-- Covering week 1 through Bowl Season
We enter the 2020 season with quite a bit of momentum. I finalize the #1 recruiting class in the nation for the second year in a row, roping in two 5-stars, eleven 4-stars, and twelve 3-stars. I have to admit, of all the Cougar newcomers my favorite may be one I didn't recruit, a walk-on by the preposterous name of Andy Gandy!!
This class is awesome, with three major headliners (in addition to Andy Gandy): 81-rated John Anderson (recruited as an athlete but will be deployed as a WR), 81-rated Jeff Connor (a punter), and 80-rated Nick Bradford (a CB). But shockingly these three may not actually be my best trio ever; that honor remains reserved for the 2016 class which featured 81-rated George Preston (CB), 81-rated Tony Wilson (WR), and 80-rated Ben Moore (MLB).
In offseason training Willie Lindsey puts to bed all the rumors that he may be benched, as he takes a +5 jump and is now a 91 rated senior. That's a big enough gap to leave Williamson seasoning in the backup role for another year. The biggest jump in training belongs to our kicker Jonathan O'Neill; with a +6, he's a 79 now. I wish that +6 would've fallen on one of our offensive linemen.
My recruiting ability has taken a huge leap -- largely due to the fact that I've come through on tons of my recruiting promises and am known as a coach of great integrity -- but the stars I've been accumulating are still young. Most of the 2019 class will be redshirt freshman this year, while most of the 2020 recruiting stars won't see the field this year due to redshirts. All in all it translates to 2020 being one of my weaker teams in recent memory, with straight B grades in offense, defense, and special teams. In the last three years I think I've had an A on at least one side of the ball. But ye gods are the next few years going to be something. I'm projected to be the #1 contender for the national championship in ... 2022 ... and 2023.
Another interesting recruiting note is that my dependence on Utah talent has cratered. My biggest pipeline state is actually California, the land which 16 of the players on my team call home. Next up is Texas with 13 Cougars, and finally Utah with 10 and Washington with 6. Those are the only four states in which I have enough players to receive a pipeline bonus. I should probably try and get another state in there.
Here's how I've laid out the 2020 schedule, compare to the original, pre-Covid BYU schedule
at Utah
vs Michigan State
at Arizona State
at North Carolina (replaces Minnesota)
vs Utah State
vs Mississippi State (replaces Missouri)
vs Houston
at Southern Miss (replaces Northern Illinois)
at Boise State
vs San Diego State
vs Hawaii (replaces North Alabama intentionally for revenge purposes)
at Oregon (replaces Stanford)
I'm taking a peak at pre-season lists and rankings and only a couple of names pop out - Utah has a pre-season all-american cornerback (the same one who stole George Preston's spot last year), and Michigan State has a QB that is contention for the Heisman. Beyond that I see no other stars on the remaining teams. Maybe this will be a conquerable schedule despite having a younger team?
Let's get to it.
Week 1 BYE
OK fine let's not get to it yet. One note of interest before moving to week two. I'm up to a C- rating in my coaching prestige. As recently as last year's Hawaii loss I was at a D.
Week 2 #14 BYU vs Mississippi State
I've switched from my self-directed offensive playbook to a generic spread offense. This is a huge change but I don't know if it will be a long term change. I'm going to experiment a little bit hoping that I can make things easier on Lindsey. We're gonna need him to believe in himself at some point this year and that's not going to happen if he's completing 46% of his passes. Mississippi State is unranked, so while this game doesn't provide gambling lines you have to believe at 14th overall I'm favored. Let's see what happens.
Win 34 to 27.
Lindsey comes through clutch with a game winning drive with just two minutes left, throwing the game winner to Tom Hawkins. Lindsey goes 19 for 29 for 243 yards and 3 TDs and 0 picks. Hmm. It's a trap to read too much into one game: did that improvement come cause he's a senior? Because of opponent? Or because of the switch to the spread?
But passing is only one half of the coin. Our rushing game was abysmal. Lindsey ran for 11, Temple 37, and Butler 19. I'm thinking that might be the smallest rushing total we've ever had? We also gave up 6 sacks. That also has to be a record during my tenure. So maybe the scheme change really did up-end our whole team?
Oh yeah, and one more bit of news. Starting TE Matthew Singleton is out for the season.
Week 3 #13 BYU vs Utah
We've lost two in a row to Utah I believe? Unacceptable. Utah is rebuilding now that their star QB from last year has graduated. There's still that pesky all-american CB to worry about. We actually match up very evenly. Each team is graded at Bs across all three phases of the game. We hit sim and ...
Lose 21 to 14.
This is not a good look. After lighting my rivals on fire during my first tenure, I'm now 1-5 in my last 6 rivalry games, and 0-3 against Utah since being rehired.
Week 4 - #18 BYU vs Michigan State
I'm in the running for a WR with the last name of McGill. Certainly I'm reminded of Slippin Jimmy McGill, who you may know better as Mr. Saul Goodman. He's rated a 76 and obviously I covet this guy above all. Similarly Charles Washington out of Newport Beach ... coachy want.
