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The long awaited chance for James Lark

November 26, 2012

By Danny Holmgren

Las Cruces, New Mexico – Bronco Mendenhall was in a no-win situation as the Cougars took the field on Saturday afternoon. For nearly two seasons Bronco has stood firmly behind Riley Nelson as his starting quarterback, refusing to bring in other talent at the position except in the rather-frequent event of Riley being injured. With Nelson facing another injury following the San Jose State game, Mendenhall announced Friday afternoon that senior James Lark would be making his first collegiate start in his final collegiate regular season game. If Lark put up big numbers, Mendenhall would never hear the end of the fact that he’s kept Lark on the bench for the last six years in Provo. If Lark struggled, or if the Cougars lost to lowly New Mexico State, Bronco would be the most wanted man in Utah County, and not for the right reasons.

Lark came out and had the game of his dreams. Despite the team starting out flat and lifeless (a recurring theme of this season) Lark started out hot, going 10-10. His passes were crisp and safe. His goal, he said, was to get some rhythm early by completing easy passes, and then working the ball downfield more and more. By the time the game was over, Lark had led his team to a 50-14 blowout victory throwing 6 TD passes (5 to top receiver Cody Hoffman) while piling up 384 yards and zero interceptions. He effectively spread the ball around to eight different receivers. He even completed a long bomb TD to a wide open Hoffman.

What does the victory mean? Throughout sports there are great examples of underdogs who refuse to quit on their dreams and eventually have their moment in the spotlight. There is obviously the example of Rudy Ruettiger, the Notre Dame player who was “5 foot nothin’, a hundred and nothin’, with hardly a spec of athletic ability” who touched the field for the Irish in the final game of his career for just two plays.

My favorite example, though, is the boxer James Braddock, who was once on top of the boxing world before injury and the Great Depression appeared to end his boxing career and left him fighting for the survival of his family, scrapping and saving just to make enough to pay to keep the electricity turned on. When an opportunity comes up to fight the number two fighter in the world on just 24 hours notice, Braddock jumps at the opportunity. He is paid $200 to basically be a punching bag as Corn Griffin puts on an exhibition match before his chance to fight for the Heavyweight Title. Braddock stuns the boxing world by knocking out Griffin, and at Madison Square Garden, no less! Braddock, once one of the top heavyweight fighters in the world, had lost his boxing license after injuries had prevented him from putting on good fight years before. The boxing commission had granted him his license just for the Griffin fight, and it was a night to remember. After the fight, his trainer/agent/coach/brother-in-law comes into the locker room ecstatic and incredulous of what just had happened. With tears in his eyes, he said “Jimmy, that was one hell of a goodbye!”

I don’t know what the athletic future will be for James Lark. Braddock went on to fight again and eventually became the heavyweight champion of the world. Rudy Ruettiger never put on pads again after his first and only game. What happens between now and Dec. 20th when BYU faces the Aztecs in the Poinsettia Bowl is anyone’s guess. Nelson may make a full recovery and be ready to go. He may not heal and Lark will get to play again. Lark may even play regardless of Nelson’s status. But if that was the last performance we see from a truly great young man, a young man who never quit and continued to be a stellar teammate when his heart was probably broken, I say this to Lark: “Jimmy, that was one hell of a goodbye!”

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Week 8 Preview – Idaho State @ BYU

October 21, 2011

After another 1-2 start, which is typical in the Bronco Mendenhall era, the Cougars have now won four games straight, against UCF, Utah State, San Jose State, and Oregon State. Last week’s win against OSU was the highest offensive output of the season, with 38 points scored. The Cougars will host FCS Idaho State this Saturday, before going on the road to Dallas next week to face TCU.

What we know about Idaho State (2-5, 1-4 Big Sky)

The best way to describe Idaho State is that they are the Washington State of the FCS subdivision. Last year, the Bengals went 1-10, with their lone win coming against Montana-Western – who plays in a division below FCS. The Bengals only managed one win in each of the last three seasons. But this year, they already have two, coming against Western State and Northern Colorado. They were trounced by  aforementioned WSU to open the season, 64-21. Idaho State is simply a very bad team, even by FCS standards.

