A week ago it was reported here that it was too early to panic over the BYU football team.
How about now? Is it time to panic now? Is a third-straight loss this season, this time 33-7 to 12th-ranked Penn State, cause for alarm?Alarm, maybe. Panic, no. Still too early. OK, you Cougar fans can go ahead and be disappointed because the boys didn't put up much of a fight against Penn State, but Penn State is a very good football team that felt it had something to prove Saturday night, and that'a a dangerous combination. The Nittany Lions' loss to USC will probably prove to be a fluke, and it wouldn't be surprising (though probably unlikely) if they won the rest of their games, including Miami at Miami and Notre Dame at home.
At any rate, those who were expecting this to be another Holiday Bowl shootout, like the vastly entertaining 1989 game between BYU and Penn State, were being unrealistic.
These are two different teams, folks. The Cougars aren't as good as they were then, and the Nittany Lions are better. Here's what one guy who saw both games had to say on that subject:
"He (Detmer) doesn't have the help he had two years ago and we're a better defense."
That statement, by Penn State coach Joe Paterno, was typical of the Nittany Lions' postgame comments. Every one who spoke of Detmer spoke with admiration - and maybe a little sympathy.
"He made some plays that were just fantastic," Paterno said. "The touchdown pass - it's impossible for a quarterback to make a better play than that. One other pass he made in there was unbelievable - he ran for his life and then with just a flick of his wrist he put the ball right on the money. He's an amazing kid. He's out there getting the devil kicked out of him and he didn't say boo (whatever that means)."
"He (Detmer) made some great plays out there, but he didn't have the supporting cast he had before," said linebacker Mark D'Onofrio.
Quarterback Tony Sacca shrugged off any talk about his having outpassed Detmer. "That doesn't mean anything to me," he said. "I play on a lot better team than he does. They killed themselves today. They played a lot like we did last week."
What the Cougars must hope now, with their WAC season beginning Saturday, is that they have gotten that kind of play out of their systems. And while it may be too early to panic, it's not too early to express some concerns over certain aspects of the Cougar game. For example:
- Receivers. It was never more painfully evident than Saturday that BYU hasn't found replacements yet for its big-play receivers of last season. Six different players caught passes, but only two, fullback Peter Tuipulotu and third-string split end Otis Sterling, caught third-down passes. For the game, Detmer completed two of eight third-down tosses. You can talk about good coverage all you want, but the good receivers manage to get open, and then they catch the ball.
- Offensive line. BYU may have just played three teams with exceptional pass rushes, but the fact is Detmer has been sacked 14 times already, an average of 4.67 sacks per game. During the regular season last year he was sacked an average of 2.67 times per game. If the sack rate doesn't start declining now that BYU enters WAC play, something is wrong.
- Kicking. What's happened to Earl Kauffman? The first half of last season, Kauffman was raved about for his out-of-the-end-zone kickoffs and booming punts. This season he is averaging 38 yards per punt, and eight of his 12 kickoffs have been shallow enough to be returned (one other went out of bounds at the 5-yard line, giving UCLA the ball at the 35). Toward the end of last season he said his leg felt a little tired, but that shouldn't be the case now.
- Defensive line. The coaches said it would take time for this group to come around, and that's what's happening. Starters Lenny Gomes, Randy Brock and Greg Pitts have a combined four sacks. The top six tacklers on this team are defensive backs and linebackers, and that means people are getting into BYU's defensive backfield too easily.
Those are the areas of greatest concern now, but chances are, by the time BYU has played a few WAC games they will look a lot better.
They'll have to.