-- Hoping Climps 2.0 is > than Anae 2.0
Time to see what my predecessors have befouled in the recruiting world. I take a look at our recruiting board and find our top three targets are kickers and punters. Woof, we're off to a worse start than I imagined. Then I check our team needs: DT, C, WR, K, P. Wow, what happened while I was gone? Did no one check the status of our seniors? Also, I need my next great QB.
Coming in at the halfway point of the season leaves me with so much ground to make up. I have no scouting intel and I'm six weeks behind my competitors in the shmoozing period. This year will be a true test of my skill.
I cut 12 players from the 30 on our big board. I go to check out our pipeline states and we've lost Washington and Oregon. Goodness me.
I start with 44% job security and a D- prestige; nowhere to go but up am I right?
Week 6 BYU at Boston College
BYU is 2-3 and in danger of having the season fall to pieces. Flying across the coast for a P5 matchup doesn't seem like the antidote for our ills but so be it. Fortunately Boston College is more name than game, with three losses against two wins. But that doesn't stop me from smiling all game long as we deliver a 34 to 10 victory on the road. Eric Gates is in rarefied air with a 177 yard, 2 touchdown performance on 23 carries. George Preston, one of the two highest players I've ever recruited, delivered 9 tackles and 3 pass break ups from the CB spot. It's a beautiful way to start round two of my BYU career.
In recruiting Alex Robinson, a DE from Val Verda, Utah (is that a real place?) absolutely craps on my scholarship offer. My advances nets me zero points and he says the offer doesn't interest him that much. Oh is that so? You better believe I'm gonna find out who he signs with and give them a 4-year sweep of whoopings during his career there.
I'm going after 70 rated WR Thomas Hawkins who has San Jose State listed as his number one team. Yup, I'm targeting a player I recruited from my old job. I haven't tried to pilpher as many as I could, so I don't feel too bad about it.
Week 7 BYU at Navy
Navy is 4-2 and have won four games in a row. We're traveling across the country -- again -- to face them with the hopes of going above .500 for the first time this season. And we do, securing a 38-35 win in overtime. Everywhere I go, overtime follows.
My starting QB, Mike Manson, goes 16 for 37 with 3 interceptions. Uh oh. Everywhere I go, horrible QB performances follow.
Our running game is hot however, with Marcus Robinson rushing for 89 (5.2 per carry), Gates for 52 (7.4 per carry), and Manson for 70 (4.6 per carry). Jeff Hagen, who I promoted to starting SS last game, gets a key interception, and underclassmen Ben Moore leads us with 8 tackles, 1 TFL, and 1 PBU.
Grant Oliver becomes the first person I've scouted through three weeks who has actually increased from their original rating. He's the 4th ranked DE in the country, and is ranked an 80. He has me third behind Texas and USC.
Week 8 BYU vs Kentucky
The boys are responding to my return. We defeat another ho hum P5 opponent by putting up 37 against their 21. That's scores of 34, 38, and 37 in my three games as OC. My nemesis, defensive coordinator Travis Peterson, hasn't done quite as well. My hopes is that he does good enough for us to win, but bad enough that he's let go in a couple years time.
Abraham Williams is 3rd on my big board and is yet another defensive end. Bronco was the recruiter of LBs, I am the recruiter of DEs apparently.
There's a tackle prospect from Logan I like, but he's one of those dudes who rates everything I'm good at as a low priority. He's into Hawaii and it will suck to lose out on a local talent to the Rainbow of all teams.
Week 9 BYU at Texas A&M
We have a checkered history with this team don't we? They killed Ty Detmer on a national stage. We used them as a trampoline in 1996 to vault us to our second best season of all-time. They're 3-4 at this juncture, rated Bs across the board versus our As. It'd be a huge win for me and the team if we pulled it off - four straight wins and three in a row over P5s.
I have to check the scoreboard twice on this one to make sure I'm not seeing things.
