The Virtual BYU Football Season - 2021

-- Covering week 1 through the bowl game


Welcome to the 2021 offseason! Last year's starting quarterback Erik Williamson gives himself a steroid shot worth +5 in training to get up to a 90 rating. Delicious. His backup J Everson is right on his heels with a 89 rating. He's a sophomore while Williamson is a senior. Thomas Hawkins is a +5 beneficiary as well, and somehow only an 88-rated player despite winning the college football receiver of the year award last season.

It's a sad moment when I have to cut Andy Gandy. I've over-recruited.

We have to talk about our championship contention rankings. We're considered the 23rd most likely to win the title this year. But in 2022 we're ranked ... wait for it ... wait for it ... number one. We're ranked number one in '23 and '24 too. The expectations in Provo are going to be something. Seeing that kind of makes this feel like a weird year. What's the best way to treat this season? Expose ourselves to tough teams to season us for the expectations of the future? Or schedule easier and try to go into next season with some serious momentum? All in all I decide to keep most of the original 2021 BYU schedule because why wouldn't I? 2021 is an amazing year of Indy action. 

Arizona
Arizona State
Utah
South Florida
Utah State
Boise State
Baylor
Oregon State (replaces Washington State)
Virginia
UMass (replaces Idaho State)
UTEP (replaces Georgia Southern)
USC

It's certainly an ambitious schedule with USC ranked #1, Boise ranked #16, and Oregon State ranked 21st. Aiding in our quest are two positive developments: Thomas Hawkins gets a pre-season all-american nod and LaVell Edwards Stadium is up to the 23rd toughest place to play! Let's get to it.


Week 1 BYE
The calm before the storm. Our top recruiting target is a WR with a name reminiscent of college glory days -- Berg, Harvey Berg to be exact -- and a ranking of 81. I've been on fire with getting top-ranked receivers lately. Chad Hines is an OLB who is ranked 82. I once again have no position needs. But I still want to eat, even if it's only gravy.

Week 2 #23 BYU vs Arizona State
The pre-game news report calls ASU undermanned. That's not the only thing going in our favor. We've roasted these guys three times in the last few seasons: 45 to 16 in early 2018, 38 to 24 in the 2018 bowl game rematch, and 38 to 27 last year. I guess the bad news is every game they make it a little closer?

Well, the Devils narrow the gap again, but we escape week one with a 17 to 13 victory. Talk about your strange games. ASU goes up 5 to 0 after a safety, and we don't get on the board until 44 seconds left in the second quarter. In the end we trailed 13 to 10 with just under three minutes left before Eric Temple delivered the game-winning touchdown. I'm encouraged by the fact that we didn't give up a last minute score I guess.

Two notable stats. Thomas Hawkins starts the year with 2 catches for 20 yards. Looks like he may not repeat as best receiver in college football this year. On a more positive note, our defense forces 14 TACKLES FOR LOSS against ASU. Haven't we had real life entire seasons where we don't accomplish that?

Week 3 #22 BYU vs Baylor

It's always annoyed me that Baylor is in a power conference and BYU isn't. So I want my troops to punish the Bears this week. A shadow comes upon practice when starting LG Justin King goes down for the season with an upper arm fracture. He was rated 81, so in theory it's not the biggest loss, but our depth along the offensive line just isn't ready to absorb a loss like this yet. Freshman Robert Taylor rated a 79 will step in. That means across both sides of the ball we now start six freshman ... and only one senior. No wonder people are stoked for next year -- when talent meshes with experience (or so we dream anyway). 

But back to Baylor. Our offense redeems itself with a 49 point outing to provide a 49-33 win. 2-0 to start the season. Feels great. We went on a 35 to 7 run during the 2nd and 3rd quarter before letting Baylor score some garbage in the 4th. Starting QB Erick Williamson isn't lighting the world on fire through two games but he's completing over 50% of his passes and keeping turnovers out of his repertoire. We manage only five tackles for loss this game lol. 

Week 4 #20 BYU at Arizona

We're looking good as we coast through the tepid part of our schedule. Things will ratchet up as we face the ranked teams in the middle of the season and #1 ranked USC at the end so we gotta bank wins while we can. Arizona concerns me though - they aren't bad, ranked in the Bs and they scored 44 in their first and only game. Starting ROLB Noah Stewart is out for 4 weeks which brings FS Joey Hills into the box. I'm happy to see him get some reps because he's a quality rating (86 at safety, 80 at ROLB) and our safety room is crowded. 

