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Scratchtown

Scratchtown

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I'm convinced that BYU is a "BCS Buster" kind of team. I think sometimes during saturday's we are all so emotionally invested that it's hard to see that the other team is really good. Us fans have been so ridiculously blinded by the meltdown after meltdown under Pelini that our go to is to say things that we've been saying for 7 years.

I think NU has really changed. I'm trying not to drink too much red kool-aid. However I'm buying into the staff. I know there are area's of struggle, I get that. OL needs work. Especially the guards. Everyone up front had their issues, but the Guards struggled the most after watching the game again. Mainly Utter, Kondolo was average at best too.

BYU's schedule includes in order...

vs Boise (W) - Boise struggled hard with a Washington team that doesn't have even an average QB.

@ UCLA (W or L) - UCLA's first test. Mangum is pretty good at QB. Don't think the UCLA hype is warranted yet. Rosen will be good, but not consistent

@ Michigan (W) - Michigan has no offense.

vs UCONN (W)

vs ECU (W)

vs Cincy (W)

vs Wagner (W)

@ San Jose (W)

vs Mizzou (W) - This could be a close game. If BYU is healthy, I don't think Mizzou will win, but this hinges on BYU's receivers being healthy

vs Fresno (W)

@ Utah State (W)

BYU is legitly good. Not good enough for a playoff appearance I don't think, but they may end up getting one. Even without Hill. Mangum is good, good, good, good. Don't over look it.

 
They just lost their Heisman trophy QB and their NT is hurt, not sure how bad. They may struggle the rest of the year without Taysom and all people will do is say, "see, look at the games they lost, but they were able to beat us".......

People will forget how many plays Hill made on us and will simply look at their Win/loss record at the end of the year. If they struggle, they will automatically suck, even though most of us watched them and saw that they clearly don't suck, especially with Hill.

You can't argue with stupid. No need to justify the loss. It hurt. It happened. Lots of reasons why. We move on. Good luck to BYU the rest of the way.

 
People made these same arguments for Wyoming and MacNeese Powerhouse State.

However I think this BYU team is substantially better than both of those teams, just looking at the talent on the field. Even with Mangum.

 
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After listening to the post game presser I feel a little better. I think you are right though about the tendency to be negative due to the last seven years. We lost a tough game to a decent team. Some things that need to be fixed before we can compete at a high level:

1. O-line - we need to build some depth there and get those guys rotating. I still don't understand and have never even heard of an O-line at this level that never subbed once for an entire game.

2. Kicking game - what was once a strength has turned into a serious weakness. Hopefully we get healthy before B1G play, preferably before Miami. Field goal kicker, this may hurt us the entire season.

3. Short yardage run game - this killed us. We need to be able to pick up the 3rd and short downs. Especially the one's in no-man's land where it is not possible to kick a field goal or beneficial to punt.

I think the defense played well after adjusting to the speed of the game. If they can continue to play like they did in the second half, I think we will be very difficult to beat.

 
Hill was a great dual-threat QB. He was the rare blend of very accurate passer and legitimate runner. The other thing is those giant recievers. Those guys pose a significant challenge and will for anyone. Great punter too, and good Nose tackle who is out now for who knows how long. I think the problem with BYU is they probably aren't as deep as most Power-5 teams. I still think they'll lose a few games this year, but they are definitely a legit team with Hill (The verdict is probably still out on Mangum).

As well as our new starters played, and I think they played well considering, teams with more experienced secondaries in established systems will have better success covering their recievers. A team like Ohio State would probably eat BYU for breakfast.

 
BYU's play (judgements reserved for other threads) causes a level of frustration in other teams that results in injuries to both themselves and their opponents. They will suffer a bunch of injuries (a historical reality under Mendenhall), and finish with a handful of losses as a result. Healthy they can compete with anyone on their schedule...I just don't see them staying healthy.

 
Not without Hill imo. With Hill they could have made a run at a big season, I think they are top 25 team with him.

Not sure they'd have the depth to go through the entire schedule either.

 
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Bottom line for me, it wasn't the loss. Man we've been beat much worse on much bigger stages...... It was the way we lost with the Hail Mary (shades of the Gamecocks) and the fact we lost the home win streak record.... That was the worst for me.

