From the Archive: The Smurf Turf has been conquered

Originally published November 18, 2020.

Thoughts on BYU Football’s 51-17 blasting of #21 Boise State:

Well, that was anticlimactic. After weeks of hype and buildup, after talking heads and sportswriters called it the most important game of the year for both teams, BYU and Boise State (ranked #9 and #21 respectively by the AP) took to the blue field of Albertson’s Stadium with NY6 hopes on the line. It was supposed to be a spectacular battle between two non-P5 powerhouses. It wasn’t. When the dust cleared, the Cougars had utterly demolished the Broncos by a score of 51-17, earning their first-ever road win over Boise State.

Thirty-four-point wins on the Smurf Turf are not common. In fact, this game marked Boise State’s second-worst home loss since becoming an FBS team in 1996. Yes, the Broncos were playing their third-string quarterback for much of the game, but this was still an impressive performance for the Cougars, especially given that the Boise State defense was essentially at full strength. Here are some thoughts on the Cougars’ performance:

The Offense: At this point, I’m running out of superlatives to describe Zach Wilson. After a so-so game against WKU last week, Wilson came out slinging against Boise State. He posted an inhuman stat line of 22-28 passing for 360 yards and three touchdowns. No picks. Passer rating: 221.93. That’s the kind of passer rating you see QB’s put up against FCS competition. To do that to the Boise State defense on the blue turf is something very, very special. Wilson continues rising on mock draft boards–several now have him going in the top ten—and teams such as Minnesota, Jacksonville, New England, and San Francisco are rumored to be seriously considering him as their quarterback of the future. The 49ers even dispatched VP of player personnel Adam Peters to the Cougars’ tilt with Boise State to scout him in person. Peters had to have been impressed–Wilson was virtually perfect in every phase of his game. He wasn’t the only impressive performer, either—Tyler Allgeier ripped off an 86-yard TD run on the Cougars’ first drive and finished with two TDs and 123 rushing yards; Gunner Romney, Dax Milne, and Neil Pau’u had 133, 99, and 76 receiving yards respectively; and Isaac Rex caught two touchdowns. I feel like I haven’t talked enough about the offensive line lately—the unit as a whole has been relatively mistake-free, and Brady Christensen in particular is seeing his draft stock (not to mention his Outland Trophy chatter) rise appreciably as he is now the second-highest-graded offensive tackle in the country according to Pro Football Focus. Right now, the BYU offense looks virtually unstoppable. It’s been fun to watch.

The Defense: It’s hard to really get a feel for how the defense performed in this game given that Boise State was playing third- and fourth-string quarterbacks and backup running backs for most of the game. (As an aside, it’s worth mentioning that last year, the Cougars beat the 14th-ranked Broncos with—yes—a third-string QB and a fourth-string RB.) Suffice it to say that the defense—at least the starters—made no serious mistakes and did their jobs with precision overall. Boise State’s decimated offense accrued just three points through the first 3 1/2 quarters of the game before finally scoring two meaningless touchdowns in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter against a mostly third-string secondary. It is concerning that there appears to be a fairly substantial dropoff in performance from the secondary starters to their backups–we saw this last year as well, as an injury-riddled secondary proved unable to maintain its performance when those backups were called on to play meaningful minutes. Giving up two deep TDs late in the fourth quarter of a blowout win is one thing, but what if those had come in the first half? It could have been a very different ballgame. One of the unfortunate hallmarks of the Kalani Sitake era has been major depth issues—not because of a lack of young talent, but because of an apparent deficiency in preparation when players further down the depth chart are called on to step into starting roles. The Cougars are no more injury-prone, statistically speaking, than most teams, but they seem to be punished more severely by their injuries. To this point in the 2020 season, the Cougars have been mercifully low on injuries on both sides of the football, but this is a brutal game and that trend could change quickly. With only two games left in the regular season followed by a potential NY6 appearance, this BYU team will need all hands on deck in case a key contributor has to miss time.

Special Teams: So, get this guys…Jake Oldroyd is apparently human! I know, I know, it’s shocking. I mean, he is still 9-9 on the year kicking field goals. But against all odds, Oldroyd actually missed two PATs—one of them blocked!—against Boise State. Those misses were his first of the season, and I doubt they represent any cause for concern. Oldroyd is extremely consistent and I anticipate that he will easily rebound from this off game.

Overall Impressions: This was a phenomenal effort in all phases of the game for the Cougars. Boise State is never a pushover on their home field, and to waltz in and beat them by 34 is no small achievement! This game was supposed to be the biggest test of 2020 for a BYU team that really hasn’t played a strong opponent yet this year. Now, it seems more than likely that the Cougars will roll to a 10-0 record. The question remains whether that record will be enough to earn a NY6 berth–the schedule hasn’t been terribly strong, but there’s no denying that this is a very, very good BYU team. It would not surprise me to see the Cougars make some serious noise in this postseason. Before we get to that point, though, this team has to face two more opponents, starting with North Alabama on November 21. The Lions are not a good team, even by FCS standards, and this game should be a shellacking. If it’s within four touchdowns at any point in the second half, I’ll be absolutely shocked.