Monday practice includes some interesting punishment

BYU went through a heavy practice today in preparation for Friday’s game at Utah State.

The BYU scout team offense, led by Stephen Covey, made some nice plays against the defense, but defensive coordinator Jaime Hill liked what his defense did. At the same time, he praised the scout team for the look they gave the No. 1 guys.

Offensively, all the first line players including TE Dennis Pitta, were on the field getting work in.

The interesting aspect of today’s practice was a punishment handed out to the offense. All the players on offense had to do up and downs towards the end of drills.

The reason? They had a couple of delay of game penalties. The interesting thing about this is the punishment came because the offense didn’t get the play off in 30 seconds. The play clock is 40 seconds and the game clock adjustments have also sped up play.

Robert Anae has asked his offense start playing even faster than it has, thus, he’s chopped 10 seconds off an already quick NCAA game clock.

You might have watched the Oklahoma-TCU game and watched how quick the Sooners got their plays off. “A couple of times, TCU got caught with 12 men on the field. That was pretty quick, the way Oklahoma ran the plays,” said Pitta.

Could Anae and company see an advantage of such a move after seeing how it played out in the TCU game? Maybe. Anae has always created a “fast pace” to not only BYU’s practice but also the plays in the game.

What is the difference in the rules this year on the play clock and the game clock?

The play clock: It now is a 40-second clock that starts as soon as the umpire places the ball on the ground and steps away. That replaces a 25-second clock that didn’t begin until the referee gave the ready-for-play signal.

However, the clock can be reset from 40 to 25 for administrative purposes, such as marking off a penalty, a timeout or tending to an injured player.

The game clock: Now when a play goes out of bounds, the game clock will start as soon as the ball has been reset. It previously didn’t begin until the snap. That will change in the final two minutes of each half, when the clock won’t start until the ball is snapped.

BYU have a chance at a national championship if it runs the table?

Not if the original intention of the organizers of the BCS is intact at the end of the year. The computer aspect of the BCS formula was created and placed in the matrix to keep BYU and every other non-BCS school out of a national championship game. Still, if teams head of BYU beat up on one another and teams from the SEC and Big 12 accumulate two losses…

In interesting take from a national newspaper, the Los Angeles Times, tackles this issue. Read the column here.