Scattered Saturday Afternoon Ruminations

My first thought concerns the BYU - Washington football game that went down this afternoon. Other than a few drives that went nowhere, some poorly thrown passes by Max Hall, including an interception at the end of the first half, and a fumble by Harvey Unga less than a yard from the end zone, the offense looked impressive. Dennis Pitta once again proved to be an unstoppable force over the middle. The guy has incredible hands and gets pretty much any ball thrown his way; he's going to obliterate all other tight ends statistically. Had Hall not under thrown him terribly towards the end of the first half, Pitta would have made the catch, the drive would have continued, and we likely would have scored to go up by a touchdown at halftime. The rest of the game may not have been so close.

I was pleased by the way the team played once they fell behind. They continued to battle and kept things close until we could go ahead in the fourth quarter. Some teams struggle when they fall behind for the first time, but we played with confidence and composure and didn't try to force things. This bodes well for future games with good teams (UCLA, TCU, and Utah). They dealt with the adversity and continued to execute.

Speaking of execution, I was very pleased with our running game. Unga looked like his old self again after not really having an impact against Northern Iowa - though I hesitate to call scoring 3 TDs not an impact; let's just say he didn't dominate like I'd hoped. Against Washington, Unga looked invincible. He consistently hit large holes, made people miss badly, and ran over whoever got in his way. Many props to the offensive line for opening holes for Unga to run through. I don't have the stats at hand, but he rushed for over 130 yards and really helped the offense dictate the tempo of the game. He was a beast. As was Fui Vakapuna. He only got 2 carries, but his 11 yard touchdown run in the third quarter was impressive. That was the Fui of old, and I hope that he gets more carries as the season progresses. He proved himself a capable fullback and helped Unga many times with great lead blocks.

Now that I'm done praising the offense, I'll talk about the defense. They did enough to win. Jan Jorgensen blocked the PAT at the end of regulation after Washington was hit with what might be a questionable celebration penalty. I was surprisingly calm as the PAT was about to take place. I'm not claiming to have called the block, but after sitting in the stands at last year's Las Vegas Bowl and seeing the blocked kick to beat UCLA, I will never doubt that our players have the ability to block a field goal at the end of the game. It felt great to see this kick blocked, and I was jumping up and down and screaming along with the homeboys and homegirls I watched the game with. The defense made the play and won the game. However, it should never have come down to that. Washington's quarterback, Jake Locker, made our middle linebackers look terrible. He is an exceptional athlete, incredibly quick and strong, but we should never have allowed him to make as many plays as he did. He converted a huge 4th and 10 to keep their final scoring drive alive. All the defense had to do was contain him and force him to complete a pass. I hope the defense can get over this sub par performance and continue to improve as a unit. Luckily, we probably won't face any one athlete as talented as Locker for the rest of the season, perhaps not until a possible BCS game (keeping the fingers crossed).

We're 2-0 and that's all that matters. Next up is UCLA, and I cannot wait to be in Lavell Edward's Stadium next Saturday.

My second thought does not concern sports. It is about people, but I'll keep it pretty ambiguous and speak in general terms. Sometimes I don't get people. For the most part I understand myself, the motives behind the things I do and things I speak, but other people often leave me befuddled. It's hard to really love someone, in the general use of the term (i.e. not romantically) unless you can understand them, where they're coming from and why the do the things they do. I think life is ultimately about obtaining that kind of love for other people, but you have to work at it. Perhaps it may not look like I am striving towards that to those of you in frequent contact with me, but I promise that there is more to me than my sarcastic and witty remarks. Yes, I like to point out the absurd and irrational and ironic things people do and say, but I'm also striving towards forming real connections with people, more than just the superficial "I hang out with you because there's no one else to hang out with" type of connection.

But sometimes other people leave me scratching my head. I guess it's good in a way because it keeps things interesting and somewhat exciting. If I could understand everyone perfectly right now, there'd really be no room for personal growth during the next fifty-odd years of my life. Until I do come to some kind of true understanding there will be plenty of opportunity for people-watching and conversing and jumping to conclusions and rethinking false conclusions and hypothesizing and laughing and crying and putting my foot in my mouth as I strive to understand and be understood by other living, breathing complex, contradictory, and dynamic human beings.