Takeaways from BYU's Win Over Sam Houston

What's wrong with BYU's offense and how good was BYU's defense by the numbers?

After BYU’s 14-0 win over Sam Houston on Saturday night, a BYU fan took to Twitter to pronounce that it was a “Top three worst performance of all-time.” While that may include a little bit of recency bias, especially after a win, I understand why that football game would incite such a response. Ultimately, I don’t think that went the way any of us thought it would go. After having a full day to digest what went right and what wrong, here is what I took away from Saturday.

It’s not panic time for the BYU offense… yet

Plenty of fans invoked the offensive debacle against Portland State in 2017 during Saturday's game, perhaps deservedly. However, I didn’t see anyone reference BYU’s 18-point performance against a 3-9 Arizona team in 2016. Or BYU's 12-point opener against Utah in 2019, or the 24-point opener against the nation's 100th ranked defense in 2021. BYU ended up going a combined 26-13 in those seasons and finished in the top 25 in total offense in 2019 and 2021. Week one is often weird. What none of those years had, however, was the amount of turnover that BYU is dealing with in 2023. Of the 17 offensive players that played snaps for BYU, 11 were playing for the first time in a BYU uniform.

I heard enough in fall camp and have enough faith in our offensive coaching staff to not hit the panic button yet. Now if they put up 14 points again against Southern Utah? It might be time to seek shelter.

Self-inflicted wounds galore

As is customary in week one, there were plenty of penalties and mistakes that killed any momentum BYU was trying to build. Three of BYU’s first eight drives featured a first down that was called back due to a penalty - those penalties put BYU behind the sticks. Poor blocking on the edge prevented drive-extending first downs on two others. If I were looking to fix BYU’s offense, I’d start here.

Credit: BYU Photo

BYU couldn’t get anything on first down

Believe it or not, BYU was awesome on third-and-short situations on Saturday. The problem was they didn’t have very many of them. BYU’s average third-down distance was 7.4 yards thanks to their 3.0 yards per play on first down and a first down success rate of 25%. It’s hard to build any kind of a rhythm when you are consistently off schedule after first down.

BYU’s offensive line’s up and down night

BYU’s offensive line had an excellent night pass blocking, allowing just four pressures on the night and a combined PFF pass blocking grade of 79.5, which would have ranked top-15 nationally in 2022. Run blocking, on the other hand, was obviously suspect. Only Weylin Lapuaho posted a passing grade Saturday, with the remainder grading out in the 40's and 50's. We have seen enough of players like Connor Pay and Kingsley Suamataia to know this is not who they are. Meanwhile transfers Paul Maile and Caleb Etienne have only been practicing under this scheme for a month. Things will get better.

Kedon Slovis is still trying to shake off Pitt

Kedon Slovis did not look confident in his decisions. His quick outs and back-shoulder throws all felt a second late and his deep shots were all overthrown by about five yards. I won’t pretend to know if these are due to a lack of confidence or a lack of chemistry with his receivers, he doesn’t seem to be playing with the free-flowing energy we heard about in fall camp. I still have faith in Slovis. We’ve seen him make these throws before. We saw him make them in fall camp. I think he just needs to connect on a deep shot or two in game action before he finally breaks through the funk created during his year at Pitt.

LJ Martin making a case for RB1

To be clear, I still have a lot of confidence in BYU's running backs. The issues I saw in the running game were more scheme related than ability. It will take time before Robbins and Smith feel fully comfortable finding the creases in BYU’s zone scheme. LJ Martin on the other hand is everything I thought he’d be. He racked up 91 yards despite getting his first carry in the game's 42nd minute. In my view, he’s earned first or second team reps until his play dictates otherwise.

Credit: BYU Photo

Wide receivers didn’t show much fight

In my opinion, the tight ends and receivers struggled the most. They struggled to create separation and Keanu Hill's impact as a blocker was sorely missed. The good news is this is also the unit I have the most faith in to turn things around. Last season, BYU's receivers had a contested catch completion rate of 52%. BYU was just 1/7 in contested catch opportunities Saturday. This group is better than that. For whatever reason, outside one catch in traffic from Darius Lassiter, the group felt like it lacked their normal “dawg” mentality. I don’t think that continues next week.

Now for the good news…

DID YOU SEE THAT DEFENSE?

BYU's defense pitched its first FBS shutout since 2012. Out of 57 defensive snaps, 19 resulted in tackles for loss, sacks, QB hurries or turnovers, more than any game last season. Sam Houston managed just 4.2 plays per drive and 3.2 yards per play. I don’t care how good or bad Sam Houston’s offense is. There were only two defenses in all of college football that shut out an FBS opponent and BYU was one of them. Considering the state of BYU’s defense just 10 months ago, Jay Hill deserves a statue.

This was the best game by BYU corners since…

Ever? How good were they? If a quarterback threw an incomplete pass on every play, he would end the game with a passer rating of 39.0. When targeted, BYU's cornerbacks allowed a passer rating of 19.3. This means Sam Houston’s quarterback would have been better off spiking the football into the ground than targeting a receiver covered by Eddie Heckard, Kamden Garrett, or Jakob Robinson. Jakob Robinson was the best of the bunch with 2 game-changing interceptions, exceptional open-field tackling and a 7.9 passer rating allowed when targeted. I can't think of a better performance by a BYU corner in my lifetime than that.

Credit: BYU Photo

Tackling school is now fully accredited

BYU missed two tackles on the night out of 57 total plays. Max Tooley and Ben Bywater led the way with nine tackles each while BYU's cornerback trio showcased exceptional ability in open space, including an Eddie Heckard stick that could be felt from the summit of Provo Peak. We will see how that holds up against better offenses, but you can’t ask for much better in week one for a brand new defense.

I see you Ryan Rhekow and Marcus McKenzie

A silver lining to BYU’s offensive ineptitude was that maybe Ryan Rhekow will finally register enough punts to qualify for a few national awards. He was phenomenal Saturday, averaging 53.2 yards per punt with 4 pinning Sam Houston inside the 20. Meanwhile true freshman Marcus McKenzie recorded two special teams tackles as the gunner on BYU’s punt unit. His combination of speed and open field tackling has me very excited about the future of BYU’s cornerback room.

When all netted together, last night went about how we expected

The offense played way worse than I thought, but the defense was miles ahead of where I thought they'd be at this point. I predicted BYU would win by 18 points, and they won by 14. They didn’t get there how I thought they would, but they got there. A win is a win, and I would much rather know that the offense, which we know can be successful, needs work than know that the defense is still broken. Let’s all take a deep breath and be patient, at least until next Saturday.