Comments about ‘BYU, Utah Utes football: Utes pull off shocking 54-10 rout’

To Coach Mendenhall: After seeing the comments you made to the BYU boosters, and then watching the team dismantled by Utah, it seems that maybe you were preparing everyone for what was to come. Please, spare us your attempts to rationalize the situation. It is true that BYU football is unique because of the high standards required of the staff and players. However, to say that you and the team have a higher mission sounds like youre trying to justify mediocrity. Ive got news for you, there are already thousands of young men who spend each day of their lives bringing attention to the LDS church. They are called missionaries. Unlike you, they labor for free. If your mission is truly first and foremost to represent the LDS church, then please stop taking that huge salary from BYU and do it voluntarily like everyone else. Sanity check - you are being paid a huge salary to win football games using young men who adhere to the standards of the university, period.

To Tom Holmoe: This is ultimately your responsibility. What have you done to BYU football? As an executive in private business, if I showed this kind of performance Id be on probation, or fired. I dont expect any team to win every game, but the performance against Utah was a joke. It showed a clear lack of focus, discipline and desire to win. Generating that in a team is the job of the head coach. Coach Mendenhall seems to think he is a mission president, not a football coach. Please bring him back to reality, or let him go. The BYU football program is clearly not ready to compete at the BCS level. Programs like Utah, Boise State, and TCU have left BYU behind. You obviously underestimated the programs maturity level. Now youve taken BYU independent, and the weakness of the football program will be visible every week on national television. Thanks a lot for the recognition. Maybe you should consider a career change also.
And as for me, Im now a Utah fan. GO UTES !!

I really don't think this outcome was all that shocking to be honest. Utah is well coached and BYU isn't. Kyle would never put up with 7 turn overs - never - but Bronco seems lost - much like Crowton - on how to fix this broken program. He fires assistants and rotates new ones in and things just get worse. I don't know if Doman is good or bad because the BYU O-line is SOOOO pathetic and the BYU running backs are third stringers on most teams at best. My gut feel is that Doman is actually REALLY good but the talent he has to work with is so awful and sub par. Heaps is a really good QB - you can tell with his arm strength and touch but I think he tries to do too much sometimes to compensate for the ZERO running game and when you become a one dimensional offense you are in BIG trouble. BYU has good receivers but again the lack of a running attack is killing them. Every time the Y does get a good running back he is kicked out of school (Unga). Well, this is going to be a long season for sure.

As a long time CougarClub booster who has invested a lot of time, money, and devotion to my alma mater, I have these thoughts:

This team lacks a winning attitude. Sure, they can talk a lot of hype, and positive mental attitude cliches (mingled with scripture), but they don't back it up with action. Attitude reflects leadership. This bad attitude is the fault of the coaching staff, and is the same bad attitude evident in Bronco's calling us (boosters) "Pharisees" for wanting some accountability. Bronco forgot (deliberately?) that this is a football team first and foremost, not a band of missionary brothers who just happen to play football. Like Collie, this team really does seem to believe the lie that success on the field comes from living "righteously" off the field, instead of from hard work, discipline, brilliant preparation, focused execution, and heart.

some bright spots:

To put up 343 passing yards against the Utes, with NO running game to keep defensive backs honest, is impressive. We moved the ball and moved the sticks almost as good as the U, and our 3rd down efficiency was better.

I gave away season tickets. They want to give them back.

So much for the undefeated season I had said in the past. Booooh! But I have to hand it to the UTES! I was more impressed with them than embarrassed with the Cougars! I can now think of all the sarcastic and schadenfreudic T-shirt slogans based on the "Band of Brothers" thingy. Remember the "Quest for Perfection" campaign? Can we vote the coaches off? After all the fans have a lot more to do with the success of this football "thingy" at BYU! So what excuses are Doman and Mendenhall saying now?

Ducky, Captain L, and the rest,

I told you after the 2010 spring scrimmage Heaps was not the guy. Nice throwing mechanics and stats produced in a spring camp do not translate into game time ability. The fact that Heaps had a PR guy, that he was out of shape and avoided the weight room and that he was intensely disliked by a number of teammates spoke volumes about his readiness to lead a D1 school. He's selfish and he thinks he knows it all.

