Now don’t get me wrong and try putting words in my mouth; a win is a win, and that is all that matters, no matter how ugly the game is. That is how it has been since the beginning of time. Everyone knows that, and there is a reason why people only watch Gymnastics once every four years (and if your house is like my house, everyone in the room throws out their own judgment on the gymnast, and no one is ever even close to what the judges say). Winning is what matters. Ugliness does not. This is football.
In consecutive weeks, The BYU Cougars have gone on the road and played in some of the most difficult environments. They have come out short of the victory, each time losing on the last drive. Last week, BYU played on the road for the first time this season, playing at the home of their archrival Utah Utes. After a dismal first half, BYU stepped up in the fourth and mounted a comeback worthy of this rivalry.
Since 2005, when Kyle Whittingham took the ropes at Utah and Bronco Mendenhall stepped in at BYU, two games have gone into overtime. Four more games have been decided on the last play. That means that 75 percent of games have gone to the last play. Going to the last play defines a healthy rivalry. And lets not forget that the 54-10 romping from last year was a close game in the first half, before the Cougar defense had been on the field too long and could not hold on any longer. But that game is a story for another time. Again: Winning is what matters. Not heart or a first half that went better than people now remember.
Last week was no exception. With 1:11 left on the game clock, Riley Nelson and the offense took the field deep in their own territory. After a first down, a sack, a spiked ball, and an incomplete pass, BYU found itself in familiar territory: 4th and long deep in Utah territory. Just like Max Hall, his QB coach, Riley Nelson stepped into a collapsing pocket on the 4th down play, narrowly escaping the grasp of defenders before delivering a strike 40 yards down field over the top of the defense on the right sideline. This time it was to the wide-open Cody Hoffman. The play must have been all too familiar to the suddenly silent Rice-Eccels stadium as BYU hustled to the line to get a few more plays in.
With 7 seconds showing on the clock, Riley dropped back to pass. As he saw Utah’s corner bite on Hoffman’s out and go, Riley must have seen victory. He must have envisioned a pass falling gently into Cody’s arms before he high stepped into the endzone with no time on the clock. He cocked his arm back to throw to his receiver who now had 2-3 steps on his defender down the sideline. In this game of inches, the Ute who got into the pocket and got his hand on Riley’s arm altered the game significantly. After a clock replay and clearing the MUSS off the field, BYU had one last chance to kick a field goal, which, reminiscent of the 2010 Desert First Duel game, was blocked at the line.
Because the kick never crossed the Neutral zone, the ball was still live to both teams, giving the Cougars the ability to pick it up and run it in. As impossible as that was, the play was still going and the MUSS needed to stay off of the field. Thanks to this blunder, BYU once again had the chance to tie the game and send it into overtime. The football gods thought differently though, as the kick clunked hopelessly off of the left goalpost, sending BYU to an empty loss.
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| The last second field goal bounces off the far upright |
Empty because it wasn’t worth being mad over. Empty because seeing the MUSS lose a game for the team would have been so epic that I don’t even know how I would remind each of them each year. Empty because we were 6 inches away from bringing our rivals to overtime for the third time in 8 years in a game that matters so much to this state and these fan bases.
An ending only fit for BYU Utah: 3 chances to win it or send it into overtime and it still does not work out. A 2-0 team, with distant whispers of a potential BCS busting season turned into a 2-1 team bound for the Poinsettia bowl because of those 8 inches and a bad bounce.
Luckily in this beautiful game of football, there is always an opportunity to bounce back next time, and the short week was welcomed by BYU fans waiting to get this season back on track. The situation was picture perfect, too: BYU was going to Idaho to play ranked Boise State on their famous Smurf Turf, where they have gone 75-3 over the past dozen or so years. A win against this team, a team who had lost many role players in the offseason, was achievable. With a Kyle Van Noy led defense taking the field, any game will be kept close.
We all saw it. The game was far from pretty for both offenses. After an early missed Field goal by BSU, Chris Peterson showed he has lost all trust in his kicker, electing to go for it on 4th down 5 times during this game. None of those defensive stands were bigger than the drive which started on the BYU 1 and ended 4 plays later on the BYU 1 as KVN came around back and pulled the quarterback off the back of the pile for the final stop of the impossible-to-miss drive by Boise State.
BYU, on the other hand, had their own struggles. Five turnovers (Four by Riley Nelson including a pick-6) later, BYU elected to turn the reigns of the offense over to true freshman and Stanford transfer Taysom Hill. After a few remarkable runs and a handful of not-so-remarkable passes, BYU finally put together their first impressive drive of the game with 8:03 on the clock, capped by a 3-yard touchdown run by Taysom, with 5 defenders hanging on as he plowed in. This was going to happen. We would tie with the extra point and go to overtime.