What we know about BYU (5-2)

The Cougars seem to have gotten their act together after replacing Jake Heaps with Riley Nelson at quarterback. Nelson has been a breath of life in a team that appeared dead on its feet around halftime of the Utah State game. He has been able to lead the team in rushing the ball, revitalize the running game, and has even looked good passing the deep ball. The team should be firing on all cylinders in this game against Idaho State – I would imagine that we’ll see a perfect picture of what Doman and Bronco want this team to look like. If you want a live practice, this is as close as it gets.

Keys to the game

In honor of Idaho State, I will only have one key to this game for the Cougars: show up. Honestly. That’s all.

Prediction

The Bengals are bad. This game will not be close. Cougars win in a rout: 49-6.

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BYU 38, Oregon State 28

October 18, 2011

It seems to be another one of those Bronco Mendenhall-led BYU teams: start slow (1-2) and then get very good as the season progresses. The Cougars are now riding a four game winning streak, after cruising through Corvallis on their way to a 38-28 victory over the Beavers of Oregon State, that was not as close as the score indicates. Indeed, the cougars were up 38-21 with just 30 seconds to go. The Beavers had to rely on lucky breaks to keep things even at halftime, but the Cougars really blew things open in the second half and ended up having an easy victory. I will happily admit that I was wrong – I guessed a close, low-scoring game at 23-16. Here’s a look at what went right, and wrong for the Cougars in their big win.

The return of "power" running to BYU

Keys to the game

Doman. I keep expecting opposing teams to be able to adjust to Riley’s style of play and shut him down late in the game, but it’s not happening. I’ll give partial credit to Doman on this – he’s obviously been able to more fully implement his offense under Riley, and has been able to keep defenses from keying on Riley because of the variety of ways he has to get rid of the ball.

Nelson. Riley had another solid game: 17/27 for 217 yards, 3 TDs and 1 INT. Oh and an additional 87 yards rushing, good enough to lead the team in that category. He averaged nearly 13 yards per completion, and more than 7 yards per carry. Under his leadership, the team went 11/14 on third downs, and came up with nearly 500 yards of offense (217 passing and 282 rushing).

Receivers. In the last two games, Cody Hoffman has emerged (once again) as the leader of this group. He had 9 receptions for 162 yards and a touchdown – that’s 18 yards per catch. Falslev added three catches for 18 yards and a TD, and TE Kaneakua Friel also recorded a receiving touchdown. That marks three straight games that TEs have caught a pass for a touchdown.

The Rush Attack. Mike Alisa, like Hoffman, had another great game, to match his performance against San Jose State. Alisa rushed for 84 yards, and constantly seemed to be running over or through the first and sometimes second tacklers. He and DiLuigi each had a rushing touchdown, though Mike had a second, long rushing touchdown called back on a holding penalty. DiLuigi added 74 yards of his own, including a 41 yard scramble.

Special Teams. Justin Sorenson had an off day. I don’t recall a touchback in the game, and he only managed to connect on 1/3 field goals, one of them being blocked right before the end of the first half. He was a perfect 5/5 on PATs. The Nelson-led offense led to another slow day for Riley Stephenson, who only punted once. The Beavers missed on both of their field goal attempts as well.

Bronco D. The final score doesn’t tell the whole story here. This defense was really great against the Beavers. The Beaver O was held to just 59 rushing yards on 23 attempts (that’s a measly 2.6 yards per carry), and completed only 27/43 pass attempts. The Cougars caused and recovered two fumbles, and Brandon Ogletree and Kyle Van Noy each recorded an interception. Van Noy returned his 43 yards before being tripped up. Probably the best time of the game for the Cougar defense was the beginning of the third quarter, where three consecutive Beaver drives ended like this: interception, fumble, fumble.

What we know about Oregon State (1-5, 1-2 Pac12)

The Beavers had been hopeful about building on their win over Arizona, and reaching bowl eligibility. At this point, that dream is all but over, as OSU has three ranked teams left on its Pac 12 schedule. Next week they are going on the road to take on the Cougars of Washington State. Typically, one would have a W already penciled in on the schedule next to WSU, but the Cougars are already 3-3 this year, and they even beat the Beavers down in Corvallis last season.

