BYU football: Jamaal Williams, Cougars eager to move on after painful loss to Virginia

"mountainflying

Logan, UT

Everytime BYU loses it's always someone's fault other than their own...the refs, the other team cheated..etc. BYU deserved to lose this game and they seriously have one of the worst QB's in college football. Hill is and will be a bust just like Riley Nelson was."

This is no one else's fault and I don't hear many saying it is. The frustrating thing is BYU had 50% more yardage and still lost.

But, I agree. Hill has not looked good and one more showing like that should lead to Olson getting a chance. Given how things have gone with QB's with high star rankings perhaps it's time to give a walk-on a shot.

@ BlueHusky, aka Bronco mini-me

Bronco always claims it is lack of execution and/or some other excuse. What it boils down to is that both teams are trying to execute on each and every play. One player will either make a mistake or be forced to make a mistake. What I would really like for Bronco to do is be honest and give the other team credit for winning the game. Being honest with his players and fan base will only help with teaching these young men lessons in life. Sometimes, even if you put your best effort into something and it doesn't turn out the way you want (i.e., the guy lined up across from you knocks you on your tail), you can keep you chin up knowing that you did the best you could. Not that you didn't execute.

Go UTES!!

@Vladhagen....."So coach, how good will the team be this year." Bronco: "Horrible. Don't even buy tickets to the games. We all are a bunch of inepts on this team. I am not excited at all for the season to start because we are so bad..."

Finally an honest cougie fan

Williams should have caught the ball, But Hill should never have thrown it, and Anae should never, ever have called a pass play on 3rd and 6, on your own 35 yearline, with about 3 minutes to go in the game and with a QB who is only hitting 30% of his passes in bad weather conditions...

Your Defense is what kept you in the game... I would wager a large sum of money that Virginia would not have been able to get into the end zone from their 20 or 30 yard line in less than 3 minutes... Big Mistake Robert... Huge mistake... And our Offense of 3 years ago starts to come back in focus...

Oh BlueHusky, if we could all just be like you. I'm a whiner because I expect what people tell me is the truth, I'm a whiner because I want to see my team win. I guess I just don't like mediocrity. When I do, you and I will get along fine. Until then, I root for BYU because I like BYU. I cheer for ASU because I like ASU. Nothing is going to change that, but when you have been told that BYU is going to be great this year, the offense is going to produce, the line is way better than last year, and then I watched last Saturdays game, I can't help but feel lied to.

When it comes to excuses, BYU has plenty of them, the weather, the hoff was hurt, the flooded tunnel, I didn't hear Virginia offering any excuses. I don't hear championship teams offer any excuses. When Tebow lost a game, he didn't offer excuses. He became resolute. He then went and won games. We'll see what BYU does, but if they fold against Texas, my opinion of BYU football will go in the toilet.

I repeat some of my statements over the last couple of days. You whiners sound like you're 12 years old. This was the first game with a new system, new O-Line, new coaches, new players. And horrible conditions. What on earth do you expect?

With decent weather, I think BYU would have won this game, raw or not. But give Virginia's defense credit for causing a lot of problems. At least two of the turnovers were weather related. Absent the turnovers, BYU wins. Did Virginia's offense do anything at all in this game? No. They couldn't function either. It is a lot easier to play defense than offense in weather like that.

If you want to only root for winners, try Alabama. I'm a BYU fan and I'm a Husky fan. Have been for 40 years and not changing. Win or lose.

While the coaches have fed us certain material about the positives they see in the team, I do not think that they built it up to be way more than what it can become this season. Do we want them to just downplay everything to the point of absurdity? "So coach, how good will the team be this year." Bronco: "Horrible. Don't even buy tickets to the games. We all are a bunch of inepts on this team. I am not excited at all for the season to start because we are so bad..."
Most of what I read from the coaches said stuff along the lines of NOT knowing how the team would play out this season until the first game.

Everytime BYU loses it's always someone's fault other than their own...the refs, the other team cheated..etc. BYU deserved to lose this game and they seriously have one of the worst QB's in college football. Hill is and will be a bust just like Riley Nelson was.

@wookie

The teams that scores the most points. Otherwise known as the better team. At least by most fan bases.

@wookie-Alabama

Vladhagen

If we were here only for when BYU does well, we likely would have jumped ship after last year. The problem fans of BYU have is we believe what the coaches and players and media people feed us all off season. We believe that our Cougars of BYU will perform great feats of strength and provide wins. Instead, we've been let down after games 1-3 during recent past. Charlie Weis might be brash, but I bet Kansas isn't expecting greatness this year. Perhaps BYU should start curtailing expectations to it's fan base and keep the pomp and circumstance in the locker room. That way when BYU loses, BYU fans won't feel lied to. Besides, 1984 snuck up on Cougar fans. Edwards and co. weren't out telling everyone how they were going to win every game. They just went out and did it. BYU needs to stop hyping the "win and you're in" garbage. Just go out and do it.

