Originally published December 10, 2015.
For all those who still labor under the idea that BYU vs. Utah State isn’t a rivalry, the past five years’ games should serve as proof that it is. Of course, for the Cougars, there was an element of revenge to this year’s Battle for the Old Wagon Wheel. Last year, Taysom Hill suffered a season-ending injury in a disastrous 35-20 loss to the Aggies. The 2014 BYU team slid rapidly downhill with Hill down, losing four straight and finishing 8-5 against a terrible schedule. This year’s edition of BYU Football came in at 8-3, with a fighting chance at a 10-win season. The Aggies were trying to get to seven wins and salvage a somewhat disappointing season in which a spectacular blowout of Boise State was the sole high point. Here are some thoughts from the win:
First, BYU once again started painfully slow. The cougars were down 21-10 just before halftime, and overall put together a disjointed offense and a sloppy defense through 28 minutes of the first half. Chuckie Keeton ran for a 54-yard touchdown and BYU struggled to stop the Aggies’ offense. Everything changed with one spectacular play around two minutes before halftime: Tanner Mangum, on the one and only play of the Cougars’ final first half drive, nailed Mitch Mathews (more on him later) for a 72-yard touchdown to cut the deficit to 21-17. On Utah State’s next possession, the Aggies just needed to run the clock out, but instead, Chuckie Keeton made the blunder of the game, ruining an otherwise excellent performance. As time expired, Keeton, needing to simply down the ball and get to halftime, tried to scramble and throw with no time on the clock. As he rolled out, he forgot the football. Tomasi Laulile scooped up the neglected article and returned it 37 yards for a touchdown and a surprising 24-21 halftime lead. From there, the Cougars took over the game and rolled to a comfortable win. However, it is rather worrying that BYU continues to struggle early in games at this stage of the season. We saw it against Cincinnati, East Carolina, UConn, Michigan, and Boise State earlier in the season. No wonder they’re known as the “Cardiac Cougars”! In fact, in every BYU win except Wagner and San Jose State this season, the Cougars were behind or tied in the fourth quarter. With the rather exciting announcement on Sunday that BYU will face Utah in the Las Vegas Bowl, the Cougars will face what is undoubtedly the best bowl opponent they’ve had since 2009. The Utes play suffocating defense, but they have struggled to find offensive consistency without a good quarterback. If BYU starts fast and gets ahead early, they won’t have a problem. The Utes have proven themselves utterly incapable of late-game comebacks this year. If, however, the Utes get the upper hand first, it will be difficult for BYU to fight through the stout Utah defense and cut down an early deficit.
Another impression: BYU’s defense struggled fundamentally, much like they did against Nebraska and through much of last season. They failed to wrap up ball carriers and allowed embarrassing amounts of yardage on punt and kick returns. While the Cougars improved vastly in the second half, they never fully cleaned up their act and a few costly mistakes were all that kept the Aggies from multiple comebacks. Granted, Utah doesn’t have nearly the offensive firepower it did when Devontae Booker and Britain Covey were healthy, but Cougars beware—Joe Williams hurt both UCLA and Colorado big time and could do the same against BYU, and Kenneth Scott has proven deadly as a pass-catcher. With Bronco Mendenhall, erstwhile both head coach and defensive coordinator, putting more and more emphasis on prepping for his switch to Virginia, the defense needs to take special care not to get sloppy. Neither Williams nor Scott has the breakaway speed necessary to beat the BYU secondary, but both have shown they can be dangerous when not taken seriously. They are Utah’s two biggest threats on offense, and the Cougar D needs to take them out of the picture so the offense can work its Mangum Magic.
Special teams, too, was rather concerning in this one. Kick coverage is not included in that assessment—two blocked kicks certainly qualifies as a good day’s work. Punt defense was much less satisfying, though; missed tackles and sloppy play handed the Aggies far more yardage than they should have had. With a talented QB like Chuckie Keeton calling the shots, short fields too often turn into gimme touchdowns. Against the Utes, BYU must be especially careful to play fundamentally sound on special teams. While Utah's isn’t the best offense the Cougars have faced so far, Oregon can attest to what happens when you forget the fundamentals against them. Another issue: Trevor Sampson missed a PAT for the third consecutive game. Something is different about his play of late, and it bodes poorly for BYU. Utah has one of the premier kicking games in college football, and any mistakes on the Cougars’ part will hurt.
I promised to come back to Mitch Mathews. Over the last three BYU-Utah State games, Mathews has rung up the following statistics: 2013: 5 catches, 112 yards, 3 TD’s; 2014: 8 catches, 117 yards, 1 TD; 2015: 6 catches, 158 yards, 2 TD’s. It seems that Mathews has made it an annual tradition to go berserk against Utah State, and he has twice proven a decisive factor in beating the Aggies.
Overall, I’m giving BYU an A- for this performance. They slipped up occasionally, especially in the first half, but they played a much cleaner second half and showed the kind of team they can be when they put it all together. Big plays in critical moments put the Aggies away and returned the coveted Old Wagon Wheel to Provo. Now, BYU must transition quickly to their main rival, Utah, and they must do so with Bronco Mendenhall leading the football coaching equivalent of a double life. My prediction, however, is this: Travis Wilson will get a healthy dose of Bronson Kaufusi and Co., and the Cougar offense will do enough to win. 27-13, BYU.