Jazz: Here we go again!

The Jazz have picked up right where they left off last year in regards to playing on the road. The Jazz were not a good road team last year. Last year they had 28 losses and 22 of them game on the road! Not good! They Jazz could have easily been the best team in the West if they just would have won another 10 games on the road. But, with last year in the past, let's focus on this year. With that in mind, all I can say is...."Here we go again!"

They Jazz have opened this season with a strong 6-2 start. With only losing 2 of the first 8 games seems to be a pretty good start but when I look at the two losses I can't help but think that they Jazz should be 8-0 right now. Both losses have come from sub par teams (Knicks and Wizards) while playing on the road.

The Jazz were handed their first loss by the New York Knicks. The knicks are a better team this year. They have a quicker offense which can score a lot of points on a defense that struggles. Utah has always struggled against a team that shoots a lot of three point shots. The Knicks average nearly 30 three-point shots a game! For those of you who don't know...THAT'S A LOT! They hit us hard and the Jazz crumbled. So, I might even be able to get past the fact that we lost to the "new and improved" Knicks. What I can't get over is the loss to Washington...

The Jazz lost to the Washington Wizards on Wednesday. Washington is NOT a good team right now. In fact statistically they are the worst team in the NBA. When Utah arrived in Washington, the Wizards were THE ONLY team that didn't have even a single win. What happened? They Jazz choked. They were playing short handed because Memo had to leave the team and go to Turkey to be with his family but that isn't an excuse for losing to this team. Washington will be a better team later in the season when they get healthy but this should have been an easy road win for the Jazz. It was a hard game to watch.

So, with those two losses, I can't help but think "Here we go again!" The Jazz are still on the road tonight against Charlotte. The Bobcats are only 5-2 this year and the Jazz should take care of business tonight. But, you won't see me counting any eggs before they're actually in the basket. We'll see if the Jazz can dominate them the way they should.

Fan Favorite

David Nixon (Line Backer)

This weeks Fan Favorite award could go to a few different players but this week I had the most fun watching BYU linebacker David Nixon. The guy was everywhere! He had multiple sacks on San Diego States quarterback. He was often times the first to make contact with San Diego States running backs as well. However, I was most impressed with his pass defense and his open field tackles.

San Diego State likes to run quick inside slants and they like to pass the ball to their running backs. Nixon often times had the assignment to cover those quick slants and short passes. On nearly everyone, if the ball was thrown to a receiver that he was covering, Nixon was right there to knock the ball down or make the quick tackle.

There were also a few times where Nixon make it into the back field and had the one on one opportunity to drop the running back for a loss. He made the best out of almost all of those opportunities by making those open field tackles.

All Is Well In Cougar Town...For Now

Just as expected, BYU pounded San Diego State today 41 - 12. Although, some thought that the Cougars would struggle against even the worst team in the Mountain West Conference, BYU showed that they are still one of the best in the conference.

So, what did BYU do to be successful against this San Diego State Football team? To be honest, it didn't take much. San Diego State is just a bad football program that would have a hard time competing with a good high school team. Yes, they are that bad. The Aztec's missed plays, didn't execute and made dumb mistakes. On their first offensive play, the quarterback was lined up in the shot gun formation when without warning, the center snapped the ball. The ball hit the quarterback in the face and bounced off. BYU recovered the ball which lead to their first touchdown. They are simply that kind of team. Stupid mistakes, one after another.

With that being said, BYU wasn't given everything to win this game. BYU did have to go out and take the game by executing plays. Quarterback Max Hall had another amazing game. He was 25/30 for 317 yard and 3 touchdowns. That's a pretty good day for any quarterback. His receivers were running clean routes which allowed them to get some big plays. Both Collie and Reed (receivers) had big games.

It's hard to determine if the defense has improved much. They really only allowed 6 points the entire game. Late in the game, BYU put all of their second string players in who allowed the Aztec's to drive and score a touchdown in the last seconds of the game. It's hard to tell if the defense did any better simply because they were defending a sub par team. San Diego missed some wide open plays for big gains by dropping the ball or fumbling. I certainly have to give the BYU defense some credit for forcing some of those plays but I'm not convinced that BYU's defense is any better now than it was a week ago or even a month ago. It will be interesting to see what they do against Air Force next week. I don't expect much of a fight at Air Force either but I've learned that anything can happen so you never know.

All in all, BYU's performance was good today. I liked what I saw. I didn't see too many bone head mistakes out there. The anticipation and excitement for the Utah game is building up. Only two weeks away from the Holy War.

No Williams? No Problem!! Jazz Roll over Clips

That's right! The Jazz seem to be doing just fine with the star point guard sitting on the bench. To the right, the injured Deron Williams (sprained ankle) stands up and cheers for Paul Millsap who just slammed the ball home. Williams is expected to miss at least one to two more games with his sore ankle.

With Williams out, point guards Ronnie Price and Brevin Knight have been splitting point guard duties. Each have stepped up in big ways to keep this team winning. Price (out of Utah Vally University) provides a huge spark of energy and athleticism. His hustle goes a long way in the absence of Williams. Knight, a seasoned point guard, with eleven season in the league gives the experience and leadership to the young Jazz team.

