We really were not a team that was climbing under Taysom, though. USU was not the first team to defend Taysom well, & he really was not using Jamaal as much as he should've. He was taking way too much punishment, so his injury was hardly all that surprising.

The 4-game skid (I thought it was only 2) was not indicative of an offense that "suddenly" got harder to defend as I claimed — but I think everyone who honestly evaluated that season saw that the growing pains of an entire offensive overhaul after Taysom went down — it definitely played a heavy-hand in that skid. Also the claim that that was "the easy part of our schedule" — what wasn't a particularly honest assessment. UT & Virginia were not particularly tough opponents. Nevada & Boise on the road were hardly easier games.

And the idea that we woulda certainly beat USU had Taysom not gone down was not true to the game I was watching. He was taking a lot of punishment before his injury, & we were really struggling to move the ball as I remember.