BYU vs. Washington (BYU 28, Washington 27)

Wow! All I can say is WHAT A WEEK!! BYU football has given us quite an emotional week. I don't expect the drama to end any time soon with UCLA coming into town. But first, here are my thoughts on the University of Washington game:

BYU vs. Washington (BYU wins 28-27):
What a game! For those of you who missed it, YOU MISSED OUT! It was a close competitive game. All 4 quarters were intense hard fought football. A lot of people expected BYU to roll into Washington and beat them convincingly. Washington is a good home team and they played like it. They played great football. I was very impressed with the quarterback play of Jake Locker. He has a great ability to make plays with his legs.

BYU has a lot to work on! Most of it falls on the defensive side of the ball. Locker is a great running quarterback but we're lucky he doesn't have a great arm because he had receivers open all over the field. He over threw receiver after receiver which kept BYU in the game. BYU's linebackers and Defensive Backs seemed to get lost the second Locker would start scrambling. I certainly hope Bronco fixes the holes in the defense before UCLA comes into town.

On a positive note, I was again impressed by BYU's offense. We were able to move the ball easily down the field. Max hall had another monster game and Harvey Unga ran the ball like a mad man. I'd give the MVP award to the entire offensive line. Unga had truck sized holes to run through and Hall barely got touched all game. The O-Line played awesome.

The Questionable Call:
Now, I have to comment about the last play of the game. Of course this is what everyone is talking about. I'm not going to spend too much time talking about it because the game is over and the call was made. If you don't know which call I'm talking about, I'm talking about the Excessive Celebration penalty that was given to Locker after he scored a touchdown at the end of the game to pull Washington to within one point. The extra point would have tied things up and sent the game into overtime. So instead of having a routine 20 yard field goal to tie the game up, it turned into a 35 yard field goal. BYU blocked the field goal and won the game.

I don't feel I need to defend the call too much. I personally would have liked to see overtime. The game was a great game and overtime would have made it that much better. However, a win is a win and I'll take it any day of the week. Two things come to mind when people talk about that penalty.

First, penalties are called all game long. Some are justified and some are not. Other penalties that should be called are not. In my opinion you have to win the football game no matter what the officials call or don't call. Washington didn't do what was needed to win the game. Period. You have to be prepared for bad calls. We all complain about bad officiating but sometimes it works for you and other times it works against you. This call did not effect the game any more than any other questionable call made earlier in the game. The only reason it is being talked about so much is that it was very noticeable being at the end of the game.

Second, BYU made the play at the end of the game. They blocked the extra point. Putting the call aside, most kickers should be able to sink a 35 yard field goal from straight on. The fact is, BYU made the big play and blocked it. The same thing could have easily happened on a 20 yard field goal attempt.

Check back here tomorrow for my preview on the UCLA game. It promises to be a great game!