Let's get to it. I hit simulate and we pull out a thriller, 49 to 42. Phew! Important win in our first road game of the year. This was a roller coaster. We scored the first 14. Arizona scored the next 21. With 12 minutes left in the 4th we trailed 35 to 27 and then we unleashed three straight scores to seal the deal. Two scores went to Hawkins while rarely used FB Anthony Arnold caught the first touchdown of his career. Defensively Sophomore Freddie Williams -- who was a turnover forcing machine last year  --recorded a pick and a forced fumble. He's up to 5 interceptions, 4 forced fumbles, and 15 pass deflections in 15 career games. Like a young Van Noy this man!

Week 5 #17 BYU at UTEP

In advance of the UTEP game three of the top four players on my recruiting pledge to Georgia, Bama, and Georgia Tech. I guess it's a good reminder that nothing is guaranteed in the recruiting world. 

Same goes for the virtual world of NCAA 13. UTEP upsets BYU 21 to 19 and I'm so mad I'm not far from quitting this project. 49 points against Baylor. 49 points against Arizona. 19 points against UTEP. What in the world.

Being ranked is fun until I lose to a nobody and my job security takes like a 15% hit. I don't have to worry about that next week cause I'm out of the top-25. 

Week 6 BYU vs Utah State

We sleepwalk to a 27 to 17 win and the crowd is never in it. The fans are getting sick of the annual botch job against joke teams. Erick Williamson had what I thought was a horrifying game against UTEP with 98 yards. He doubles down against the Aggies with an 8 for 24 performance, good for 84 yards and 2 interceptions. Hawkins catches 2 passes for 19 yards. He's not even going to lead the team in receiving this year, let alone be an all-american candidate, let alone the best receiver in college football. Things are falling apart. 

Week 7 BYU at Virginia

I'm glad this one is on the road. I couldn't handle the fan reaction if my quarterback completes 6 passes for 31 yards while we get cleaned by Bronco. Virginia is 4-0 with the #8 passing game in the country. They've beaten Utah and Rice handily and Boston College and Wyoming close. I don't expect to win this one but here goes nothing. 

Lose 45 to 27. Ugg. Thomas Hawkins sprains his wrist and misses the entire game, and will miss two more. Williamson at least doesn't embarrass himself this game - 23 of 38 for 251 with 2 TDs and 2 picks. It's interesting, we've played half a season and there hasn't been one offensive player with a special game to this point. I'm struggling in recruiting too. 7 of my top 8 targets have given me the cold shoulder. 

It is against this backdrop of disappointment that I switch back to the Hansen offense I developed back in year 1 of my career. 


Week 8 BYU at Boise State
The vibe around campus is weird. Oddly, out of my first six games, I think I lost to the only two teams I couldn't afford to lose to. I'm sitting on the least satisfying 4-2 record in recent BYU history. A win against Boise would help things a little, but Boise has disappointed monstrously after winning last year's championship. They're 1-3 with the lone win coming over Utah State. It's not exactly going to be one they speak about for ages if we win. (spoiler alert: we don't)

I hit sim and we lose 31 to 21. We're held scoreless in three of the four quarters. 

Williamson goes 2 for 6 for 18 yards and a pick before I send him to the bench. His replacement does better, but doesn't manage to go over 50% passing.  

Week 9 BYU vs Oregon State

It's tinkering time. Starting lineup changes? Nothing that drastic yet. Williamson will continue as our leader at QB. But I decrease our substitution frequency, decrease our offensive aggressiveness for the first time ever (now below 50, the neutral spot), and most importantly throw the playbook to what is called the generic "spread". I'm worried I'm being a little too quick to experiment with offensive philosophies but I'm desperate to find what works four our team. When I was the coach of the Flying Climps in Football Manager I was too committed to one formation and it was ultimately my undoing. If I'm going to go down I'm going to go down in a different fashion. 

Oregon State came into the season ranked -- Hey, me too!! -- but has dazed their way to a 3-3 record. I'm rated an A vs their B-. I have some frightening team statistics. We're 94th in passing offense, 103rd in turnover differential, and 83rd in pass defense. I'm confused at how we can be so bad. 

At least we're better than the Beavers! We win 28 to 23. It's not pretty. It's not inspiring. We were up 28 to 7 at halftime and hung on for dear life in half number two. But it's a win, and I'd probably take one over Hunter High at this point.

