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PROVO – What a difference one year makes.
Last year, BYU entered its home opener against Boise State one week after a last-minute victory over Nebraska in Lincoln. With all the happiness and joy that came from the exciting win over one of college football’s blue bloods, Cougar fans were also reeling after losing quarterback Taysom Hill to another devastating injury that would sideline him for the entire 2015 season.
At the time, it looked like Hill might never wear pads again for BYU. Three season-ending injuries in four years, plus the fact Hill wasn’t getting any younger, meant the chances of him resuming his football career in Provo, or anywhere at all, seemed unlikely at the time.
But then at the end of the third quarter in that Boise State game, with Hill watching on the sidelines, BYU fans held up signs that read, “4 Taysom.” Those fans jumped up and down screaming, “Taysom! Taysom! Taysom!”
Hill credited that moment a year ago as one of the reasons he decided to come back to BYU and turn down the numerous offers he received from both college football programs and companies to start a lucrative career in the business world.
Now, one year later? The screams from those fans Hill came back for are asking “4 Taysom” to go to the bench.
How has this happened so quickly?
The most obvious answer is the scoreboard. BYU isn’t scoring many points through the first three weeks — 18, 19, and 14 points in the first three games, respectively, are not going to sit well with a fan base that is used to BYU putting up big numbers offensively.
The problem is that the days of video game numbers on a weekly basis are not going to happen on a consistent basis, especially against the competition that BYU is facing every week.
Even if Tanner Mangum was to step in, the offensive production isn’t suddenly going to resemble a Lamar Jackson-led Louisville offense like many would think. BYU’s offensive woes go beyond Hill. BYU’s depth at offensive line, for starters, is a significant issue.
From 2012 to 2016, BYU has seen only seven offensive linemen from the five signing day classes in those years play in a game. Of those seven, only two have been consistent starters (Tejan Koroma & De'Ondre Wesley) during that time frame.
Depth is an issue for BYU across the board, but particularly in the trenches where Kalani Sitake understands that’ll be one of the biggest challenges for him as the head coach of his alma mater. Can he bolster the depth in the trenches to withstand Power 5 lines on a weekly basis? Right now, the answer is an emphatic no.
To make matters worse on the offensive line, Brad Wilcox was suspended before fall camp started, Kyle Johnson still isn’t healthy and now Ului Lapuaho is battling a knee injury that has hobbled him since the beginning of fall camp.
With the issues along the offensive line, BYU needs a mobile quarterback that has a quick release, and that’s clearly Hill. Mangum would not be able to get the ball off fast enough against physical defensive fronts like the ones Hill has seen the past few weeks. Just watch the Missouri game last year as an example.
Hill does need to shoulder some of the blame for the offensive woes, though. Through three weeks of his senior campaign, Hill has regressed in the passing game, compared to what we saw in that first half against Nebraska. How much of that regression has been a byproduct of the losses BYU suffered at wide receiver? The losses of seniors Mitch Mathews, Terenn Houk and Devon Blackmon have been far more significant than anyone would have thought heading into this season.
BYU doesn’t have any playmakers at wide receiver right now. Nick Kurtz isn’t showing any signs through the first quarter of the year that he can be BYU’s number one target as many projected him to be. The Cougar receiving corps is having the same issues that plagued them against Power 5 defenses last year: they can’t get open versus a man press defense, and they have young receivers who are still struggling to learn the terminology of this simple, yet complex offense to execute on game days.
The backup quarterback is always a popular guy within college football fan bases when the starter is struggling, and rightfully so when you have an excellent backup in Mangum waiting in the wings. But there’s no reason to jump ship on a quarterback that is the best athlete BYU has seen at the position since Steve Young.
Mangum’s time will come. But right now is Taysom’s time. Hill will need to perform better, even he would admit to that. But don’t be surprised to see Hill single-handedly win BYU some football games just like he has in previous years. He nearly did it against rival Utah. One poor performance against a talented UCLA defense is not a reason to throw Hill to the curb at this point of the season.
Hill is a dynamic athlete and offensive coordinator Ty Detmer will need to put Hill and the BYU offense in positions so he can showcase that playmaking ability. Will that involve more up-tempo at times to keep opposing defenses on their heels? It wouldn’t hurt. But Detmer and his young offensive staff are making the smart move to stay the course with the offensive game plan they want to execute.
There’s still a lot of football left to play and if BYU’s offensive staff were to panic after just a quarter of the season and listen to fan demands, who’s to say they wouldn’t be in the stands joining those same fans the next time a "what have you done for me lately" tribute to a player takes place?
Mitch Harper is the publisher of CougarNation.com on the Rivals network, BYU Insider for 1320 KFAN and co-host of the Cougar Center Podcast on 1320kfan.com and iTunes. Follow him on Twitter @Mitch_Harper.
