This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

After observing his football team in three live games now, BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall has noticed a problem and wants a significant change. He wants a correction. He wants improvement. He wants an upgrade. He wants a higher level of execution. He wants his players to, you know, tackle the other guys, the ones running down the field with the ball.

I know, I know, nobody's starting a revolution here, but the coach said so himself: "We have a long ways to go, in terms of tackling."

Check me if I'm wrong on this, but … isn't tackling, like, the first thing defensive players are supposed to master? Isn't it something learned in Pop Warner ball? Shouldn't a group of highly skilled and trained defenders playing at the upper reaches of Division I football have already punched — and wrapped up — that ticket?

It seems so obvious, an inherent part of tackle football, the tackling part. It might even be a key ingredient to being successful. It's a bit complicated, but try to keep up. If a defender gets all the other stuff, the preparation, the schemes, the handling of his specific assignment, the pursuit, the putting himself in proper position to make a play and then … well, bounces off the ball carrier or whiffs on him completely, it's no bueno.

You can't tackle, you can't win tackle football games.

It's like a baker who's baking a cake and forgets to add flour.

That cake won't bake.

Maybe there was a reason Vince Lombardi used to stand in front of his team at the start of every season and say: "Gentlemen, this is a football."

In the fog of the modern game, you can't ever lose sight of the basics.

Tackle football, no matter how complex it gets, still requires tackling.

You may have noticed that yourself, watching the BYU-UCLA game, and the other BYU games, as well. Saturday night, on many occasions, the Cougars defense confused young Bruins quarterback Josh Rosen. It picked him off three times, made him jumpy and inefficient and knocked him out of rhythm. All told, Rosen hit on just 11 of his 23 throws for 106 yards.

UCLA coach Jim Mora was complimentary of the BYU defense. He said it was physical and tough, and gave the Bruins "all that we could handle." He also said: "They are a big football team on defense. They play with a lot of poise and discipline and they were covering us tight."

There were, indeed, times when the defense kept BYU in the game. It caused those turnovers. It confused Rosen. It played sophisticated football. It threw up some terrific coverage. It did a lot of things right.

Imagine if it had tackled, too.

It's remarkable, really, that a defense can do so many advanced things so well, and then botch the single most fundamental thing.

Anybody who ever played football at any level remembers Coach Johnson or Coach Whipple or Coach Fuddpucker yelling out some version of the right way to tackle: Son, you gotta take the best angle of pursuit. You gotta keep your head up, keep your eyes on the [expletive] ball carrier. Target the midsection and the thighs. Get the breakdown right, bub. Initiate contact with your helmet across the body. Get low, you [expletives]. Bend the knees. Drop the hips. Explode into the [expletive] runner. Keep your feet moving, keep 'em moving, Don't let 'em stop, I tell you what. Wrap that [expletive] ball carrier up and lift. Swing those arms upward. Grab some jersey and drive that son of a [gun] backward. Keep those feet moving. [Expletive.]

BYU needs a visit from Coach Johnson or Whipple or Fuddpucker.

It needs a reminder. It needs remedial work.

UCLA running backs Paul Perkins and Nate Starks were fast and all, but they made that clear, combining to rush for 300 yards and two touchdowns, including a game-winner with just more than three minutes to play. Perkins averaged 8.4 yards per carry. Starks got 11.6. That's ridiculous, and Mendenhall knows it.

Poor tackling was the culprit.

When BYU has an opponent down, 23-17, having played a strong all around game up until that point, with some flaws but a lot of positives, too, and, then, with five minutes left, said opponent drives the length of the field, running the ball six straight times, breaking off consecutive chunks of 31 and 22 yards, that's not a happy sign.

It's a way for good teams to get beat.

After showing so many positives at the Rose Bowl on Saturday night, after showing that it was the match of what might turn out to be the best team in the Pac-12, and with Michigan next up, BYU's lack of mastering the most basic of tackle football's basics ended — or at least contributed to ending — the Cougars' run of miracles.

Because tackling in tackle football is kind of a big deal.

GORDON MONSON hosts "The Big Show" with Spence Checketts weekdays from 3-7 p.m. on 97.5 FM and 1280 AM The Zone. Twitter: @GordonMonson.