What to Watch for: BYU vs New Mexico

First and foremost you should watch out for the snake.----->

But that goes in the category of watching out and not watching for...

1. Secret Weapon Elizabeth Lambert. Ok so this might also fall in the category of what to watch out for, but unless you have a pony tail and you're attending the game, you should be safe. The Lobos are likely to suit up Lambert in an attempt to slow down Fredette. If Fredette can stay away from the kicks to the face he should be fine as the Cougars have already preempted the Lambert move by making all their players wear short hair cuts. Thank you Honor Code.

2.Watch for Tyler Haws to have another big game. I think opposing coaches are playing the percentages and allowing Haws to get open looks while trying to shut down Fredette and Emery. The thinking is that a Freshman is less likely to hit big shots than a seasoned veteran. The problem is that Haws does not play like a freshman. New Mexico plays an extended man to man defense that opens up the mid range jumper. The Lobos will try to shut down the three and the drive to the basket and that will leave Haws with his bread and butter mid range J.

3. The Lobos will focus their whole defensive game plan on Jimmer, but it won't work. Fredette will once again put this team on his back and carry them when they need him most. I'm seeing another 30 point outing from the Junior superstar.

4. Jax will break out of mid season slump and hit some big shots for the Cougars. Emery started out the season on fire from behind the arc but defenses have started focusing on him more and as a result his shot percentage has gone down. He will once again pick up some of the scoring load and have somewhere around 15 points.

5. BYU will establish themselves in the low post before they look for the outside shot. Look for one of our big men (Miles, Hartsock, or Davies) to score in the double digits this contest.

6. BYU 72 New Mexico 67

BYU vs SDSU 10 things to look for

Before you sit down to watch the game on Saturday you might want to print this list off and follow along as the game goes on. (If you get lost during the game, it's not that I'm wrong, everyone else must be doing it wrong)

1. In the 5 road games that Jimmer Fredette has started this year he is averaging 29 pts on 58% from the field while averaging 6 assists and 2 steals per game. Those are some really impressive numbers. Expect Jimmer to come out and do something really similar. A great game and a win for the Cougars would all but seal his bid at MWC POY.

2. Watch and see how Miles, Hartsock and Davies handle SDSU's "athletic bigs". They did an exceptional job against UTEP and Fresno St. who both have very athletic big men. They'll need to stay out of foul trouble and give the offense a consistent low block presence. SDSU is a terrible shooting free throw team and so I wouldn't be surprised if BYU doubles on the low block and tries to make SDSU earn their points from the charity stripe.

3. Tyler Haws has really stepped up his game when other teams try to take away Jimmer and Jax. If SDSU has watched any film they will know this and will have to pay more attention to the Freshman. If they don't Haws will have another 20 point game.

4. The MWC Freshman of the Year award has become a two horse race between SDSU freshman Kawhi Leonard and Tyler Haws. It will be fun to see which of these two is able to step up his game in a big time setting. My money is on Haws. Look for him to stay cool and calm under pressure as he runs away with the FOY honors.

5. Which bench player will have a career game? Will it be JT? Maybe Lamont Morgan? Or will Lloyd come through again? JT has really embraced his role as the 6th man and is arguably the best 6th man in the conference if not the country. If he plays within the offense and doesn't force up shots, he will have a big game. Watch for JT to take advantage of all the attention that Jax, Jimmer and now Haws will draw from the SDSU defense.

6. Watch for SDSU to put some full court pressure on the Cougars. They will try and get our guards out of rhythm early by trapping and extending the defense well beyond the 3 point line. They will find out as Wyoming did, that BYU is just too deep and BYU has too many shooters. When SDSU pressures up front a lot of space opens up for our mid range jump shooters like Haws and Hartsock who will take advantage of this and knock down their J's to keep BYU in the lead.

7. Pay attention to how BYU uses its depth to wear teams down. A lot of teams this year have been able to hang around for half a game and a few have lasted longer but BYU starts to poor it on at about the 10 minute mark. They are very deep and have the ability to run opposing teams into the ground.

8. Look for BYU to employ a zone defense. BYU's guards are very good at getting into the passing lanes. SDSU struggled against our zone last year when we beat them in San Diego and I think you will see a similar drought on Saturday. Coach Rose knows exactly when to use the zone to get fast break points and put a game away.

9. SDSU is a very good offensive rebounding team. Over the course of the year BYU has turned into one of the nations best defensive rebounding teams. This will the match up that decides the game. If BYU can control the defensive glass and limit SDSU to one shot then they will be able to get up the court and run on SDSU all night.

