Open up a nice, cold chocolate milk and let's raise our glasses in memory of the BYU Cougars' chances of making a NY6 bowl in 2022. In a season where the Cougars realistically had to go undefeated to gain the only available at-large berth (a situation created by the fact that the Fiesta Bowl is a playoff semifinal game this year), even one loss would torpedo those chances. That loss came in humbling, gut-wrenching fashion at the hands of an underratedly talented 25th-ranked Oregon Ducks team on an absolutely beautiful day in the Pacific Northwest.
How would I know about the weather, you ask? Well, as it turns out, four friends and I had decided months ago to travel to a BYU football away game, something I'd never done before. We bought tickets, booked the cheapest motel we could find, and then drove 13 hours from Provo to Eugene. Upon arriving at the dingy, smoke-filled Motel 6, we discovered that the cramped and filthy room had only two beds that could barely pass as queen-sized and had absolutely zero chance of accommodating all five of us. The result? I decided to avoid an uncomfortable sleeping arrangement and spent the night in the passenger seat of my friend's Toyota. After all that, we made our way to Autzen Stadium--past a distinctly unpleasant parking attendant who seemed to conflate a U-turn in the reserved lot with attempted domestic terrorism--and after a lovely waffle breakfast put on by the Alumni Association, we took our seats for the big event.
The day was overcast but pleasantly warm and the view from the stadium, though tinged with California wildfire smoke, was still breathtaking. Truly, the Ducks enjoy one of the most beautiful venues in college football. We were all quite enjoying ourselves, taking in the pregame sights and sounds (including an impressive flyover by a pair of gorgeous T-38 Talon jets)...and then kickoff happened, and our enjoyment ended quickly. After a nice deep ball to--who else--Chase Roberts, Jaren Hall took a needless sack and the drive stalled out on a failed 4th and 7 conversion attempt that never had a chance thanks to an inexplicable play call. Oregon struck mercilessly from there. The Ducks scored on their first six consecutive possessions and never looked back, taking a 24-7 halftime lead and storming to a 41-20 victory.
It was a crushing, humiliating, brutal loss. We sat, shell-shocked, and watched as the Cougar defense caved over and over, allowing massive chunk plays and easy completions that made mediocre Oregon QB Bo Nix look Heisman-worthy. We cringed as the Oregon student section chanted "over-rated" repeatedly and acknowledged that, frankly, the 12th-ranked Cougars deserved the ridicule. What takeaways can there be from such a miserable loss? Quite a few. It sometimes takes a game like this to gain a realistic assessment of where your team is. And while the Cougars may have just played themselves out of a NY6 bowl, I'll explain how there are, surprisingly, positives to take away from this game--including how BYU still has a realistic path to a very special one-loss season.
The Bad:
Though it's not normal for me to go over the negatives first, this section will frankly be most of my recap. There aren't a ton of positives in a three-touchdown loss that should have been significantly worse.
The BYU run game continues to struggle mightily. I noted in last week's recap that against both Baylor and (surprisingly) USF, the O-line had struggled to generate any kind of push against the defensive front. Oregon's D-line was somewhere between Baylor's and USF's in terms of quality, and the Cougars once again found themselves unable to move the ball on the ground. It wasn't all the fault of the big boys up front--Chris Brooks consistently struggles finding gaps when they open and doesn't have the acceleration to take advantage of good blocking at times. Still, the O-line seems to be the primary culprit, as former BYU standout Ryker Mathews noted:
As bad as the Cougars' run offense was, their run defense was so, so much worse. The Ducks' quick, athletic tandem of Mar'Keise Irving and Noah Whittington combined for 176 yards and averaged around six yards per carry. Ouch. The Ducks ran the ball whenever and however they wanted, enjoying enormous gaps in the defensive line. This all served to open up the passing game for QB Bo Nix, who picked apart the Cougars' zone coverage for multiple huge plays and also took off himself several times while rushing for three touchdowns. Part of the blame can be placed squarely on the fact that both Earl Tuioti-Mariner and Tyler Batty were missing from BYU's starting defensive front. At times, the Cougars were forced to play multiple untested walk-ons up front--a recipe for defensive disaster against a team as quick as Oregon. Still, missed tackles and a failure to get any kind of pressure in the backfield were mostly due to a lack of execution and being legitimately out-competed by a clearly more motivated Oregon offense.
Jake Oldroyd's bizarre struggles continued as he missed his one and only field goal attempt of the game. Stretching back to the Baylor game last week, that's three straight must-have FG's that Oldroyd has shanked. Whatever his issue is, he's now in serious danger of being benched. His historical reliability and success in big moments notwithstanding, the Cougars have to put their best kicker on the field. It pains me to say this, but right now, their best kicker is not Jake Oldroyd.
Injuries continue piling up for the Cougars. In addition to Tuioti-Mariner and Tyler Batty, both Puka Nacua and Gunner Romney missed the game yet again. Kaleb Hayes left the game with an undisclosed injury shortly before halftime and didn't return, further hurting the already depth-poor defense. He tweeted after the game that he's all right and we can hope that he'll be ready to go this week.
