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BYU football: Coach, team come to Hall's defense

Thanks Max for a great and exciting season. We will be behind you and rooting for your success and the team's success in the bowl game.

The thing about Football is we have next year to look forward to and this season to reflect on. There are many teams that wish they had gone 10 - 2 in the regular season.

Max will live with this everyday until next year. Although humbled tonight, he will return next year with renewed passion.

He will return next season as a more poised, skillful leader. The team will be loaded next year with both TCU and UTAH at home.

The first practice for the bowl will mark the first practice for next year. Whomever gets the Cougars in the bowl game will meet a highly motivated, focused team.

..... Max is still throwing picks ....

The Utes achieved the Zoob quest, and they did it without coins... weird....

Max Hall folds like a newspaper under pressure. Max Hall hasn't reached the point of John Beck where he can cooly direct a team under hostile and pressure defence. Hall implodes whereas Beck showed leadership. Maybe another year of maturity and coaching will bring him to that level but he sure ain't there yet. Hall STUNK it up against TCU and Utah and for BYU it's back to the drawing board with their QB.

Well, unfortunately Max probably won't win the Heisman this year. Big 12 has some solid QBs. But he's got to easily be the frontrunner for the Heisman next year! Go Cougs! Let's get 'em in vegas!

Paul Kreuger is still open!

[Oh, I'll never tire of that.]

As easy as it is to criticize Max Hall, there is no question that he could mature to John Beck's level by next season. I've even seen an increase in his maturity from last year to this year. He really hasn't had to face a lot of adversity, and so to experience a game like this, for him, will be good for his character. As far as pressure is concerned, I was really impressed at the O-line and how they did against a talented, athletic Utah defensive front, just as a side note. They CERTAINLY learned from the TCU game.

I guess that 4th and 18 from last year just wasn't very clutch then, right?

well it was fun while it lasted but it is time to jump back off the BYU band wagon. Tired of Bronco and all his Steven Covey power of positive thinking fireside chat. Expect BYU to slip back into the Gary Crowton style medocity for 2009 but I think as long as the program gets 8+ wins a season that is good enough. At least the pre-game firesides are good even if they players aren't.

Max Hall's performance wasn't about leadership, folding under pressure, or Utah confusing him.

-Hall telegraphs where he is going to throw because he makes up his mind who he is going to throw to @ the snap. Watch his head, he never looks off the receiver that he wants to throw too (for the most part Austin Collie). That may work against the UNLVs of the world, but it doesn't work against BCS caliber teams as TCU and Utah exposed.

-A byproduct of Hall watching only the side of the field where he want's to throw is that he fails to see defenders moving into his intended target area from the opposite side of the field.

-Hall has got to:
1. See the whole field AFTER the snap and acquire his receiver after the snap. 2. Be humble enough to know that this issue is not a question of trying harder, or just "executing" better. Hall has to make this transition to move from a GOOD QB to become a GREAT QB.
3. If Hall has problems acquiring receivers after the snap, then the BYU offense has to be scaled back to it's early 2007 form accordingly.

No defense for Max Hall's pathetic performances against both TCU and Utah. Come on, the kid stunk it up in both games and took his team out of the game with int's and fumbles. Hall needs a ways to grow before I consider him to be a complete college QB. Oh and if Max get's rattled having little ole Utah in his face how will he ever impress anyone at next years NFL combine where the standard is tight man to man defense? As far as I'm concerned Max will be the real deal when he beats a quality team with a winning record. Anybody can throw 20 td's against San Deigo or Wyoming.

Lets face it, alot of the blame for this game can fall squarely on the normally awesome Max Halls shoulders. Throw out those six turnovers and BYU wins. I don't think that he can say that was a "team effort".

On the bright side, he was named Utah's MVP!

Seriously though..

Austin Collie and Harvy Unga were studs in this game, and I'm sure that Hall will redeem himself next year!

Well Max you had a tough game. Going in to this one I don't think anyone would have predicted this, but you just have to focus on what is ahead. At least you get another shot at them next year!!

In the end at least you know there is more to life than football. I know you didn't stick your mission through but hopefully you at least learned that. Your teammates know that and can handle losing with grace. Good for Jan Jorgensen. That kid is a stud!

Congrats UTAH!!! I am a huge BYU fan but I am sick and tired of the pathetic defense that has been displayed over the past 15 years, even when the Great LaVell was there. Our DB's are terrible. #16 got beat time and time again and never got pulled. FIRE Bronco for having a poor defense. It is nobody's fault but his!!!

Max Hall is a great QB against poor to average teams. Against great teams, he is brutal. Not only did he have 6 TO's, he had 6 balls batted down.

Collie is a stud. Good thing we had him. Would love to see him suit up for Utah in the BCS Bowl Game! AH

Great job Utah Utes. Do this state proud.

I couldn't agree more with Hall is no Beck. Hall imploded tonight. Not only did he have 6 turnovers, he had a 15 yard unsportsmanlike penalty after one interception, he also had several passes that should have been picked off. He said that last year he was too fired up and that is why he didn't play so well in the Utah game. What was his problem this year? Frankly, I am so upset with BYU loss (because they had the talent to beat the Utes) that I am wishing that Bronco would turn the offense over to another quarterback. But, that is not going to happen. All I have left is to hope that Max Hall will mature and improve and this won't happen again next year. Right now, I don't have allot of faith in Max Hall and his ability to overcome his faults.

Harline or Collie are open, but it doesn't matter because 11 red jerseys are open and they can all catch too. The Zoobs were taken behind the shed and got a good old fashioned whooping by big brother.

I like sports and player football and when my daughter received a scholarship to BYU decided to attend my first game there. I came away knowing that the team had talent but the no huddle disorganization on the offense and the 3 man line on the defense would be their Achilles heel.

Utah realized that Hall like Peyton Manning would try and alter plays at the line. They effectively changed their sets at the last second and flustered Hall into being out of rythm.

The only way Hall overcomes this is if Mendenhall changes his system on both sides of the ball. I also agree that Hall is not the same as Beck under pressure. But, I say again that if the system changes then he will be better as the quarterback.

sorry, but as a byu fan i'll be the first to admit that hall had a horrible mental game today. but blame it on the coaches too. utah saw they could get their hands and block passes right and left. the byu coaches had no response. but either way, hall makes some really bad decisions. and he has all season. he's up and down frankly. hopefully next year he matures a little more. he could still be a good one.

Last season nobody new who the starting quarterback would be untill Kade Cooper got injured. Max had to battle for his job and that can be very motivating. If you dont have anybody with a snowballs chance of taking your spot, you dont have to work as hard. Im not saying Max Hall did that, but I am saying we saw a more efficient quarterback last season. I think he needs to find it again. Put in the film time to be the best. They were his mistakes against Utah and TCU, and he should shoulder the blame, it will make him better in the future. He should study game film and learn how to read man defenses better. But what do I know. Without the turnovers BYU takes the lead in the third quarter. Without the turnovers he doesnt put his D in short field situations. The D-fence did their job. They were supposed to be the Y's acheles. Just as I thought, the game was won when BYU had the ball. Whoever won that matchup would win the game. And they did. Good luck in the BCS game Utes.

I think you have to give the Utes credit for creating turnover situations and then capitalizing on them.