Thoughts from Jazz Game 1 (Tyler)

Hello everyone and welcome back to the blog after a short break. I had the opportunity provided to me to go the the Jazz's first game of the year (be it preseason) and wanted to give my thoughts on this years team.

1. Youth

The Jazz are finally in a "rebuilding" year and are giving valuable playing time to their young up and comers. The starting lineup last night consisted of PG Trey Burke, SG Richard Jefferson, SF Gordon Hayward, PF Derrick Favors, and C Enes Kanter. So besides 12yr veteran Jefferson the Jazz are starting 4 players that have a total of 8 years experience with Rookie Trey Burke at PG. It's good to see the Jazz finally commit to their young stars in the making. The Jazz should get thumped in most of their games this year but the future payoff will be exponentially higher than trying to scrap for the 8th seed year in and year out just to get swept first round of the playoffs. I like it.

2. Standouts

I know, i know it's just the first preseason game of the year but i was pleasantly surprised by a couple of players. First is Jeremy Evans, i always thought that Evans was just the guy brought in to block shots and throw down a few highlight alley-oops, but i was mistaken. He has a jump shot! Evans hit on a couple of jump shots from 15-20ft and even looked comfortable doing it. Evans could see his minutes improve if he can keep hitting those consistently. Second is Trey Burke, the summer league didn't leave a good taste in my mouth concerning Burke, but last night after getting his first shot attempt blocked i thought "here we go again" but Burke showed he can play at this level by putting together a couple of nice shots, one being a step back jumper from the baseline along with a couple three pointers and assists. He will come along nicely in the starting lineup. Lastly is backup PG John Lucas III, he ran the point better than i expected and some times even looked like a SG instead by shooting 5-9 from the field including 2-2 from three point land and 4-4 from the free throw line. After losing essentially every point guard on the roster from last year (i don't count Alec Burks as a PG) it was nice to see that we aren't going to be stunted so bad at that spot because of solid play from John Lucas III. I don't mention Derrick Favors or Alec Burks who had good games because we all knew they would when they got the time they deserved.

3. Disappointments 

Honestly i wasn't overly disappointed with most of the Jazz team, but i wanted to say that i expected C Rudy Gobert to do more than he did. He only took one shot (from right at the rim) and missed it. He did have 5 rebounds and a block which is nice. But was called on 4 fouls in the 12 minutes he was on the floor and looked like a deer in the headlights on the court. Luckily, like the rest of the team he is young and he will get some time to develop behind the other Centers Kanter and Biedrins who should be able to take up most of the time on the court. He will come along given time but i expected more of him coming in with the 3rd stringers of each team.

If you got a chance to watch last nights game what did you think? And don't give me the "We're going to the Playoffs" bologna because that just isn't going to happen this year.

THREE THOUGHTS FROM UTAH VS UTAH ST.

I wanted to take the time to go over a few things i learned from Utah vs Utah State last night.

1. QUATERBACKS

For Utah one of the biggest question marks surrounding this program and it's successes this year was how QB Travis Wilson would progress from the seven games he started last year and how productive he would be this year. Well he sure showed up to play against the Aggies of Utah State. Wilson finished 17-28 for 302 yards and 2 TDs. A very solid performance for the youngster. He tended to focus on a couple of receivers but overall threw passes to six different receivers. He does need to improve on third how however, Utah was 7 for 16 on third down. The play calling could be to blame for this also, but Travis Wilson is expected to improve on this point.

On the flip side, the Aggies of Utah State had no concerns over who was going to start for them at Quarterback. Chuckie Keeton solidified himself last year as the best QB in the state and led the Aggies to an 11-2 record including a bowl victory in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. Keeton continued to impress as he led his team going 31-40 for 314 yards and 2 TDs. Completing almost 78% of 40 passes is pretty impressive to me. Keeton also led his team in rushing going for 85 yards on 15 rushes for one touchdown. He also completed passes to eight different receivers.

Quarterback play for both teams was solid and will help each team win games in the future.