Did I mention we're starting out in classic Indy style with three straight challenging P5 games? The Spartans have a leg up on me, with B+ ratings versus my Bs. Herbstreit and the home field are with me. Will this be an awesome senior moment for Lindsay?
Nope. Lose 28 to 35. We've been in the top-25 for about 28 of the last 29 weeks but that streak might be in jeopardy. Also, do I need to switch back to my hybrid offense?
Not yet. I want to give the generic spread a few chances. It's hard to reign in expectations but our team is simply young, not as good as the past couple seasons. We have a senior QB but for the rest of the guys this will be a season of growth.
And we take another blow injury-wise. Our freshman RT Michael Booker will be out for the next six weeks. Our offensive line is not deep at the moment. We're starting a lot of mid-70 players.
Week 5 - #24 BYU at Houston
Well the top guy on my board, Keith Robinson, commits to Alabama. My second target, tight end Jesse Robinson is softly committed to LSU. Losing to Utah and Michigan State can't be helping my cause. But I'm still in the top-25 as we go against our Cougar cousins. I hit sim and ...
Win 52-31!
Needed that one. We're 2-2. You know who else needed it? Lindsey has had an up and down career, but we witnessed his finest moment in this one, throwing for 459 yards, tying a BYU record with 7 passing TDs, all on 64% accuracy. I haven't had a QB put together a game like this in all my coaching days. But Lindsey was actually second fiddle if you can believe it because a WR named Thomas Hawkins records 11 catches which turn into 303 yards(!!!!), a BYU record for receiving yards and SCRIMMAGE YARDS PERIOD in a BYU game, plus 6 touchdowns, another BYU record. It goes without saying I take home a national player of the week award for the first time ever.
I have no idea what this means for the rest of our season, but it's something.
Week 6 - #22 BYU vs Arizona State
The righteous beat down the Devils yet again. We own this team, winning 38 to 27 for our third straight W over ASU. Lindsey's line: 307 yards, 4 TDs, 0 picks, 67% accuracy. I think the switch in offensive philosophy has changed my passing game.
Three wins and two losses at this point of the season ... seems ok? We do lose backup TE Clifton Phillips for eight weeks to a foot fracture. I'm not sure I've had to start a 3rd stringer before. A check of the depth chart shows we don't even have a 3rd string TE. I'll either have to pull Damarcus Dodd's redshirt or roll the dice letting FB Anthony Arnold give double duty as FB and TE. I love redshirts, so I think I'm going to go with Arnold.
Week 7 - #20 BYU vs SDSU
Amazing recruiting news in what had been a slow year so far - Charles Washington and JR Young are my two highest rated offensive lineman targets and they've pledged. My offensive line will never again be as crummy as it is this year.
San Diego State isn't good this year. We're not good this game, but we pull off an ugly one, 17 to 7. No passing records for Lindsey this time. 4-2 is an acceptable record at this point I suppose.
Week 8 - #18 BYU at Boise State
Boise is undefeated with wins over Navy, USU, Kent, and New Mexico State. Not exactly a murderers row, which explains why they aren't ranked. This is a swinging door moment for our season; win and we improve to 5-2 with a likely loss coming next week, lose and we drop to 4-3 with a likely loss coming next week.
There's a problem. Remember how sucky we've been in rivalry games lately?
The trend continues. Boise scores 31 to our 24.Cougarboard is feasting on me.
Week 9 - BYU at #7 Oregon
Oregon has been awesome in our simulation, climbing as high as national champion runner up. This would be the highest team I've upset if I were able to pull it off. Oh did you notice I'm out of the top-25 for about the first time since mid-2018? On a related note I sense the need to check my job security and it's sitting at 59%. I don't think I'm in danger but I'm not cementing my future either. I wouldn't say this in the media but I hope people realize this is kind of a rebuilding year, even if we have a seasoned QB at the helm.
For some reason -- again lol -- I feel like this could be a cool senior moment for Lindsey. That must be the fan in me, and the fan in me is wrong. I drop the game 49 to 28 (yikes for my defense) and I'm 4-4. I travel to the most confusing nemesis of my career next week with a chance of dropping below 500. I can't afford to miss a bowl game this year.
Week 10 - BYU at Hawaii
It's pretty simple, the two worst losses of my career have come against this team. I'd give you Hawaii's team ratings or schedule results but nothing seems to matter when I play this team.
So of course we win 49 to 17. I barely care. I'd have lost 87 to zero this year to have the two losses in '18 and '19 back.
Week 11 - BYE
Lindsey is second in the country in passing yards and Hawkins is second in receiving yards. That's cool. My leader in interceptions is ranked 519th in the country with one pick. Ok. I miss you George Preston.
Week 12 - BYU at Southern Miss
I forgot we end the year with (theoretically) a few easier teams. Thank goodness cause I need to lock down a winning record and bowl game. We're on the road for Southern Miss -- always a challenge to head to the south -- but their name has miss in it. I mean, you can't prevail with a name like that.
