Virginia 19 BYU 16
After last season, Bronco Mendenhall fired all of his offensive coaches, from coordinator Brandon Doman to Graduate Assistant Coach Max Hall. Yes, the offense was that bad in 2012. You would expect that with a new staff and a new system, there were be improvement. But if week 1 is any indication, it will be worse. This is BYU, a place where the West Coat Offense took shape. What is now the standard for the NFL was developed in a lab in Provo. Hard to believe that at a school known to light up the scoreboard, the offense has become so anemic. Robert Anae has promised that BYU would go fast and go hard, but where are they going? It doesn't appear to be the end-zone.
Perhaps Virginia is better on defense than they were given credit for, but what I saw on Saturday wasn't that at all. We all saw one of the worst BYU offensive performances in the last 40 years, and possibly the worst offensive game since the 3-0 loss to Utah. This is not a BYU offense.
In Provo it's all on the quarterback, and Taysom Hill did not live up to his billing this Saturday. However, you can't put this loss all on the quarterback. There were receivers who could not catch the ball. And the offensive line was a sieve. The first week of go fast and go hard was almost a complete failure. The lone bright spot was Jamaal Williams with 144 yards on the ground. The other 10 men in the offense did not get the job done.
With the new offensive philosophy, if the offense does not perform, there is more pressure on the defense. 3 and out may only take 30 seconds. No matter how well the offense does, they will not dominate when it comes to time of possession. The defense will be tired. There will be no defense bailing the Cougars out this year if the offense doesn't figure it out. It will be too much to expect. I bet if Kyle Van Noy is not regretting his decision to come back to Provo for his senior season, he soon will.
How does this affect Bronco? Well, you can only clean house so many times before the head man is gone. Twice in the past 3 seasons, Bronco has cleaned house on offense. Sooner or later, this has to reflect on him. It's time for Bronco to be held accountable. As was said in the film A bugs life, "One lesson of leadership...everything is your fault." If go fast go hard doesn't work, then it should be Bronco who should go fast and go hard out of Provo. The schedule is difficult this year, no doubt about it. BYU did not look equal to the task on Saturday. It may be time to hand the reins of BYU football to someone else.
BYU MVP: RB Jamaal Williams
New projection for BYU in 2013--5-7. (That may still be too overly optimistic.)
Utah 30 Utah State 26
Is Utah better than we though they were this year? Possibly. Is Utah State not going to have another magical season after all? It's a little early to tell. They still might win the Mountain West Mountain. I've seen Boise State this season, and these Aggies can beat these Broncos, no doubt. But no BCS. The MWC Mountain division, if not the entire conference, appears to be up for grabs, and USU can win it. They just have to hope they can like the Las Vegas Bowl this year. Of course, the Aggies can still win out from here, and if they do, who knows?
This game, in my opinion, came down to just one factor. The experience of coach Kyle Whittingham trumping the inexperience of coach Matt Wells. Wells will learn from this experience and the next time the Aggies and the Utes hook horns, he will be ready. Utah doesn't look all that great, they were good enough to win on Thursday. Utah needs Tavis Wilson to play like this every game this season. While Utah State needs a little bit better performance from running back Joe Hill.
Utah MVP: QB Travis Wilson
USU MVP: QB Chukie Keeton
New projection for Utah in 2013--8-5 (4-5 in conference) after a win in the Holiday Bowl
New projection for USU in 2013--12-2 (9-0) after a win in the MWC Championship game and a win in the Las Vegas Bowl. (You'll take that, right Aggie fans?)
Southern Utah 22 South Alabama 21
This game supports the argument that some schools don't really belong in the Football Bowl Subdivision. South Alabama has only been in the FBS a few seasons, and doesn't look like they belong. SUU is better than they were picked in the pre-season, and I have confidence that the T-Birds will have at least a winning season this year and may even make the FCS expanded playoffs. Props should go to the Thunderbirds for pulling out an exciting win. If you are a T-Bird fan, you should be feeling optimistic about the prospects for 2013.
SUU MVP: RB Raysean Martin
New projection for SUU--8-5 (5-3) After a loss in the first round of the FCS playoffs.
Weber State 50 Stephen F. Austin 40
I've come to appreciate defense, lately. There was a time, when I was student at Ogden's mountainside campus, that defense was only a rumor in the Big Sky Conference and scores like this were common. And truth be told, after this one, the fans were ad tired as the defenses. It's a good start for Jody Sears and his hopes to get at least 4 wins this season. However, this may prove more than just 4 to 6 wins. The 'Cats scored 5 touchdowns on offense, and SFA is one of the better teams at the FCS level. SFA is as good as any Big Sky team. The defense came up with big plays in the 4th quarter, when they were obviously tired. WSU scored on defense and on special teams. If it weren't for the turnovers, they could have easily scored 70. WSU persevered and came away with a good win. WSU proved they can be a good team in the post-Ron McBride era, and that last years 2-9 finish was a statistical outlier. Perhaps they will do no better than 6-6 in 2013, but the future, at least for one evening, looks good in Ogden.
WSU MVP: RB's Josh Booker, Bo Bolen and Zach Smith
New projection for WSU--6-6 (5-3).
Conferences:
(Yes I know that CU and CSU have yet to play. Will the outcome make a difference? Probably not.)
PAC-12 MVP for week 1: Washington QB Keith Price
FBS Indy MVP for week 1: Notre Dame QB Tommy Rees
MWC MVP for week 1: Fresno State QB Derek Carr
Big Sky MVP for week 1: Eastern Washington QB Vernon Adams
PAC-12 Game of the Week for week 1: Utah 30 Utah State 26
FBS Indy Game of the Week for week 1: Virginia 19 BYU 16
MWC Game of the Week for week 1: Nebraska 37 Wyoming 34
Big Sky Game of the Week for week 1: Eastern Washington 49 Oregon State 46
Power Rankings
FBS Indy
1. Notre Dame
2. Navy
3. BYU
4. Army
5. New Mexico State
6. Idaho
7. Old Dominion
PAC-12
1. Oregon
2. Stanford
3. UCLA
4. Wahington
5. USC
6. Arizona State
7. Arizona
8. Utah
9. California
10. Oregon State
11. Washington state
12. Colorado
(Why is Utah so low? The PAC-12 is that good.)
Mountain West
1. Fresno State
2. San Jose State
3. Air Force
4. Utah State
5. San Jose State
6. Boise State
7. Wyoming
8. San Diego State
9. Colorado State
10. UNLV
11. Hawaii
12. New Mexico
(Why is USU that low? They need a win.)
Big Sky
1. Eastern Washington
2. Montana State
3. Cal Poly
4. Montana
5. Southern Utah
6. North Dakota
7. Weber State
8. Portland State
9. Northern Arizona
10. Sacramento State
11. Northern Colorado
12. UC Davis
13. Idaho State
Beehive State QB Power Ranking.
1. Chuckie Keeton, Utah State
2. Travis Wilson, Utah
3. Aaron Cantu, Southern Utah
4. Jordan Adamczyk, Weber State
5. Taysom Hill, BYU
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