2. RECEIVERS

The receiving corps for Utah and Utah State came out to play with a couple of somewhat unknown receivers being the biggest contributors for the Utes. WR Anthony Denham led the team with 6 receptions for 113 yards, tie that in with WR Sean Fitzgerald catching 5 passes for 79 yards and you have 192 of Wilsons 302 passing yards in just two receivers. Other than a 56 yard reception for Dres Anderson he only caught 1 pass for 3 yards. Kenneth Scott didn't record a reception and TE Jake Murphy caught just 2 passes for 41 yards including a 30 yard TD grab. Luckily for Utah Denham and Fitzgerald stepped in to show that they deserve to be on the field and will continue to get looks if they keep up this trend.

Nobody should be surprised that WR Travis Van Leeuwan led the Aggies with 5 receptions for 107 yards. He was constantly harassing the DBs, making catches in the open field and even making tough catches over defenders. He is a stud and will continue to be productive. Second behind Van Leeuwan was WR Bruce Natson with 9 receptions for 83 yards. The Sophomore receiver found ways to get open all night against the Utes.

3. DEFENSE

The defenses for both the Utes and the Aggies strugged almost all game, especially against the pass. There were a couple of standout players for both teams including DE Nate Orchard who was harassing QB Chuckie Keeton all game, and LBs Jake Doughty and Nick Vigil were beast in the middle stopping Utah's running backs and keeping QB Travis Wilson on his toes. Outside of Utah State's goal-line stand, the Aggie defense got beat up by Travis Wilson and beat themselves up with penalties. Utah State had 7 penalties for a whopping 94 YARDS!!! Most of these penalties were on third downs after stopping the Utes, but instead giving them first downs so they could continue their drives. The penalties need to get reigned in or the Aggies will continue to shoot themselves in the foot. Utah, even after giving up a lot to Chuckie Keeton, played well enough when they were needed the most to win the game. Props goes to the Utah defense for showing up in the fourth quarter. Kalani Sitaki should be watching that quarter over and over again to see what kind of adjustments were made and continue to build on that.

Prediction time! (Casey)

So with College football starting today we at Finny Sport Time figure we better get out our predicitons for this years local college football season. So check out what we think and let us know if we are wrong, what games you agree with or tell us if we are up in the night.

Dallin Finlinsons Picks:

Utah: Overall 5-7               USU: Overall 9-3           BYU:Overall 7-5

Utah State-L                                       @Utah-W                            @Virginia-W

Weber State-W                                  @Air Force-W                      Texas-L

Oregon St-W                                      Weber St-W                          Utah-W

@BYU-L                                           @USC-L                               MTSU-W

@UCLA-L                                        @SJSU-W                             @Utah State-W

Stanford-L                                          BYU-L                                    Georgia Tech-W

@Arizona-L                                       Boise St-L                               Houston(N)-L

@USC-L                                          @New Mexico-W                   Boise St-L

ASU-W                                             Hawaii-W                                @Wisconsin-L

@Oregon-L                                      @UNLV-W                             Idaho St-W

@WSU-W                                        CSU-W                                   @Notre Dame-L

Colorado-W                                      Wyoming-W                            @Nevada-W

Tyler Finlinsons Picks:

Utah: Overall 4-8             USU: Overall 9-3           BYU:Overall 9-3

Utah State-L                                        @Utah-W                               @Virginia-W

Weber State-W                                   @Air Force-W                         Texas-L

Oregon St-L                                        Weber St-W                             Utah-W

@BYU-L                                            @USC-L                                  MTSU-W

@UCLA-L                                          @SJSU-W                               @Utah State-W

Stanford-L                                            BYU-L                                     Georgia Tech-W

@Arizona-W                                        Boise St-L                                Houston(N)-W

@USC-L                                             @New Mexico-W                    Boise St-W

ASU-L                                                 Hawaii-W                                 @Wisconsin-L

@Oregon-L                                         @UNLV-W                               Idaho St-W

@WSU-W                                           CSU-W                                    @Notre Dame-L

