Texas A&M/BYU (3/4/05) Scoring Updates!

[onpoint]

The coffin is currently receiving its final nails with less than two minutes to go and a BYU man up. TAMU seems to have all but given up. Offense is not concerned with scoring.

[onpoint]

12-4 final. BYU wins going away, but not entirely impressively.

[CP18]

I watched it as well to Alex. The third quarter was the story when BYU stepped up the pressure on their rides. Dabney in my opinion is a stud goalie as a true freshman and will only get better.

Try being a coach associated with the team and having to watch from a computer! I practically destroyed my office at times!

[oaklandlax]

BYU 12 A&M 4 what a difference in the 3rd. I do not think BYU will do well vs U of M,

[bste_lax]

Shots were like 62-22. Wow!

The thing I was most impressed with was the production of the whole game. I remember watching a game on BYU TV online about 3 years ago (BYU-A&M again actually) and it was nice then and ten times better now.

[onpoint]

A couple thoughts on the game:

TAMU: Really started the game out well by finding some good matchups and using Turnbow and Tabb to create problems. They were having success against the BYU set defense initially but could not sustain their intensity. Much like the game vs. CSU last year, TAMU just runs out of gas and can't really compete when they are tired. Had they converted on a couple early chances, the game could have been differently.

Dabney made some nice saves, but looked pretty bad on others. He doesn't step to the ball and allows a lot of inside pipe goals. Not good there. I like Despain (#28 ) and #8 on defense, but they were just under too much pressure for the game to really make a run. Second half was played entirely on TAMU's side of the field. For a team that "does not slide," I saw plenty of white jerseys flying around on defense. Looked fairly good considering the circumstances.

This team has the ability to be a top 15 team, but they don't seem to have the intensity or desire to really make a push when the going gets tough. The offense completely disappeared in the second half, mostly due to the fact that they could not clear the ball to save their lives. In the fourth quarter, whenever TAMU had the ball on the defensive end, they would just toss it towards the midline without any sort of plan. Similarly, their man-up was pathetic. Not sure what they were trying to do there, but I don't remember them getting any shots off on man-up at all. Like the announcers commented, they just didn't recognize the importance of their man-up chances and that let them down. A couple goals there would have kept them in the game.


BYU: Strength is definitely the midfield. Did not hear why Bateman did not play, but his addition will be key for this team. Cole (#12) had a great game and has a powerful shot. Tschaggeny and the Austins are very strong as well. Like Catlax Man said before, if they don't find a way to play with intensity for 60 minutes, they will find a similar fate to their Arizona loss in a lot of their top games.

The defense looked okay and giving up four goals is a good showing no matter how you look at it. They were not seriously tested in the second half because of the (lack of) TAMU clearing. I like Powers and Machecknie both in goal, but I think it is to BYU's disadvantage to play two goalies. Seemed like Powers was starting to heat up in the second quarter and then, boom, he's done and in comes Machecknie. They both made nice saves, but I have a serious problem with splitting time for keepers. Archibald played all right on 'd' but there were a couple fundamental breakdowns by the Cougars, particularly by 33 (Harris?).

On attack, they have some ways to go. No one seemed to be able to take advantage and really dodge against the Aggies. Monteath seems like he will be good once he and the two Davis' mesh a little bit. Like I said before, the attack is not as strong for BYU as it has been in the past. Then again, you really can't replace someone like Rex Hardy, but Hier was a step in the right direction and will be welcomed with open arms when he comes back in a couple years. BYU had a distinct advantage on fundamentals like groundballs and simple passing and catching to get out of trouble.

Tomorrow will be telling, but I don't know that BYU will be able to get much going against the Michigan defense. I know I picked the Cougars in my picks of the week, but would not be surprised in the least if UM comes in and wins by several goals tomorrow. Like I said, this team needs Bateman bad to really be a scoring force and take some of the pressure off Tschaggeny and the Austins. He would give BYU two very tough scoring midfield lines.

That's about it. Sorry to kind of be negative about this game in general, but it was pretty ugly on both sides. I don't think BYU should be very happy with this victory and I would be disappointed to be on the Aggie coaching staff and watching the team essentially give up when they were down by a couple in the third.

[byualum]

Alex...you're dead on. I'm scared to death for the Michigan game. If their freshman attack steps up and gives them some scoring to go with their D, BYU could be in a lot of trouble.

Now I'm no goalie, and it did seem like A&M gave up some soft one, but it sure seemed like BYU had a lot of shots from inside 5 yards that the keeper had no shot at.

Any word on Bateman?? They'll need him on Saturday.

By the way...Turnbow is NICE.

[TrainerDan]

Not the prettiest of games for sure but a win none the less. Siitting at the scorers table through the first half was painful. No energy, caught out of position, just sloppy. You may cut some of the freshman kids some slack for it being their first home game and on TV also but they had better play a lot better than that tomorrow. As I looked over at Michigan in the stands I can only imagine that they were salivating at what they saw. the Cougars better come out a whole lot better tomorrow.

