYU’s former Gary Crowton.

BYU, on the other hand, has the polar opposite of Rick as head coach. Go visit www.cougarboard.com and read the posts praising Bronco Mendenhall. Rick and Bronco are night and day. Remember, a fish rots from the head down. UCLA is rotting. BYU is not.

That’s it. Enjoy the stench.

HuskyFreeNorthwest, a proud member of CougarBoard and a fully invested BYU fan.

BYU Offense vs. UCLA Defense:
The toughest matchup among the skill players will be Dennis Pitta. The Norm Chow over the middle pass to the tight end has been one of my favorite plays since Steve Sarkisian was throwing it to Chad Lewis and Itula Mili in the mid 90’s. It was great to see Paulson and Moya be beneficiaries against Tennessee. I think the UCLA linebackers will have a tough time.

The next key matchup will be Michael Reed and Norris. I think that’s been mentioned above.

ATV vs. Collie and Harwell/Price vs. BYU’s O-line will be interesting. One thing to look out for will be the weak-side blitz. Hall is getting a reputation for being nailed by those and frequently they result in turnovers. It’s something worth watching for in the game against Washington if you decide to watch.

BYU Defense vs. UCLA offense:
The BYU Defense tends to play “bend, but don’t break.” I think the UCLA receivers have a decent advantage over BYU’s secondary. Even against NIU, they got burned on a couple of long balls. They tend to play behind the receivers and try not to allow the big play. I think Norm will spread the ball pretty efficiently and the receivers will have a good game.

Look out for Ryan Moya to keep putting up solid numbers. I think the tight end plays are difficult to cover for anyone, and I don’t think this game will be much different.

UCLA’s running game didn’t do so hot last week, so I’m not sure how it will play out against the Cougars. The D-line and linebackers did well against the NIU run, but I honestly wasn’t paying much attention to the run defense.

I think the game will play out in the air, with the tight ends having a significant impact on both offenses. It should be a fun game to watch.

I wouldn’t worry too much about BYU posters with no class, especially the one’s from Washington that seem to have a grudge. I actually think that after time, Rick will be as adored at UCLA as Bronco is at BYU. Rest assured UCLA has quite a few friends at BYU because of the large California contingency. A lot of people are looking forward to what should be a great game.

Hey guys, this is my first post. I grew up in So Cal cheering for the Bruins but am a grad of BYU. I was cheering hard on Monday for UCLA and was glad to see such a gutsy win.

I’d ignore that lame crap from the Husky poster. An idiot. The truth is, most of us Cougar fans see the UCLA game as “the game” this regular season (excepting our rivalry game against Utah of course). You’re seeing the absolute genius of Norm Chow. My one fear going into this game is seeing Chow pick apart our young and inexperienced secondary. I couldn’t believe the Tennessee defensive coordinator couldn’t use those two amazing safeties to close up the seams in the secondary. Chow just kept running Moya and guys up into those seems – over and over and over again. BYU did the same thing the year before last against Oregon in the Las Vegas bowl with our tight end Johnny Harline.

I think the keys for UCLA will be these…..
1. Your defensive line is the strength of your team and Dwayne better have a plan for those guys to break in and pressure Max Hall. If you can pressure Hall, it throws the rhythm of the offense off, and it’s all about rhythm.
2. As Tennessee found out, you have to account for the tight ends in this offense. Our offense is the largely Norm Chowian with differences. Look at BYU games the past 3 years, and you’ll see tight ends playing a huge role. You need to account for Dennis Pitta and his very good backups.
3. You will probably stop the run. That’s a given. However, once it is stopped, don’t let Harvey Unga run behind the linebackers to catch balls. He’s got great hands and can plow through the smaller guys in the secondary (he’s also pretty shifty after the catch for such a big guy).
4. Craft is going to have to keep his head on straight. The BYU stadium will be sold out at around 64,000 fans, which is small compared to Rose Bowl capacity, but still a freaking loud stadium. He’s going to have to be patient and do everything Chow dials up for 4 quarters.
5. Your secondary is going to need to step up. I was waiting and waiting for Tennessee to exploit what I saw as a serious advantage, but Crompton (is that is name?) couldn’t deliver the dang ball. Max Hall won’t have that problem. He’s accurate and he knows the routes. Plus, BYUs Austin Collie is fast. A lot faster and bigger than people realize (remember what he did to your #1 corner in the Rose Bowl last year). Your secondary will really need to contain Collie and Reed and Pitta.

That’s my take. I’ll be at the game. I live 3 hours from the stadium, but this is one of the games I’m traveling up for with my season tickets. It’s always good to welcome a So Cal crowd into Provo. There are a lot of California ties in Provo.

If Craft stays calm and your corners play above and beyond, I think it’ll be a game. BYU is a different animal at home, though. Much more confident.