Cougar Blue NCAA 2008 - Return of the Haka

[BYU 14]

Time to bring back Cougar Blue NCAA 2008 style. I will take control of BYU on AA, with sliders similar to Eagle Fans. This is designed mostly to decrease the insane number of picks and open up the Game a bit. So without further adieu meet your 2007 BYU Cougars....



Strengths:
Offensive Line: Without a doubt the O-line is the biggest strength. 4 of 5 Starters return and the scary part is we will only lose one Lineman after this Season. This group has a lot of experience and talent and they will hopefully take the pressure off of our new Quarterback.

Linebackers: The Linebacking corp is fast and also has a lot of experience, they will anchor the Defense, which also boasts what should be BYU's best secondary on years.

Weaknesses:
Quarterback: Max Hall has a good pedigree, breaking all of John Becks records in High School at Mesa Mountain View, however all of our QB's combined have taken zero D1 snaps, we will need to run the ball well to put them in a position to succeed.

Kicking Game: Two Freshman will man these duties and neither has set the World on fire yet, though Mitch Payne has a strong Leg and may eventually assume both kicking and punting duties as his Brother Matt did.

2007 Schedule (* Conference Game, HC Homecoming)
Sept 1 Akron 31-8
Sept 8 @ UCLA (#19) 7-30
Sept 15 @ Tulsa 35-3
Sept 22 Air Force* 29-31
Sept 29 @ New Mexico* 24-21 OT
BYE
Oct 13 @ UNLV* 35-21
Oct 20 Hawaii 33-21
Oct 27 @ San Diego State* 44-17
Nov 3 Colorado State* HC 28-10
Nov 8 TCU* (#22) 35-21
Nov 17 @ Wyoming 45-28
Nov 24 Utah 17-10

I substituted Akron for Arizona in Game 1 to get a Cupcake up front and renewed our rivalry with Hawaii in place of 1AA Eastern Washington, so overall I think the schedule got a bit tougher.

[Izulde]

That depth chart graphic is sweet.

And btw, please be to losing to Wyoming.

[BYU 14]

Akron is led by the dangerous dual threat QB Carlton Jackson, we need to contain him as he is probably more dangerous with his Feet than his Arm. The ideal scenario would see us get out to an early lead to take the pressure off of Hall and try and control the clock behind our Offensive line. We also need a big game from Vakapuna who is coming off an injury plagued sophmore Season. It is vital we keep him healthy as the second string Halfback out of Fall camp is true Frosh JJ DiLuigi.

Recruiting
Our biggest needs are the Linebacker and Safety positions which are both Senior heavy. We will need to get some kids that can come in and contribute fairly early. I target several prospects in each area as well as a couple of "tweener" athletes that could play either spot if needed, depending on where we end up recruit wise.

[BYU 14]

Despite the comfortable win it was a very sloppy game as the Teams combined for 12 (Akron 8 BYU 4) turnovers. The BYU Offensive line turned in a jackyl and Hyde performance dominating Akrons front on running plays, but giving up 9 sacks, as they were confused by the Zips blitz schemes all night. This has to get fixed. Despite the heavy pressure Hall had a very solid game in his first D1 start and only made a couple of bad decisions. Vakapuna had no trouble at all getting around the edge on Akron as the Zips were unable to contain the stretch and sweep plays, due in large part to great blocking by RT David Oswald and TE Vic So'oto.

ESPN Highlights


Hall to Collie opens the scoring


Vakapuna goes House from 50 yards out


Fui again from 22 yards out


Gooch with an amazing 78 yard Int return

[BYU 14]

Cougar fans have long been awaiting this game, hoping for the opportunity to watch Ben(edict) Olson get the come uppence they feel he deserves. Commiting to the Cougars as the #1 QB prospect in the Nation out of High School, Olson bolted for UCLA after his Church mission. Alas the angry masses will not have their Bloodlust quenched as Pat Cowan claimed the starting QB job in fall camp for the Bruin and he leads an explosive Offense as the Bruin come off a 38-27 Season opening win over Stanford.

I will be happy if we put up 27 as the Cardinal did as UCLA has an experienced, athletic Defense that will test our spread scheme. If we do not perform better in pass proection than we did against Akron it will be a long Day. This week, more so than last we must continue to run the ball well to keep their Offense off the field and let our big bodies up front wear UCLA down.

Recruiting:
We hit the trial hard this week going after our need positions of LB and Safety mostly. We have our 35 targets in place Which I will list below. After this week I will only report on Visits and Commits.
QB
JD Riley ***** Arizona
Tyrone Edwards *** California

Both African American Quarterbacks, which if we land one and they eventually start would be a first for BYU. Riley is a longshot for sure but we have a shot at Edwards, who is very athletic.

