BYU Preview: Q&A With Cougs Daily
The Horned Frogs have lost two regular season games in a row for the first time in the Sonny Dykes era, and things don't get much easier for TCU moving forward. BYU (4-1) comes to town on Saturday coming off its first Big 12 victory. The Cougars have exceeded expectations while Fort Worth's Frogs have sunk below them. The two teams collide on Saturday afternoon in a pivotal moment in the season for TCU, and Cougs Daily's Casey Lundquist provides some insight on BYU's team and the upcoming matchup.
The BYU Cougars, led by quarterback Kedon Slovis, take on TCU in Week 7. Cougs Daily, the BYU FanNation site, answers some questions about what to expect from BYU.
Q- What's the overall feeling about returning to Fort Worth for the first time in 13 years?
A- There's a lot of excitement from the people inside the program and the fanbase alike. Last year, BYU was 4-1 through five games, but the energy around the program was muted. During independence, there was nothing left to play for after a loss besides a pre-contracted bowl game.
The opposite is true this year. BYU is 4-1 with everything to play for at this point, and a reunion with an old conference rival in TCU makes the anticipation for this game even greater. BYU fans have missed conference rivalries like the ones they had with TCU back in the day.
Q- Could BYU/TCU become a Big 12 rivalry, like it was in the MWC days? Or does BYU just see the potential return of the Holy War as its one Big 12 rivalry?
A- The Holy War with Utah will always be the primary rivalry for BYU, but the BYU/TCU game could absolutely become a rivalry again. It's pretty amazing how heated that rivalry became in such a short period of time in the Mountain West.
BYU beat no. 17 TCU on the road in 2006. TCU ended BYU's perfect season in 2008. TCU dominated BYU when the program hosted College GameDay for the first time ever.
In my opinion, it will only take one game like the ones mentioned above for this rivalry to be reinvigorated.
Q- Does BYU view the run game as a major issue? So far this season, it has seemed inefficient so far?
A- Yes. BYU has been one of the worst running teams in college football this season. It's something that BYU tried to address during the bye week. When BYU is balanced on offense, they are really tough to stop. From 2020-2022, BYU was one of the most efficient offenses in the country, they were also very balanced.
That hasn't been the case this year. BYU's offense in general has been less consistent in 2023, and that's driven by the struggles in the run game. BYU doesn't need to run for 120+ to win a football game, but they do need to run just enough to keep the defense honest.
Q- How was Defensive Coordinator Jay Hill able to turn the unit around? Was it culture? Scheme? How does the BYU community think about him and the job he's done so far?
A- He's done a little bit of everything. He recruited the transfer portal to upgrade the talent - that has made a difference. He completely changed the scheme - that has made a big difference. He runs the same scheme that Utah has run for years and has had so much success with.
Words probably can't describe how bad BYU's defense was last year. They still have areas where they need to improve, sure, but BYU fans are excited with the drastic improvements they've seen in year one.
Q- How will having Miles Davis back impact the team? What role will he play?
A- Miles Davis is a really interesting story. Davis prepped in Las Vegas, and he was a dual-sport athlete in football and track. He holds the record for the fastest 400-meter time at his high school. His athleticism was evident, but he was an unpolished football prospect. He played wide receiver in high school, and he signed with BYU as a guy who could play WR or DB.
When he arrived on campus, BYU lost multiple running backs to injury. Davis made the switch to running back and never looked back.
He was a Fall Camp standout a few years in a row, but injuries kept him off the field. Last year, Davis got his shot early in the season. He made the most of it. In one game against Wyoming, Davis ran for 131 yards on 13 carries. The next game, he suffered an injury against Utah State and never returned to form.
Davis was lost in the shuffle at running back. BYU signed two veteran running backs in the portal, Aidan Robbins and Deion Smith. Then BYU signed four-star running back LJ Martin who has staked his position as BYU's starting running back.
Davis got his first carries of the season against Cincinnati. Like he always does, he made the most of his limited opportunities. BYU used him as a change-of-pace back who could beat the defender to the edge. It opened a few things up for BYU's rushing attack. After that game, head coach Kalani Sitake said Davis would be a "main-stay" for BYU's offense the rest of the year.
Having Davis in the backfield will force TCU to prepare for two very different styles at running back. He won't get many carries, probably no more than six or seven, but he will give BYU an extra wrinkle on offense.
