RECAP: A sham of a series
I apologize for giving you my Notre Dame recap nearly a week late. I'll be honest, it's been tough to force myself to write this one. I want to keep whatever readers I might have happy (seriously, thank you so much if you're reading this, it means a lot) but it's hard to write about such an utterly uninspiring game. BYU-Notre Dame was just so...bleh. Not only was the venue less than ideal--what was contractually supposed to be a BYU home game ended up as a functional away game in Vegas with Notre Dame's home game setup--but the game got off to a disastrous start as Jaren Hall, dinged up after the Utah State game (more on that later), threw a pick on the first play of the game. It was all downhill from there, as the Cougars got down 25-6 at one point before making it respectable at the end. Still, there were actually a number of positives to take away from this game as well. A loss never feels good, but this one contained some great learning opportunities.
The Good:
For the first time in a month, the BYU defense looked ready to play from the start of this game. A combination of injuries, bizarre game planning, and atrocious first half field position made life tough for the Cougars on the defensive side of the ball, but the unit still showed real heart, playing well against the run and holding the Irish on several key drives. Ilaisa Tuiaki's group made plays it hasn't been making lately and generally performed well enough to have won the game. Max Tooley in particular was once again the Cougars' best defender and recorded his third interception of the season (assuming bowl eligibility, we still have over half the season to play, so BYU's single-season INT record holders should be looking nervously over their shoulders).
The Kody Epps breakout continues unabated. In his best game yet for the Cougars, Epps had team highs of four catches and an even 100 yards and scored two very timely TD's. At times, Epps seemed to be the entire BYU offense. He has a remarkable combination of speed, shiftiness, and great hands and has the potential to be the next great BYU wideout. Then again, he'll have some stiff competition from Keanu Hill and Chase Roberts. The future of the WR position at BYU looks very bright and I once again have to give Fesi Sitake credit for a simply outstanding coaching job. Top-to-bottom, there's no longer any doubt that the WR's are the deepest unit on the BYU roster.
Chris Brooks seems to have finally found his footing as RB1 after several shaky performances. Really, he was only the Cougars' primary ball carrier for this game because Miles Davis was dinged up and didn't play, but boy did he ever make the most out of the opportunity. He averaged over six yards per carry against the Irish and scored a touchdown in his best performance since the USF game. I'm not sure what was troubling him in the Baylor, Oregon, and Wyoming games--perhaps only he knows--but he's looked significantly better over the last two weeks.
Though a 25-6 deficit is hard to overcome, particularly with the issues the Cougars faced in this game, I was impressed by the team's resilience. Far from breaking when they got down by 19, the Cougars actually played about a quarter and a half of some of their best football this season on both offense and defense, nearly erasing the deficit completely before faltering at the end. While it wasn't enough to win this game, it did show an increase in toughness and drive that I haven't seen over the Cougars' previous three games. That bodes well for the team going forward if it can be maintained.
I want to give a shoutout to whoever is handling uniform design this season. The blackout look the Cougars wore for this game was fantastic, particularly as the Cougars went away from their traditional helmet look with a fascinating blue-to-black faded color scheme that looked amazing. For their coming game against Arkansas, the Cougars will once again roll out a new helmet design, this one with custom, hand-painted mountain and cougar images that are insanely cool. The uniform design team is swinging for the fences with the Cougars' helmets this year, and so far they're batting 1.000 as far as I'm concerned.
The Bad:
There was...well...a lot to hate about this game. That starts with the format of the game itself and the consistent bad faith shown by Notre Dame's athletics department through this whole process. This matchup was supposed to happen in Provo, a return for the pair of games the Cougars played in South Bend in 2012 and 2013. Instead, the Irish essentially refused to honor the initial deal and insisted that the game be played at a neutral site--which they then converted into a home game in their "Shamrock Series" format. Now, BYU came away with a cushy payday and prime TV exposure in exchange for this change--it's not as if Tom Holmoe got fleeced--but the Cougars would, by my estimation, almost certainly have won this game in a home or even a true neutral environment. Notre Dame athletics has proven itself a dishonest and classless negotiating partner and I sincerely hope we don't deal with them again any time in the near future.
This game got off to about the worst possible start, as the Cougars' first offensive play was a horrifically underthrown ball by Jaren that was easily picked off. There were reports before kickoff that Jaren wasn't 100% and would be playing through injuries sustained against Utah State, but it wasn't clear exactly how bad he was. As we've since learned, he didn't practice the entire week leading up to the game as he nursed shoulder pain caused by a couple of vicious hits from the USU game. Aaron Roderick even went so far as to acknowledge that he had intentionally dumbed down the Cougars' playbook late against the Aggies to avoid Jaren taking any more hits.
Just in case you were sad about that series ending, know that our coaching staff literally alters its playbook to prevent Aggie cheap shots. No BYU fan should be sad about potentially never playing USU again. The Aggies aside, Jaren was clearly rusty and in pain in the first half and it showed in the offense's infuriatingly slow start. Outside of a TD after Hobbs Nyberg ripped off a long punt return to set up a short field, the BYU offense was bogged down by miscues and ended up with a 25-6 deficit at one point. It's worth saying that Jaren and the offense in general improved dramatically in the second half and moved the ball pretty well until their final drive, but Jaren being hurt really caused problems and limited Aaron Roderick's options.
While the defense was definitely better than it's been in the Cougars' three previous games and came up with several clutch stops, it was incredibly frustrating to once again see the Cougars' lack of preparation show up so clearly. Notre Dame doesn't have much of a passing game with backup QB Drew Pyne, but one genuinely deadly connection for the Irish has been Pyne and tight end Michael Mayer. Mayer has been Pyne's favorite target by far, yet the Cougars consistently and infuriatingly failed to cover him in key situations, allowing him to get wide open several times and rack up huge numbers. Mayer had 11 catches for 118 yards and two TD's and it looked like the defense didn't even know where he was on the field for large portions of the game. Preparation matters, and I still haven't seen this defense look as prepared as it should since the Baylor game.
Well, I really kinda just want to forget about this game and move on to Arkansas, especially since that game happens to be today. The Razorbacks present a golden opportunity--after racing out to a hot start early in the season and cracking the top-10, they looked suspect in a horrendously ugly win over Missouri State (even facing a two-score deficit in the fourth quarter before pulling off a comeback win). Arkansas is not a good team, but it is an SEC team and presents all kinds of problems for the Cougars. Still, especially with encouraging news about Jaren Hall's status, it looks like the Cougars may be a little closer to full strength for this game. I don't think the Razorbacks are better than Notre Dame and LaVell Edwards Stadium will be rocking for this one. I think the Cougars come out angry and motivated and take care of business. BYU will win this one 31-24.