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BYU Athletics released its 2010 nonconference football schedule featuring games against...While we won't know the extent of Brian Logan's hand injury or his game status until later in the week, healthy bodies in the secondary will be at a premium against an athletic OU team with speed to spare at its receiver spots.
The secondary rotation will take a hit if Logan is not game-ready, putting the onus on Robbie Buckner, Lee Aguirre (pronounced uh-gear'-ee, contrary to what you might be hearing elsewhere) and Brandon Bradley to play as many snaps as possible. Of the five primary corners (including question mark Corby Eason), none went through camp without missing multiple days due to injury. The Logan mishap is just the latest preseason ailment to test the Cougars' depth.
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In preparing my spotting boards for the game, one of the discrepancies I have noticed is the number of scholarship players each team can reasonably expect to play next Saturday. Whereas BYU goes generally two-deep at best with any level of trust and comfort (exceptions are at nose tackle and tight end), there are numerous positions at which Oklahoma could play three or four scholarship players and notice only minimal drop-off.
Bronco Mendenhall told me earlier in camp he doesn't worry too much about the fact BYU is still fighting an uphill battle to field 85 "true" scholarship players (that is, recruited players who received scholarship upon entry, as opposed to walk-ons "earning" any available scholarships), but it is against teams like Oklahoma where BYU's scholarship depth issues are magnified. The current injury spate only serves to underscore the need for multiple quality backups at every position, and BYU is not yet at a place where it can feel totally comfortable in matching player for player, up and down the depth chart with the best of the BCS-conference opponents.
Expect that to change within the next year or two, however, as BYU looks to be in a position where the maximum-allowable 85 scholarship players populate the program year to year.
Coming into this season, I believe BYU was fielding no more than 76 scholarship players, and if you are wondering why the school is in that current position to begin with, you have to go back to a time only a few years ago when multiple players left the program for reasons other than graduation. Since the NCAA allows only 25 "initial counters" (new scholarships) per year, any unanticipated departures, combined with BYU's annual missionary cycle, would put the Cougars in more of a bind than most other teams.
That said, the 2009 and 2010 recruiting classes in particular should set BYU up for a coming period of maximum depth and quality across the roster.
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Lest it seem I am saying BYU cannot compete with Oklahoma, let me be clear: if BYU's best players play at or near their best, they will be in the game with and can beat Oklahoma. The Sooners are deeper, and undoubtedly more athletic top to bottom, but Max Hall, Harvey Unga, Dennis Pitta, McKay Jacobson, Jan Jorgensen, Andrew Rich and others need not take a back seat to any OU player at their respective positions. If the game evolves into a battle of attrition, then OU can expect to have the advantage. But if the top-line units are to go head-to-head, then I expect BYU to have every chance to pull off the upset.
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Consider that in the last four seasons, UCLA, TCU, Oregon, Boise State and Colorado are among the teams to have beaten powerful Oklahoma.
UCLA beat the Sooners 41-24 in 2005, an anomaly of a year in which the Bruins finished 10-2. The previous two years, UCLA went 12-13 and in the ensuing three years, UCLA went 17-21. Point being, that was no ULCA juggernaut that derailed OU in '05.
The same year, TCU beat the Sooners in Norman, 17-10. OU scored 10 points against a TCU team that allowed 50 to BYU, in a disputed overtime loss.
In 2006, OU lost at Oregon, 34-33. Two months later, the Ducks were 7-5 and getting blasted 38-8 by BYU in the Las Vegas Bowl. Later in '06, WAC foe Boise State stunned the Sooners in the Fiesta Bowl.
In 2007, OU was upset by a Colorado team that would finish the season 6-7. And while West Virginia was a high-caliber opponent, the Mountaineers smoked the Sooners by 20 in the Fiesta Bowl to end that season.
You see where I'm going with this, and it's the same place Utah went with Alabama in January of this year. BYU is a quality program fully capable of upsetting the Sooners. It will take a remarkable effort, some big plays, and perhaps even a bit of good fortune, but OU is beatable, and the last few seasons have shown ample evidence of that fact.
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Of the coaches on the BYU staff, three have faced the Bob Stoops-led Oklahoma Sooners.
Offensive Coordinator Robert Anae was the offensive line coach in five Texas Tech losses to OU from 2000 through 2004 (the Red Raiders averaged 16 points per game).
Wide Receivers coach Patrick Higgins was the Offensive Coordinator for two UTEP losses in Norman, in 2000 and 2002 (by a combined scored of 123-14).
Offensive Line coach Mark Weber held the same position at UCLA when the Bruins traveled to Oklahoma and lost 59-24 in 2003.
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The Oklahoma staff features numerous coaches with previous experience taking on BYU, but only one who has faced the Bronco Mendenhall-led Cougars.
Assistant Offensive Coordinator and Wide Receivers coach Jay Norvell was the OC at UCLA for two games against BYU in 2007 (a win and a loss).
Co-Defensive Coordinator Brent Venables was the Linebackers coach for Kansas State when the Wildcats played BYU in the 1997 Cotton Bowl.
Co-Defensive Coordinator Bobby Jack Wright was an assistant for a Texas team that played BYU in 1987 and 1988 (two losses for UT).
Running Backs coach Cale Gundy and Football Operations Director Merv Johnson were both on the OU staff when BYU beat Oklahoma in the 1994 Copper Bowl.
Defensive Line coach Jackie Shipp had the same post at Alabama when the Cougars lost in Tuscaloosa in 1998.
Quarterbacks Coach (and former Sooner QB) Josh Heupel played at Weber State and then Snow College before transferring to OU, so he's well aware of BYU.
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