BYU has a good football team, do not get me wrong they have won ten games or more since 2006 with Bronco Mendenhall running the ship. The big complaint by a lot of people is Bronco's stubbornness to adjust his game plan whether it is on the offense or defense side of the ball. He has always said if we [BYU] execute our plays we will be fine. However, my thinking is that adjustments should be made if necessary instead of running the exact set of plays in every game.
This has been a broken record for the past few years, and below is a quote by Bronco Mendenhall from the 2008 media days with the Las Vegas Sun:
...we really try to be predictable. That may sound funny in having opponents know exactly what we're going to do, because we don't run many plays. It's just how well we can execute them.
Then again from his weekly wrap up show from October 22, 2009 he says a very similar same quote:
"the team that varies the least have the best chance." He said he believes the game will come down to "execution versus execution."
What about a scheme change to mix things up when the set of plays are not working or making some type of adjustments?
Just go back to last year in the BYU/Utah game last year the coaches elected to pass more even though RB Harvey Unga ws running at will over Utah and ended up with 116 yards on only 15 carries, but the staff decided to be more balanced which did not go their way.
The first quote from the Las Vegas Sun is crazy that he says they 'really try to be predictable' how is that ever a good thing. Especially when they line up against teams like TCU and Utah who have more speed and athletes which makes schemes and adjustments that much more important.
Now for the comparison between Notre Dame's head man Charlie Weiss, and he echos the similar statements that Bronco Mendenall always preaches. These came after their upset loss to Navy which just happens to be their second loss to Navy in three years after defeating Navy the previous 46 straight times.
Charie Weiss is quite arrogant or confident depending on what side of the fence of Notre Dame one falls upong, but he had this to say about the loss to Navy:
"As I just told the team, I coach exactly the same way every week ... whether it's a win or loss. One thing they know from me is I never, ever change."
Then to add salt to the wound Navy head coach Ken Niumatolo said this about the Notre Dame defensive scheme:
"One thing that helped us, and I really hope this doesn't come across wrong, but I think the thing that helped us this year was last year, because we knew they'd line up the same way."
"We had a pretty good clue that they were going to come back and do the same things as they did last year. We had a few things (planned for that defense)."
Coach you are exactly right on that assessment Charlie Weiss admitted as much that they do not change, and he coaches the same every week.
There it is all out there for all to see, Notre Dame and BYU are quite similar besides the religion; their coaches are publically stuborn in their coaching style. That could be be the reason for each teams struggles in big games, since they keep using their game plan and are reluctant to adjust. As I finish this up Bronco in his on the field interview at the end of the close win over New Mexico and kept spouting off that they won becasue they exectued better.
Being compared to Notre Dame is a good thing right?