LIVE! BYU Game thread. Official.

[Uncle Ken]

The faintest of praise

Damn

 

[Birch1]

How do you know the 1st quarter playcalling was all Shurmur? I ask because it wasn’t. It was greatly influenced by others then Shurmur took over with his “adjustments.” How do I know? Because I was told by someone who knows.

Should the “others” take over as OC?

 

[Da Lama]

Should the “others” take over as OC?

Yes, but it’s HCP’s call and we know what his misguided loyalty does around here.

 

[hawg1]

Yes, but it’s HCP’s call and we know what his misguided loyalty does around here.

Loyalty will get you best.

 

[steviet]

I only see three realistic opportunities for wins on the remaining schedule. Arizona, West Virginia and Kansas State. I expect that CU will be underdogs in at least two of those games. A fourth win would be a major upset.

This is correct, and we are not beating Kansas State.

 

[Bourbon Buff]

How do you know the 1st quarter playcalling was all Shurmur? I ask because it wasn’t. It was greatly influenced by others then Shurmur took over with his “adjustments.” How do I know? Because I was told by someone who knows.

As I sat in Section 215 with the respectable rowdies, oldsters, mildly inebriated (myself included), etc., watching the momentum fade in the third, my teenage kid*, amidst all of the chatter, said that he thought the two very efficient drives (first drive of the game, then the one that was all run, no pass, with wildcat schemes) were scripted. That seems to me to be about right, as most of the rest of the offensive sequences were off balance and perhaps reactive (to what, I'm not sure). If I recall correctly, CU had 120 yards rushing toward the earlier part of the second quarter. The final CU offensive play to me looked like a QB who had too many options and check-downs working in his head.

*(Credit the kid, not my idea)

 

[MtnBuff]

As I sat in Section 215 with the respectable rowdies, oldsters, mildly inebriated (myself included), etc., watching the momentum fade in the third, my teenage kid*, amidst all of the chatter, said that he thought the two very efficient drives (first drive of the game, then the one that was all run, no pass, with wildcat schemes) were scripted. That seems to me to be about right, as most of the rest of the offensive sequences were off balance and perhaps reactive (to what, I'm not sure). If I recall correctly, CU had 120 yards rushing toward the earlier part of the second quarter. The final CU offensive play to me looked like a QB who had too many options and check-downs working in his head.

*(Credit the kid, not my idea)

If a kid can see it opposing DCs surely can.

 

[bldrbbott]

I've been seeing many blast the coaching staff and from just this game. Liv had a really bad moment on 3rd down & 17 but that was it. The coaching this game strongly felt even meaning i didn't believe Prime and his staff was outcoached. I just don't believe we are good. Only 2 legit starters on defense and one of them has been struggling the last couple of weeks in DJ. Byard has arrived. The defense is loaded with rotational players. The LBs are terrible. I don't know how you coach just having a bad portal class and not replacing any of the starters you lost but Cam with Byard.

Offensively, Salter is very talented but he's not a good QB. He's a good football player but he's a below average QB. Pat made it easy for him, cut the field in half, called plays where he had open WRs and he missed them over and over and over again on 3rd downs.

I had we are going to waste this elite pass pro but Yoyo looks damn good, Chauncey getting a lot of love from the staff so replacing McGill will be our biggest challenge. After only having 1 legit starter on the OL, it feels good to have 4. Larry has improved weekly but I need more time before labeling him starter quality for this level of play.

The running backs are all good because Faulk is way better than Flea. 2023 is the biggest injustice having 3 Dock Walker preseason candidates plus Dylan (top recruit) and stinking it up running wise. Last year was awful as the room was bad. I know Atkins struggled yesterday and was replaced by Yoyo but he showed in previous games, he's a starter.

While the run blocking was better yesterday due to Yoyo, everyone knows we are running if Yoyo is in the game. We gotta mix it up. We also gotta do a much better job run blocking as we been saying all year.

Sincere is the only starter I see at WR. The rest are just way too inconsistent play to play as overall WRs. Jojo and O flash special qualities but man, they are still raw. Salt doing none of these guys service nonetheless. They are much better than the data, especially Brown.

a good point made on the DNVR post gam was that you have to scheme up a Yahya pass play. The runs worked! Play the f**king action of the linebackers, don't just use him as a blocker, use him to set up a pass (and NOT to him).

I also disagree on Sincere point. Sincere is not a legit WR... he's a deep threat but O Miller and Jo Will are complete receivers. The OC isn't calling the game to keep them involved, but we can all see based on performance that O can turn digs and slants and curls into chunk gains, and Jojo can contest any well thrown ball for a big gain. At this level Sincere has only shown that he can outrun defenders, have not seen him catch a contested ball yet (and yes, i'm aware that this years' QBs haven't really given him a chance.. .but I can only go on what has been shown)

 

[bldrbbott]

The majority of the guys who got snaps for the BYU, Houston and GA Tech teams are not guys that Prime had any interest in recruiting out of HS. I think he's adjusted his mentality about this, but his philosophy his first year was 100% "if you can't help the team on gameday in the upcoming season, why would I sign you?" His roster management was like he was in the NFL or at a JUCO. CFB is at least as much about talent and culture development pipeline within your roster as it is about game-ready talent at the top of your roster.

Prime seemed to evolve more each year in 2024 and 2025 recruiting on this mentality with his recruiting approach and the 2026 strategy looks like it's going to be a lot more focused on prep recruiting than previous years.

But it's not going to be fixed overnight.

2025 scholarship roster:

Seniors - 34
Juniors - 15
Sophomores - 13
Freshmen - 17

Within position groups, there's actually quite a bit of class balance but with some glaring problems where I think we panicked. IOL has 9 seniors. That's ridiculous. I'd rather sign 9 HS recruits with mediocre ratings than 9 mediocre senior transfers. Ideally, you sign 1 or 2 transfer starters and load up the rest with preps to develop (knowing you're going to redshirt at least half of those freshman OLs). Same thing at DT where we have 6 seniors. Between the 2 groups, that's 15 of our 34 seniors. If it was 5 or 6 and the other 9 or 10 were spread among the classes, we'd almost be in balance.

FWIW, I would define class balance in this era where you can backfill from attrition and the scholarship roster size has gone up to 105 (from 85) a bit differently. With redshirting, a bit skewed to freshman class so: 30 freshmen and 25 in the other 3 classes. Give or take, but about that ratio.

On the IOL depth going forward, we have Yahya and Gooden for a few years. At tackle we have Carde and another year of Seaton. Seems like we're actually set up well IF those guys buy in and develop.

 

[bldrbbott]

Choosing to punt when you had the ball at the 39 was asinine too.

Let Buck take a rip, and show a little faith in your defense.

Also, that was a bad sack that Kaidon took in the 3rd and 10 that preceded it. That was a perfect situation to call a draw or run to try to get to 4th and <5 to go for it, or at least pick up 2 yards and try ~45 yd FG.

Mata's accuracy has been nice, but his lack of range really handcuffs the staff that is already prone to making bad analytical decisions in those scenarios.

Prime's unwillingness to go for a fourth and 3 or less when we were running the ball well is old school failure. Probably what drove me the most nuts last night... and this year. Seriously, just run power ... and let the punter sit for a second!

 

[BuffUp]

Prime's unwillingness to go for a fourth and 3 or less when we were running the ball well is old school failure. Probably what drove me the most nuts last night... and this year. Seriously, just run power ... and let the punter sit for a second!

I agree except we were like 1-9 on 3rd downs so.....