Nobody, if we're being honest, really expected this BYU team to go into Austin and beat the 7th-ranked Texas Longhorns. Steve Sarkisian's squad is really, really good this year—a likely candidate to run away with the Big 12 title. A competitive game was all most Cougar fans hoped for, and the team delivered—sort of.
See, the BYU defense actually showed up quite impressively. The Cougars forced a pair of turnovers and recorded six tackles for loss against a Texas team missing star QB Quinn Ewers. For most of the game, Texas couldn't really move the ball—the Cougars were a couple blown assignments away from holding them to their worst offensive performance of the season.
The problem, as it turned out, was the offense. And it's time to have a serious discussion about where that unit is headed. Texas has a more talented, more athletic team than BYU and was probably always going to win this game. But the BYU defense showed up and went toe-to-toe with them for four quarters. Why couldn't the offense do the same?
The Bad:
I'm going to talk about the negatives from this game first, and to be brutally honest, they mostly revolve around the offense. Let's start with Kedon Slovis, who, holding the exalted position of "Starting Quarterback at BYU", is the most public face of the team other than Kalani Sitake himself. There's no sugarcoating it—Slovis was bad in this game. He threw two absolutely killer interceptions (one of which negated a Texas turnover), missed several wide-open receivers, and never built any kind of offensive momentum.
Let's be clear: the offense's struggles are not totally—or even primarily—Slovis's fault. There's plenty of blame to go around, and I'll address other issues in a moment. As a result, I'm not ready to call for his job—he would look a lot better if the offense were running better in general. But at the end of the day, he's a veteran QB and needs to play smarter. I praised him early in the season for taking care of the football, but recently, he's struggled with turnovers. And his conservative, unexciting play style does little to keep the offense moving. He needs to take things up a notch if this offense is going to get out of its current funk.
The offensive line continues to struggle, both in protecting Slovis and blocking the run. The Cougars once again failed to rush for 100 yards as a team, a feat they've still managed just once this entire season. It was good to see Aidan Robbins back in place as the starting RB, seemingly fully recovered from the rib injury that has sidelined him and thrust freshman phenom LJ Martin into the limelight. And Robbins' recovery came not a moment too soon, as LJ sat this game out with a nagging injury of his own. All things considered, Robbins did fine—but that's not saying much. The offensive line still has issues generating any kind of push, and the Cougars' run game still doesn't pose much of a threat as a result.
For the second time this season, the Cougars allowed a punt return for a touchdown. That makes this the first season since 1970 where a BYU team has allowed multiple return TD's. When ace special teams gunner Marcus McKenzie was healthy, the Cougars' punt coverage was a thing of beauty and a major strength in the field position game. Without McKenzie, there doesn't seem to be anyone capable of stepping up and being "that guy" on punt returns. McKenzie's absence isn't the sole reason for the Cougars' recent special teams blunders, but he'd sure be nice to have right about now.
The Good:
You wouldn't think there would be much good to take away from a 29-point loss, but as mentioned, most of the responsibility for that loss falls on the offense and special teams. The defense actually played reasonably well, and there were a few major standouts. Eddie Heckard continues to make the case for being the best player on either side of the ball for the Cougars and will almost certainly be drafted next year. Crew Wakley also continues to impress as a starter; after tipping the pass that Heckard intercepted last week, he got a pick of his own this time. The DB unit has been a major strength of Jay Hill's defense this year, and he and Jernaro Gilford deserve enormous credit for that group's development.
BYU's linebackers continue to excell as well, even with star Ben Bywater out for the season. Siale Esera and AJ Vongphachahn were both particularly productive against the Longhorns. Esera's development from never having played before the TCU game to being one of the Cougars' most impactful defenders two weeks later is a great story. His growth and Harrison Taggart's flashes of brilliance bode really well for the future of the Cougars' linebacker corps.
Tyler Batty continues to be great on the defensive line, but the story of the season for that group is, without a doubt, Blake Mangelson. A combination of poor depth and Ed Lamb's weird rotations saw Mangelson get some serious playing time last year, but he didn't really distinguish himself. This year, though, is a very different story. Mangelson has been one of the surprise standouts of Jay Hill's defense, consistently crashing into the backfield and causing chaos while showing great form in protecting the edge. Tyler Batty may well move on to the NFL after this season, and Mangelson will probably be tasked with filling his very large shoes as the Cougars' star defensive lineman next year. Knowing that, Mangelson's great play this year is cause for great optimism.
This was an ugly game, but that wasn't entirely unexpected. Texas is one of the best teams in the nation this year and they did what a top-10 team is supposed to do to an unranked opponent. But it's reassuring to know that the BYU defense is capable of matching up physically with the best in the country. The only question? Whether the offense can keep up. I've long expressed my doubts about Aaron Roderick's playcalling ability and those doubts remain. Darrell Funk's management of the offensive line has also left much to be desired. If they can turn those issues around in the final four games of the regular season, they will cement their positions on the staff and ensure that the Cougars dramatically overperform outside expectations for this season. If not...well, if not, we may see some more coaching staff turnover in the offseason.