AFA coach praises the visiting Cougars
Of course, he’s the master of hype for opponents and likes to underplay the qualities of his own team.
AFA’s coach showed nothing but praise for the Cougars, labeled by his home town newspaper columnist on Monday in Colorado Springs as the most overrated team in the history of college football.
Troy Calhoun likes what he sees in the Cougars and he believes Max Hall is the real deal.
That’s why he’ll have his squad coming after Hall about 70 percent of the time. If he succeeds, AFA will win, if they don’t, Hall, Austin Collie and Dennis Pitta could inflict some damage in Colorado Springs come Saturday.
“They are excellent,” said Calhoun. “You look at them and they’re big on both sides of the line. The quarterback is completing 71 percent of his passes and has 32 touchdowns. He thoroughly understands their system. He throws the most catchable ball. He’s superb,” Calhoun told reporters this week.
“Defensively, BYU has done a great job all year long of bottling up the run. When they get in to November, they play better football.
Asked if BYU is still reeling after losing to TCU and nearly getting clipped by UNLV and CSU, Calhoun didn’t answer the question directly if the Cougars have lost their swagger seen earlier in a blowout of UCLA.
“I thought they were dominate last week against San Diego State. It was 14 nothing in a few moments early. The thing they’ve done is won. That’s the sign of a very good football team. Nobody thinks they’re going to play a perfect game every week, but what they’ve done with the maturity and experience is win, not just this year but over the last three seasons. That really gets your attention and next year they may be better.”
Calhoun is weary of BYU’s size, but as TCU showed, quicker and smaller linemen can use their leverage to get around BYU pass blockers. AFA averages 2.6 sacks a game and rank second in the league behind TCU. The Falcons have 59 tackles for loss.
“Their O-line has given Hall time,” said Calhoun. “Not many teams have gotten to him they average about 325 up front and trying to simulate that in practice is tough for us. Thing that they do is they still come off the ball and run it well. And having given up 15 sacks in 10 ball games, they are as well coordinated as you will see. They coordinate protection. Hall is like the quarterback for the Colts, he just doesn’t take a sack. He has pretty good cohesion and side adjustments.
Calhoun said Hall belongs among the best.
“He’s legitimate. That’s what you see on tape. And you want a guy who shows a little moxey leading your football team. He’s got a pretty special presence about him.”