As for Bateman, you may or may not see him tomorrow. That is still up in the air.

[PigPen]

I disagree with the comment that A&M gave up. I think they did run out of gas. Watch the tape-every time the camera panned away in the second half, it looked like the Ags were ready to heeave. With the horrible third, the ball was entirely on their d-end. I think (like thier football counterparts) that this type of game will only tire everyone out. You can't play d for a entire half. I disagreed with the commentators as well when they stated that Turnbow was held in check the second half-He touched the ball maybe three times in that half. I think you need the ball and to be shut down with it to be coinsidered to be held in check. It just seems like the Ags have trouble in the latter half of games. I know these guys run a lot. Maybe they need some Gatorade. Poor second half-I was proud of the first half effort. But what is with BYU? If they had been playing a tougher team, that first half would have done them in. I wish the Michigan game was televised, but hey at least we got one this weekend on the air. After a year hiatus, I'm glad BYU-TV is back with the games (and that it became a part of DIRCT TV's basic package).

[onpoint]

When it comes to clearing in the last half, it is all about effort and heart. Winging the ball up to no one in particular shows me that they were HOPING something would happen rather than being able to MAKE something happen. Sorry to say, but that is giving up in my book. You have to have the resolve to make the play when you are tired. It's not like BYU played a lot more guys than TAMU or necessarily had loads more talent. Deeke and #4 are plenty good for TAMU, but they just did not have it in the tank. I'm curious about minutes played per player, but I don't think that TAMU's guys necessarily played more than BYU's. Just an observation. Plus, Turnbow is good (not as good as Dunn), but he doesn't put a lot of pressure on the defense. That was another thing that I noticed last year against CSU with him in particular. The great players are able to raise their game to another level in the third and fourth quarters when they are tired. Turnbow likes to stand around with the ball an awful lot when he could put a lot of pressure on the defense by simply running. That seems to me to be TAMU's problem in general because they certainly have the athletes.

[LaxC21]

I would have to agree with onpoint that the clearing and standing around on offense are the most serious problems with the aggies. I wouldn't go as far as calling it giving up, but the clearing seems to be a consistent problem with this year's team...cost them the New Hampshire game and apparently kept them out of this one in the second half. When you play defense for a whole quarter or half, it is going to kill you. This happened in at least on quarter against New Hampshire, Oakland and I would assume it is how St John Fisher pulled ahead on Wed. Regarding the offense, I'm not sure why everyone would stand around, but that offense doesn't work if everyone is standing around waiting on something...that is a little disappointing. You have to want it and make something happen every second you are out there. I'm glad to see Dabney, DeSpain and Dufour did pretty well. Overall, A&M just needs to focus on pushing forward, making sure they learn and apply what they learn from each game. Good luck against CU and Utah.

Any word on Deeke and Knelms? Heard they took a couple of good licks.

[Brent Burns]

Any word on Deeke and Knelms? Heard they took a couple of good licks.

Yeah, I heard that both had concussions. Hope they will be all right and back in the game today against the Buffs. As for any team in USLMDIA, they need the killer instinct.

[ACE]

I know Deeke didn't play after he got hit, which was late first or early second quarter if I remember right. He did suffer a concussion. That does hurt losing a starting midfielder.

Clearing was the biggest problem. Its hard to tell with the camera angles, but looked as if BYU was zoning up at the midfield. It was 4 on 3 up top then, they just needed to work harder to get open, but perhaps didn't really have the gas in the tank to do it. That could explain why it just got worse and worse in the second half. Remember A&M isn't used to playing at that altitude.

Man-up I thought was a huge problem. I think they took one shot in five opportunities.

I'm not a goalie, but I thought Dabs played a hell of a game. He made a ton of saves. Maybe some of it was bad positioning, but the "outside" shots he gave up seemed like he never saw or were not really that far out. There were a lot of goals scored from the inside. Regardless I thought he played well.

Overall, I thought BYU was flat in the first half, but showed in the second they could put a hurt on teams. A&M showed they have talent but are very young. It shows they are still not in the elite of the USLIA, but are definitely in that next tier, 10-20 range I'd say. I think they will continue to improve this year, and in a few will make that step to the next level when they get more experience. I think this is great for the USLIA to be able to see other teams on TV rather than guess about them based on scores. Maybe this answered some questions about their defense.

[CATLAX MAN]

It shows they are still not in the elite of the USLIA, but are definitely in that next tier, 10-20 range I'd say.

This is a slight overestimation. They are more likely in the 20-30 range. They are not in the 10-20 range at all.

[byualum]

I think it showed BYU is in danger of falling into the 10-20 if they keep playing the first half of games with no emotion...