RB
Frank Moses **** Texas
Josh Johnson **** California
Chad Richard ** Utah

Both Johnson and Richard have fairly high interest in our program and Johnson would be a great catch. Moses is another long shot but he is in our Texas pipeline and amazingly has no offers yet.

WR
Josh Browning **** Texas
Kevin Wright *** Texas
Lance Clay ** Utah
Eddie Patterson ** California

We have had luck recruiting wide outs from Texas landing Michael Reed and McKay Jacobson (Now on a mission) from the lone star State. We are in each kids top 8 and Browning has the highest interest level in us currently.

TE
Brandon Hawk ** Arizona

We have great talent for the next 4 years at TE, so Hawk is mainly for depth, we are his favorite school as well.

OT
Chase Harris ** California
Tate Lee ** California

Not worried about landing a blue chipper here this year, though both these Guys are serviceable. We are #1 on Harris' list and #2 on Lee's.

OG
Tom Mooney **** Utah

One of the top guys in the State and we are his favorite School at this point. He is the only Guard I am recruiting so he is a must get.

C
Kyle Rutledge *** Utah

Another quality lineman from our home State, but his top 3 Schools are South Carolina, Florida and NC State, so we have some work to do. Would provide us with a Center of the future if we can sway him to stay home.

DE
Ryan Gilmore *** California
Tim Atkins *** California
Howard Daily ** Arizona

We are young and deep at DE, so this is not an area of concern this year. Gilmore has us as his top School though, so we will definitely go hard for him.

DT
Jermaine Fletcher **** Utah
Albert Lewis ** Utah

Fletcher is Utah's top interior Lineman on Defense and we are #2 behind Colorado so he is definitely one we can get. Lewis has Utah ranked ahead of us which means I will probably ignore him

OLB
James Calhoun **** California
Jason White *** Utah
Rod McAfee ** California

One of our need positions so I would like to get 2 of these 3 if possible. Calhoun is a Gem and has us as his #2 School right now behind USC so the competition for his services will be tough. We are #1 with both the other Guys so I will be sure to give them lots of attention.

ILB
Mark Patton *** Utah
Jamal Thompson *** California

Both solid players who can help and Thompson even has us as #1 ahead of both USC and UCLA!! Patton has us as #2 behind Oregon State, with the hated Utes nipping at our heels as his 3rd choice.

CB
Corey Fagan ***** Texas
Patrick Richardson **** California
Andre Mitchell **** Texas
Danny Jones ** California
Eric Wall * Utah

You can never have enough good Corners and Richardson likes us at #2 behind Oregon State. He will get an invite to visit this week. Of the rest only Jones has us in his top 3 and Fagan does not even have us in his top 10. He is probably a wasted of effort and I will most likely drop him from the list if we can't gain ground soon.

FS
None

I know it is a need postion but I will look to move an Athlete to this spot as none of the Free Safeties that liked us will be much help.

SS
Clayton Little ** California
Antoine Monroe ** California
Antoine Jackson ** Utah

Little has us #1 and would be a good addition, though not spectacular. We are #3 with Jackson and I will need to step up my pursuit of him as well.

Athletes
Eric Woods *** Utah
Reggie Roberts *** Utah

Roberts is our number 1 hope for a FS as he has good size and is very athletic. Woods is a TE/DE type that could also play rush Linebacker, but at 6' 6" and 282 pounds he's just a tad too big for Safety

K and P
None

Don't need any

[BYU 14]

Being as we were playing in the motion picture captital of the World the first half of this game could definitely earn an Oscar for best horror film of 2007. Things could not have started any worse as Fui Vakapuna went down on our first Series (Should be back next week) and Manase Tonga was hurt on our second series (5 Weeks with broken Ribs) Forced to shoulder the burden Hall had a horrible first half throwing 3 interceptions and UCLA, led by the pinpoint passing of Pat Cowan jumped out to the huge Halftime lead.

We were horrendous inside the "Blue zone" going o for 5 with three turnovers and two 4th down failures as we tried to get back into the game in the second half. If there was a silver lining in this ugly Cloud, it would be the play of true frosh JJ DiLuigi. Not nearly as physical as Vakapuna, JJ will not run over anyone, but once he gets into the open Field he is electric, ripping off several nice runs, including our only TD in the 4th Quarter. We ran the Ball well for the second game in a row and if we had not fallen into a big hole so early I would have continued to stick with the run. I need to stick to the run more in coming games as it will be our calling card until Hall matures more. We allow six more sacks and this is really starting to bother me, though this game it was as much Hall's fault as the lines.

