Harvey Unga, BYU's all-time leading rusher will not be coming back. He had requested to be reinstated, after admitting to an honor-code violation. At any other school this wouldn't even be a topic of discussion, but at BYU it's all the buzz. As much as I love the guy and all he did at BYU, sorry to say but his career is over. The LDS Church is all about keeping their good name, and letting Harvey play again is will not happen after making national news.

That being said let's take a look at Josh Quezada. In my mind he is in the same position that Austin Collie found himself in last year. A guy with a lot of talent, and a shot at making it big. To be quite honest I didn't have super high expectations for Austin Collie. I knew he was good, but the NFL is a different game. I was pleasantly surprised at his breakout rookie season, and somewhat upset I took Terrell Owens instead of Austin Collie as a receiver on my fantasy team.

Josh Quezada has landed in the right place at the right time. I did not get to see him play at the blue and white game, but everything I heard about the kid matched up with his highlight videos from high school. So the only real difference with Austin Collie's situation last year and Josh Quezada's situation this year would be expectations. I can say that I do have expectations for Quezada, as I should. If he can not preform from the get-go he will be put into the rotation rather than a mainstay. While I think that Quezada is the best combination back with a mix of speed, power and shiftiness, BYU has speed backs, power backs and shifty guys, they would just have to rotate.

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It was coined by Metallica, but the statement sure does ring true when it comes time for the Holy War. Both teams sitting with identical records, and assured of bowl games this game is for pride. For BYU it has been a roller coaster season of emotion. Starting with what seemed to be a defense of blitzing schemes that kept offenses guessing and and an offense that was destined to rack up points fast. Hopes of the dream season came crashin down hard with a dismal performance vs. FSU.  It is apparent that BYU is not yet "executing at a higher level," and blame who you will the marks in the loss category stand.

Football is an interesting game. Calls are made by judgement first and then through mechanical instruments we hope make up some of the difference leaving one always with that doubt of a good spot, or a correct call. From my experience football is ultimately a game of emotion. The shifting of momentum can happen over a long methodical drive or in the blink of an eye as someone gets their clock clean to the tune of 65,000 screaming in approval. Fourth and 18 is a prime example. Every loyal fan gets the chills when it comes up. I remember feeling Utah lose hope in that play. The interesting thing is that play was not a touchdown. Had Utah made a stand they still had the game, but the momentum had shifted and to them all was lost. 

So why do I bring my cowbell to every game, wear my lucky shorts and scream my head off? Am I loud enough to make a difference? Well actually yes I am. I have been on the field when the momentum shifts and the crowd does indeed make a difference. It is not living vicariously through a college football team. It is however an active participation in something that does indeed influence the end result. Me screaming at my TV when the game has already been played I don't have an good explanation for, but when you are there it is real.

So Saturday when I am jumping around in my lucky shorts in the 30 degree weather. Cowbell blazing while the orange coated freshman crowd control tries to find and confiscate the source of the artificial noise I do it knowing that on that day nothing else matters.

Since I started playing football, I was told three things that separated levels of football players/teams. I have found them to be the true gap between any two levels of football.  In no particular order they are: speed, speed and speed.

After thinking about football in general, I do not believe last week's game showed that only execution gave TCU the advantage to hand out the beat down they did to BYU.  Execution is, and will always be, an intricate part of football, but "speed kills!"  What I saw, watching the Frogs pummel the Cougars, was speed, and on top of that quickness. These terms need to be separated to better understand the why's and how's of BYU's latest loss.

Speed is the fastest rate at which a player moves. Quickness, on the other hand, I like to think of as how fast a player can take his first three steps and then get up to speed.  If speed kills then quickness is the Grim Reaper. BYU, TCU and Utah all have decent speed, making them by comparison relatively equal. TCU has an upper hand in quickness, making it near impossible to compensate. Lets break it down one piece at a time.

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Look at the numbers and you would be hard pressed to say that Dennis Pitta is not one of, if not BYU's best tight end of all time. That being stated, is Pitta even a tight end? The article about Pitta a few weeks ago asked if Pitta was the best ever, and by the numbers he surely is, but what is the actual role of a tight end?

In my football education I was taught that the tight end was the last man on the line. He lines up outside the tackle and is and eligible receiver. His primary role is to block, be it for run or pass plays.  As an eligible receiver he can catch passes, and indeed does, but once again primarily blocking responsibilities.

I once played in a rushing program where the tight end caught 5-10 passes a year. He knew his responsibility was to help on the line of scrimmage. In watching BYU's current system Pitta does not fit the role of a traditional tight end, but would be better deemed a slot receiver, an over sized H back, so to speak.

My argument is not about the eye-opening stats of Pitta's career, but rather the category in which he is has been placed. I think that under Rob Anae's current run and gun passing system Pitta is not a traditional tight end and as such should not be compared to the blocking tight end of years past. Pitta spends the majority of his snaps split out as a receiver and as such would need to be compared to slot recievers to make a fair assessment. That is not to take away from him in any way, but to be fair to the tight ends that only get 10-15 balls a year.

Let's win the conference and get into a bigger bowl. Let's hope this weekend is the last time we end up at Sam Boyd stadium!

I love football, and like many of you, played in high school where it was tradition to wear your jersey to school and walk around with your chest puffed out eager for the school day to end, the lights to come on and game time to appear. I think that is why we love night games. There is so much we can relate to, because many of us have been there. Here is a list of who shined under the lights Friday night...

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Ask any fan and they will tell you the game was good. That is about it, because that is about all it was. Here is a little bit of what I saw as a breakdown.

The Good: HARVEY'S BACK!!! That's right he's back and once he got a taste of the end zone he had to go back for more. The fire Harvey lights under the Cougars is one that they desperately need.

Turnovers: The one in the first quarter was a miscue by CSU, but Logan was in position to make a play on the ball off of that, (more on him to come in the ugly). The other pick and the blocked punt were great plays that swung momentum our way.

The Bad: I know it has been a while and I had to check the roster, but Coleby Clawson does still play linebacker for BYU. After hearing his name thousands of times over one weekend he disappeared off the map, but if you listened very closely you heard his name called out (once) after making a tackle. That's bad.

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Hey everybody. Adam invited me to become an author on this blog and I am pretty excited. This is my first time doing something like this so I hope I can do a decent job at it. A little about me. My name is Dan Richards. I come from a family of USU grads so not much to brag about there, but I have been Cougar Blue my whole life. I love sports, but football is by far my passion.

I played QB in high school, and in 2005 made the BYU squad as a DB under coach Mitchell. That was Bronco's first year as head coach so I got to know a little bit about him and his coaching style and I can say that I am impressed with him as a man as well as a coach. During spring ball I hurt both shoulders and ended up having surgery on both of them, ending my football career.

I was there when Bryce Mahuika's father died and he came to the team and wanted to start doing the haka before every game. It was great to see how the team help their teammates through difficult times and how everyone on the team felt important and the desire to work hard for the good of the team.

I like to analyze football and love to break things down to see how they work. It is amazing to me that at any level the little things are what make or break a play. I would have to say one of my favorite players was Omarr Morgan, a physical DB that could lock down a receiver and made him pay every play. Corners that can tackle are like a gift from heaven!

I am excited to be able to share my thoughts about BYU football and see what we can come up with

Go COUGS!