Are Oregon State's and Kansas State's teams a total failure? Should they just give up the rest of the year? Give me a break. There is still a lot of football to be played. Let's hope that the team learned something and can do better on Saturday.

@ Vladhagen:

It's not the Y fans who are so negative. It's the Ute trolls that mostly live for the opportunity to cut and slander BYU whenever they get the chance. There were some definite positives shown from BYU in that game, but not one mention of any of them from the Ute trolls. None! That's the reason for taking their negativity with a grain of salt.

This is strictly an article on BYU and we still get that "Go Utes" that doesn't belong, nor do any of the stupid slogans that Hey Baby stayed awake last night to come up with. He's still strutting around with a smirk for thinking he's such a smart guy for doing so. The trouble is, it's all very lame and no one was impressed... well, perhaps maybe a troll or two.

@ Two For Flinching:

How can you talk about all of BYU's losses when they've played only one game this season with their new QB, new offensive coordinator and new offensive strategy? Statistics are kept for a reason. Considering BYU dominated almost all of them, one could argue they did somewhat give the game away.

If BYU plays like this for another two years, they'll be begging to get back in the MWC.

Why is it that all these BYU fans are so negative all the time? Do you even cheer for BYU or are you just along for the ride when they do well? Get yourselves together and act like an actual adult, not some whiny kid who just got beaten by a video game.

I'm amazed at some of the absolutist posts.

Of course a player can feel that his team gave the game away. A botched snap resulting in a safety...more descriptive of a team giving up two points than the other team "taking" it. A poor play call or poor execution on a critical play giving the other team great field position and an easier chance to score...more descriptive of a team giving away opportunity than having it taken from them by something proactive that the opponent did.

What is so hard about that concept?

But, of course the game is long enough and full of enough opportunities that we often hear..."it shouldn't come down to that,"...which is true...but, ironically it often does.

It sounds like Jamaal and the coaches recognize mistakes and weaknesses and will work to improve. What more can you ask? Would that we all could objectively view our weaknesses and find a way to improve day by day.

Most of the time, it really is just about improving yourself—regardless of the competition. Make the change and improve and move on to the next game.

So if both teams execute on every play who wins the game?

Go UTES!

How Refreshing:

“While offensive coordinator Robert Anae blamed himself after the game for calling the pass play that resulted in a costly turnover, Williams took ownership for not making the catch.”

Everyone is quick and willing to accept responsibility for a mishap from the players to the coaches. I like that. No more miscommunications. No more passing the buck.

Yes, we lost a game against Va. that everyone in the know says that we should have won.

Yes, the heat and the humidity was terrible. Yes the thunderstorms delaying the game through the timing off on both teams. Yes, Cody Hoffman was injured and could not play. If any one or more of these mishaps were different, we might have won.

The important thing to me is our schedule.

I am proud, win or lose a close one, our team with our schedule makes me proud.

I would rather have a 6-6 season with the schedule we have than to have a 10-2 or 11-1 or even a 12-0 season with a line up of Patseys. A bowl game means nothing to me at all when we win with a Patsey Schedule.

Appreciate Coach Anae and Jamaal taking the blame for the loss. Tysom should do the same as 13 for 40 is totally unacceptable. Yes, there were few drop passes, but a 50% completion is not good by any standards. I know Coach want to protect Tysom's fragile ego, but time to grow up and move to the next level. Learn from the last game, but it also mean looking at things honestly so you can correct them. Everyone makes mistake, it is an imperfect world.

I'm not forgetting the missed catch. I'm not forgetting the loss. I'm tired of watching Riley Nelson type quarterbacking (skipping the balls to receivers or over throwing wide open ones). I don't care if the weather was bad, good teams have good players and can hope for some good breaks under these situations. I don't care that Hoffman was out. Championship teams find a way to win without excuses. Hill better bring his A game on Saturday and the O line better decide to show up. I made fun of Erickson at ASU (and subsequently Utah) for his poor play calling and I thought I saw that in Anae. I'm tired of the pre-season hype and then watching a mediocre season.

I feel that many of the comments here do not address the topic at hand. The Virginia game is over and Texas is coming up. From the looks of last week's game, I don't feel much has changed with the Cougars. Yes, the season is still young and much can be accomplished. Last year, the BYU AD made statements about how things were going to change. At first glance, it does not look to me like anything has changed. Given the improvement in schedule for this year, things do not look to be getting better. Passing game has too many dropped balls. BYU cannot run the ball and expect to grind down their opponents. That game is just not there. Well, we have another week to see how things go. After that, it may be time to look inward and think about making a coaching change.

