SB Nation - Spencer Hafoka

McKay Jacobson Out 4-6 Weeks

Layton — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 17:05:34 -0000

More photos » by Tony Gutierrez - AP

This news would have made me cringe two weeks ago, but with the emergence of Spencer Hafoka and Luke Ashworth, this isn't terrible news. It does take away one big weapon for the Cougar offense, but Unga, DiLuigi, Chambers, the aforementioned receivers and Pitta are all playing well enough that BYU is still going to be extremely hard to stop.

Game Recap: Harvey Unga is better than you, much better

sroufe — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 22:20:04 -0000

Harvey Unga is well versed in street combat, gymnastics, and boxing. In limited action in 2009 he has shown the ability to best multiple armed assailants with little difficulty. Unga is also relatively indifferent to physical pain and discomfort, as he has played with a lingering hamstring injury and during the off-season trains by running barefoot across a frozen Deer Creek Reservoir.

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Quick Summary: Harvey Unga ran for 113 yards, three touchdowns, and ate three cups of mint flavored Dippin' Dots. Also, his teammates created two interceptions and a blocked punt while beating Colorado State 42 to 23 in Provo. For more information please click here for a network recap and/or here for a boxscore. MWC Connection has also provided a brief recap, here.

My desire for Unga to take it easy with that hamstring injury is well documented:

"Unga has played in each of the last two contests and then exited early because of aggravating his hamstring injury ... If it were me ... I would sit Harvey out completely against Colorado State this week and against Utah State the week following. I wouldn't let him play until the Cougars travel to UNLV on October 10^th..."

Of course, Harvey and Bronco don't care about my opinion, and rightfully so. I haven't rushed for 2,586 career yards and 29 rushing TD's. (I have however enjoyed some Dippin' Dots while watching Unga produce some of those statistics at LES.) Still, Zac had a much more fun approach recently:

"Harvey Unga is fine. He's better than anything BYU has, and he'll probably leave school the all-time leading rusher. Not only that, but he has the ability to play through pain. In his first game of the year last week, he was able to tear up an ACC defense. I suspect he'll have over a hundred yards rushing and a couple touchdowns against CSU."

That wasn't so much prophetic as it was logical. I don't care how much CSU's defense has apparently improved from last season - they still can't stop the junior running back from Timpview. And thank goodness too, because despite the tremendous early lead, the Cougars could have made this game much easier on the Rams had Unga not suited up. So thank you Harvey or more specifically, thank you Harvey's hamstring.

Other than Unga, the best part of the game for me was the defense's ability to put some pressure on the quarterback. The Cougars finished with three sacks (Clawson, So'oto, Fuga) for a total loss of 35 yards. They also held the Rams to just 66 yards rushing on 28 carries. This was all most welcome after the performance against Florida State.

A few other bright spots included:

- Spencer Hafoka's 24 yard touchdown reception

- Scott Johnson's return with a team leading 10 tackles

- Andrew Rich's 6 tackles and interception

- Some productivity without fumbles from O'Neill Chambers

- Dennis Pitta's continued dominance

- The most consistent kicking/punting game of the season from Riley Stephenson

The most glaring disappointment of the game was Max Hall's two interceptions. Hall's inaccuracy seemingly had less to do with his protection and more to do with simple errors on his part. He should be able to get away with that again next week against Utah State, but it will cost him if he duplicates this performance against UNLV and certainly TCU next month.

Overall, this game was what most of us expected.

Game Preview: BYU Offense

sroufe — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 08:35:56 -0000

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Last season’s offense was terrific. A healthy Pitta, Unga and hopefully a more experienced Max Hall should continue the trend. Despite the loss of Austin Collie to the NFL, the receiving core looks fine. The return of FB Manase Tonga to the program, replacing Fui Vakapuna, should help as well. There are some doubts however about the offensive line. Oklahoma’s defense respectfully compares in talent, at the very least, to TCU and Utah of last season. That could spell trouble for the Cougars, no matter how many returning skill position players and no matter how much media hype behind Hall and co. What will it take for the Cougar offense to succeed Saturday and make for a competitive contest with the Sooners?

