BYU QB Taysom Hill left Texas defenders in the dust all game long in the Cougars huge win over the Longhorns. (Chris Nicoll-USA TODAY Sports)
A two-hour storm delay on Saturday was deja vu all over again for the Brigham Young football team. But that’s where the similarities ended from week one to week two for the offense of the Cougars.
With quarterback Taysom Hill running wild behind a revamped line, BYU upset No. 15 Texas, 40-21, displaying an offense that bore no resemblance to the unit that consistently misfired in a 19-16 loss the previous week at Virginia.
Living up to new offensive coordinator Robert Anae’s credo to “go fast, go hard,” Hill (17 carries, 259 yards, 3 touchdowns) surged for huge chunks of real estate while backs Jamaal Williams (30 carries, 182 yards) and Paul Lasike (15 carries, 87 yards) plowed for consistent gains. It all added up to 550 rushing yards, a new program record for BYU and the most ever surrendered by the defense of Texas.
The stampede was sparked by a lineup change as Michael Yeck shifted from right tackle to the left side, Brock Stringham moved from right guard to right tackle, and Ryker Matthews moved from left tackle to right guard. The only new starter was senior guard Manaaki Vaitai, who had played well in a reserve role at Virginia.
The changes put bigger players Vaitai (6-3, 317) and Matthews (6-6, 309) inside and lighter, more mobile linemen Yeck (6-8, 292) and Stringham (6-6, 290) on the flanks.
Offensive lines traditionally employ larger tackles and smaller guards, but the conventional thinking is changing, especially for spread offenses that require tackles to block up field against quicker linebackers and speed rushing defensive ends.
After yielding four sacks against Virginia, BYU surrendered none against Texas. Virginia’s best pass rusher Eli Harold had a field day (11 tackles, 3.5 TFL, 2 sacks) against Matthews. But Texas’ top rusher, Jackson Jeffcoat (7 tackles) didn’t have the same impact against the revamped BYU line.
After a bye next week, it will be interesting to see if the BYU resumes its ground-game dominance against a Utah (2-0) team that has beaten the Cougars three straight years, holding them to an average of 15.7 points and 60.7 rushing yards.
FIVE BIGGEST TAKEAWAYS FROM WEEK 2
1. Same old Navy. Was all the offseason talk of the Midshipmen using a pistol offense and filling the air with footballs overblown? In Saturday’s win at Indiana, Keenan Reynolds threw fewer passes (four) than he had in any of his eight previous starts. Navy’s hesitance to vary from its familiar script might have been more a matter of going with what was working as the offense produced 515 yards and zero turnovers. The Indiana defense never forced Navy to use its outstanding punter Pablo Beltran.
2. BYU turnaround. The stunning transformation of the offense of Brigham Young catapults the Cougars back into the national picture. Over the last three years in going 25-14, including 0-6 against ranked teams, it became easy to dismiss BYU as a fading, second-tier power. But the return of the Cougars’ long, lost offense signals that BYU might be ready to resume its previous status as a national title contender.
3. Old Dominion not ready for the FBS. As a one-trick pony in the FCS, ODU thrived with a stellar quarterback and a stable of speedy wide receivers, out-scoring opponents and compensating for a porous defense. But Saturday at Maryland in a 47-10 loss, the Monarchs discovered how difficult it will be to compete at the next level as they were overmatched on the field and the sidelines. The Terps stymied the Monarchs with a smaller, quicker defensive lineup that included as few as two down linemen, flanked by a pair of stand-up defensive ends/outside linebackers. “We basically played a dime scheme with six defensive backs,” Maryland coach Randy Edsall said. “We ended up getting our best front-four that we thought in terms of speed and athleticism.”
4. The long road back to respectability. For struggling Idaho and New Mexico State, there was little evidence of the old axiom that football teams show the most improvement from week one to week two as both were humbled by unimposing foes. The problem has been line play. Both teams rank in the bottom 20 in rushing defense and neither has a back who has rushed for more than 80 yards. “Our football intelligence right now is not very high,” Idaho coach Paul Petrino said. Don’t be shocked if both teams are winless when they meet in the season finale, Nov. 30 in Las Cruces.
5. Uncertainty at quarterback for Army. Junior Angel Santiago’s shaky performance in a 40-14 loss at Ball State might open the door for sophomore A.J. Schurr. Entering in the fourth quarter on Saturday, Schurr rushed 5 times for 41 yards and completed 4 of 8 passes for 27 yards, guiding drives of 78 and 31 yards, but neither producing points. Schurr, who is considered the better passer, opened the preseason first on the depth chart, but was leap-frogged by Santiago, a better runner, who started one game in his freshman year.