10. 81-71

MWC Bowl Predictions

"Surely, the NCAA and Division I-A football can join the other 23 intercollegiate sports and devise a system that determines a true champion, preserves the integrity of the game and levels the playing field.”— Retired Brigham Young football coach LaVell Edwards, to the Senate Judiciary Committee October 2003

“To be frank with you, I don’t know what the reasons are not to have a playoff, You can talk about missing class and all that kind of stuff, [yet] you see basketball go on forever. You have a lot of bogus excuses, but obviously the majority of people who have the say don’t want it.” Penn State Head Coach Joe Paterno

I'll just let those quotes be my BCS "rant" for the day, so here are my predictions:

NEW MEXICO BOWL SATURDAY DEC 19, 2:30 pm MT
Fresno St. vs Wyoming: Fresno St. is another one of those Jekyll and Hide teams. They got cut up by Nevada like boarding house pie, but they also beat a descent Illinois team on the road their last time out. This is a tough draw for Wyoming and one of a few tough match ups for the MWC. Congrats to UW on their first bowl game in a while but I don't think they'll be able to pull off the upset. I've got Fresno St. 28 Wyoming 21

MAACO BOWL LAS VEGAS (aka Las Vegas Bowl or the Cougar Bowl, not to be confused with Cougar Town) TUESDAY DEC 22, 6:00 pm MT

18 Oregon St. vs 14 BYU

This is by far one of the best bowl games of the season, it pits two ranked teams from two very good conferences. Both teams have very good offenses. Myth: Both teams have a suspect defense. Fact: BYU's defense has performed extremely well all year with one glaring exception, FSU. BYU has done well this year against pocket passers in run-heavy offenses. OSU's QB is an exceptional pocket passer and he will get his points against this BYU defense. OSU's RB (Jaques Rodgers, yeah the guy who tore up USC a couple years ago) is great NFL bound running back. If BYU can slow him down and force a few third and longs then they will be alright. I expect this game to be a shootout with both offenses putting on a show. Whichever defense can make the big plays will come out on top. Max Hall has a big monkey off his back now that he has beaten Utah 2 out of 3 times. He also owns the BYU record for most wins in a career and he will be relaxed and looking to go out with a bang. He will lead BYU to a game winning TD drive in the 4th Quarter. BYU 42 OSU 35

SAN DIEGO COUNTY CREDIT UNION POINSETTIA BOWL Wednesday Dec 23, 6:00 pm MT

23 Utah vs California

I don't like Utah, in fact I hate them (not really). If Utah wins this match up then the MWC will finish with 3 ranked teams for the second consecutive year. So I will be cheering for Utah this time, but I will probably feel the need to shower soon after the game is over. I'm going to predict a very nice game for the Freshman QB for Utah. Utah 38 Cal 21

BELL HELICOPTER ARMED FORCES BOWL Thursday DEC 31, 10:00 AM MT

Air Force vs Houston

This is another very good but very tough match up for both teams. Air Force's defense is one of the best in the nation but will be looking to recover a bit from the shalacking that BYU handed them their last time out. Houston has a very good offense and one of the best passers in the Nation in Case Keenum. I'm not sure what two expect but something has got to give so lets just hope that Air Force's defense learned something from Max Hall. Air Force 28 Houston 42

TOSTITOS FIESTA BOWL Monday JAN 4, 6:00 pm MT

6 BSU vs 4 TCU

I can't wait for this game. TCU has got something to prove and so does BSU. When I first caught wind of this match up I was a bit disappointed but after thinking about it, this should be a very good game. TCU is one of the best teams in the country largely because of it's defense. BSU is one of the best because of it's offense. TCU's defense is better than BSU offense though. BSU is a similar team to BYU. BYU could have very likely gone undefeated with BSU's schedule. As much as a hate to say it TCU's beating of BYU was not a fluke. Their defense will do the same thing to BSU. However, BSU has a lot to play for and they won't take it lying down. They will probably do about what they did last year against TCU in the Poinsettia Bowl.

TCU 28 BSU 21

Basically I'm expecting the Big 3 to win their games and the other two bowl teams to come up a bit short. 3-2 with this years match ups will be very big for the MWC. Any upset that Wyoming or Air Force can pull off will be icing on the cake. Get your chips and salsa and grab a Dr. Pepper folks (caffeine free of course) cause "it's the most wonderful time of the year"!

Tackling...