Here’s with the projected offensive depth chart to open the season:

LT: Matt Reynolds, Braden Hansen

LG: Marco Thorson, (Braden Hansen)

C: R.J. Willing, Ryan Freeman

RG: Terence Brown, (Ryan Freeman)

RT: Nick Alletto, (Braden Hansen)

Due to the season-ending injuries suffered OL Jason Speredon and OL Houston Reynolds (Matt’s brother), BYU is traveling just seven O-lineman to Dallas. This is actually good news – it could have been much worse if their best, LT Matt Reynolds, had been medically cleared to play. Reynolds missed nearly all of Fall Camp after breaking his hand. Without him the Cougars really would have been in trouble. As is, they still have a major chore in keeping Max Hall off his back and trying to create holes for Harvey Unga. OU’s D-line is a wonder to behold. There will be nobody better in the NCAA this season.

DT Gerald McCoy is superb and a future 1^st round NFL pick. Junior Jeremy Beal is also one of the best DE’s in the country. It is going to be a long, tough evening for the Cougar O-line. This years O-line isn’t as deep or as experienced as last season’s that was among the nations Top-10. Matt Reynolds would start for program period, but the rest are largely unproven – with any starting experience being before their LDS missions. In short, don’t expect Unga and Manase Tonga to have too much success up the middle and be grateful for each down that pieces of Hall aren’t plastered all over Arlington.

TE: Dennis Pitta, Andrew George

WR (X): O'Neill Chambers, Spencer Hafoka, Brett Thompson

WR (Z): McKay Jacobson, Luke Ashworth

WR (H): Matt Marshall

TB: Harvey Unga, J.J. DiLuigi

FB: Manase Tonga, Bryan Kariya

QB: Max Hall, Riley Nelson

Pitta and George are the finest pair of tight ends that the Cougars have fielded jointly since the mid-90’s with Chad Lewis and Itula Mili. Both look healthy and should create some match-up problems for the OU linebackers in the flats. Each should have fantastic seasons in 2009.

McKay Jacobson is reportedly healthy after a minor injury in Fall Camp. He returned earlier in the year from an LDS mission but has picked up right where he left off and is ready to fly. Expect the Texas-native to return kicks and punts as well. While Jacobson has major shoes to fill (Collie), special teams is at least one area where Jacobson should exceed Collie in productivity. If he can and O’Neill Chambers can provide the offense with good field position that would take further stress off the offensive line. It will be interesting to see Chambers in an increased role after seeing only marginal playing time last season. He is bigger and more talented than Michael Reed as a sophomore and could develop into something special. The other receivers could have a tougher time with such an athletic secondary in OU, but H-back Matt Marshall could be a bit of a secret weapon that the Sooners haven’t seen much of…

Unga has also battled injuries and Tonga has only been back with the team for a couple of weeks. Of course, Tonga’s first day he delivered a hit on DB Scott Johnson that left him seeing birds. That’s a great sign – not just in terms of short yardage situations and blocking for Unga, but for protecting Hall from DT Gerald McCoy, DE Jeremy Beal and other Sooner playmakers. Because of the situations with Unga and Tonga, Bryan Kariya and J.J. DiLuigi each saw significant field time with the first unit offense in camp. Whether they’ll see any kind of significant minutes on Saturday however remains to be seen. The highly touted DiLuigi had a bit of a disappointing first season in Provo last season, but the coaches have repeated remarked how they liked what he brought to practice in August.

And finally there was the QB. Hall doesn’t exactly have a good track record against marquee opponents. A particular game in Salt Lake last November comes to mind. Supposedly he has put that all behind him. We’ll find out right away. Hall has an opportunity to enter Cougar lore for all-time. If he can pull out a win against this Sooner team he will have directed the team to its biggest win to nearly two decades. I want that to happen. I want it badly. Do I think that’s going to happen? In the words of the late George Carlin, "'No comment' is a comment." Right?