Q- Which players do you anticipate being the ones to have the biggest impact this week?
A- First and foremost, Kedon Slovis. Slovis has put up respectable numbers this season. When you put his performance in context and account for BYU's rushing deficiencies, his numbers are much more impressive. Defenses have not had to account for BYU's rushing attack, but Slovis has still found ways to make big-time throws and move the football. Without Slovis, BYU would probably be 2-3 right now instead of 4-1.
On defense, it's the linebackers. BYU will have its hands full trying to stop Emani Bailey. The Cougars have three veteran linebackers, AJ Vongphachanh, Max Tooley, and Ben Bywater who are proven playmakers. Bywater missed the game against Cincinnati with a shoulder injury. His status for this week has not been announced. If Bywater can't go, BYU will turn to redshirt freshman and former four-star recruit Harrison Taggart. Taggart made his first start against Cincinnati and tallied 10 tackles.
Q- What do you think of TCU's offense, given the new quarterback situation?
Regardless of the quarterback situation, TCU's rushing attack is capable of giving BYU some problems. BYU has struggled to consistently stop the run in both conference games this season. If TCU can establish the run, it might not matter who plays quarterback.
Josh Hoover is a major question mark for me. He has a lot of arm talent - that was evident on a few throws he had against Iowa State. But this game could be decided by his decision-making. He has certainly been mistake-prone in his limited opportunities. Meanwhile, BYU's defense has been opportunistic and has six interceptions in five games. An interception or two from Hoover would change the course of this game. BYU's defensive scheme is complex and is centered around confusing the opposing quarterback. Expect BYU's defense to give Hoover a lot of unique looks on Saturday.
With that being said, I don't think you can judge a quarterback by his reps as a backup. It's different when a quarterback has a week to prepare with the first-team offense. In 2014, for example, BYU was undefeated when star quarterback Taysom Hill broke his leg, and a former walk-on named Christian Stewart replaced him off the bench. Stewart was horrible off the bench. He was 10/29, and he threw three interceptions. The very next week, Stewart threw for 408 yards and 4 touchdowns. He averaged 350 passing yards the rest of the season.
I wouldn't be surprised to see Hoover looking a lot more comfortable and making much better decisions on Saturday.
Q- TCU is starting a backup QB and has looked very shaky recently. Yet, BYU is only predicted to have a 32% chance of winning. Thoughts on this, and why is that percentage so low?
A- As someone who works with numbers in my day job, I can appreciate models like FPI and SP+. I use them a lot, and I think they are very predictive once they have enough data from the current year. The downside to those models, however, is they don't do a good job accounting for key injuries. When the model says BYU has a 32% of winning, it's assuming TCU will have the same offense against BYU that they've had all season. Could TCU be as good on offense with Hoover as they were with Morris? Of course, but it's far from a sure thing. And the models are treating it like a sure thing.
TCU has the more talented roster from top to bottom, but BYU has the more proven quarterback. If BYU has better quarterback play on Saturday, it will cover up a lot of sins in other areas.
Q- How has BYU's past success and consistent scheduling of Power 5 programs helped with the Big 12 transition? And will that experience help even more as the season progresses?
A- Coming into the season, we hypothesized that BYU's scheduling would benefit them in the transition into a Power Five league. It was impossible to quantify the impact, but we expected to see some benefits.
It's still too early to draw conclusions, but there's some anecdotal evidence that it has helped BYU. Through six weeks of conference play, BYU is the only newcomer with a conference win. BYU also had the road victory at Arkansas. Wins like the one at Arkansas have been relatively common for BYU over the past few seasons.
So how much will it help BYU in the back half of the schedule? It's too early to tell, but it wouldn't be surprising to see BYU finish ahead of the three other newcomers this year.
Q- BYU's offense has been good so far. How do you see that unit taking advantage of a really shaky TCU defense?
A- From a total offense perspective, BYU's offense has been less than spectacular. However, BYU has been lights out in the red zone, and they have made big plays when needed. Additionally, the offense has proven they can score points in bunches despite the low yardage totals. BYU's offense has been the epitome of "Boom or Bust". If TCU allows BYU to find a rhythm on offense, the Cougars are capable of stringing two, three, or four consecutive touchdown drives together. That's exactly what they did against Arkansas, Kansas, and Cincinnati.
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Visit Cougs Daily, BYU's FanNation site, to see what they are saying about the upcoming game with TCU.