The Jazz played the Los Angeles Clippers (back-to-back). The games were actually pretty similar. In the first half of each game, the Clippers played the Jazz closes and the score was even closer. Going into half time the lead was lower than 5 points each game. In the second half of both games, the Jazz took over. The Jazz out scored the Clippers 53-31 in the second half of game one and they out scored L.A. 53-38 in the second half of game two.

The Jazz will certainly welcome Deron Williams back when he is ready, but it's good to see that even if something happens to him, the Jazz can play pretty well without him. I'm just excited to see what Williams will be able to do with the team when he is fully healthy. So far, the Jazz look like they will be a top contender in the west again.

Weekly Fan Favorite!

(Austin Collie going for a pass in the TCU game)

Austin Collie get's my vote for this week's FAN FAVORITE (It was close between Collie and Pitta) Collie was fun to watch tonight against Colorado State. Austin Collie has always been a fun player to watch but tonight, he really kept BYU in the game. Colorado State could have easily run away with this game early if it wouldn't have been for Collie who made a couple of great catches. On BYU's opening possession, he made an amazing one handed catch for a touchdown. He had over 100 yards receiving and 3 touchdowns BEFORE half time!

The announcers during the game were saying that he is one of the five best receivers in the nation. I don't know about that but he sure got my vote tonight. He had one of the best games of the year and really helped his team win this game. It wasn't long into the game before Colorado's Defensive Backs were intentionally drawing a pass interference call when defending Collie just to make sure he didn't go for another touchdown.

BYU will need Collie to keep playing at a high level in order to keep winning games.

Austin Collie's Final Stats are listed below:
9 Receptions
3 Touchdowns
156 receiving yards
101 kick return yards
257 TOTAL YARDS

Thriller!! BYU vs. Colorado State

If you missed BYU taking on Colorado State on Saturday, you missed out! This game was a thriller that went down to the final minute!

BYU was favored to win by 14 points but even a BYU fan can find entertainment out of a game going down to the wire. BYU was down by 4 points with less than two minutes left! BYU started their drive at the 20 yard line and marched their way down the field to score the winning touchdown leaving only 22 seconds left on the clock.

Although I would have liked to see BYU win by two touchdowns, there is something about watching your team march down the field when the game is on the line and score a winning touchdown. Any college football fan can appreciate a game like that.

With that being said, there are a few things that I really liked and some thing that I didn't really like. First, the things I liked about tonight's win.

I really liked the heart and determination of the BYU football team tonight. They knew that they were supposed to beat Colorado State by a lot. When you aren't playing as well as you'd hope, it is easy to get frustrated. That is when "let down" games happen. BYU didn't let that happen. They stayed focused and they did what they had to do to win the game tonight. There were a couple of times during the game where I thought it would be tough to win but they didn't doubt themselves. They trusted in themselves and they pulled out a big win. I also really liked Max Hall and Austin Collie. They were playing in rhythm tonight.

Now for some of the things I didn't like about tonight's win. I know I keep harping on the defense but can you blame me? Colorado State isn't a horrible football teams. However, they are not a team that should score 42 points against even an average defense. Now, Colorado State does play pretty well at home but 42 points is WAY TOO MUCH! BYU's defense certainly needs to make some pretty big adjustments in order to keep winning games. Hopefully we'll see those adjustments soon!

I am also quite disappointed in our special teams play. I don't feel like our Special Teams will pull out many positive things for this BYU teams. Every time BYU kicks off, I pray that Sorensen is able to kick it out of the End Zone so that we don't have to worry about teams running it back and giving them good field position. Hopefully that team can get better quickly.

Again, tonight's win was a fun game to watch. These kinds of games is what college football is all about.

NEXT GAME:
BYU vs. SAN DIEGO STATE
Saturday November 8
12:00 pm (in Provo)

Let's Get Jazzed!!

I can't believe how fast the summer flew by but for me, Wednesday marked the beginning of fall. That's right, the NBA season kicked off on Wednesday. It seems like the NBA finals were just a few weeks ago. I'm excited for this NBA season.

Thursday the Utah Jazz opened up the season by hosting the Denver Nuggets. My wife was nice enough to buy me tickets for opening night. They were awesome seats too! Okay, the truth is, I was on THE TOP row. You couldn't get any higher in the Energy Solutions Arena if you wanted to. But hey, in my opinion it's so exciting to see a game in person. Even if you are on the top row.

The Jazz beat the Denver Nuggets in an intense game that went down to the wire. I was nervous going into this game because we'd be with out our star point guard Deron Williams. I felt some comfort knowing that the Nuggets would be with out their star Carmelo Anthony because he was suspended for the first game of the season. Ronnie Price filled in for the injured Williams and did a pretty good job. He did exactly what was needed of him to win the game.

Carlos Boozer lead the way with 25 points and 14 rebounds which is more than a solid game. I was also very impressed with Andre Kirilenko who had 16 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 blocks. For the first time since becoming an Allstar, the Jazz brought Kirilenko off the bench. I thought it plays huge to both his advantage and to the advantage of the Jazz.

Iverson had 18 points and 8 assists to lead the Nuggets. He is the only reason the Nuggets stayed even close.

The Jazz open the season with a win. So far, so good! Williams is expected to miss a couple more games so hopefully Ronnie Price can continue to step up and contribute big.