What we know about BYU (5-2)

Perhaps my favorite stat through all of this is that BYU has more Pac12 wins than Utah does. :) The season looked bleak around midway through the Utah State game, as it looked like the Cougars were headed to a 2-3 record with consecutive losses to Utah State. Jake Heaps was benched in favor of Riley Nelson, and that has either been or has coincided with a revitalization of the BYU team and season – now the Cougars are 5-2, and are seriously looking at what could be a 10 win season. This week the Cougars face off against FCS (the “c” is for cupcake) Idaho State. It comes at a good time though, as BYU will be playing TCU the week after.

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Week 7 Preview: BYU @ Oregon State

October 12, 2011

After losing to Texas and Utah in consecutive weeks, the Cougars are now on a three game winning streak, and will head back out on the road to face the Oregon State Beavers in Corvallis. The Beavers haven’t been good this year, and the Cougars haven’t been great. It should be an interesting game, as both will be looking for something to build on here at the halfway point of the season.

What we know about Oregon State (1-4, 1-2 Pac12)

After going 5-7 last season, with a low point of losing at home to then 1-9 Washington State, I’m sure the Beavers had hoped for better things this season. Unfortunately for the Beavers, they have started 1-4, opening with a home loss against FCS Sacramento State. Their lone win came against Arizona (1-5) last week. Arizona’s lone win came when they actually managed to beat their FCS season-opening cupcake, Northern Arizona. What do we know about the Beavers? They aren’t a good team this year, but they do feature a decent passing attack, averaging nearly 280 passing yards per game. They have given up an average of 30 points per game, while scoring an average of just 20.

What we know about BYU (4-2)

Halfway through the season, the Cougars are nearly where I thought they would be, at least as far as their record is concerned. I expected them to be 5-1, with a loss at Texas. The Utah game was an unwelcome surprise, but I feel the team has responded well. Another unforeseen difficulty has been with Jake Heaps. Most people thought he’d be rolling along with around 1500 yards and a dozen or so touchdown passes by now. But as he has struggled, Riley Nelson has come in to replace him, for nearly the last game and a half. The Cougars are well on their way to the Armed Forces Bowl, but only time will tell if they will sort out their QB situation and get this offense really rolling by the end of the year.

Keys to the game

Doman. Coach Doman’s biggest challenge this game will be in adjusting to the Oregon State defense once they’ve adjusted to the Nelson-led offense. I’ve said it before, I don’t think Heaps would have a great game coming off the bench, so with Riley starting, Doman’s got to have a great gameplan for him.

Nelson. Riley had an amazing first half against SJSU last week. He threw for three touchdowns and at one point had a +330 passer rating. In the second half, the Cougars managed only two field goals, but it was more than enough to beat the Spartans. Riley is an all or nothing type of QB – the Cougars didn’t punt at all last game, either getting points or giving up a turnover. The Beavers will make Riley pay more for his mistakes, so he’ll have to make better decisions than he made against SJSU.

Receivers. This group has seen incremental improvement throughout the season, and really had some great moments last week. The highlight was a 40 yard TD grab by McKay Jacobson. A huge indicator for success in the passing game will be if the tight ends can be involved. Getting the ball to Wilson and Mathews early and often will be crucial.

The Rush Attack. Mike Alisa broke out last week with 91 yards rushing, and the team ended with 224 yards on the ground. If Nelson can rely on other runners like Alisa, and have open targets down field when he’s passing, it will free Nelson himself up to make even more running plays. The coaches love to reward performance, so I think Alisa will have the opportunity to repeat his great performance from last week.

Special Teams. Special teams determine field position, and field position wins close games. It takes pressure off of the defense and off the offense. Justin Sorensen has been great this season getting touchbacks on kickoffs, and he has been pretty good on his field goals as well. It would be a huge boost if Hoffman could break another big run, but I don’t think we’ll see any fireworks from him this week.

Bronco D. The Beavers actually have a decent passing attack, racking up an average of 280 yards through the air, and they add an extra 110 rushing yards. Unfortunately for them, all of those yards only translate to about 21 points per game. The Cougar defense will likely hold the Beavers well under 100 yards rushing, and will force them to win on their passing attack. This will put the pressure on BYU’s secondary to shut down the OSU receivers and really frustrate the Beaver offense.

