Cougar Blue NCAA 2008 (Redux)

[BYU 14]

I wanted to restart this for a couple of reasons. One was to update and use a more accurate roster (at least for BYU) I also wanted to make the format a bit cleaner. The amount of video links made the original thread really slow, so this one will only include the Pontiac game changing performance. Also I experimented with a couple of different things and now know exactly how I want to present things. So, we start over with your 2007 BYU Cougars.

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x32/Kidbrit/2007DC.gif

Outlook:

Defense
The Defense loses some key people, but is still an experienced unit overall. We are young up front with mostly Sophomores, but they all saw time last year and are battle tested. The key players are Nixon and Kehl, two speedy playmakers on the outside that are all over the field, our Defense will go as they go. The secondary is experienced, but still suspect, we will play a lot of zone as they are not the fastest group around.

Offense
We are very young with only one senior starting, but the O-line is still very experienced as most of them have started or gotten minutes since they were Freshmen. This unit will help break in a new QB to replace MWC player of the year John Beck. The running backs have potential, Vakapuna must stay healthy and Unga has been a pleasant surprise in Fall camp. Reed and Collie (who returns from a Morman mission) are the playmakers at wideout, but our Tight ends will be the wild card, we have three that can play.

2007 Schedule

Baylor 38-50
@ #19 UCLA 35-25
@ Tulsa 21-12
Air Force 24-13
@ New Mexico 73-27
BYE
@ UNLV 28-10
Hawaii
@ San Diego St
Colorado St
#22 TCU
@ Wyoming
Utah

Preseason Recruiting

My biggest needs next year wil be Linebacker and Secondary, as well as O-Line depth. Here is my initial recruit list.

QB Eric Gray - Utah ***
HB Cory Robinson - Utah **** (A rare 4 star back from Utah, a must get)
HB Jay Harris - Utah ***
WR Marcus Cannon - Utah **** (Another rare gem from Utah, he likes BCS schools)
WR Jimmy Holmes - Utah **
T Cole Hinds - Utah ** (A teammate of Gray's)
G Nick Davis - Utah ***
C Dominic Outlaw - Utah **
DE Joel Porter - Utah *** (Solid small school player)
DT Fred Charles - Utah ***
ILB John Breedlove - Utah **
CB Evan Holmes - Utah **
DT Joe Silva - Utah **

Those are the local Kids I am going after, a pretty solid group from the home state this year.

SS Adam Alston - Texas **** (A reach, but he is talking to us)
SS Steve Weber - Texas ***
FS Dennis Harrell - Arizona **
FS Eugene Stukes - Arizona **
CB Caleb Jones - Texas **** (Would start right away, has us #3!!)
CB Justin Rivas - California *** (Juco, would also compete to start)
CB Andy Earwood - California **** (Talking to us, but another long shot)
ILB Matt Jackson - California **
ILB Andrew Tyson - Texas **
OLB Dennis Harris - Texas **** (A stud the Texas schools are all over him)
OLB Louis Pugh - California *** (Have a chance here, could start early)
DE Travis Alverez - Arizona **** (outside looking in right now)
C Bruce Cooper - Texas ****
G Greg Hooper - California *** (In top 10 but heavy competition)
T Anthony Smith - Texas *** (Hasn't given us the time of day yet)
TE Paul Wolfe - Arizona *** (A good addition to our always strong TE stable)
WR Derek Preston - California ***
FB Mike Freeney - California *** (Hates us currently)
HB Justin Fitzpatrick - Texas ***
QB Chris Tate - Arizona ** (Has Miami #1..good luck with that!!)
G Keron Mayo - Hawaii **** (Top O-line priority, will take some work)
ATH Harry Rice - Texas *** (Love this Kid, has us #2 behind Purdue)

Going for some reaches with the out of state Kids, I am hoping offering some early will help.....

[BYU 14]

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x32/Kidbrit/Baylorgame1.gif

Pontiac Game changing performance
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</EMBED>
It was more like a Game stealing performance!! As you can see Collie was clearly down when the ball came out. Unfortunately, it happened in the last 3 minutes of the game and I couldn't challenge it and for some reason the Booth chose not to, so we got screwed. At the time this happened we had forced punts on 4 consecutive Baylor drives and climbed back from a 20 point deficeit to trail 44-38. We had momentum going and this just killed it, game over. Still we had 4 turnovers, and they got points off of every one of them. Plus our Defense literally went to sleep in the second quarter, it was like trying to stop a tidal wave with a Sponge!! The O-line also played poorly in spots and Hall was under duress most of the game. To his credit it was a pretty solid debut, minus the 2 picks.