I was hired because of my alleged passing genius but on this day we do like Taysom did against the other Texas and run amuck. 321 yards on 43 carries in a smashing performance. The return of Climps Hansen as offensive coordinator is getting all the pub and I'm letting it ALL go to my head. BYU was 2-3 when they brought me back (1-3 if you ignore the FCS season opener). Since then we've averaged 39 points and have gone undefeated facing 3 out of 4 teams on the road and 3 out of 4 teams being P5s. I'm flying high. I've accomplished two of my contract goals already (win 4 games and gain 2,800 yards of offense). Although I am a bit peeved that we aren't even receiving votes yet in the top 25.
The good vibes follow to the recruiting trail - I've moved into first place for a 85-rated athlete named Erik Williamson. This would be my biggest recruiting get ever. I've been so busy wooing him that I haven't scouted him an iota. So I spend a third of my scouting budget looking at his tape and his rating plummets 9 spots to a 76. Well I guess that explains it. Last week Penn State had a huge lead on me for this guy and now they're out of the picture. I guess they saw the same tape I did? Still a 75 is nothing to sneeze at - I'll keep looking at him.
Overall I've climbed the ranks on a few very tantalizing prospects. I've got about 10 I'm focusing on, comprised of a couple DEs, offensive lineman, WR, and athletes. One thing this class is low in at the moment is defensive backs. Gulp. Tis the BYU way I guess.
Week 10 BYU at Duke
Duke is 2-7 which means this should be another impoverished P5 that we put in a chokehold. And boy aren't these the types of P5 teams real life Indy BYU dreams of playing? Duke, Boston College, Kentucky, even Texas A&M is more bark than bite. But the point is Duke sucks and we make sure they know it, winning 56 to 17 on the road. My offense is now averaging 42 points per game. I fear what we may do to Louisiana Monroe in the coming week.
We once again run our opponent into the ground, this time to the tune of 395 yards on 61 rushes. I want to pass but I can't if we're going to run like this. Gates goes for 174 and 3 TDs, Robinson for 155 and 3 TDs, but Gates also adds 66 through the air while Robinson adds 53. These two are a pair of my earliest recruits and they are making me proud. If this happened to be a one-man show instead of a two man duet I'd have to imagine one of these guys would be threatening some national leaderboards.
I realize with a bit of despair that one of my goals on the season is to pass for 10 touchdowns. We've ran the ball so dominantly that I fear I may not accomplish that request.
We're now receiving enough votes to essentially be ranked 29th overall.
Week 11 BYU vs Louisiana Monroe
What's the goal here? Get the youngsters some reps? Try to reach the 80 point threshold? Well if you guessed hang on to a three point win at home in overtime against a 2-6 team, the likes of which mascot is a mystery to me, well congratulations. We win 40-37 in extra innings, but it doesn't really feel like a win. Which maybe is the kick in the rear we need with a showdown against #3 Penn State coming up as our climactic season finale next week.
Starting QB Mike Manson had to actually try this game, and he performed decently, completing 55% of his passes for 267 yards. It felt weird to see Gates and Robinson fail to combine for their typical 300 yards rushing. But enough about ULM. The showdown is coming.
Week 12 #25 BYU at #3 Penn State
I had a weird history during my head coaching tenure of running smack dab into championship winners and contenders. Sometimes we did OK (hanging close with Georgia Tech), other times I did so bad the result was used as means to fire me (losing to Notre Dame by 100). I don't know what to expect this time. We're ranked #25, but that won't help us when we travel to the 6th most challenging road destination in the country. Penn has won seven straight at home, are ranked a 99 overall, a 99 on offense, and a 93 on defense. The Lions only loss is to #1 ranked Ohio State.
But this is not Bronco Mendenhall's BYU. By the power of my recruiting dominance I've raised us to a 97 overall ranking of our own, with a 94 in offense and a 93 in defense. Our injury report is completely clean. Penn will be our seventh P5 opponent of the season, the most in BYU history. Against that slate we've fared spectacularly, going 6-1 with the lone loss to #21 Georgia Tech. We're 6-0 since I took over the offensive playcalling duties. This may be one of our best chances at pulling a monster upset since I began this simulation. Here we go.
