Arizona cruises past Cougars

OK, I was wrong in picking the Cougars to beat Arizona.

I misjudged how the Cougars would execute. They did not.

Three missed field goals, three turnovers and at least two big blown coverages and penalties at that key stretch late in the first half doomed the Cougars.

Arizona was good. But they were beatable by this BYU team if it had moved past the loss to Utah. As showed here, this team had not moved past making mistakes like at Utah.

While Max Hall did not throw five interceptions, I thought coming in he’d learned some lessons in what other teams were doing to key on him. He tried really hard not to lock on to receivers and give up half the field, that’s why Mike Reed had a nice game.

But the pressure by Arizona, just like at TCU and Utah, got to him. He got happy feet, left the pocket, gave up on some plays and fumbled twice. While I don’t fault him for taking off and trying to get some yards off plays because he was not throwing picks like at Utah, still, he’s got a lot to learn.

Hopefully Brandon Doman can help him. If not, perhaps his uncle Danny White can point out some things that will make him better against good pressure fronts. If he makes that step in his senior season, the Cougars should have another crack at a MWC title.

But if we see this same stuff (13 turnovers) like we saw against TCU, Utah and Arizona, the program wlll not get past the nine or 10 win mark.

The Cougars outgained Arizona 444 to 416 in this game.But they could not complete drives without making mistakes, thus, the could not score in the 30s, which they should have.

The emotion was there. Guys were out there wearing it on their faces in this game, they really wanted it. But the time for buying it had passed them during the season. They were not sharp enough.

I credit Arizona. They came to play and executed very well when it came to making a big play.

In many ways, this BYU team was a victim of it’s own success, back to back titles and 11-2 seasons. Somewhere along the way, they got too caught up in themselves, in their statistics, in the Quest. They left the path shown them by guys who knew the taste of losing during the bleak years. Guys like John Beck, Curtis Brown, Jonny Harline, Cam Jensen and others. Those guys lived and died in looking at film and humbling trying to find their own weaknesses and then moving themselves forward.

I think Bronco Mendenhall know has some tools in getting the message across now. As I wrote last Tuesday in a column, humility is a great teacher.

BYU left Las Vegas humbled.

And that may be a good thing.