Prediction

The Beavers are 1-4, but make no mistake, this isn’t San Jose State. The Cougars will have to play a better game this week, and I think this will be a close game, decided by which team wins the turnover battle. I think the Cougars win a thriller in Corvallis, 23-16.

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BYU 29, San Jose State 16

October 10, 2011

I predicted this game would end at 34-10 in favor of the Cougars. One more score in favor of BYU and one less in favor of San Jose State and I’d have been pretty close. A safety will blow the spread every time anyway. The 29 points scored is a season high for the Cougars, while the 16 allowed are the fewest given up by the defense since the first game against Ole Miss, when the Cougars gave up just 13.

Here’s a look back at our keys to the game:

Doman. I think that Coach Doman is maturing as a play-caller. It helps that for this game he planned to play Nelson, who plays the QB position much like Doman did. The easier competition doesn’t hurt either, but I was happy with the play calls, and felt that the team was more than a match for the Spartans D. The Cougars were nearly balanced as well, gaining 219 passing yards and 224 rushing yards. Another note: the team was driving well on their last possession, reaching the San Jose State 25 yard line, but ended the game by taking a knee twice.

Nelson (or Heaps). Riley continued his success from the Utah State game through the first half against San Jose State. At one point, Riley had 4 consecutive completions, and 3 of those four were touchdown passes. He topped out at a QB rating of 334 in the first half. Nelson did fumble the ball on the SJSU 3 yard line after driving for 51 yards. The next play was a safety, as SJSU hiked the ball out of the back of the endzone. Riley also threw two interceptions during the game. In the end, the Cougars did not punt, and were forced to attempt (and make) field goals on only 2 of 5 scoring drives. With Nelson at the helm, the offense continued to make gains. Probably the play of the night for Nelson was the play immediately following a Kyle Van Noy interception, when Riley threw a 40 yard touchdown pass to a McKay Jacobson, who caught the ball without having to break stride. It was the best pass of the season by either quarterback.

Receivers. The tight ends continue to get more and more involved in the game – and this time Richard Wilson led all receivers with 3 receptions for 66 yards and a touchdown. McKay Jacobson had 2 receptions for 63 yards (and the aforementioned TD), and Ross Apo added another 41 yards on 3 receptions. This game marks two in a row that tight ends have a TD reception after having gone 17 games in a row without scoring. The more the TEs get involved, the better off this offense will be.

The Rush Attack. For the second game in a row, the Cougars have gained more than 200 yards rushing. They were led by a surprising figure, Mike Alisa, who carried 16 times for 91 yards! Nelson and Quezada each had 9 carries, for 65 and 47 yards, respectively. DiLuigi had a diminished role in this game, recording only one reception and 5 carries.

Special Teams. Justin Sorensen was perfect in the kicking game today, going 2/2 on field goals of 42 and 45 yards, as well as hitting all three PATs. Nothing special happened on our kick returns, but Hoffman averaged 24.3 yards on three returns.

Bronco D. I really thought the defense would come up with a fumble, which they did not, but they did come up with two interceptions. Kyle Van Noy and Travis Uale each made a pick, and Van Noy ran his back 31 yards before being stopped. That set up the Nelson to Jacobson 40 yard TD play. The defense was stingy on the ground, only allowing 70 yards rushing on 26 attempts (that’s 2.7 yards per attempt). The Spartans were never penalized in the game, but the Cougars kept a couple of SJSU drives alive with penalties. All in all, it was a good-not-great day for the defense.

What we know about San Jose State (2-4, 1-1 WAC)

San Jose State came into this game on a two game win-streak, after dropping their first three games in a row. The Spartans will continue on with their conference (WAC) schedule next weekend, as they will face Hawaii at home. Last year they lost 41-7 at Hawaii. Bowl eligibility is not expected at this point, but on the bright side, the Spartans already have won twice as many games as last year.

What we know about BYU (4-2)

BYU fans probably hoped this game would be a little more lopsided in favor of the Cougars. In fact, if just one or two more plays had swung in their favor, the scoreboard would have read quite differently. In the end, it was a good win for a team that needs something to build on. There is still room for improvement in each aspect of the game. The Cougars will test their skills next week against Oregon State, who has been off to a rough start at 1-4.

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