We open the first quarter with a blast, scoring the first 14 on a Thompson TD pass and a Robinson TD run. Penn climbs back in the second quarter with two scores that add up to 12 points (courtesy a missed XP and failed 2-point try) and a field goal but we counter with two field goals of our own to lead 20 to 15 at the break. In the third quarter Robinson breaks loose a 77-yard TD run(!!!) and Manson hits early recruit Atkins for a TD and we lead 34 to 22 heading into the fourth. But that was the last good thing that happened to us. Penn State scored 15 in the fourth, we scored zero, and Penn State beats BYU 37 to 34.
It's absolutely respectable - we led and hung with the #3 team in the nation. But this feels like such a coulda-woulda-shoulda. A stop here or a conversion there and maybe we pull this thing off. It's a tough way to end the season. One of my biggest goals is to finish the season ranked in the top 25. We just missed it. But more importantly this would've been the biggest upset since the Oklahoma victory in 2009.
The top four players on my big board are lineman. Lineman are the players closest to the quarterback, and one could consequently argue, the most important players besides the quarterback. I am of this belief. After watching the New York Giants beat the Patriots in two super bowls despite fielding an inferior team at every single position besides defensive line, and after watching Utah push around BYU for a decade by the strength of the defensive line, well, yes I'm more than happy to invest therein.
I'm battling Boise for a a gem of an athlete named Nathan Williams who jumped from a 71 to a 79 after a bit of scouting. I usually play pretty nice in the recruiting world but I need this guy so off come the gloves and out come the daggers at Boise's academic prestige and playing style.
Bowl Season
From the 'what in the world' section of the newspaper, I stumble upon the game of the week during week 14 and it's none other than the Utah State Aggies versus Notre Dame. Turns out Utah State is a solid 8-3 this year while Notre Dame is hanging in the top 10 as always. Notre Dame wins of course but not in the same fashion that got me fired two years ago. I'm projected to play the Aggies in the Armed Forces Bowl which initially would have seemed horrible but if they're a decent team I guess it's not the worst. You know my motto - anyone but Nevada.
Wait a second, we have more 'what in the world'. A RB out of Hawaii wins the Heisman. Is this the first non-P5 Heisman winner since Detmer?
And then more 'what in the world' comes in the form of our bowl game. We are indeed headed to the Armed Forces Bowl but not to face Utah State. Instead we're getting a rematch with Boise State? How lame. We lost to them 28 to 45 and my predecessor at offensive coordinator was fired the next day. And we're playing on a Sunday? Lol. So much for authenticity NCAA Football 2013. Utah State got Stanford in the New Mexico Bowl and I'd say they came out the best of our trio of local schools.
The bowl game is an almighty bust. We lose 31 to 14, my worst offensive performance of the entire year, by what a good 20+ points? We fail to end the year in the top 25. To add insult to insult, Albert Scott fails to make an all-american team and I am aghast. I believe he's one of only two players in the game this year with a 99 rating. He comes in 3rd in the Outland Trophy even though he only gives up 4 sacks for the year. The two guys in front of him give up 21 sacks but WHATEVER. It's the same one-two-three in the Rimington.
I lose 79-rated athlete Nathan Williams to Boise and I guess I can't blame him after his Broncos roasted my team twice in the same season.
Ohio State wins the National Title game while Penn State slaughters Florida in the runner-up bowl to finish second in the country. I'll never understand how I manage to always play one of top two teams in the country every year.
LaVell Edwards Stadium is up to 35th in the ranking of hardest places for visitors to play, by the way.
Offseason
We say goodbye to the first two players who took a chance on revitalizing BYU's defense: linemen Kevin Mason and Corey Ostrander. They led the team in sacks this season and were 2nd and 4th in TFLs.
We have an absolute boat load of talent leaving the program this year.
- Albert Scott Center 99 (projected 2nd round pick)
- Oliver Stegall Kicker 94
- Marcus Robinson RB 92
- Corey Ostrander DT 92
- Marcus Smith LG 91 (projected 5th round)
- Kevin Mason RE 91 (projected in 1st round)
- Todd Thompson WR 90 (projected in 4th round)
- Dan Nelson RG 90 (shoutout to Dan who started at a 75 rating and worked his way up to a 90)
But one man chooses to stay. Junior running back Eric Gates, who will only need six touchdowns to pass the record for career rushing scores owned by Luke Staley, decides to stay for his senior year. It's wrecking ball time.
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