But, BYU fans and coaches were blinded by the Scout.com ranking and even after his mediocre performance last year, he was annointed the starter and there was no competition in 2011. Doman and Mendenhall weren't even decent enough to give Lark a release, when he realized there would be no real competition and asked for one.

So the one guy with actual D1 ability rides the bench and BYU's chickens have come home to roost. Good luck guys. You got what you asked for.

Cool! I didn't know you could recommend your own post! I mean really, how cool is that? I just became a UTE and life is already getting better!!

The DN Censors are alive and well today. BYU needs a head coach that wants to win football games, as "Pragmatic" correctly points out the focus is not on winning football games. The firesides are a good idea on the road, but not the night before a game. 'x' points out that he would like to see Bronco 'lose his temper', you can be sure during the halftime of the Texas game their coach let them know they needed to play better football. I'm would hope the players want to win and put in a lot of effort in that direction, but BYU needs a head coach with the same attitude. Instead he criticizes his supporters.

So BYU handed the game to Utah? I prefer to think Utah ripped it from them both physically and mentally. Man up Byu and move on but remember this day forever. Go UTES!

Congrats to the UTES....Awesome WIN. The WIN last night was unbelievably satisfying and the bonus is watching the "Y" fans destroy their own team in this blog!! Double pleasure...ha ha ha! Humility has a sour taste when it is force fed!!

GO UTES!!

I am thinking the next t-shirt should say..."HUMILITY..Does a body good!!"

Jake Heaps should consider going on a mission after the season. It would help him mature mentally. He could use a redshirt year when he returns to get back into it and would probably be a much better quarterback his junior and senior year than he would be otherwise. Doman will also be more experienced then and should be a better offensive coordinator/coach.

I was most shocked by BYU's lack of offensive fundamentals in the game. Any running back who takes a hand-off at the 3 yard line to power into the end zone should have two hands wrapped around the ball. Inexcusable. On any running play the ball should at least be tucked high and tight (BYU needs to watch film of Mark Ingram when he was at Alabama.) When a ball is fumbled on the ground (Heaps and Falslev) you immediately dive on it. You don't try to pick it up, run with it, throw it, etc. Poor, poor offensive fundamentals.

Coach Mendenhall: Please stop the excuses and comparisons of the BYU boosters to Pharisees - Save it for Sunday School. I dare say that after your comments and the performance of BYU this week, donations to BYU football will probably drop like a stone; Well done coach. This is a tough business grow a backbone, stand up and take responsibility, or get out.

I am liking that the Utes and Cougs are no longer in the same conference and playing earlier in the season. It's the postgame, and we're talking about the game, not the hype around it.

BYU looked tired and out of shape in the 4th quarter. Maybe a lot of it was just superior physical conditioning (you know "paying the price" in the gym and in practices). I'd like to know if others have noticed this when the cougs play quick, physically fit teams.

Mendenhall and Doman have been coaching the Y for the past 7 years, and they have brought some pride back into the program, and resurrected the program from the dead. However, after embarassing games like last night, where their team was outplayed and outcoached, the question does have to come up--do we let them go?

Personally, I'd like to see Mendenhall stay--he's a class act. Even though this is Doman's first season as offensive coordinator, I think there must be questions about him. Bronco called him out once, already, this season, and this is how Doman and his offense responded. The Cougs offense did look great in the 2nd quarter, but they were subpar the other three quarters and 7 giveaways shows lack of preparation and intensity.

Well, well, well...

BYU fans are singing a different song today, eh?

Two blowouts in one year! USU turned out to be much worse than they looked in routing BYU and Utah will wind up looking just as bad when they play their new conference. Robert Anae and Jaime Hill are both gone and the problems remain. Bench Heaps, give Nelson the ball and start looking for replacements for Bronco
Novocaine Mendenhall and Brandon Inept Doman. Another wasted season and more wasted talent. They have money, facilities and players, what they don't have is coaches.

THe number one reason why BYU fans are the way they are. They think that BYU is a top 5 team every year they think they a Oklohoma or USC or even Alabama or Auburn. YOUR NOT! Lower your expectations like a lot! You guys are crazy to put or say some of the things you guys do because it always comes back to bite you.

Notes: except for that TD drive, BYU's 300+ passing yards were not productive/effective. Utah D gave up the yards, but contained BYU from scoring.
So I am not impressive of BYU passing game.
BYU running game was non-existent.