Hill's career night powers BYU to 35-10 win vs. UConn


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EAST HARTFORD, Conn. — BYU was led to a lopsided 35-10 win by Taysom Hill Friday night against UConn.

Hill drove what appears to be an improved Cougar offense up and down the field, and the Huskies didn't have an answer.

The BYU defense did its part by quieting the host's dual-quarterback offense and provided Hill and company with excellent field position the majority of the game.

It was an impressive victory for the Cougars, who were without five suspended players Bronco Mendenhall told Greg Wrubell postgame he'd be "surprised" to not have back for next week's trip to Austin, Texas.

The Good: ---------

  • Taysom Hill: The junior was nearly perfect in the first half, throwing only one incompletion that wasn't a throw-away in 20 attempts. He hardly slowed down, accounting for all five touchdowns — a career high. Another good sign was how he ran when he needed to and stood tall in the pocket, making one correct read after another.
  • Offensive line: Part of what allowed Hill to be so successful was the time he was afforded to operate. BYU also racked up 205 rushing yards on 36 carries (5.7 yards per carry). Aside from some holding calls, it's hard to find many faults in the eight-man rotation.
  • Secondary: UConn had a difficult time all night taking advantage of the absences of Cougar starters Robertson Daniel and Jordan Johnson. Craig Bills had an interception, while Michael Davis consistently made tackles in the open field. Jordan Preator showed flashes as he adapted to the speed of the college game, blanketing his man most of the night. Dallin Leavitt and Skye PoVey also played well, and the group held the Huskies without a passing touchdown and forced 23 incompletions on 48 attempts.
  • Bronson Kaufusi: Whoever originally had the idea to move Kaufusi to linebacker is already looking like a genius. The junior had 1½ sacks, a number of tackles and a fumble recovery. What won't show up in the stats is the pressure he frequently applied to the UConn quarterbacks. His fellow linebackers and the defensive line in front of them limited the Huskies to just 71 yards rushing on 31 carries (2.3 YPC).

Needs work:

  • Turnovers: Since both teams had the same amount, the Cougars' two fumbles didn't affect the outcome. However, both fumbles came after players had recorded first downs to keep a drive going. BYU will need to hold the advantage in this statistic against a talented Texas team next week.
  • Short-yardage situations: A big fourth-down conversion kept the Cougars moving the chains during their opening drive, but a failed trip to the red zone and a late 3rd and 1 BYU couldn't convert allowed UConn to hang around. The red-zone play calling was impressive in the first half. It wasn't as imaginative after that.
  • Big-play ability: It's not that BYU was lacking significantly in this category, but when Hill looked downfield he was hardly ever able to find anyone. This forces the offensive line to protect longer and increases the possibility of an offensive penalty. The Cougars worked on stretching the field in the offseason, and while they made a few big plays, they came up short in terms of the number of opportunities.

The bad:

  • Special teams: Trevor Samson missed a 33-yard field goal — the first try of his career — and BYU couldn't improve its field position through kick or punt returns. Two back-to-back offsides penalties on a kickoff characterized the night for this unit, which always seemed to be giving up yards. A strange decision to force UConn to rekick after a penalty pinned BYU deep and nearly gave the Huskies a lifeline.
  • Penalties: Never before had the Cougars committed 15 penalties in a game under Bronco Mendenhall until Friday. Their infractions totaled 150 yards — more than double the Huskies' rushing total.

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Kyle Spencer

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