I had the opportunity to attend this football game and I will just say that it was one crazy game. I have a sports pass to all the sports events held at BYU, so of course I cannot miss the football games.
Everyone has their own speculation of who they predict will win the game. I was 100% sure BYU was going to lose to Boise State. After what happened last week with the game in Nebraska, BYU gets a Hail Mary when there was only 1 second left in the clock. In my opinion, they got lucky. So lucky. God answered their prayers because there was no way it was going to happen again. I do not see that much talent in BYU's football team for them to beat Boise State. Of course they proved me wrong, but let me give you the reasons why I thought Boise State was going to win:
1) They are (were) ranked No. 20 in the AP Top 25.
2) Jeremy McNichols (RB) is a threat. That guy can break tackles.
3) Taysom Hill is out for the season and that can affect the way BYU plays.
4) Adam Hine (RB) is BYU's best running back. Unfortunately, BYU cannot run the football.
5) Boise State's strategy is less predictable than BYU.
6) BYU's coaching staff are still there.
Now, some of my points were proven wrong from the game yesterday, but I still believe BYU is very weak in certain areas of football. Clearly it did not matter that Boise State was ranked. Boise State did not play like they were a ranked team. In most scenarios, BYU usually loses to a ranked team. Did they play like they were a ranked team? No, and here is why. BYU's offense was very messy on the field. When they were making a passing play nothing seemed to go according to plan. More pressure would then be added to Tanner and then he would either get sacked or throw an interception. BYU also has no clue when it is appropriate to run the football. Boise State made a punt return that landed on BYU's one-yard line. What does BYU decide to do? Run the ball. I mean what planet is the offensive coordinator on? They only made a one yard gain after that and they still decided to run the ball! Passing is to cover more yards and running is to cover less yards. It is that simple. I will be honest, Adam Hine is not the best running back. BYU was actually losing yards running the ball than throwing it. That's a problem. The quarterback cannot always be making passing plays. There is more risk for interceptions and the defense can easily predict what is going to happen. Also, every time BYU ran the ball, they could never make third down conversations. Why would you want to waste possession of the ball when you are behind ten points? Now about BYU's defense... I will be honest, it was not bad, but still needs improvement. Boise State was able to stop Adam Hine, but BYU could not stop Jeremy McNichols. He was able to get 1st down conversions and eventually turned those into touchdowns.
Tanner Mangum actually surprised me. He does well under pressure, who knew? He is one of the few quarterbacks that can actually throw long passes and turn those into touchdowns. BYU literally had two weeks of miracles, but I am not calling the touchdown when there was 45 seconds on the clock a Hail Mary. There was still enough time on the clock for another desperate score attempt.
Bottom line, it was a really fun game to be at. The energy was crazy, the fans were amazing and that was probably the best BYU football game I have ever been to. Will BYU win to UCLA next week? Do you really want me to tell you? Of course I am going to say no. BYU has got to step it up. They need to strategize their running plays so that get can get 1st downs. They need to protect Tanner's blind side because he got sacked four times in that game. They also need to prepare the defense for UCLA's offense, BYU got a few pass interference penalties so they need to be careful.
Other than that, it was a good football week. Alabama won Mid Tennessee. Auburn almost lost to Jacksonville State and it actually caused Auburn to drop 12 spots from the AP poll. It would be music to my ears if that happened to Ohio State, but we will wait for the rematch. Notre Dame almost lost to Virginia, but they saved themselves with a touchdown within the last few seconds of the game. I will be evaluating Alabama's game next week. They will be playing Ole Miss and I am expecting another win for Bama!