Image by Getty Images
via Daylife
I started to write this post back in July but I think a lot still applies. BYU was receiving a lot of attention and hype (and some nay-saying which, to me still counts as hype... any talk about BYU in the preseason is good). I had hope that they would live up to that hype, but had serious concerns that all the hype would go to their heads. Bronco is a great leader and coach, but he can't be with the players every hour of every day to help them stay grounded, especially during the off season.
As much as Bryan Kehl was a great player and team leader, the chant "January start today" that I believe he originated at the beginning of last season bugged me a little bit as, to me, it violated some of the key components of Bronco's philosophy (like win the games, let the rest take care of itself). And I don't know if that particular phrase specifically caused them to lose focus early in the season, but I do know that you're not likely to win games today if you're focused on the post-season already.
Which brings us to this season. Say what you want, but getting a lot of national media attention and especially getting put on Heisman watch lists after a blow out of a PAC-10 team has got to mess with your head a little bit. And I think that's what we saw during the first quarter of Wyoming, whether Max will admit it or not. It took a score by the defense to ignite the team. Hopefully the memory of his performance will scare him back to earth for future games (it certainly seemed to get him back in a "win this game" frame of reference in the second quarter). TCU, Utah and others aren't going to give Max the chance to easily recover from early miscues like Wyoming did. Hopefully he can remain grounded so that the Cougars can live up to the hype. And while I'm very optimistic about this season, I've been burned before so I'm going to take it "one game at a time".
3 comments:
I completely agree. I was concerned about a letdown after UCLA and I think we saw one. Fortunately we recovered decently enough and won the game.
BYU has the potential to be a very special team this year, but 1984 was not special until after BYU went 13-0.
i think that they made some serious mistakes this season that could have been easily fixed, but they always seem to be worse when they play important, high pressure games.
Honestly I don't have too much faith in Max Hall. He has disappointed me many times, and especially after the BYU-Utah game I don't know if I can ever be a stalwart fan of his! After seeing the rest of the season, and Max Hall's performance in it, do you still think that there is any hope of his bouncing back? You can comment on my own blog at http://home.acs.sch.ae/users/nelliekacher/.
Post a Comment