Taking Care of SDSU Business

Neither BYU's offense nor defense was at its very best, but both were generally solid, and it was more than enough to take care of a San Diego team that played hard and fairly well in spite of their struggles coming into the game in Provo today.  The 41-12 win completed the third consecutive season without a loss at home...18 games and counting in Edwards stadium, which is a new consecutive home win record for BYU.  It was also the 12th straight sellout.  

If there were standout performances, it was by several Cougar players...in particular Max Hall, who completed 25 of 30 passes for a 300+ yard game, 3 TD's and no INT's.  He is simply in control and very comfortable.  

Austin Collie was also excellent again, with another 100+ yard receiving game...moving into the #2 spot all time in receiving yards in the BYU record book, and is just 165 yards away from taking the top spot from Eric Drage.  If he doesn't do it next week against Air Force, he should the next week against Utah.  Not bad for a JUNIOR, and especially in light of BYU's long and strong history in the passing game.  

Dennis Pitta and Michael Reed were also solid.  Our run game was hampered some, in part because Harvey Unga was held out after the first half with a stinger.  Wayne Latu and Fui Vakapuna were "OK" but not great, and Latu had a fumble that set us back temporarily.  

Now we enter the finale of the season...and we will be seriously tested.  Next week we head to Colorado Springs to take on a very good 8-2 Air Force team.  I expect us to win but we have little room for error and will need to be on top of our game from start to finish.

If we win next week to reach 10-1 record, the battle against Utah will shape up as an unbelievably pressure packed and weighty game.  Utah, with a come-from-behind-and-requiring-some-luck win against TCU in Salt Lake 13-10, reached 10-0 and is in the rankings at about the level BYU was before our loss to TCU.  

The bowl picture remains quite fuzzy.  If BYU wins next week, then there remains a chance of a BCS bowl, and if not then Vegas or Poinsettia Bowl bid is likely.  

[Also of note: a shout out to Real Salt Lake, who defeated Chivas USA in LA to win its first ever playoff series and move to the MLS Western Conference Finals.  Congrats to Real!]