Overall the Cougars cannot afford to turn the ball over. If they do, they’ll be done. Of course, with all of these veteran skill-players you’d think that would be less of an issue. OU’s defense is going to be excellent. BYU’s offense will be excellent this season. BYU’s offense should score against the Sooners enough to keep the game relatively close. Hopefully, fantastically close.

Scouting BYU: The Offense

ccmachine — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 03:19:35 -0000

Max Hall, QB for the BYU Cougars (via Hazboy)

Quarterback: Max Hall enters his senior campaign Saturday night against an Oklahoma secondary that was tested often and at times failed miserably in 2008. Hall had is not so great moments as well in `08, particularly at the end of the season when as the Cougars finished with consecutive losses to Utah and Arizona, but the overall product on the field was very good. He completed 330 of 477 passes for 3,957 (11.9 yards per catch) with 35 touchdowns to 14 interceptions.

Running Backs: BYU’s running back duo of Unga/Tonga sounds like some sort of toy manufacturer but they aren’t a group of backs to be taken lightly. The Cougar’s offense became a lot more potent last week when Manase Tonga was cleared by the NCAA to play this season. In 2007 Tonga rushed for an average of 3.5 yards per carry and 8 touchdowns. He doesn’t have breakaway speed so he’s not going to kill you on a long run but he’s a bruiser who can plow his way forward in short-yardage situations. With Tonga not eligible to play in `08 Harvey Unga at to strap up without is `07 backfield mate. The result was a slight decrease in production as he rushed for 95 fewer yards and two less touchdowns than the previous year. Probably not enough to get excited over but the point is that these guys function better when on the field together.

Tight End: The Cougars have a legitimate All-American candidate (He’s have to edge out Jermaine Gresham) in tight end Dennis Pitta. After spending four years together he’s almost sure to be one of Max Hall’s go-to guys. Last season, as a junior, he hauled in 83 catches for 1,083 yards and 6 scores. At 6-5/247, Pitta could prove to be a bit of a match-up problem.

Receivers: Austin Collie caught 106 passes for 1,538 yards and 15 touchdowns last season. He’s gone in 2008 and while the young Cougar receivers may have talent they aren’t very experienced. The 2009 corps of McKay Jacobson, O’Neill Chambers, Luke Ashworth and Spencer Hafoka had a combined 7 receptions in `08. This unit could turn out to be fine (actually BYU needs them to) but for now they have to be labeled as a question mark because of their inexperience.

Line: The average size of BYU’s offensive line is 6-4/325 which is a good sized line. However, the unit features four new starters and has already decimated by injury before the season has even started. Matt Reynolds, the lone returning starter from `08, suffered a broken hand but will most likely be ready to play Saturday in the season opener. Reynolds younger brother, Houston, suffered a season-ending knee injury and Jason Speredon suffered a season-ending torn rotator cuff.

Houston Reynolds wouldn’t have been a starter but Speredon would have. Now BYU’s offensive line has gone from lacking experience to lacking experience and depth. Much like Oklahoma’s offense, the Cougars have playmakers at the skill positions but ultimately the success of the offense rises and falls on the performance of the offensive line.

Poll

Which aspect of BYU's offense concerns you the most?

Quarterback

68 votes

Running Back

15 votes

Recievers/Tight End

18 votes

Offensive Line

14 votes

115 votes | Poll has closed

Opening Up Our Notebook On BYU

Nestor — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 00:00:07 -0000

Thanks to our BYU-Washington game this weekend can go ahead and get started with compiling our notes on BYU. UCLA as a team of course very familiar with the Cougars given what took place last year in Vegas and at the Rose Bowl. Bronco Mendenhall’s team are now on a 12 game winning streak, which is the longest in the nation. They have been thinking about BCS Bowl games this off season and for them to get there they will have to get it done starting this weekend against the beleaguered Huskies in Seattle and then against our Bruins at Provo.

