KUTV Salt Lake: Why BYU should have won the MWC and beaten Cal

A brutal travel schedule and the Christmas weekend slowed down my review of the Las Vegas Bowl. But better late than never, here are three big reasons why BYU lost to Cal and why, for the 4th straight year, the Cougars don’t have a winning season.  The short version: This is the last Cougar loss that can be blamed on Gary Crowton.

The long version:

CAL WAS READY; BYU NEEDED TO WARM UP

The Bears scored on their first possession. The Cougars had an illegal substitution penalty and raced the 11th player on to the field at the last second on two other other plays. One was defensive, the other special teams. Cal was focused and ready, BYU was unfocused and distracted. BYU gave away the first quarter, trailed 7-0, played an even 28-28 game over the last three quarters and lost by seven. The slow start was a crucial difference in the game. That is on Bronco Mendenhall and his staff, but more importantly…

BYU’S SECONDARY IS STILL AWFUL

The Cougars secondary was decimated by two honor code incidents. Gary Crowton brought in athletes who had no intention of even TRYING to keep the honor code. Booze, porn and group sex (or gang rape) the night before practice starts qualifies as not even trying to keep the honor code. The secondary lost a lot of guys, maybe one of whom wouldn’t have spent three and a half hours lunging at receivers ankles and taking horrible angles. Plus, you don’t need this blog to know that the TD with :03 left in the first half was horrendous. A spectacularly inept performance by defensive backs who weren’t overmatched this year, unless you count the TCU collapse, AFA’s near comeback, and a 4th straight loss to the Utes (and their back-up quarterback). The good news for the secondary, they weren’t the worst phase of the game.

THE SPECIAL TEAMS WERE COMPLETELY DOMINATED BY CAL

All you need to know about BYU’s special teams’ performance: the opening kick-off went out-of-bounds. After BYU tied the game at 7-7, Cal returned the kick-off to the 32 and a personal foul moved it out to the 47. After BYU tied the game at 14-14 with :25 left in the half, Cal was able to return the kick-off to the 42. If BYU’s coverage does what it is supposed to, Cal is probably kneeling down at the 20. BYU’s special teams need more athletes and defensive backs make good cover guys, but we know why BYU doesn’t have enough good DB’s. BYU has a senior QB next year. They are set up for a big year, if they get JC help in the secondary and on special teams. Otherwise, Cougars fans can gear up for more 51-50 OT losses, more 41-34 OT losses and more 35-28 bowl game losses. The guys involved in the two honor code debacles not only embarrassed the school, they were the difference between a 6-6 team and a 9-3 team that should have shared the MWC conference title.