ESPN Highlights


DiLuigi gets BYU on the board with first NCAA TD


Nice run after the catch by Michael Reed


UCLA's Dennis Keyes makes Hall pay for bad throw


UCLA QB Pat Cowen throws third TD pass

[BYU 14]

Tulsa brings an explosive passing attack, but they are pretty ordinary on the ground, so I will scheme agains the the Pass and if they are to have a shot, they will need to do it running. We have something to prove after the UCLA debacle and I expect the Defense to play the way they did in the second half of that game.

Offensively we get Fui back, but after his perfomance last week Diluigi will get some touches as well. I want at least a 60/40 run/pass ratio in this game and I will stick to that, even if we get down early.

Recruiting
Nothing major, I do drop two of the Players I had little chance of getting and add a couple of 2 Star Free Safeties, neither would make me comfortable as a starter, but we need bodies there. Also line up a bunch of visits and I will host my first recruits at the Air Force game.

[MrBug708]

Woo! Go UCLA!

[BYU 14]

Traveling to Tulsa to play the Golden Hurricanes in a driving Rain storm, we were even nastier than the Weather in a very physical Game. We started slow, failing to cross midfield in the first Quarter, but then exploded early in the second as Vakapuna was not even touched on his first TD run. Sticking to the game plan of bend but don't break Defense and a steady diet of the ground Game allowed us to control the game from start to finish.

Tulsa drove the ball well at times, but our Defense made the big play when needed, including a Bone crunching hit by Quinn Gooch (Pictured above) that jarred the Ball loose from Tulsa WR Corey Kizer on a 4th and Goal from the one on the second quarter. Frosh sensation JJ DiLuigi again showed a flair for the sensational making Tulsa pay for an all out Blitz. Taking a swing pass from Max Hall, Diluigi sidestepped a Tulsa defender and went the distance. The Weather played havoc as the Cougars picked Tulsa QB off 5 times.

ESPN Highlights


Vakapuna goes untouched off tackle on a a 61 yard TD jaunt


Kehl grabs a tipped ball to thwart Tulsa threat


Hall hits George for Cougars third score of the 2nd Quarter


The "Ghost from Coast" JJ Diluigi turning straw into Gold

[BYU 14]

A big game for both Teams as we open our MWC schedule with the always dangerous Falcons. Scoring has not been their problem as they move the ball well behind the leadership of Sr standout Shaun Carney, who seems to be thriving in the Falcons new system, which still retains a lot of the old Flexbone, but also shows some spread looks as well. The Falcons are 0-2 in Conference play and a loss today would effectively eliminate them from any outside shot at a conference Championship. They are rather undersized on the D-Line and we will look to exploit this as much as possible.

For us the key is cutting down on sacks allowed, we giving up over 6 a game which is crazy as good as we are up front. Hall will have to do a better job on his hot reads in blitz situations. Defensively we have been lights out for the last 6 quarters allowing only 6 points, but will have to play with discipline against Air Force to maintain this pace.

Recruiting
We are entertaining the following prospects this week in Provo and we are highly regarded by all, so I will be hoping to garner an early commit from at least one of them.

OG Tom Mooney **** Utah

DE Tim Atkins *** California

OT Chase Harris ** California

[BYU 14]

A familiar affliction doomed us as we threw 4 more picks and lost 2 fumbles, while Air Force only committed a single turnover. You won't win many games with a -5 TO ratio!!! The Falcons also did comething nobody has done to us this year, control the ball on the ground as we give up our first 100 yd game to an opponents RB this Season. Carney was very efficient for the Falcons when asked to throw and that did us in.

Still it was an exciting game that saw the Cougs claw back time and again, as the fourth Quarter was scripted for a Hollywood ending. Brendan Gaskins, in for the injured Max Hall shook off early adversity to bring us back to within 5 late. The Defense bent but eventually stopped the Falcons, who elected to try a long FG and converted to take a seemingly insurmountable lead with just over 30 seconds to play........It was then that Michael Reed performed his magic, taking the ensuing kickoff back as the Crowd went berserk!! Needing a 2 point conversion to tie, Bryce Mahuika was open for the tie, but an errant throw from Gaskins forced him to dive back out of the end zone to catch the Ball.

Recruit visits
We had good information on the pitches, so they were all set up for a great visit, however the loss was a buzz kill as all three rated the visit a C....Not quite what we wanted.