Colorado-W                                         Wyoming-W                              @Nevada-W

Casey Finlinsons Picks:

Utah: Overall 4-8             USU: Overall 7-5          BYU:Overall 10-2

Utah State-W                                    @Utah-W                                 @Virginia-W

Weber State-W                                 @Air Force-W                          Texas-L

Oregon St-L                                       Weber St-W                             Utah-W

@BYU-L                                           @USC-L                                  MTSU-W

@UCLA-L                                         @SJSU-L                                @Utah State-W

Stanford-L                                           BYU-L                                    Georgia Tech-W

@Arizona-L                                        Boise St-L                                Houston(N)-W

@USC-L                                           @New Mexico-W                     Boise St-W

ASU-L                                               Hawaii-W                                 @Wisconsin-W

@Oregon-L                                       @UNLV-W                               Idaho St-W

@WSU-W                                        CSU-W                                      @Notre Dame-L

Colorado-W                                      Wyoming-W                               @Nevada-W

So there you have it! Call me a homer I know but if you think about this, when Bronco has time to prepare BYU has only has 5 losses and 3 of those loses came in 2005 when he was just getting started and 2 of those 5 games were bowl games. So call me crazy but I have BYU beating Wisconsin and in my mind there is a good chance BYU could beat Notre Dame because they play Idaho State the week before and should be able to rest there starters. So take a look and let us know if we are crazy or not!

BYU names Captains and other notes (Casey)

So yesterday at practice BYU players had a vote to name the 2013 team captains. When the votes were all tallied they had 2 defensive players and 2 offensive players selected. The 2 Offensive players were not Jamaal Williams and Taysom Hill, it was JD Falslev and Skyler Ridley.

BYU captain JD Falslev

BYU captain Skyler Ridley

On the defensive side of the ball it was not Kyle Van Noy and Spencer Hadley, rather Uani Unga and Daniel Sorensen were named captains.

BYU captain Uani Unga

BYU captain Daniel Sorensen

I have no problem with these guys being named captains in fact earlier this off season I heard Van Noy say that Unga the vocal leader of there defense so it should come as no surprise that he was chosen and because it was a vote of there peers there should be no complaints from fans as well.

Chris Badger

 BYU has received word that former Timpview safety and 2009 Notre Dame commit Chris Badger has decided to transfer to BYU as per his father Dr Rod Badger and as long as he is accepted into BYU he will transfer and according to BYU beat writer Jay Drew he is going to appeal the transfer waiver and hope he can play today. If not he will sit out this year and be ready to play 3 years at Safety for the Cougars. So if all are healthy BYU will have next year as potential starters; Trammell and Leavitt at Corner and Bills and Badger at Saftey (They were teammates at Timpview), it looks pretty solid. Plus next year BYU will also have TCU transfer Tayo Fabuluje on the offensive line. Side note on Badger was a 3 star recruit out of high school and he was offered out of high school by Notre Dame, Florida State, BYU, Oregon, and Stanford. Things are looking solid!

BYU notes (Casey)

Everybody we are only 5 days away for BYU vs Virginia and I can't wait. So here are some BYU notes that you all might like to read and my reminder!

BYU has released there 2 deep depth chart. There are a few interesting thing listed on the two deep.

The depth chart is kind of what we expected except I really like that they moved Hadley to the Buck Linebacker spot and gave time to a very talented linebacker in Alani Fua to get out and play. There are only 4 spots that are solidified on the offensive side of the ball with the QB, RBs and Center, everyone else will be rotating in and out a lot. Also the secondary is going to be interesting. Look for PoVey and Leavitt to be switching in and out as well as Daniels and Davis but not as much if you ask me. At some point I would like to see Manumaleuna be able to move out to End and have Marques Johnson take over at the NT to add depth and I really thing JonRyheem Peoples will get playing time soon and will be a beast. So anyway here it is everyone take a look and see what you think. Let me know if anything stands out to you or you think will be different.

