Week 13 Review

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After this loss there is no way Joe Glenn should be their coach, after beating Virgina on opening weekend and starting off to an impressive 4-1 start the Cowboys finished their season going 1-6 and a 5-7 overall with their only win coming against UNLV and even in that game they needed a come back. For this game Colorado State did something very few teams could and that was to have a single player rush for over 100 yards when Gatrell Johnson III had 103 yards. Also, the Rams held the ball for 35 minutes compared to 25 for the Cowboys. What hurt Wyoming was their 90 yards in penalties and then stalling on too many third downs by going 4-12. The game was pretty even over all, but for a team in Wyoming to allow Colorado State to score the last 10 points to secure the win. This Wyoming team just fell flat after their great start and ended the season at 5-7.

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Everyone here knows that I am a Ute fan, and even so I will attempt to keep an even head on this review (I feel I am pretty non biased toward Utah). First off this was a great game overall with excellent defense on both sides. Utah made key stops and created turnovers, but it is somewhat surprising they were this close because they gave up 424 yards of total offense, while BYU limited the Utes to 244 yards. A few things that stand out on the Utah end was that their main rusher Darrell Mack only carried 14 times for 56 yards which was 4 yards per carry, and why did he not get the ball more is a valid question for Andy Ludwig. Also on Ludwig why was he bringing out the trick plays that take FOREVER to develop such as the end around double reverse, or the double reverse flea flicker (even though that one should have worked). For the most part BYU stopped the end around plays and I think only 2 out of the 5? went for a good game. Early on both teams had chances to score on turnovers, especially Utah who had the ball inside the 10 and QB Brian Johnson threw a pick that could have been returned for 6 had the BYU defender not trip on the turf.

Neither QB played well Max Hall had a severely injured throwing shoulder had one interception and was only 17/40 for 269 yards and a pick, then Brian Johnson threw two picks and only 129 yards. The real meat of the game came when Darrell Mack scored a TD to put the Utes up 10-9 with just under 2 minutes left in the game, and then BYU was stuck inside their 15 and 4th and 19. Then Max Hall threw to Austin Collie for the first down, and this was done because Ute DB Sean Smith decided to bite on Collie's route even though it was still short of the first and then Hall lobs over Smith and Collie gets the first down. The thing that gets me upset is the inconsistency of the officials, let me be clear this did not cause for the Utes to lose but it sure did help BYU get extra yardage. The refs inconsistency go back on that reverse flea flicker when BYU DB Brian Kehl made a hit on the Ute WR who was trying to catch the ball, I was not really upset with the call because had the ball been on target Kehl would have stopped the receiver cold, but on the other end a very similar thing happened the other way when a Ute defender hit a BYU receiver as he was trying to get the ball and then there was a flag thrown!! The only difference between the two plays was that first the ball was catchable, but the second difference was that there was a Ute defender in front and then the defender came from behind to make the hit, and I guess that is why the flag was thrown and I think ill advised. Then the next play was the pass interference when the Ute defender was step for step with the receiver but then the Ute defender who had inside position turned and played the ball, yes there was some pushing but it was going both ways. Even the announcers (both BYU grads) agreed there should not have been PI. The only reasoning for the flag was because the Ute defender turned his body trying to play the ball and bumped but it went both ways. Those two plays helped BYU get into field goal range for their mediocre kicker, but they did not need it as Harvey Unga sealed the deal with a TD.

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New Mexico finally gets back on track with a dominating win to end their season with an 8-4 record and should ensure them a bowl berth and most likely in their backyard at the New Mexico Bowl since it was announced today that Air Force is going to the Armed Forces Bowl. New Mexico was lead by Rodney Ferguson who rushed for over 100 yards and then Marcus Smith who had over 1oo yards and each player had a score. New Mexico should have dominated even more but they had 4 turnovers, but UNLV could only manage 6 points in the game. The game was pretty much decided when Marcus Smith caught his 63 yard TD pass to make the score 10-6 and UNLV was unable to recover. This also might be Mike Sanford's last game as head coach for UNLV.

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The Aztecs had the game won with a 17-0 lead in the first quarter and was plus 3 in the turnover margin and Kevin O'Connell had 366 yards and 2 TD's. The stat that amazes me is the time of possessions where TCU had 40 minutes to 20 minutes!! That is amazing. For TCU they are glad to have Joseph Turner show up, he ran for 226 yard, 4 touchdowns, and had 6.8 yards per carry. Then Andy Dalton played well by throwing for 298 and running for another 60 yards. This game was still close through the third quarter when San Diego State stopped the bleeding by making it 35-27 late in the third. However the Aztecs could not pull ahead, as TCU played their best offensive outing of the year, and now look toward a bowl game in December.

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