ESPN Highlights


Chad Hall was a thorn in the Cougars paw all day


Max Hall finds a wide open Collie to draw blood for Cougs


Backup QB Brendan Gaskins rallies the Cougars late


Michael Reed makes it a classic!!

[BYU 14]

Smarting from the heartbreaking loss to Air force, we travel to Albuquerque to play the resurgent New Mexico Lobos in what is already a must win Conference Game. The Lobos, led by duel threat QB Donovan Porterie are the surprise team of the MWC thus far at 4-0, including a 29-22 win over Arizona. Relying on a strong ground attack and a big play passing game, the Lobos rank 8th in the country in total Offense. I worry about this game because they can do the same type of things Air Force did, only better. We will have to contain Porterie, but can't overlook TB Rodney Ferguson or they will chew up the clock on us.

Again the key will be getting out to an early lead as we played catchup against the Air Force the entire Game and were not able to run as much as we would have liked to. Max Hall will be back after missing the last quarter and a half of the loss to the Falcons, and he needs to step it up. A 5/10 TD to Int ratio is just not acceptable and Max needs to improve his reads. In his 5th College start he should be showing signs of improvement. Defensively Kelly Poppinga has been on a tear and now leads the Team in tackles. Jud Anderton was a monster against Air Force and leads the Cougs in TFL (Tackles for loss) Hopefully he can continue his high level of play against an experienced New Mexico line.

Recruiting
No news here, I will start to eliminate a few more players that don't have us in their top 5 and look to replace them with some capable Kids that want to come to BYU. Leaving no stone unturned I will venture outside of our Pipeline States (Utah, California, Texas and Arizona) to look for some Diamonds in the rough in other areas of the country that I might be able to steal, most notably the surrounding Rocky Mountain states and Florida.

[BYU 14]

With the exception of two big plays our Defense plays lights out, holding the potent Lobo attacked to 243 yards of total Offense in a driving Rainstorm, over 200 yards below their average. Donovan Porterie does hurt us twice with long TD Passes, but one was a blown coverage and the other came when we were caught in an all out Blitz. Jan Jorgensen has a monster game leading a stingy front seven that limits New Mexico to 2 yards rushing, holding explosive Tailback Rodney Ferguson to just 1 net yard on 10 carries. If not for the big plays and some mistakes on Offense this game would have been a blowout, but 2 more interceptions by Max Hall and 2 fumbles lost all occur at critical times (including a pick returned for 6)

Offensively, even with the two picks, Hall plays reasonably well, setting career marks for attempts and completions as we dominate time of possession. We are also able to maintain a strong ground attack, despite trailing for most of the game and Fui Vakapuna is the big Dog both running and catching out of the backfield. Another big plus is the ability of Hall to buy time by moving around in the pocket more than he has in previous games. Austin Collie is also lights out as he makes several tough catches in traffic, including out jumping a Lobo defender in the end zone to haul in a Hall Prayer in the second quarter. (See Highlight) I was happy to see Freshman Shane Monson come through in overtime, as he had a chance to win it as time expired, but his 40 yard attempt hit the right Upright. Monson was set up to be the Hero after FS Quinn Gooch made the play of the game, climbing the Ladder to intercept a Porterie pass, saving a sure TD on New Mexico's first and only possesion in Overtime.

This is a huge win as it keeps us in the MWC title hunt and New Mexico is a team that can play with anybody in the conference, so they will certainly give the other front runners all they can handle.

ESPN Highlights


Donovan Porterie exploits a blown coverage as the Lobos get a quick six


Max Halls prayer is answered by Austin Collie


POG, DE Jan Jorgenson puts the hurt to Donovan Porterie


Quinn Gooch saves the game in OT for the Cougars

[Ironhead]

Nice win over the Lobos. Just make sure you get that recruiting machine up and running!

[BYU 14]

Recruiting
We talk to 28 of the 35 Kids on our board and 14 of them have BYU as number 1, I will have to be sure to make sure we have good games when they come visit. Only 6 Kids have not committed to visits yet and I think we can get all but 2 of them to visit. The ones we have vitually no shot at are 5 star QB JD Riley, who seems set on going to a BCS School and 4 star Safety Kellen Faga, who I am still going to try and pursue. Riley will be off the board if I can not get him to smile by next week and I will look for the best available QB out there.

MWC Standings
TCU 4-1 (2-0)
UNLV 3-2 (1-0)
Utah 3-2 (1-1)
BYU 3-2 (1-1)
Air Force 2-3 (1-2)
New Mexico 4-1 (0-1)
San Diego St 2-2 (0-0)
Colorado St 1-3 (0-1)
Wyoming 1-3 (0-0)

Still early and it looks like there will be some parity. TCU is obviously the team to beat and we get them (and Utah) at home. UNLV is next up and I don't feel they will be able to hang with us, we control our destiny at this point and just need to keep playing well on Defense and reduce our mistakes on Offense.

