BYU vs. Utah 2012

And Chris Hill wants to end this?

Despite how ugly and messy it was, this truly was a classic BYU-Utah game for the ages. I've never seen a game end like that. It had plenty of drama and controversy to last three years (at least it's going to have to). For something this epic, I felt I needed to get everything out in blog form to find out where BYU went wrong and who is to blame.

Let's start with a quick recap of the game:

On BYU's first possession, a false start (one of eight) took away a 4th-down conversion, forcing the Cougars to punt, which they did rather poorly. Several Cougars slipped down or ran past Utah's Charles Henderson, who returned the punt 57 yards to set up an easy Jon Hays touchdown pass.

On Utah's next possession, they put together a rather impressive 14-play drive that included a fake punt and took seven and a half minutes off the clock. It ended with a 37-yard field goal attempt, which BYU blocked.

At the start of the second quarter, BYU put together a pretty impressive drive that included a 4th-down conversion, but it ended with Justin Sorensen missing a 44-yard field goal. He shouldn't be blamed too much, though, as he had to deal with a high snap and it was his first attempt of the season after coming back from a back injury. But the real loss on this drive was the injury of Houston Reynolds, one of BYU's best offensive lineman. After he went down, I noticed a marked increase in false starts and a drastic decrease of pocket time for Riley.

The Cougar defense was able to force the Utes to punt away quickly, which would be expected with them missing Jordan Wynn and John White IV, and JD Falslev had a nice 33-yard return, which was wasted after BYU fumbled the ball twice. The first was caused by miscommunication (something that haunted BYU all day): Nelson dropped back for a pass, but Mike Alisa was expecting a handoff and knocked the ball out of his hands. The second fumble was a result of the pocket collapsing and Nelson forgetting Dave Kruger was right behind him. The drive was shot, but BYU was able to pin the Utes inside their 1-yard line.

Again the strong BYU defense forced a quick Utah punt, and Sean Sellwood's shanked kick only went 23 yards, setting up a Riley Nelson touchdown pass to Cody Hoffman. Hoffman did push off the exact same way the Utes did against Utah State last week, but the refs didn't call it, so what're you going to do?

But the end of the second quarter was really frustrating for BYU. Pinned at their own 8-yard line with a minute left, the Cougars shot themselves in the foot with back-to-back false starts. Facing a 3rd and 16 from the 2, Bronco had to call not one, but two timeouts before Nelson could throw the ball away to narrowly avoid a safety. This was just one more example of how sloppiness killed the Cougars.

The third quarter is where things really began to fall apart for BYU. Utah was able to put a lot of pressure on Nelson by rushing just three guys, but when they rushed four — look out! Nelson had a near-fumble that was later ruled an incomplete pass, then Alisa also came close to fumbling soon after. Now, some fans will blame Riley Nelson for this loss, but I think he played really hard and made some great plays. I also take into consideration the rumor I heard that he was a game-time decision with back spasms. That said, however, I do blame Nelson entirely for the interception he threw. Facing a 3rd and 3 at midfield, Nelson threw the ball ... right to Utah's Ryan Lacy. This gave Utah a short enough field to get a 48-yard field goal.

BYU's next possession was a complete disaster. But it wasn't just the one play. Nearly everything went wrong before it. A bad snap caused Nelson to have another near-fumble incomplete pass. Then he actually fumbled it later on an option play. BYU did recover it, but Bronco felt they were rattled enough to used his first timeout on a 2nd and 4 with 4:38 left in the third quarter. Turned out BYU really could have used that timeout later in the game. The timeout really didn't settle down the Cougars, who were later called for another false start and then had a major communication breakdown right after that. Nelson was in the shotgun, looking to his left, probably speaking with someone on the sideline, when his trusty center randomly decided to snap the ball. Nelson barely saw it coming and let it slip through his hands. Alisa got to the ball, but instead of smothering it, he tried to scoop it up, only to push it further toward the end zone. Finally Mo Lee picked it up and there wasn't a Cougar in sight to catch him. That was the play of the day that completely changed the game. Before that, BYU was playing sloppily, but they were still in it. But after it, they kind of gave up a little bit. My proof is what happened immediately after.

