Wilson definitely takes too much grief for the losses. The OL was much better in the wins than the losses, and I'd give them credit for a lot of the offensive struggles. The OG spot in particular was abysmal at times, especially against Washington, SDSU, and even South Florida. Too much pressure right up the middle. Go watch all the turnovers against SDSU and you'll see Wilson running for his life right off the snap and having to force the ball early. Hoge had a terrible game against Washington, getting beat multiple times, including a key fumble6 where he didn't even touch the defender who sacked and stripped Zach. The other OGs struggled in key moments too. Even against USC Wilson was scrambling a lot and some of the biggest plays came off him extending the play with his legs. It seemed like the OL struggled to get as much run push inside the 20s, which is why they moved the ball much better between the 20s. I thought that overall our WRs were much better than years past, but teams still don't put too much stock in byu beating them beat and often load the box to stop the run, pressure the qb, and stop the run.

I love Hall. He'd definitely give Wilson a run for this money, but I don't think the coaches trust him to stay healthy. I'd still like to see him get a chance. His first concussion, by the way, was on another completely whiffed protection against USF. Romney is good with his first read and accuracy, but like you stated a lot of his plays against Boise came on the trick plays. In the 2nd and 4th when they ran the base offense he struggled. OL without too much push. Give him credit, though, for executing. He played well against USU, but their defense was terrible. I am a Wilson fan, but one thing he needs to improve on is accuracy. There were some balls he periodically missed. On the other hand, his ability to extend plays with his feet and hit downfield or scramble is underrated. I hope they do have an open qb competition.

As far as the defense, I was not a fan of the scheme and 3 man rush. An underrated problem is their alignment against the run they often only had 5 defenders in the box against 6-7 blockers, which is why at times we gave up too much yardage. Giving a qb so much time to throw against a primarily zone defense is a reciepe for disaster against better QBs. The strength of the defense was definitely the lbs. Too bad we never used them enough in blitzes to create more havoc. Not just pass blitzes but lack of run blitzes was an issue. We used several run blitzes against Boise to win that game and then went away from them. I just hope there are true changes that bring more defenders into the box. It's insane watching byu defend at times. Even on third and shorts, they'd sometimes align with only 5 defenders in the box. Most teams bring 6-7 defenders right to the line on short downs.