Top 25
1 - Michigan 5-0 (41)
2 - Texas 5-0 (20)
3 - West Virginia 5-0
4 - Virginia Tech 5-0
5 - Wisconsin 5-0
6 - Oklahoma 5-0
7 - Arkansas 4-0
8 - USC 3-1
9 - Nebraska 5-0
10 - Louisville 5-0
11 - Florida 4-1
12 - Ohio St 5-0
13 - California 5-0
14 - Georgia 5-0
15 - Rutgers 4-0
16 - Tennesee 3-1
17 - Florida St 4-0
18 - LSU 3-2
19 - Hawaii 4-0
20 - UCLA 4-1
21 - TCU 4-1
22 - Notre Dame 4-1
23 - USF 3-1
24 - Miami 4-1
25 - Penn St 3-2

Still a lot of unbeatens left as conference play begins in earnest. Some good battles shaping up, particularly in the Big 10 with 4 teams in the top 25 and 3 still unbeaten. Ohio St being so low is a bit of a surprise, but there toughest games (Penn St, Wisconsin and Michigan) are all at the end of the year. Hawaii is the best Non-BCS team and we have them coming up, hopefully we can must their BCS hopes as there is no love lost between us from the old days together in the WAC, plus the fact that we recruit the islands heavily.

[MacroGuru]

Loss to AFA, I don't know if I can support this Dynasty....LOL! Go Cougars!

[MacroGuru]

DOLA,

and if I am in Town, I will be going to the Arizona game....

[BYU 14]

Another road game as we hit Las Vegas to take on the Rebels, led by QB Rocky Hinds, who appears to finally be living up to the hype. They also have a decent running game, but statistically we should be the better team. Their Defense is ranked #111 in the country in terms of yardage allowed and was particularly bad in an early Season loss to Hawaii. However the Reb's have beaten Utah and Air Force, who we lost to in our MWC opener. I am not worried about scoring, as we are running the Ball very well and Austin Collie has emerged as one of the top receivers in the conference, picking up right where he left off before his mission. Once again the play of Hall will be the key, limit mistakes and don't take needless sacks.

Recruiting
I had a productive week and even got JD Riley looking a little closer at our program, as we edge into his top ten....still a big long shot, but I will continue to pursue him. No commits, but we have not yet lost anyone and 24 of 35 on the board have us as one or two on their favorites list.

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by MacroGuru

Loss to AFA, I don't know if I can support this Dynasty....LOL! Go Cougars!

I almost quit this dynasty after that game

I wish I could make it up for the AZ game.....I will have to settle for Tivo after I get done with films though

[BYU 14]

Well, we put ourselves in yet another closer than it needed to be game as Hall threw one of his picks in the "Blue Zone" and Collie fumbled a kickoff return that went the other way for a score and lost another fumble on a key second half drive. Still Hall had probably his best game of the Season, buying himself time and responding under pressure with 2 huge third down conversions on what turned into the eventual Game winning drive. Seldom used TE Andrew George came out of nowhere to record 5 receptions and score his first TD of the Season and Vakapuna had another strong game.

Speaking of third down conversions we held the Rebels to just 1 of 10 and though Hinds hurt us at times on the option, we shut him down when needed. We also did not give up any big plays which forced UNLV to put together sustained drives, something that is not easy against this Defense. This win is a key momentum builder going into to next weeks game with #17 Hawaii and we will need another strong effort by the Defense to keep us in the game against Colt Brennan and company. Michael Reeds Kickoff return for a TD was his second of the Season and he is developing into our best threat on special teams in years.

ESPN Highlights


Matt Allen makes his return in style scoring the Cougs first TD


Michael Reed makes the Rebels only lead of the game short lived


Austin Collie scores the first of his two touchdowns in the 3rd


Ben Criddle gets his 5th pick of the Season to stymie a late Rebel drive

[BYU 14]

We face a formidable challenge this week as #16 Hawaii comes to town. Their Offense gets all the pub, but Defensively they have played lights out as well, ranking #2 in the nation in total Defense, though I am sure we are the best Offense they have faced thus far this year. Of course they also boast the best pass Offense in the nation as well and Colt Brennan has put up insane numbers! Davon Bess is a beast and he will see double coverage o'plenty.