BYU's drive started off with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and false start penalties number 7 and 8. Henderson dropped the punt, but there were no Cougars around to make him pay for it or prevent him from returning it 18 yards, putting the Utes in good field position, who only needed one play for Jon Hays to complete a 39-yard touchdown pass. Even a pass interference couldn't stop Utah from scoring. This felt like 2011's 54-10 all over again.

But something interesting happened in the fourth quarter. Unlike the 2011 team, BYU did not give up. Riley Nelson never was, nor ever will be as talented as Jake Heaps, but he never gives up, which I think resonated through the whole team. A part of me believes a Heaps-led team would collapse after such a rough third quarter.

To BYU's luck, a couple of Utah personal fouls set the Cougars up with good field position and a couple of freshmen, Taysom Hill and Jamaal Williams, successfully ran an option play to score a touchdown. The defense then did its job, by forcing a 3-and-out with 11:30 left. But the offense didn't take advantage of this. With about eight and a half minutes left, BYU faced a 3rd and 9 from Utah's 35. Nelson dropped back to pass and Utah rushed two players, which was way too many for BYU's offensive line. Nelson was quickly sacked and the conservative Cougars punted it away.

But BYU lucked out again. Not only was the defense able to hold Utah, but they tackled Sellwood, who was worried about having his punt blocked. Riley Nelson then threw a touchdown pass to make it a 3-point game with 3:39 left.

Now BYU's defense really did have a good game. The only points they gave up came after a freak special teams play or an offensive turnover. But ultimately, the defense didn't give BYU enough to win. It didn't force a single turnover, which would have helped a lot, and it didn't get a stop when it most needed. On Utah's first play of its final drive, Hays found Reggie Dunn on a short screen pass, who somehow evaded five Cougars on his way toward a 29-yard gain. Yes, I counted five Cougars who could have tackled him, but didn't. The Utes eventually did have to punt, but by the time Nelson got the ball back, there was only 1:11 on the clock and he was at his 8-yard line. Preventing the Dunn play would have given BYU more time and better field position at the end of the game.

Now we get to the fun part. Nelson's 47-yard pass to Hoffman on 4th and 12 was nothing short of legendary. When that happened, I believed I was about to witness another BYU miracle. Maybe not quite like Johnny Hairline, but definitely another Andrew George. Anyway, Hoffman was tackled with 10 seconds left. Nelson spiked the ball, which somehow took two seconds to do. Whatever, eight seconds was enough. But then the clock started acting goofy. BYU was still in a huddle when it started up again, going down to four seconds before the ref stopped it and reset it. But once the Cougars got lined up, I think the clock again started a little early because Nelson snapped the ball with six seconds left. (It really took two seconds to snap the ball?) Nelson's pass was tipped at the line of scrimmage (for probably the fifth time that day) and it hit the ground with one second left. But the Ute fans didn't notice that and began storming the field.

Now I found this field-storming rather interesting. It seems like a lot of BYU fans think that Utah fans don't value the rivalry anymore. But I think all that mainly comes from Chris Hill and Kyle Whittingham. The average Ute fan wants to play BYU every year — it's only the high-up guys who care about strength of schedule and such nonsense. Of course, on paper, this was a big win for Utah — beating a (barely) ranked team without their starting quarterback or running back. But if the Utes beat someone like Washington State in similar circumstances, I don't think the fans would have stormed the field. They only did it because it was BYU and it really looked like BYU was going to win this one.

