As part of my writing on the JMoney sports blog I will be doing game recaps and summaries of all the BYU games.  Even when it’s painful and hard to revisit I will take you through what I saw as a Cougar fan.

Before I write the first installment, you need to know that my opinion when I write stories and articles for established publications is completely objective and without bias.

However, when I write about BYU on this blog I will be completely biased and not at all objective.  I think that’s the way it’s supposed to be since I am a true Cougar fan and will be forever.  They have always been and will always be my team so I will speak about them as such.

It is also important to note that I will never make predictions about the Cougars in this kind of forum because my heart isn’t an accurate judge of game scores.  This is the same reason I tell fans never to bet on their own teams because they can’t and won’t be objective whatsoever.

Now on to the game recap…

The BYU Cougars opened up the 2013 football season today against the University of Virginia today in Charlottesville.  And make no doubt about it, both teams looked they hadn’t played yet.  The play calling was rough on both sides and didn’t seem to go at all according to plan.  The defenses ruled much of the game as it was a low scoring slug fest.    I can guarantee that the two plus hour weather delay and the terrible field conditions had a lot to do with that as well.  

The BYU defense played well most of the night and only gave up two touchdown drives.  Both came on very short fields.  One of which was on an offensive mistake.

The special teams also had a lot to do with the outcome.  Virginia blocked a punt early in the second half which led to a 3 play drive for the Cavaliers first touchdown of the season.

The lead traded hands multiple times during the second half and BYU seemed to have the game well in hand.  That was before a Cougar running back was unable to hold onto a first down pass leading to an interception.  The Cavaliers returned the pick deep into Cougar territory and were able to score just one play later, leaving only 2:36 left in the game.  That scored put Virginia up for good as the Cougar offensive couldn’t muster any offense on their last two drives.

The final score was 19 to 16 for Virginia in what can be described as a valuable learning experience for the Cougars.

And of course I know you want my feelings about what I just watched.  Well, I was more than a little disappointed by what I witnessed.

I was disappointed that I had to wait for two hours to watch the rest of the game.  I was expecting more from the BYU offense, especially the play calling.  I though Taysom Hill would play much better than he did but he’s still green and will improve greatly in the upcoming weeks.  I was frustrated with the play calling for most of the game.  I really thought that we would see tight ends involved in the offense but to no avail.  I was expecting plenty of opportunities for Ross Apo but that didn’t happen either.

Hopefully the Cougars can bounce back in Provo next week and this week’s outcome won’t dampen what should be an exciting and entertaining season.