Defensively we will focus exclusively on the pass and take our lumps if they decide to run the Ball. Once again the key will be keeping that explosive Offense on the sideline so we will look to run the ball and throw short passes to chew up the clock. Max Hall showed improvement against UNLV, but the Rainbow Warriors will be a little tougher nut to crack....in short we need a perfect game.

Recruiting

A big week with 7 prospects visiting, a win over a top 20 team will go a long way towards landing some of these Kids.

Prospects visiting (Number in parenthesis, is where we stand on their list of favorites)

Josh Browning WR **** Texas (1)
Eric Woods Ath *** Utah (2)
Ryan Gilmore DE *** California (1)
Jason White LB *** Utah (1)
Brandon Hawk TE ** Arizona (1)
Chad Richard RB ** Utah (2)
Rod McAfee OLB ** California (1)

Obviously they are all important, but Browning and White in particular are huge and we need to impress!

[BYU 14]

The Rainbow Warriors hit Provo with a perfect 6-0 record, a top 20 ranking and one of the best Offenses in the nation Saturday. By halftime they were wondering what hit them. The first half was far and away the best 30 minutes of Football the Cougars have played this Season. Max Hall was flawless, Fui Vakapuna was unstoppable and the BYU Defense was making Heisman contender Colt Brennan look like a medicore High School Quarterback. The tone was set early, as we held Hawaii on their first drive, forcing a punt that pinned us at our own 2 yardline. From then on the upset was in full effect as Vakapuna took the first play from scrimmage the distance and we never looked back.

Despite completing 30 of 45, relentless pressure forced Brennan into several bad throws that resulted in a career high 6 interceptions and probably dashed any hope he had of a Heisman against the jagged Mountain range surrounding Lavell Edwards Stadium. Hall looked like the All-American in the first half, showing poise and pinpoint accuracy to lead the Cougs to a comfortable 23-7 lead at the break, with Jr. Michael Reed playing the role of favorite target. Vakapuna was relentless running over, around and through the Warrior Defense behind dominating line play and the return of Fullback Manase Tonga from injury.

Hall relapsed in the second half throwing 3 more picks, but the Warriors were unable to get any closer than 12 as the Defense continued to confuse Brennan, as well as make the Hawaii running game a complete non-entity. Led by strong line play and the speed of our Linebackers, BYU is quietly emerging as one of the best Defense in the country against the run. On the day we outgained the potent Hawaii Offense 447-319.

ESPN Highlights


Vakapuna races untouched on a 98 yard TD romp


Matt Allen steps out of a Warrior tackle to score 2nd BYU Touchdown


Dustin Gabriel snags one of 3 picks on the day to set the table


Jud Anderton pounces on fumble deep in Hawaii Territory

[BYU 14]

Riding high on the upset of Hawaii, we travel to SoCal to take on San Diego State, who is traveling in the opposite direction having lost 4 straight after a 2-1 start. There is nothing wrong Offensively as Keven O'Connell provides a nice duel threat along the lines of New Mexico's Porterie. We will spy him and play a lot of zone coverage, and again dare them to run, which we don't think they can against our Defense (Now ranked #13 in the Nation)

San Diego States real achilles heal is a porous Defense that ranks near the bottom of the NCAA, we should be able to have our way with them and hopefully Hall will not make it closer than it needs to be. On top of their other woes, the Aztecs have 3 key players out injured, with Schilens being the biggest blow as he is their second leading receiver.

Given the direction of both Teams and the way our Defense is playing, this should be a blow out.

Recruiting

Nothing new to report here, 17 of our 35 targets have us at number 1, another 7 have us at two or three. We need to get some commits so I can focus on swaying some of the Guys that don't have us as a top 3 choice. A big win might get us a new Cougar or two, let's hope so.

[BYU 14]

Note: A certain Member of the Household that will remain nameless deleted all the highlights from the hard drive, so there are no pictures or highlights from this game.....He has promised it will never happen again though

Despite our best Offensive performance of the Season, defense again set the tone in this game, holding the Aztecs to 237 Total yards and blanketing Kevin O'Connell, recording 8 Sacks and numerous hurries. The two Aztec Touchdowns were both big plays and Bornes 4th Quarter run came against our 2nd and 3rd Team Defense, so no worries here. In our high risk system we will get burned on occassion and I will play closer to the vest if the game is in doubt.