So anyway, Sorensen got up to kick a 51-yard field goal, which was blocked to little surprise to me. Why is it that BYU can't kick a long field goal without having it blocked? But once again, luck would come in BYU's favor. The field was stormed by the fans and the rest of the Utah team too soon and the refs had to clear the field for an unprecedented second time. (I believe I did hear my little brother Collin whine "Come on!" when that happened.) So BYU got one last field goal, from 15 yards closer, which Bronco felt for some reason that punter/interim kicker Riley Stephenson should take. If Sorensen would've hit the upright, I don't think I would have asked why Stephenson didn't kick it — his long is only 33 yards, and this was a 36-yarder. I did hear that Bronco said Stephenson is more accurate for shorter field goals, but I don't consider 36 yards a short kick.

But actually, a part of me is glad that kick didn't go in. Utah fans would have cried and complained for decades that that kick should never have happened, and they would have been slightly justified. True, there were a lot of people on the field, but none of them were near the action. It's not like Falslev had to push down a flag-waving lunatic to get into the end zone. As for me, I really don't care. BYU should have been able to win this game without resorting to last-second miracles.

And so now the season is over. Well, technically it's not. There's still a small chance the Cougars could win the rest of their games and beat Notre Dame in South Bend and sneak into a BCS game, but that's about as likely as Utah beating USC, winning their division and beating Stanford or Oregon in the conference championship game. And I don't think either one of those is going to happen. No, BYU will just finish with a fairly decent record and go to a mediocre bowl game, which it may or may not win, just like it has been the past eight years under Bronco Mendenhall.

So who's to blame for this collapse? First, I'll credit Utah's defense. They took BYU out of its rhythm, never letting the hurry-up or the running game get going. Nelson never had enough time to try to take a shot downfield, and receivers were rarely open when he did.

Second, I'll blame the offensive line. Yes, the Ute defense was good, but it shouldn't have had that big of an impact on BYU's offense. They got called for way too many false starts, some of which can be blamed on the MUSS; but the MUSS can't take credit for the sacks and all the passes knocked down at the line of scrimmage. BYU's big guys were just plain sloppy.

The third and final person who gets the most blame from me is Bronco Mendenhall. Simply put, he did not prepare the team well enough for this game. This game was riddled with too many fumbles (and near-fumbles), way too many dumb penalties, a lot of confusion on plays, some poor clock management and little too much conservatism. All those things go directly on his shoulders. He keeps saying "the Utah game is just another game" so much, that I think he's begun to push himself too far and is actually treating the Utah game as less than other games. To say that he doesn't care at all about beating Utah would definitely explain the last three years, where conservative play-calling led to a blocked field goal, a team that quit lost 54-10 at home, and a ranked team played too sloppy to take advantage of the short-handed Utes. Shooting yourself in the foot isn't as bad as giving up, but it's not much better. Ultimately, Bronco needs to stop pretending the rivalry doesn't matter and start treating it the way the fans and players view it, as the most important game of the year where legends are created and legacies are validated. Just ask Max Hall and John Beck. They never were considered great BYU quarterbacks until they beat Utah. Sadly, Riley Nelson will forever have the "Didn't beat Utah" line on his resume.

This season follows the same pattern Bronco has followed the past few years of starting off strong in Week 1, then looking woefully unprepared the next couple of games. This trend started in 2009 with an amazing win over Oklahoma quickly followed by a crushing defeat to Florida State. In both 2010 and 2011, he started 1-2. This year, BYU looked amazing against Washington State, but admittedly looked pretty rough against Weber State in the first quarter. Of course, Bronco will pull it together, get BYU at least eight wins and continue to perform well enough to keep his job, but not well enough to move BYU up to the next level. He just isn't that great of a coach.

And so that ends the BYU-Utah rivalry, at least for now. It really is something special that shouldn't be so easily set aside for the sake of risking a non-conference loss. Strangely, it seems like the two people who are most heavily involved in the rivalry, Kyle Whittingham and Bronco Mendenhall, don't care about it at all. If Coach Whit really cared, he'd make Chris Hill schedule game, Michigan or no Michigan. And if Bronco really cared he'd have his players completely prepared to play the game of their life when they go against the Utes. If we leave the fate of this rivalry on their shoulders, I fear it will die.