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PROVO — Big Ten country hasn’t been friendly to BYU over the past few years.
Whether it is in Indiana at Notre Dame or in Wisconsin’s Camp Randall Stadium, the Cougars haven’t been able to find a way to win games against teams built to block and tackle before they do anything else.
Also, Wisconsin’s coach, former Utah State coach Gary Andersen, broke a two-game personal losing streak to BYU and helped his team further establish itself as the class of the Big Ten after Ohio State.
Whichever way the hairs are split, the Cougars never led and found themselves desperately trying to gain possession of the football. Wisconsin didn’t do anything out of the norm — it ran the football and maintained possession of the football. Indeed, the Badgers held the ball for more than 36 minutes of the game.
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Again, Big Ten country hasn’t been kind to the Cougars, and BYU will have a chance to break the culture when it travels to Notre Dame Stadium next weekend.
For this week though, it’s time to get the offense tuned up in preparation for the Fighting Irish, and this week the tune-up comes against Idaho State, a team that is 1-6 in the Big Sky Conference.
This matchup is so heavily leaning in BYU’s favor that it is almost tough to find a key position battle, but Idaho State quarterback Justin Arias did have a four-touchdown performance against Northern Colorado — the Bengals’ only Division I win — so the key matchup will be between Arias and the BYU defense.
Why this matchup?
Well, to state the obvious, there really is no other matchup to even try to make an argument for. Taysom Hill at his worst could carve up the Idaho State defense, as the Bengals have given up 93 points in their last two games to Eastern Washington and Portland State.
Also, Idaho State has done a decent job this season of moving the football offensively. The Bengals have averaged 32.5 points a game over their last couple of games, meaning the team can at the very least create some offensive momentum.
Still, the Cougars possess the 29th best defense in college football, and one of their best defensive players is Kyle Van Noy. So, things are still pretty well stacked in BYU’s favor.
Really, to beat Idaho State, BYU needs to bring pressure early and often to force the Bengals into mistakes and turnovers. Once the Cougars confuse Idaho State, they will control the field position and will control the game.
Who wins this matchup?
BYU — Plain, simple, PERIOD.