Offensively our line gave it's best performance of the year in terms of pass protection, which enabled Hall to look downfield more, evidenced by the performance Collie and Reed had in terms of YPC. Tonga scored his first TD of the year and we ran for 129 yards as a Team. Our third down conversions were also stellar as we converted 13 of 16, while holding the Aztecs to 3 of 12 in this department. The only way we could be stopped was when Hall made bad decisions (yes another 3 picks)

Random thoughts
Still not a sniff of the top 25, though we finally get some votes in the Media poll. A little dissappointing since Hawaii is still ranked and New Mexico has more votes than us in both polls, despite victories over both Teams.

Still 5 unbeaten Teams remain (Games Left)
#1 Michigan 9-0 (Michigan St, #7 Wisconsin, #16 Ohio St)
#2 Oklahoma 9-0 (#25 Texas A&M, Baylor, Texas Tech)
#3 Arkansas 8-0 (South Carolina, #11 Tennessee, Missisipi St, #24 LSU)
#4 Louisville 9-0 (#9 West Virginia, #17 South Florida, #12 Rutgers) a tough draw
#6 Florida State 8-0 (Boston College, #10 Virginia Tech, Maryland, Florida)
Kind of a surprise the Gators are 5-3 and unranked.

Heisman frontrunners
Mario Manningham WR Michigan 59 - 1083 yds 14 TD
Harry Douglas WR Louisville 55 - 885 yds 14 TD
Chad Henne QB Michigan 147 - 223 2442 yds 32 TD 8 Int
Colt McCoy QB Texas 175 - 286 2226 yds 25 TD 9 Int
Brian Brohm QB Louisville 182 - 289 2760 yds 29 TD 4 Int

[BYU 14]

Colorado State rolls into to Provo as we celebrate Homecoming. We are currently in second place in the MWC at 3-1, while the Rams sit at 3-2 in conference play, but they are coming off a disappointing 28-0 thrashing at the hands of Utah. TCU is still unbeaten in conference play at 4-0 and we need to keep pace as we have them next week, at home, with the MWC crown on the line.

That makes this game worrisome as we can not look past the Rams and their talented TB Kyle Bell. Caleb Hanie is another mobile QB who is not a flashy numbers guy, but is very efficient and has improved greatly over last year, throwing only 2 interceptions all Season. He will not lose the game so we will have to take it. We will definitely throw less this game as I want to keep it close to the vest and wear the Ram Defense down with a steady dose of Vakapuna. DiLuigi will also get more reps for a change of pace and I may even play Manase Tonga some at TB. With is good as our Defense continues to play, we can afford to tone it down, with the goal to get TCU in here in a game that will mean something.

Recruiting
Speaking of meaning something, this is a big week for recruits as we welcome six recruits into town. (BYU's rank on their list of favorites in parenthesis)

RB Josh Johnson **** California (5)
CB Patrick Richardson **** California (1)
QB Tyrone Edwards *** Arizona (2)
OT Tate Lee ** California (2)
CB Andre Mitchell **** Texas (3)
FS Dan Wright ** Texas (1)

We have all their likes dialed in pretty well and we rank at least good in all of them. richardson and Wright are must gets and we don't want to do anything to slip in their Eyes. Meanwhile we hope a visit to Provo will sway the others our way, most notably Josh Johnson , who also has offers from UCLA, CAl , Oregon and Fresno State (his current #1)

[BYU 14]

Homecoing was an outstanding success as we totally controlled the Rams on both sides of the Ball. The defense gets better every week, this time holding CSU to 133 yards of Total offense. Once again if not for an ill-timed Hall pick we would have held them to 3 points. CSU has now struggled 2 weeks in a row, despite having one of the best running backs in the MWC in Kyle Bell and a more experienced and very servicable Caleb Hanie running the show. Without a doubt the star of the Game for the Rams was Sophomore Jake Pottorf, who was a force from his weakside Linebacker spot as the game summary shows.

For us a familiar trend emerged. A punishing ground game led by Fui Vakapuna and solid ball control passing, with the occasional deep ball mixed in. Michael Reed is great after the catch, in addition to his return skills and is probably our best big play threat. Collie has gamebreaking ability, but we have used him as more of a possesion guy for the most part, as he is great in traffic and had another solid outing today. Hall continues to be the enigma, alternating between spectacular and erratic, though he does seem to be at his best now in key situations, as another strong performance on thrid down conversions (11 of 16) by Cougars would indicate. CSU was only 3 of 10 here and we held the TOP advantage by a wide margin.

Recruiting

All six of our recruits had a great time and gave the visit a B+, I have to believe we are close to getting our first commitments from the class of 2008,
though a few that list us as favorites will undoubtedly take all their visits before deciding.

ESPN Highlights


Reed opens the scoring as gamble by Joey Rucks backfires


TE So'oto Gets some against Ram DBs


Quinn Cooch deflates the Rams early with TD saving pick


Collie scores first of 2 TDs against the Rams with a nifty corner move.