[BYU 14]

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[BYU 14]

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x32/Kidbrit/UCLAGame.gif

Pontiac Game changing performance
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The Defense bounced back remarkably well after being shredded by Baylor to open the Season, totally shutting down the Bruin attack. The game was nowhere near as close as the score indicated as Max Hall mistakes in the red zone gave UCLA 15 points. Despite these lapses Max played a good game overall and is moving the Team very well. The running game has yet to get completely untracked and that will be a necessity if we are going to have a successful Season.

[BYU 14]

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x32/Kidbrit/Cnews2.gif

[BYU 14]

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x32/Kidbrit/Tulsagame.gif

Pontiac Game changing performance
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With Austin Collie out, we needed someone to pick up the slack and Michael Reed responded with the greatest performance by a WR in BYU history, recording a school record 277 yards receiving! The defense was not as stingy as last week against the Bruins, giving up some yards, but never breaking. The highlight was a brilliant goal line stand early in the 4th, stopping Tulsa on 4th down from inside the 1, as we held a 14-6 lead. Two plays later, Hall found Reed on a short fade route that Reed took 96 yards to the house to seal the deal.

[BYU 14]

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[Ironhead]

Wow, huge day by Reed. Good luck this season.

[BYU 14]

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x32/Kidbrit/Airforcegame.gif

Pontiac Game changing performance


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Another good Defensive effort as we shut down the Falcon option and kept Carney on his heels all day, mixing coverages effectively, resulting in 4 picks. Air force brought a lot of pressure forcing Hall to throw underneath most of the game, but he was efficient and did not turn the ball over which was huge in this one. We only have a single 100 yard game from our running backs this year and I still want to improve on that as we need to be able to eat clock when we have the lead.

[BYU 14]

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We get a BYE week after New Mexico, which will mean we can get healthy. Great news that Ferguson is out for the Lobos. New Mexico is a different Team without Rodney. I will take advantage of the BYE week after this game to really focus on recruiting, especially Linebacker and Secondary.

Little change on the top half of the top 25 and still no votes for the Cougars, hopefully wins over Hawaii and TCU will change that.

[MacroGuru]

Why did you start out against Baylor and not Zona?

[BYU 14]

Why did you start out against Baylor and not Zona?

I was sure I could hold Baylor to less than 50 points, ugh.

I thought they would be a better matchup, but they turned out to be my dynasty version of Tulsa this year :)

[BYU 14]

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x32/Kidbrit/NewMexicoGame2007.gif
Pontiac Game changing performance
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100 points and over 1000 yards of Offense between both teams harkend back to the old days of the WAC shootouts, as we exploded for over 600 yards of total Offense and 73 points against New Mexico. We could do nothing wrong in this game, moving the ball at will and forcing the Lobos into 6 turnovers. The majority of New Mexico's yards game in the second half with the game way out of reach against our backups on Defense.

Our enemic running game was ignited by Redshirt Freshman Harvey Unga, who shredded the Lobos for 143 yards in his first Collegiate start. This will undoubtedly create a controversy at Running back with him and Vakapuna (Who also ran well in this game) I will try and get both a fair amount of touches from here on out, though if Unga continues to run like this, he could become the feature back.

[BYU 14]

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We head to Las Vegas after the BYE week to play the Rebels, who are a surprising 4-2 and 2-0 in conference, we will see if they are for real this week. Both Collie and Tonga will play despite their injuries and Howard is mostly a special teams guy and Nickel back, so we should be OK their. With UNLV's starting Center out I will try and exploit them with a few more inside blitzes than usual, we just need to make sure we contain Rocky Hinds on the edge.

[Young Drachma]

Is this the X-Box version that allows you to export game videos and such alike? Because this is really, really, really cool.

[BYU 14]

You can on both Xbox and PS3 (Which is what I have)

I will get an update done tomorrow

[BYU 14]

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x32/Kidbrit/UNLVGame2007.gif

Pontiac Game changing performance

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Coming off a bye week and a 73 point explosion, I would have expected that our offense would be a little crisper, but it seemed to effect us just the opposite. Hall threw 3 picks and we lost 2 fumbles as well, being held scoreless until Freshman sensation Harvey Unga took a pitch and raced around right end untouched with under 5 minutes to play in the second quarter. The game stayed tight until our defense finally stiffened and we put it away midway through the 4th.

Unga was again lights out tallying exactly 143 yards for the second game in a row and Hall played much better after intermission. The defense was horrendous against the pass, put another strong effort against the run kept UNLV one dimensional.

[BYU 14]

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We head into a huge showdown against undefeated and #14 Hawaii. We are now getting some votes in the polls and a win here would be a huge boost for us, not to mention the fact that we have some high profile recruits in. With our running game now going at full cry and Hall showing some maturity I like our chances. What worries me is our pass defense and after giving up 406 yards to UNLV I am afraid this will be a shootout.