The next thing I knew, I was jumping up yelling at the TV. I was so confused. Taysom was on the field. Then I remembered that he could kick field goals, so I justified that he would be kicking the extra point. Then I saw regular receivers on the field and the reality sunk in: We were going for 2. My eyes flashed to the scoreboard, hopelessly looking for a 4th timeout to pop up. We weren’t really going for 2, were we? We were just trying to trick them, then we would call time out and go for 1. Right? Please? I know it doesn’t sound logical, but we cannot be going for 2, can we?
That timeout never popped up on the scoreboard, and the truth was there in front of my eyes. In a game where no one was scoring, Bronco decided to go for 2 in a 6-7 game. The phantom timeout was not going to be called.
I will never understand this decision. It baffles me why you wouldn’t trust your kicker to make a 17-yard-straight-down-the-middle field goal and send it to overtime. A defense that has allowed a grand total of 2 touchdowns (Note: they were a 39-yard and 17-yard drive; hardly their fault) in the past 140 minutes of game time was watching from the sidelines; BSU didn’t trust their kicker; BYU didn’t have a timeout as an insurance policy; BYU had momentum… and KVN’s crew. And they went for 2. Baffled.
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| Taysom's extra point pass falls incomplete. Photo: KSL.com |
A missed block on the line made it so the play could not develop as planed. Taysom was forced to make a throw and he made a good throw to one of his FOUR open receivers in the end zone. By the unlucky tip of a finger, the ball fell to the ground incomplete, all but sealing the outcome of the game. Pure anger filled my bones. I am normally (relatively) realistic about sports and keeping it in perspective, but this one was so infuriating. Losing because of a call I do not understand at all. All I wanted to do was break something. Instead I went home to vent, and found an empty apartment and a computer.
As expected, my Facebook newsfeed was full of “fire Bronco”, “fire Doman”, and “get rid of Riley” rants. As mad as I was, I knew that was not the answer and I refrained from making any serious comments of opinion on Facebook, and this is why: We are 8 inches and one boneheaded call away from the top 20 and a 4-0 season. Again, don’t read between the lines too much. We lost to Utah. We lost to Boise State. We are 2-2. Those are facts. But change 8 inches (which is about 0.3 degrees on a 36 yard kick from the far hash) and one bad call from the coaching staff and we are 4-0, still hearing the “BCS-busters” whispers.
We aren’t wondering who might get fired or who will be the starting quarterback next week against Hawaii. We are not hearing people talk about how we will lose the Notre Dame game already. We are not hearing about a wasted defense.
Picture this: The EXACT same games were played in both games with one exception. Same heart, same effort, same fortunate and unfortunate bounces of the ball. One made field goal is the difference at Utah, one extra point kick is taken in Boise, completely different outcomes. Despite what the record says, the Cougars still have the same team. The Cougars are going to have a successful year despite these two early losses.
In 2006, Bronco’s second year as the head coach, BYU opened the year with a devastating loss at Arizona, followed two weeks later by an overtime loss against Boston College. After a 1-2 start, BYU went on to win the rest of their games that season, including Beck to Harline and a 38-8 romping of Oregon in the Vegas Bowl. Bronco has said that the he believes the 2006 team would not had won all of their games later in the year if not for the lessons learned in those two early loses. I firmly believe that this team has the same opportunity to finish as a special group who can overcome early adversity.
We have a special defense, anchored by KVN, Brandon Ogletree, and Spencer Hadley and led by a defensive mastermind named Bronco. We have a Quarterback, who (when healthy) is someone I would trust to get it done against anyone- not because of his tremendous skills as a quarterback, but because of his drive and shear will to win. We have a solid running game with Mike Alisa and Jamaal Williams as well as talented, tall receivers in Hoffman and Apo on the outside. Despite the miscues at Utah, I also expect our special teams to be special. Falslev and Cody are good returners, Punter Riley Stephenson has a boot to help win the field position battle, and Justin Sorensen has a crazy strong leg when healthy.
Lets keep things in perspective and realize it isn’t the end of the world or the season when we lose two nail bitters against quality rivals. This season so far is nothing to be ashamed of. Go Cougars and let’s get back on track, baby! RISE UP.
(As a side note, I want to clear up the fact that BYU would have finished the Utah game- even if it went past midnight and late into the night. BYU’s long-standing policy is to do everything they can to not play on Sunday. Meaning they will not schedule a Sunday game. If a game rolls over into the Sabbath, they are not going to quit or ask the other team to wait 24 hours to complete the game. They would play it out.)
