Story Created:
Nov 14, 2009
Story Updated:
Nov 14, 2009
PK BLOG
As Bronco Mendenhall has stated dozens of times during his five years as head coach, BYU doesn’t concern itself with the opponent. It’s all about the Cougars, the mantra goes.
Winless or undefeated, the other team doesn’t matter.
Never was that more evident than in Saturday’s 24-19 win over New Mexico, the same winless team whose best hit this season came in a skirmish between first-year coach Mike Locksley and an assistant coach.
Somebody forgot to tell BYU that the Lobos are awful. The Cougars barely beat a team that should finish as the Mountain West’s worst ever.
Following Mendenhall’s philosophy, BYU can’t say the Lobos for playing a gutsy game. Good for them, but it’s irrelevant in this case.
“A win’s a win” doesn’t cut it under the Mendenhall way.
“It was a great college football game,” Mendenhall said after the game.
No, it wasn’t. One team woefully underachieved.
If it’s all about the Cougars, as their coach believes, then Mendenhall ought to be furious. Right from the start, BYU did not play well.
On the game’s first drive, the Lobos converted three times on third down and marched 80 yards in 15 plays. Sure, senior quarterback Donovan Porterie made several great plays during the series, but it doesn’t matter. Remember, it’s all about BYU and not the opponent.
On this drive, the defense stunk. Don’t justify that New Mexico was playing well.
Where was the pass coverage? And what about the defensive play calling?
Bad and bad.
Is it too much to ask for a cornerback to be within 5 yards of the receiver as he catches the pass? This is one time it’s ok to talk about the other guy. Please tell Brandon Bradley to scoot closer to his opponent.
If not for horrendous place kicking – can anybody say James Aho without laughing? – the Cougars might have suffered the program’s worst loss in recent memory. Three aborted field goal attempts and a missed extra point might have made the difference.
Credit the defense for making a great stand on New Mexico’s last possession, during which Jan Jorgensen sacked Porterie twice. The temptation is to blame Porterie for allowing the sacks and trying to run on fourth-and-30, but under the rules we can’t blame the opponent, either.
The offense also suffered through a below average game. Max Hall had decent numbers (22 of 34 for 315 yards and one touchdown), but he seemed off his game, relative to his ability.
Too many passes were either poorly thrown or dropped. And it’s time to finally stop hyping O’Neill Chambers, who was called for pass interference and a personal foul on the same play.
The running game also was lousy. The perpetually injured Harvey Unga only managed 48 yards, 25 of which came on one play, and the other running backs also were virtually non-existent.
Nursing a five-point lead, BYU’s offense tried to take time off the clock after recovering an on-side kick late in the game. What shouldn’t have been a problem turned into disaster when Brian Kariya fumbled away the ball.
On New Mexico’s first play, Porterie threw an incompletion, but safety Scott Johnson got flagged for a personal foul. Chalk up another one to a stupid play that didn’t have anything to do with the opponent.
In summary, only those with blue-colored glasses can feel good about this victory. But they need to understand the justification that New Mexico played well goes against your leader.
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