by
Jeff Caves
Boise State lost to BYU 28-25. I think BYU deserved to win. They simply outplayed and, at times, out coached Boise State in Provo. I took a closer look at some of the most important plays and players and learned a few things. That follows. Also, Boise State didn’t quit, was motivated and wasn’t resting on their Top #15 rank vs 2-4 BYU. If you stood as close to the players as I did, got soaked in the bone-chilling rain and had your eardrums beat from Justin Bieber type screaming co-eds, you would agree. Here’s what I saw:
Chase Cord
It was optimistic, which coaches are, to expect a near flawless 4 quarter effort from a kid who has had 2 knee injuries and had not played a full game in 3 years. His first interception didn’t result in a BYU score but the combination of Cord staring down his receiver and the BYU lb. making a great read and interception was too much. It was in the first quarter so at the time you didn’t make much of it. At the end of the 3rd quarter though, Cord misread the coverage and literally threw the ball to an open BYU defender for a gifted pick. BYU scored a TD 2 plays later to make the game 28-10 BYU going into the 4th. Ouch. Cord didn’t quit though and completed a 13 play and 9 play drive to close the gap to 3 points. He was one drive short of being a hero. Now, he is PERCEIVED as clearly a #2 by most fans.
Jaylon Henderson
At the end of the 1st half, I thought the timing was 50-50 for Henderson to come in cold to run for a 1-yard loss and then throw an incomplete pass into 2 BYU defenders on the BYU 20. Cord hadn’t hit any throws on that drive and maybe BYU was ripe for Henderson to lull them into sleep looking for a run and throw a TD. Nope.
BYU TE Matt Bushman
He was a matchup nightmare without Nawahine in the game. Jones was fooled by the fake fumble TD pass for 27 yards on 4th and 1 and it was a great play call. Boise State ran a similar play vs Oregon in 2009. Kaniho got sucked in by the double reverse next and allowed a 39 yard TD pass. Bushman was better than Boise State defenders all night. BYU knew without the experienced 6’2” Nawahine roaming the middle Boise State was vulnerable.
4th and 1 for the Game
I think it is time to disallow offensive teams from pushing their own ball carriers in the back to gain more yards. Let’s make a rule that you can’t hit your own ball carriers. Ban the BUSH PUSH and maybe Boise State gets the ball back and wins. Maybe.
Boise State got beat, they are not in for a perfect season. They got out-coached on a few key plays and got hit on some mismatches. Bad loss cause despite all the evidence above, they still could have won.