Predicting the Holy War

Trying to guess the winner of the Holy War is like picking the winning horse in the Kentucky derby. Some horses might have a better chance but when the race is actually run, anyone has a chance. I'm just glad there is not family pool like there is with the NCAA tournament because I'm sure my sister or my aunt would win because they just used their birthday to pick the score. Before I get to that I feel obligated to predict the rest of the MWC scores.

Wyoming at CSU: The Cowboys are fighting for a bowl birth and CSU is fighting for pride. It's another rivalry games so it's another tough one to pick. I'm going with the hot hand in this one. I think Wyoming's offense will do just enough to keep them within striking range all game long. ACS will come alive in the 4th quarter for a touchdown drive, the win, and a bowl game. Wyoming 21 CSU 17

New Mexico at TCU: New Mexico has progressively gotten better as the year has gone on. This one will get ugly though because there is a lot on the line for TCU. I don't think there will be any letdowns at this point. TCU 55 New Mexico 7

SDSU at UNLV: I don't think this game means much to either team except ending the season with a win. Neither team is going bowling. For SDSU they are on the up and up and talent wise they should win this game. UNLV may have something to play for if they want to send Sanford out on a win. I think i will be a nail bighter with SDSU winning a close one. SDSU 49 UNLV 42

Utah at BYU: BYU will be favored by a few points when the game starts at 3 on Saturday but that really doesn't mean much. The Y has traditionally been very good in this rivalry game when a Senior QB is at the helm. Actually since 2001 BYU is 2-0 when playing with a Senior QB and Utah is also 2-0 when playing with a Senior QB. I think that will be the difference as the Utes will be starting Fr. Jordan Wynn. I look for Hall to have a monster game because I think the Utes will stack the box and force Hall to win the game instead of Unga. BYU 31 Utah 17

Don't look now but my record is better than Max Hall's

Max Hall is a measly 29-7 in his BYU career and he only went 1-0 last week. I on the other hand am 32-6 and I went 4-0 last week. Can I get a scholarship for that? And this week I say:

TCU at Wyoming: The good news for Wyoming is that...er OK I don't think there is any good news this week for the Cowboys. I don't see TCU letting down at all and right now they are arguably the best team in the country. They are focused and Wyoming is too young and they don't quite have enough talent to compete this week. I won't be as bad as the meltdown against BYU though. TCU 56 Wyoming 7

Air Force at BYU: Air Force is coming off a convincing win against UNLV but who hasn't. The Cougars on the other hand struggled on the road against New Mexico. BYU's offense will be very crisp this week and Air Force will not be able to contain Harvey Unga or Dennis Pitta. The field will be hard from the cold so they won't have the issues that they have had in past weeks with not getting proper footing on offense. BYU also has traditionally handled Air Force's option attack very well. BYU 35 Air Force 19

San Diego St. at Utah: For those of you that are waiting for Utah's annual meltdown game you might want to tune in to this one. SDSU is dangerous on offense and Utah is coming off a bad loss to TCU. Utah will have enough guns on defense and SDSU's defense is bad enough that Utah will squeak one out. SDSU 21 Utah 24

CSU at New Mexico: Hmmm what to say what to say... Ugh. CSU 21 New Mexico 18

Jimmer drops 25, Cougars roll.

I would be more excited about this game but some freshman kid stole my beanie right out from underneath me when I wasn't looking. So here are some quick hits and thoughts from last nights game:
- Jimmer scored 25 points. The best part about that is it LOOKED like he had a mediocre game. He was off most of the night on his shot and the lack of an inside game hurt him I think. When this team struggles during the season Jimmer will take the team on his back and that is very good news.
- Jax and JT both struggled to get into the flow of the game. Between the two of them they shot 6-22 from the field with 7 PF and 5 TO and 2 assists.
- The hero tonight was Mike Lloyd Jr. (Can we call him MLJ?) He came in and shot 4-4 from the field for 10 points. He had 4 rebounds and a steal. Very impressive outing from the RS Sophomore.
- BYU is very deep. Transfer Logan Magnusson only got in for 2 minutes but still managed to pull down a couple of boards and got an assist.
- Davies looked good but was only in the game for 10 minutes and he struggled from the charity stripe going 1-4.
- Haws went 0-2 from the field and 4-6 from the line. Most impressive were his 5 defensive boards and his 2 offensive boards. He led the team in rebounds. Ty struggled just a little bit on defense. He lost his man a couple times and it looked like he was having a hard time helping and recovering. That is something that will get better within a couple games though.
Overall this was a very good opener from the Cougars. There were a couple times when I thought the Braves were going to be in the game all the way. Each time though BYU rallied and closed the door to an upset. That's not easy to do in the first game of the season, just ask the Utes about Idaho.