Sounds to me like the coaches know exactly what needs to be done. Take some time folks and look at how many error free days you have had in the last week. See (unless you aren't honest with yourself), and you have the benefit of having a know everything, never make a mistake life coach too. I rest my case.

Jamaal is a super awesome and cool player. He will come back strong in this next game and lead the BYU Cougars to victory! I am rising and shouting RIGHT NOW!!!

I'm all for moving on but the painful reality is that Anae will continue to run the same plays over and over. The line will continue to miss blocks and Hill will continue to be inaccurate with his throws. This coming game will be more of the same, go fast, go hard, punt.

1. Give the kid a break. He has been asked the same question in multiple ways by the media since the loss. He is and humble and trying to answer the questions
2. He is trying to look on the bright side and put lipstick on the pig. What choice does he have? Should he stand up there and say they have no hope at all for the rest of the season and give up?

Don't tear on the kid for his words. Yes, they were 2-3 plays away from being 1-0, but they are not anywhere near 2-3 plays away from being 11-2. They are about five starters away from that level.

@Two For Flinching "BYU has actually never lost because the other team was simply better or because its opponent made some big plays the resulted in a W; just ask them." "we gave them the game."

Never lost because the other team was simply better?
54-10 come to mind?

2 Fur, Football has its cycles during the game, momentum shifts continually during the close ones.

I have NEVER witnessed a football team GIVE a game away.

A lose comes from a sound defeat, mistakes or poor coaching.

Take your pick.

This article is full if good ideas for tee shirt slogans:

1. A chipmonk eating an acorn on Wlliams shoulder! Slogan "we came out with a chip on our shoulder"...
2. "92 yard drive"...below a picture of Bronco hoisting a big trophy above his head for that moral victory!
3. Big letters...MY BAD above pictures of Bronco, Anae, Hill, Williams, football, raindrops
4. A football image and underneath it....THIS IS A FOOTBALL Then a medicine ball and underneath it...THIS IS A FOOTBALL THAT IS WET

Does the reporter know that is D1 football, they use like 20 footballs and there is a team of guys who work all game to switch them out after every play? They dry them off, keep them under towels. It's quite a process actually...

First of all, Jamaal and BYU shouldn't forget about the Virginia game. They should be embarrassed, and angry, and rabidly motivated to prove that there is actually some substance to the, as of yet, ridiculous forecasts of a competent coaching staff and offense.

Second of all, I agree that it's easy to point fingers and make statements about how the other team didn't win the game but that BYU gave it away. Looking back to last year, and now including this game, that makes something like six games lost by a total of 17 points. So, it's easy to look for the smallest circumstances and hypothesize that the game could/should have been won. However, BYU put themselves in the situation of losing the game on the smallest of circumstances, and that's not an excuse. Own the performance and put enough points on the board so that you can have some bad calls and bad luck, and still win the game.

Re: Two For Flinching

Good grief, BYU didn't give the game away. Virginia won the game. Give Jamaal a break, he is after all an 18 year old kid. If you were in his shoes and had played your guts out at his age you might feel inclined to say the same thing.

From what I saw, both teams made mistakes but in the end Virginia out executed BYU and "made one more play" as they say. In the end, one team has to win and the other team has to lose. In this case, BYU was on the losing end. It appeared to me that, through much of the game, Virginia played cleaner football and executed better.

I will say though, it's tough to pin this loss on Jamaal, even though BYU probably would have one if he caught the ball. He was the one who got 4 yards a carry on 33 carries. You can't really say this often, but that average wasn't because of great blocking, it was just a good individual effort from a young player playing hard. He can't be doing that every game though. Other guys like Adam Hine need more carries.

Look! Everybody is doing it!

"The name of the game for Texas this season is tempo. As in full-throttle, no-huddle, don't-stop-to-catch-your-breath pace of play. Coach Mack Brown's goal is to average 80 or more plays from the line of scrimmage, a blistering pace that could wear down opponents."

“Virginia was giving up and they looked defeated. If we keep that mentality the whole game, they’ll stay defeated all four quarters. We made some mistakes, of course, that kept them in the game, and (as a result), we gave them the game. If we cut down on some of the mistakes and keep executing and do what we need to do, they’re going to get tired, bow down to our will and we’ll go out there and do our thing.”

Wow. Obviously BYU "gave" the game away. It is the reason for every single one of BYU's losses. Fun fact, BYU has actually never lost because the other team was simply better or because its opponent made some big plays the resulted in a W; just ask them.