No one on this board thought we would go undefeated. Saw everything from 7-5 to 11-1. Just didn't think the loss would come from BYU. I figured Miami, Wisky, Minnie.... The opening win record hurts........

 
lo country said:
Bottom line for me, it wasn't the loss. Man we've been beat much worse on much bigger stages...... It was the way we lost with the Hail Mary (shades of the Gamecocks) and the fact we lost the home win streak record.... That was the worst for me.

No one on this board thought we would go undefeated. Saw everything from 7-5 to 11-1. Just didn't think the loss would come from BYU. I figured Miami, Wisky, Minnie.... The opening win record hurts........
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Even before this loss I thought the "season opener win streak" was stupid, as I mentioned in another thread. It's a statistic pulled out of thin air and imbued with meaning by the media/athletic department to create interest/increase ratings. As a fan, I never one time cheered for our "opening season win streak" nor gave it a second thought.

In fact, making a big deal of this meaningless streak was an insult to the legitimate streaks NU has had over the years, such as the bowl game streak, the home winning streaks, the winning streaks against Minnesota, Kansas, K-State, etc., and the not allowing an opposing rusher to set the FBS record for rushing yards against any team in the history of CFB streak.

I remember 1985 and being 0-1, and it made absolutely no difference.

All this streak meant is that we scheduled really weak teams in the first game.

 
Coach Power'T said:
I'm convinced that BYU is a "BCS Buster" kind of team. I think sometimes during saturday's we are all so emotionally invested that it's hard to see that the other team is really good. Us fans have been so ridiculously blinded by the meltdown after meltdown under Pelini that our go to is to say things that we've been saying for 7 years.

I think NU has really changed. I'm trying not to drink too much red kool-aid. However I'm buying into the staff. I know there are area's of struggle, I get that. OL needs work. Especially the guards. Everyone up front had their issues, but the Guards struggled the most after watching the game again. Mainly Utter, Kondolo was average at best too.

BYU's schedule includes in order...

vs Boise (W) - Boise struggled hard with a Washington team that doesn't have even an average QB.

@ UCLA (W or L) - UCLA's first test. Mangum is pretty good at QB. Don't think the UCLA hype is warranted yet. Rosen will be good, but not consistent

@ Michigan (W) - Michigan has no offense.

vs UCONN (W)

vs ECU (W)

vs Cincy (W)

vs Wagner (W)

@ San Jose (W)

vs Mizzou (W) - This could be a close game. If BYU is healthy, I don't think Mizzou will win, but this hinges on BYU's receivers being healthy

vs Fresno (W)

@ Utah State (W)

BYU is legitly good. Not good enough for a playoff appearance I don't think, but they may end up getting one. Even without Hill. Mangum is good, good, good, good. Don't over look it.
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Washington's QB is far from average. It will be a tough test for BYU.

UCLA will curb stomp BYU. Rosen looked fabulous even though it was against Virginia. That kid is going to be special.

Michigan is in the same boat we are. They are breaking in a new coach and Rudock looked rusty. I do think BYU can take them if Michigan hasn't cleaned things up.

The Mizzou game will be a toss up. Mizzou might be beat up after getting through their Oct. schedule.

 
DomiNUs said:
After listening to the post game presser I feel a little better. I think you are right though about the tendency to be negative due to the last seven years. We lost a tough game to a decent team. Some things that need to be fixed before we can compete at a high level:

1. O-line - we need to build some depth there and get those guys rotating. I still don't understand and have never even heard of an O-line at this level that never subbed once for an entire game.

2. Kicking game - what was once a strength has turned into a serious weakness. Hopefully we get healthy before B1G play, preferably before Miami. Field goal kicker, this may hurt us the entire season.

3. Short yardage run game - this killed us. We need to be able to pick up the 3rd and short downs. Especially the one's in no-man's land where it is not possible to kick a field goal or beneficial to punt.

I think the defense played well after adjusting to the speed of the game. If they can continue to play like they did in the second half, I think we will be very difficult to beat.
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I say we would have lost at least one additional game per year in the past7 years if we would have had poor fg kickers,perhaps 2 or 3 additional games.

 
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We are seriously back to that argument? BYU beats us after we miss two field goals, cough up the ball in silly fashion a couple times, and fail to prevent a hail mary in a prevent defense and now BYU is a playoff team???

Or...

Nebraska was just not a playoff team, and we got beat by a team/staff that has been together since we hired our last coach on a fluke last second effort.

 
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