From the way the 2006 edition of the Holy War started, it looked like John Beck didn’t get an ample opportunity to carve the turkey on Thanksgiving, so the BYU quarterback decided to carve up the Utah defense instead.
Beck started the game sharper than a Ginsu knife as he led BYU to an early 14-0 advantage behind 166 yards-on 7-for-8 passing-and a touchdown on BYU’s first two possessions.
It didn’t look like it was going to be Utah’s day.
Fortunately for Ute fans, the U coaching staff adapted quickly.
On BYU’s third offensive possession, Utah started bringing various types of pressure from the linebacker and safety positions in hopes of disrupting the near-perfect early performance of Beck. It worked.
The pressure led to a crucial sack, courtesy of U linebacker Joe Jiannoni, which led to a fumble and an eventual 11-yard loss on a critical third-and-4 situation. The subsequent BYU punt would prove to be the first of five straight BYU punts over the next two-and-a-half quarters.
Not only did the added heat give Beck less time to throw the football, it also gave him fewer targets to throw to. With Utah blitzing more guys than BYU’s front five could handle, the Cougars were forced to leave some of their offensive threats in pass protection to keep the Utes from getting to the quarterback.
This added dynamic also helped the Utes’ secondary press BYU’s wide receivers, double-team athletic tight end Jonny Harline and blanket the rest of the Cougar receiving corps.
“Beck was just making unbelievable plays that first quarter,” Eric Weddle said. “But once we mixed it up and started pressing every down and mixing some blitz and some zones, he really didn’t know where to go with it.”
The result for Beck was a 1-for-7 passing performance and just 12 yards for the remainder of the first half.
Utah’s defensive pressure on the quarterback did not give way to the BYU rushing attack either.
Vaunted BYU running back Curtis Brown was held to three rushing yards in the first half, and the entire BYU rushing game finished the half without a single net rushing yard in 12 attempts.
Utah’s defense basically held the Cougars to the same success-or lack thereof-in the third quarter as well.
Beck was able to connect on five of his seven passes, but none of them were the long 20- and 30-yard variety that sunk Utah early in the first quarter.
In fact, the Utes’ defensive pressure was so effective that, after BYU jumped to a 14-0 lead, Utah held the BYU offense to just 85 total yards from the middle of the first quarter until the end of the third.
With that kind of success on defense, it’s hard to image that Utah would stray away from the kind of defensive pressure it was applying. Whether it was fatigue or because the coaching staff felt that it was giving BYU too much of the same look, Utah started rushing only four guys and dropping the remaining seven defenders into coverage to try to keep Beck from moving the ball down the field in the fourth quarter.
“Gary (Anderson) did a nice job mixing the blitzes and we got to (Beck) a few times, but he does a good job getting the ball out,” Whittingham said. “You can’t make a living blitzing him?that’s not the answer. You sort of pick your spots and play solid coverage behind.”
This seemed to play right into BYU’s hands as Beck and the BYU offense marched down the field on back-to-back scoring drives to begin the fourth quarter.
On BYU’s final drive, the Utes abandoned the pass rush completely and went into a strictly prevent defense for all but one of BYU’s remaining nine plays.
In the end Utah’s decision to switch from an aggressive pass rush to a prevent defense did prevent one thing-a fifth straight win over its archrival and an exclamation point on the end of a roller coaster game and a roller coaster season. However, it’s impossible to put the blame solely on the scheme in question; after all, the Utes did the same thing during last year’s win and forced Beck to try to make a play-and he didn’t, giving the Utes the upset. This time, it was a different story.
“We brought the house the play before, and they just lobbed it up to Harline, and Brice McCain made a great play,” Weddle said. “In the past Beck has forced some things when he didn’t know what to do, like last year he just threw it up. We were covering forever and he pumped it about three or four times and he just made the play. You have to give him credit, we were in position for about 95 percent of that play.”
Lennie MahlerCasey Evans and J.J. Williams celebrate what they thought was a blocked pass, but was called pass interference in Saturday’s game against BYU.