We win 34 to 20 and we've reached a degree of safety at 6-4 overall.
Week 13 - BYU at North Carolina
Classic Indy BYU, traveling all over the country on back-to-back weeks. We not fazed.
Win 37 to 31 in OT, our favorite period to play in. We're 7-4 heading into a rivalry game against USU.
Week 14 - BYU vs USU
We haven't played the Aggies for a few years due to scheduling shenanigans by yours truly. They're 7-4 on the season with wins and losses against everyone you'd expect from a mid-tier MWC player. I'm allowing myself to dream a little bit here. A win against the Aggies and a bowl win and suddenly we patched together a 9-win season in advance of upcoming seasons that we expect to be potentially very special.
And we do win this one, 38 to 31. Maybe this was the senior moment I've been waiting all year for Lindsey to have. We trailed by 7 with just under 7 minutes left in the game before Lindsey ran and passed for 14 points in the last two drives of the game to seal the deal. It's bowl time and we're off to ...
The Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl starring BYU vs Bowling Green
It's finishing time. Bowling Green won't be scheduling us any time soon after we deliver a 42 to 3 slaparoni in the Kraft Hunger Bowl. As a real life fan, sometimes I don't mind when BYU loses bowl games because I think it can leave such a sour taste in the team's mouth that it serves as motivation for the entire offseason. But as a coach adding one more win to the current season total is a must and I'm happy to end the year on a positive note.
From the "this game is on drugs" category, Fred McGee, out of Western Michigan, wins the Heisman with 2,340 rushing yards. But in bigger news BYU star WR Hawkins wins the Biletnikoff as a sophomore! I'm not sure how he did it, as he finished only 6th in receiving yards nationally (Lindsey finished 13th in passing BTW)
Don't worry Austin Collie fans, Hawkins did not threaten AC's single season yardage record, but he did overtake his single-season receiving TD record with 22 on the year. Hawkins takes home a 1st team All-American nod and for the third year in a row I have a freshman All-American, this time CB Freddie Williams, as well as Clarence Alvarez, as a return man. Sheesh I didn't notice him all year. Gotta check his stats. Turns out he averaged 23 yards per return on kicks and 9 on punts, scoring 1 TD along the way. That doesn't exactly scream mind-blowing but I guess it's promising for a freshman.
Boise State beats Oregon State not in the Las Vegas Bowl, but in the National Championship game. That's right, I once again played and lost to a team that won the title. Remember how Boise wasn't even ranked when we played them in the middle of the season? Drugs I tell ya. By the way, if you're wondering if a MWC team, who happens to be a rival, who happens to be a geographic neighbor, winning a national championship increases the pressure on yours truly, well, yes, yes it does.
Redshirt Freshman Matt Whitaker, starting FS, leads the team in tackles (105), TFL (15), sacks (5.5), and is second in pass deflections (11). Freddie Williams the freshman all-american was a turnover machine, with 4 picks and 3 forced fumbles. Those two could be all-timers if we manage to keep them for four years.
All in all it's an odd season for sure. We end the season ranked #24 and ending the season in the top-25 is a simple barometer but it's one that usually tells me it was a great year. It doesn't feel like it this time though because we lost to Utah and Boise State. The wins in order of best to worst:
Bowling Green (8-5)
Southern Miss (7-6)
USU (7-6)
SDSU (5-7)
Hawaii (5-7)
Miss State (4-8)
North Carolina (4-8)
Houston (4-8)
ASU (3-9)
The losses in order of best to worst:
Boise State (won National Title, finished #1)
Oregon (10-3, finished #12)
Utah 7-6
Michigan State 5-7
The haters will argue we lost to every good team we faced outside of Bowling Green. Whatever. On an unrelated note it's kind of hilarious we played six home games in a row, followed by five road games, followed by a home game and then the bowl.
My team prestige is up to 5 stars (out of 6). My coaching prestige is at a D (out of an A+).
My OC Calvin Washington signs an extension. I can live with that.
Usually I have 10 to 12 players graduating every year. Not this time. I told you the team was young. I lose Lindsey to graduation who somehow is a NFL prospect despite throwing for under 50% in the majority of his games. Reggie Townsend was a 4-year starter at MLB who departs with a 89 rating. Unheralded WR Travis Smith graduates - he was rated an 82 and I can't think of any meaningful moments with him. And finally, one surprise. Damarcus Dodds, the redshirt TE out of Ogden who I thought could join the legends in a couple of years is transferring to UNLV. He's rated a 75 and with a decent training result will be rated nearly an 80 as a freshman. It stings to lose him. Maybe I should have pulled his redshirt afterall ...
Also, hi, I'm Chester from Urbandale. This is a guy I actually signed. He's not my highest rated recruit, which is ok, because the rest make up for him. It's another #1 class in the country: one 5-star, 19(!!) 4-stars, and 5 3-stars. If you think it's weird that BYU has had three #1 classes in a row, well Wyoming had the 12th best class in the country.
See ya in 2021.
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