Though they ultimately had little to no impact on a game that was one-sided from start to finish, the Pac-12 officiating crew put on a truly ghastly performance that lived up to stereotypes about the conference's poor refereeing. From stripping away an Oregon fumble via a phantom "snap infraction" penalty to missing multiple easy pass interference calls (including one where Keanu Hill was literally shoved out of bounds by a defender), the refs looked incompetent in every phase of the game. It's a relief to know that, upon entering the Big XII, the Cougars will be able to minimize their encounters with the dreaded officiating crews of the Pac-12.
The Good:
Even in a game as awful as this one was, there were bright spots. Jaren Hall was the most significant. His team might have been collapsing around him, but he continued to execute crisply and confidently throughout the game as he tried to will an impossible comeback into existence. With the exception of the aforementioned sack he took on the Cougars' first possession, Hall turned in another A+ performance. So, too, did Chase Roberts, who continued his string of excellent performances by averaging 15 yards per catch over his four receptions. He has played beyond his years and done an admirable job filling in for the still-injured Puka Nacua and Gunner Romney. He looks like the Cougars' clear WR1 for the 2023 season, with the speed, hands, and athleticism to compete immediately at the highest level in the Big XII.
Kody Epps gets his own appreciation bullet point here because holy smokes, did he have a game! Leading the Cougars with five receptions, including his first career TD, Epps broke out on the biggest of stages and provided a reliable, dynamic target for his quarterback. If he can continue performing like this, he will ease even further the pain of the Cougars' receiving vacancies.
Isaac Rex, Masen Wake, and Dallin Holker combined for nine receptions (including five for Holker) and a nice Rex TD in the first quarter. It seems the coaching staff is finally starting to lean on the tight ends as a position group and I love it. We need a lot more of that--I wouldn't mind seeing all three of those guys get five catches per game.
Max Tooley's performance was perhaps the only real positive in an otherwise appalling defensive effort by the Cougars. Tooley was violent and decisive, making several big tackles and looking at times like the only BYU defender who remembered how to wrap up an opponent. In the midst of a barrage of missed tackles and blown coverages, Tooley was a dependable constant. He's proving his NFL bonafides on a weekly basis.
Well, I don't want to talk about this game anymore and you don't want to read about it either, so let's turn our attention to what comes next for the Cougars. As the magnitude of this loss became apparent, BYU's next two marquee opponents--Notre Dame and Arkansas back-to-back in weeks 6 and 7--began to look really scary. Yes, Notre Dame had looked questionable to start the season, but they were still Notre Dame; Arkansas, meanwhile, was a top-10 SEC opponent and I wasn't sure even the might of the Cougars' incredible home atmosphere could overcome their advantages in athleticism and talent. Now...well...let's just say I have a different perspective. Notre Dame embarrassed themselves against a bad Cal team, winning but only scoring 24 points on one of the Pac-12's worst defenses. Combine that game with their previous disaster against Marshall, and the Irish aren't scaring anyone anymore. Arkansas, meanwhile, did even worse--disgraced former head coach Bobby Petrino, now at the helm of FCS Missouri State, nearly led an upset of his old team as the Razorbacks put on a horrific performance, ultimately needing a fourth-quarter comeback to win 38-27.
Suddenly, neither Arkansas nor Notre Dame looks like a particularly intimidating opponent. As a result, is it too early to propose that BYU might run the table from here? Maybe. The Cougars still have a LOT of issues on both offense and defense, and both the Irish and the 'Hogs are still extremely talent-heavy teams. But speculation is unavoidable given how weak both teams have looked to start the season.
Before they can get to Notre Dame and Arkansas, though, the Cougars have a pair of games against distinctly uninspiring Mountain West opponents. Former longtime rival Wyoming is up this week, while a really bad Utah State team awaits for a Thursday game to kick off General Conference weekend. The Cowboys, for their part, were blown off the field by a mediocre Illinois team in week 0, barely survived Tulsa in week 1, and looked flat and uninspired in a shaky win over FCS Northern Colorado in week 2. Their most recent game was their most impressive, as their defense held a very good Air Force offense in check en route to a commendable 17-14 home win over a Falcons team that looks ready to compete for a MWC title. Still, it's hard to find Wyoming even the slightest bit worrisome. The Cougars still have injury and depth issues, but they're facing a team that's inferior in every measurable way. I predict a 45-14 home win.
Tweets of the game:
As usual, the Cougars traveled very well--the BYU Faithful arrived early and in huge numbers
Before kickoff, the Cougars paid tribute to Oregon TE Spencer Webb, who was killed in a heartbreaking climbing accident during the offseason
BYU fans coped with the loss in a variety of ways
Meanwhile, as bad as this game got, the Cougar faithful were no doubt glad not to be fans of a few other teams