This Made me sick today. So I was scrolling through twitter today and came across a couple tweets that made me angry and actually changed my mind to me wanting Utah to beat Utah State (Sorry USU fans). Someone that goes by the twitter handle @TheShow which has something to do with San Diego State University, the tweet read (with Editing) "Seriously F@#$ BYU! OK well there was a reply to that tweet by someone that goes by the twitter handle @USUFacts and this tweet read "AGREED, CHEATING MORMONS #KILLEMALL. Then after that they tweeted about Taysoms knee (calling him Gaysom) and used the hashtag BREAKITAGAIN. But to no surprise to me about 2 hours after that tweet went out the twitter account @USUFacts was deleted. Way to show class there USU fans. I expect that vomit coming from SDSU but not from the Aggies. I know its not all of you but the vocal minority can ruin it for all. I had the Aggies with a win over the Utes and Cougars this year but I will be cheering OUT LOUD for the Utes and of course the COUGARS this year. 

Here is a late note coming out about an hour ago:

BYU has announced that they have agreed to a home and home with the California Bears. The Cougars will be heading to Cal in 2014 and then have the Bears come to Provo in 2017. This game in 2014 fills out the Cougars schedule with home games against Virginia, USU, Nevada,  Houston, UNLV, and Southern Miss and road games against Texas, UConn, Cal, Boise State, UCF, and Middle Tennessee. Looks like a good schedule for next year and the 2017 home schedule should be real good with home games against Wisconsin, Cal, Boise St and San Jose State, and yes this should be the Utah home game but it has not been made official so its not listed yet.
Here is the link to BYU's official announcement:
http://byucougars.com/m-football/byu-cal-announce-two-game-series

Reminder (Casey)

Cougar Fans we are SO SO close!

And Another game I am looking forward to watching is only 6 days away!

Should be a whole lot of Fun!

Rivalry opinions? (Casey)

So as the football season draws closer and closer and for Utah and Utah State it will be here in 6 days so right off the bat we get a rivalry game. Rivalry games are awesome and something I look forward to every year. Not just BYU vs Utah or USU vs Utah or BYU vs USU, but nationally I love Michigan vs Ohio State, ND vs USC, Texas vs Oklahoma, Georgia vs Florida and many other. They get the fan bases are riled up and excited and even sometimes they get a little extreme. Trash talking is fine with me, I love the back and forth between fan bases and the banter that it creates, THAT said there is a time to do it and a time to keep your mouth shut. I am kind of getting fed up with the trash talk I receive in locations that I would not expect to get it. For local fans in the state of Utah lets take Church for example. In a meeting where you are suppose to be trying to feel a certain way and all of the sudden you have somebody take a shot at the other team or there fan base is NOT an appropriate place to display your distaste for the other team. And lately I have ran into a trend of going into gas stations and being harassed by the clerks about me wearing a BYU hat or shirt or something. You are there as a representative of that establishment and should not be telling me as a customer that you do not serve BYU fans in there, I am buying a drink, take my money and shut the hell up! Now maybe I am being to sensitive? Maybe I should just take it and laugh (which I do)? It to me seems a little unprofessional to get after someone for wearing or cheering for a certain team in a place of business especially when you are working there. There is a certain gas station in Orem that I used to go to all the time until a employee began giving me a hard time for wearing a BYU hat. I bantered back and forth with him but do I really wanna hear him talk crap about what I am wearing every time I go in there? NO I just wanna get my stuff and get out, like I said before take my money and shut up! Now this goes to all fan bases that talk crap to other fan bases when you work for a company is wrong in my mind as well. I remember working for a company that told us we are to not have any kind of sports or political things on our vehicles because If you pull into someones driveway and they happen to not like or disagree with your point of view they may never call you back and now you have lost a customer. So I guess the point I am trying to make is, trash talk is fine and fun and I love it, but it needs to be done in places outside of work. If and when you work for ANY company DO NOT share your opinion on your favorite sports team when uninvited to do so. Thats my rant for today and If I am just whining about something very stupid and unimportant I'm sorry but I for one have had enough of it.