We will start by taking an initial look at the Cougars’ offense. As noted by Molly Yanity of the Seattle Press Intelligence the number 15 ranked Cougars are rolling into Seattle with an offense that is “a jumble of pro-style and West Coast with a dash of spread all rolled into one.” Actually that reminds us a little bit of Joel’s impression of Tennessee’s clawfense but the difference here is these guys have an experienced quarterback unlike Crompton. More from Molly:

In 2007, BYU quarterback Max Hall completed 60.1 percent of his pass attempts, and his 3,848 passing yards led all sophomores. He also posted a solid efficiency rate of 137.7.

"We're more methodical and just run routes that are very difficult to cover, (use) possession-oriented passing and, I think, a physical running game to just methodically move the chains," Mendenhall said.

Over the past two-plus seasons, which have produced a 23-4 record, the approach has worked for BYU.

Last season, the Cougars' 442.8 yards per game ranked 25th in the nation in total offense. Running back Harvey Unga averaged 94.4 yards per game to earn Freshman All-America and Mountain West Conference Freshman of the Year honors.

Last week in a 41-17 win over Northern Iowa, the Cougars racked up 563 yards that included 486 passing, but they also fumbled five times, losing four.

The BYU offense is led by Max Hall who had a good debut season as the starting quarterback for the Cougars, throwing for 3,848 yards, 26 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. If he makes the progress that many signal callers make heading into their second year running the show, the BYU offense will be very hard to stop.

Receiver Austin Collie returned from his mission last year and immediately became Hall’s favorite target. This year should be even better for Collie, but Hall will have plenty of other options. Tight end Dennis Pitta is a superb pass catcher and a nice target in the redzone and Luke Ashworth and Spencer Hafoka both had great springs after coming back from their missions and should compliment Collie at the wide out spots quite well.

As concerned as I was about Tennessee’s talent and speed in their offense, I am more worried about our defense’s ability to handle BYU’s offense on their home turf.

In terms of numbers our defense had mixed results against BYU last season. They were able to shut down the Cougars in Vegas but had a tough time (especially during second half) at the Rose Bowl.

Specifically our defense was effective in shutting down the running attack during both games last season. As the Cougars rushed for a total of 78 yards in 53 carries averaging a measly 1.47 yards per carry. However, in two games Hall passed for 622 yards, completing 51 of 88 passes (58% completion rate) with 4 TDs and 1 pick. While our defense was able to shut down their running attack they were able to nickel and dime us pretty effectively (kind of like what Chow did to Tennessee last Monday night at the Rose Bowl).

If not for some key turnovers at the Rose Bowl, we would have probably lost that game early in the season. So, going into this game our defense has enough issues to worry about. One of the issues that worried me from the Tennessee game was that while Price and Harwell were able to seal off the middle of the DL, Tennessee was picking up chunks of yardage rushing from the outside. It will be imperative for defensive ends to make sure Unaga and co don’t do damage by going outside.

Also, it’s a good thing that we are getting Lockett back for this game. Hopefully Lockett will give Aaron Ware a sense of urgency to hold on to his FS position. Those guys along with ATV and Norris (who had a solid game as noted by Bruin Roar) will need to be in top form to make sure Hall doesn’t get to carve up the defense like he did at the Rose Bowl. Moreover, it will be very important for the offense to get off to a good start in the first half. We have seen now how Craft can be a streaky QB (to put it mildly). It will be a huge help if the offense can come out of the gate and settle the whole team down by getting some first downs. Otherwise the team will probably not be able to survive in a hostile environment on the road if it has another first half (offensively) like it did on Monday night.

More on the BYU defense later. Meanwhile, would love to get more feedback from rest of you on how our defense can contain Hall and his weapons on their home turf.

GO BRUINS.