It was a fitting end to a typical Holy War

Well, what can I say, that was a heck of a Holy War, unfortunately my Utes came out on the wrong end of a 26-23 overtime game. I can't say I am angry or all that disappointed. In all reality, the way that game went the Utes never should have made it that close and BYU never should have let the Utes back into it.

The Utes and Jordan Wynn started the game out beautifully on the first two drives, though they were unable to finish with TD's and settled for two FG's; a turn of events that turned out to be a huge issue. Wynn started the game 7-7 and looked nothing like a Freshman QB. But following those drives everything went south. The Utes kept shooting themselves in the foot with penalites; remincient of the TCU game, Wynn couldn't hit the broad side of the barn, and we couldn't run run the ball if our lives depended on it. The game quickly went from 6-0 Utes to 20-6 BYU by mid-way through the 3rd quarter.

But then everything changed. Our defense, which was solid all night, stepped up and kept the Cougs from moving the ball. The whole night Max Hall wasn't good. He looked better than Wynn, but not like the typical player we know. Though he did make the occassional good play, actually didn't throw an interception, and who knew he could run? Speaking the interception thing, if JR told me that the Cougs would have no turnovers in the game, yet it went into overtime, I would have thought he was crazy.

Also in the 4th quarter, Jordan Wynn turned it back on and hit some great mid-range passes; though he did miss on a lot of long balls. He and Eddie Wide finally got the game going and moved the ball and brought the Utes back and enabled the tie to send it to overtime.

The thing that would drive me nuts if I were a BYU fan though is Bronco Mendenhall's lack of killer instinct. He had a chance to call a timeout (when he had three left) with around a minute to go in the game but left it in his pocket and allowed the Utes to drain the clock to about 30 seconds left to kick a FG for the tie. A minute left with 2 timeouts and Senior QB like Max Hall is plenty of time to get into FG range for the win. On top of that, why call a run play at the end of the game to run out the clock? What if Unga fumbles it?

Nevertheless, my rants against BYU's coaching doesn't excuse some of the horrendous Ute coaching. First, they are as much to blame for the many personal fouls and penalties as the players are, there is no excuse for such lack of discipline. Second, some of the offensive play calls were terrible. That stupid "wildcat formation" play where Smithson throws it to Reed was brutal. Twice Smithson shorted the pass. Right now, Asiata is the only Ute play that should be allowed to run that formation. But not only was that and many other plays terrible, the timing of the called plays were brutal as well.

Anyway, it was a good win for the Cougs and yet another fantastic Holy War. This is THE BEST rivalry in the country, hands down. For my Utes, mucho kudos to our defense. They were fantastic tonight and gave the Utes a chance to win. They were the stars on the Red side. Also, despite his many struggles, I loved the way that Wynn bounced back and am thrilled that he is a Freshman. I am very much looking forward to 3 more years with him!

UTES 9-3

P.S. I think BYU should stick with that shade of blue. It is what BYU is. Go with it!