[Ironhead]

Boooooo!

Nice win over the Rams.

[BYU 14]

This game may very well be for the Mountain west Championship and we may just be catching TCU at the right time with their leading rusher, leading tackler and the anchor of their talented Offensive Line all out with injuries. They still present plenty of problems though as their Defense ranks ahead of ours statistically. (We are 8th in total D and they are 7th) They also sport one of the best running games in the Country, even with Brown on the shelf, as they have a cadre of talented backups.

This should be a tight game throughout and hopefully the fact that we are completely healthy will be the deciding factor. We rank in the top 3 in the Country in both Interceptions and sacks, though Hall ranks up there in number of pick thrown as well.....I have to remind myself he is still a sophomore and hasn't taken a meaningful snap in over 3 years before this Season started, still my patience is wearing thin, but I can't make a change as long as me keep winning.

Recruiting

Only two in this week, as I am saving the bulk of the remaining visits for the Holy war against Utah. These are both big time guys though, so they will get extra attention.

WR Kevin Wright *** Texas

ILB Jamal Thompson *** California

Both would be nice additions, who could possibly contribute as true Freshman next year, especially Thompson as we lose a lot in the Linebacking corps after this season.

[BYU 14]

A huge win that makes the MWC ours to lose. Max Hall reaffirmed my belief that he is developing into a clutch Player as he picked the most important game of the Season to have his best outing to date with only a single pick and completing 75% of his passes, an outstanding effort. Max's contribution was all the more important as TCU did a great job limiting Vakapuna and running the ball was tough all night against a physical Horned Frog Defense.

We also did a good job against the run, the option game in particular, blowing up plays in the backfield on several occasions. We have shown marked improvement here since the Air Force game. We have Wyoming up next and though they are down this year, Laramie is always a tough place to play in November....then of course we close with the Holy War, and this game is always unpredictable. This victory also was not without casualties as we will most likely be without Austin Collie for the remainder of the regular Season due to back spasms. Collie was hurt returning a TCU punt less than 2 minutes into the game.

ESPN Highlights


Tonga takes a swing pass and scores Cougs first TD


Kehl crushes Frog QB Marcus Jackson


Reeds off to paydirt after a nice juke


Tonga piledrives his way to the end zone

Recruiting
Mixed news here as we land our first recruit, but also lose one I thought we had a solid hold on.

Commits
CB Patrick Richardson **** California - BYU

OG Tom Mooney **** Utah - Iowa

Richardson is obviously a big pick up...4 Star corners are a rarity at BYU and he can probably compete for a job as a true Frosh.

Mooney had us leading all the way, but apparently had a great visit at the Hawkeye Campus this week as he committed on the spot.....We will be OK without a Guard this year, but I will have to go after two next if I can't find a decent late commit.

[BYU 14]

Changing the format slightly with the addition of Cougar news instead of the Previews.



I mentioned earlier I dreaded this game. Wyoming always gets up for us in Laramie and it sucks to play there in November!! They got out to a quick lead and Hall struggled mightily in the first quarter. Luckily our superior size was able to finally wear them down and Hall finally got things rolling in the second half. Our Defense also played much better after the half, aided no doubt by Wynell Seldon going out with an injury in the second quarter. Brandon Howard collects his first career interception late to set up Fui's final TD run.

ESPN Highlights


Tonga rumbles 71 yards after catching a flare pass from Hall


Hall to Allen on a nice 44 yd pitch and catch


Brandon Howard sets up final BYU TD with a pick



Very disappointing recruiting news losing Reggie Roberts, he looked like a sure thing and this will hurt in the secondary next year. Johnson was a 50/50, though I thought we had really come on and I knew Faga was an extreme long shot.

We have 14 kids in for the holy war, led by JD Riley, Mark Patton and Kyle Rutledge...we need a good showing!!!

[Ironhead]

Good luck against Utah. I have found that the difficulty really seems to ramp up in these rivalry games. Just like in my season it looks like this your game could be the difference between walking away with the MWC title.

[Ironhead]

Are you still planning on continuing this? Curious how your season ended.

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by Ironhead

Are you still planning on continuing this? Curious how your season ended.

Yeah, just been busy with work and Football

Already played the Utah game....It was a brutal defensive battle.

On a good RL Football note, the Freshman Team I coach is off to a great start at 3-0.

Westview 39 Maryvale 7
Westview 26 Pinnacle 12 (They were a big physical team!)
Westview 46 Deer Valley 0