Williamson throws for over 50% - so it is possible! The guy is rated a 90. Why is it so hard for him to put together decent games? 

Week 10 BYU vs UMass

I take no games for granted. Even if UMass is rated a D. Even if they're ranked 101st in total defense. I can only assume my offense is so bad we'll complete 30% of our passes and scrape by. In the lead up to the game we lose another lineman for the season, this time Michael Booker our starting right tackle. This means Freshman David Bowling enters the starting lineup, which also means we're up to 7 freshman starting on our team. 

I expect to lose and I don't like how pessimistic this game is making me. 

By fortune we survive the Minutemen with a 9-point win, 33 to 24. It's another 38% passing effort from our QB.

Week 11 BYU vs Utah

This feels like good timing for the rivalry. I need something to kick me out of my micro-coaching funk this season has put me in. Utah has beat us a few times in a row and no matter what else has happened this season -- losing to Boise, losing to Bronco, losing to UTEP -- we can shine up this turd somewhat if we smash our enemy. So let's get to it. 

Utah strikes first with a 2-yard run to go up 7-0. We counter with a nice 5-yard touchdown pass from Williamson. Utah hits a field goal in the second quarter but with 5 minutes left before halftime . Williamson finds Hawkins for a TD and we lead 14 to 10. 

And then Utah goes on to score 28 of the next 31 points. 

Our belt is unbuckled, our pants are lowered, our hiney is spanked.

We lose 38 to 17. Utah was ranked a B- to my A and they absolutely roasted us. I'm gonna get fired again aren't I? Again.

Week 12 BYU vs USF

I decide to do more tinkering. I know it's the sign of a man in a panic, but I feel compelled to act. This time I'm going to crank up the frequency with which I sub. I have depth so in theory this should work right? And if I don't have depth then maybe this can help me build it.

Also why does my offense blow so much? Should I switch back to the air raid? I'll give the spread one more shot against USF. The Floridians have a win over Wisconsin to their name this season. They're ranked a B-, which means they should be favored by ... what? 40 to 45 points? (I told you I'm getting pessimistic) I'm flipping back to the Air Raid. If this game punishes you for rotating your offensive playbook ... well I was going to say something dramatic but in reality I'm not sure it matters. I suck either way. 

So I'm surprised when we beat Southern Florida 28 to 21. Williamson throws for 323 yards, 3 TDs, and 0 interceptions. We're officially sticking with the Air Raid folks. For a week anyway. 

Week 13 BYU at #4 USC

No pre-amble needed. Let's get to the whooping and get on with our lives. 

USC scores 7 on their first drive but by the end of the quarter we've equalized with a Williamson TD pass. In the second quarter USC tacks on 10 more to our 3. The next 25 minutes of game-time belong to the Cougars. Williamson throws two TDs, we notch one field goal, and with 7 minutes left in the fourth we lead 27 to 17. Do you believe in miracles? 

You shouldn't. USC scores twice in the last 6 minutes and we lose 31 to 27. Let me guess, USC is gonna go on to win the National Championship? Come up with some new material already NCAA 13!

That's now two games in a row with 300-yard throwing performance for Williamson with an above 50% completion rate, and if there's one thing we can take from this season is that the Air Raid is the best offense for us at this time. Let's see how it fares in the bowl game.

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl featuring BYU vs New Mexico

Well it doesn't get much less prestigious than a bowl game in Idaho named after potatoes against a team whose mascot can't be bothered to be translated into English. Quick sidenote: I once visited Albuquerque, with Caitlyn Ellis and her legendary parents, to watch the BYU's girl soccer team seek vengeance against the player who delivered the ponytail yanking incident that made Sportscenter back in 2010. I paid $25 of New Mexicosts for the privilege and sadly New Mexico held out the girl who had gone cookoo in the first matchup. I mention all this to say Albuquerque was awesome. Great city. Would go back again. 

Anyway, to the game. In his final game as a Cougar Erik Williamson does his darndest to leave the team a loser. He completes 6 of 22 passes with 2 interceptions, but the running game does enough, and New Mexico does little enough, that we escape Idaho with a 17 to 7 win. It's a hum-drum way to end a season of the same ilk. 

I don't even want to recap the wins and the losses. I just want to move on to 2022 and what I dream is the culmination of years of recruiting phone calls, texts, emails, insta-posts, and visits. Let's go win a championship. Just like USC did in 2021 -- beating their rival Notre Dame to do so -- because of course I played the team who won the title. This game is silly.