The Holy War. Rivalry week in Utah. BYU and Utah in Salt Lake City, Saturday
night on national television. All of these aspects make this a big time game
for the Brigham Young Cougars, but besides the rivalry, this game could change
the course of the season. This is the week BYU proves they are a legitimate top
25 team or show they aren’t even the best team in the state of Utah.
Here is what to watch for Saturday night:
1. Is Utah hungry and
motivated after last week’s loss to Utah State, or is it disheartened?
After tough losses like that, teams
can go either way.
In 2001, Nebraska was undefeated and
ranked No.2 heading into its final regular season game against a good, but not
great, Colorado team. Nebraska was
steamrolled on national television during the Thanksgiving weekend 62-36.
Somehow, without even playing in the Big-12 championship game (but that’s a
discussion for another time), they managed to get into the BCS national
championship game to play the Miami Hurricanes. A lot of people thought they
would come back and play tough in the championship game; the loss was the best
thing that could have happened to them because it was a wakeup call. In the
first half of the BCS title game, however, Nebraska must have still been asleep
because the halftime score was 34-0. They went on to lose in the one of the
most one sided BCS championship game ever.
In 2006, however, another top team
did just the opposite. USC was also ranked No. 2 heading into their final
regular season game. USC was a heavy favorite over cross-town rival UCLA. Win
and they would be back in the BCS national championship game to avenge their
previous season’s loss to Texas. USC had averaged over 32 points a game up to
that point. The unranked and sub-0.500 Bruins held the Trojans to single
digits, and won 13-9. The speculation
leading up to the Rose Bowl began. Would USC play the way they had all season
up that game, or would they just fall over to No. 3 Michigan? After a
competitive first half, USC scored 16 unanswered points and pulled away for a
32-18 win, erasing the memory of loss to UCLA.
So the question is, which Utah team
will show up? The Nebraska or USC version?
2. How fast will BYU start
the game?
After analyzing the two games
mentioned above, what was the difference? Why did Nebraska fall twice in a row
while USC’s seemed to have no effect on them? I think they key is how fast does
the opponent start.
Both teams probably had their
previous loss in their minds. However,
once the game started, the thought of the last loss either grew, or diminished
based on how quickly the other team began. Miami crushed Nebraska out of the gates
and Nebraska could only think about how they were the inferior team, and it was
the Colorado game all over again. Michigan on the other hand, started off slow
with only a field goal in the first quarter. USC started slow, too, but they
were only three points behind. Then they kicked a field goal of their own in
the second quarter, and the game was tied at halftime. They were no longer
thinking about their previous loss, but about how they were in a competitive
game and could come out as Rose Bowl champions. They started the third quarter
hot, and pulled away for the win.
With that being said, question No.
2 will answer question No. 1. If BYU can start the game fast, the Utes will
probably come out dejected. If they start slow and let Utah hang around, they
will forget what happened last week and their focus will be entirely on the
game at hand.
BYU starting fast worries me,
however. The Cougars stalled in their opening drive against Washington State
and didn’t score until the end of the first quarter against Weber State. I
think the biggest key to this game is BYU’s start.
3. Who will take the bulk of
the reps at quarterback for Utah?
With Jordan Wynn getting injured last week
against Utah State, Jon Hays came in and led a comeback against Utah State.
Hays played much better than Wynn and has proven he can lead the team. He went
6-3 last season as the starter after Wynn went out with injury during the more
difficult part of Utah’s Pac-12 schedule.
But the true freshman Travis Wilson has a
lot of hype. He was ranked the 11th-best high school quarterback
last year by rivals.com and has had a nice start to his season. In limited
action, he hasn’t thrown an incompletion and even had a nice touchdown pass on
a trick play against the Utah State.
Whittingham is mum for now on who he will
start but I think he will go with Hays. But for BYU, does it even matter who
the starter will be? They say no.
“It’s not any different for us,” senior
linebacker Brandon Ogletree said. “They
didn’t really change their offense when the two quarterbacks came into the game
that we could tell so our preparation is going to remain the same no matter who
plays.”
4. John White hurt too?
The Utes are banged up bad. White
momentarily left the game against Utah State last week with an injury. Then on
Tuesday, he was reported to have missed practice.
Panic and turmoil started among Ute fans,
until the Salt Lake Tribune reported White just missed practice because he had
a school assignment he had to do.
But how much of that is just a cover up? Is
he actually hurt? Any time someone has to leave the game for a little while it
is more than just a bump or scrape. White says he’s, “100 percent,” but we will
see soon. It will be very interesting to see how much impact White has on this
game.
5. How will Riley Nelson
handle a tough road environment?
Looking through Riley Nelson’s career, I
realized that I have never seen him play in a game that was considered a
competitive matchup with a hostile road crowd. The only games that come close
to that are in 2010 against Florida State (34-10 loss) and Air Force (35-14
loss), and in 2011 against Oregon State (38-28 win), TCU at Cowboy Stadium (38-28
loss) and Hawaii (41-20 win). In his
time at Utah State, he played one big road game at Boise State and lost
49-10.
Of the above mentioned games, the
only game that was somewhat competitive was last year’s matchup with TCU.
Nelson didn’t play great, and is only remembered there for high fiving the
referee after converting a two-point conversion. Cougar fans love Riley’s grit and toughness,
but can he come through in a big road game? This time, Riley needs to do more
than make Sports Center’s Not Top Plays for his road game antics.
I can’t wait to see how everything plays out. This game has
the potential to jumpstart a very special season for BYU.
Check back at Blue Cougar Football after the game to review
these Five Things to Watch For and other game observations.
The Editor appreciates all feedback. He can be reached via email at bluecougarfootball@gmail.com
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