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PROVO — With BYU not competing this weekend, here are three things the Cougars can work on during their bye week.
Penalties
After the UConn game, head coach Bronco Mendenhall did not seem too worried about the Cougars’ propensity for drawing yellow flags. In fact, he seemed giddy about some of the penalties. While it was fine and dandy against a weak Huskies team, the time will come shortly when penalties will hurt the Cougs and maybe even cost them a game.
It looked like it was heading that way against Virginia, in a game that BYU was losing for over a half. The majority of the flags thrown on the Cougars were either silly penalties or “smart” penalties after members of the secondary simply got beat. Which brings me to the second thing that needs work.
Pass defense
Against the Cavaliers, BYU’s pass defense straight up stunk. The Cougars did not come away with any sacks and made Greyson Lambert and Matt Johns look like Heisman Trophy candidates. Likewise, the Y. struggled to contain Houston quarterback John O’Korn, who sliced up the secondary for 307 yards and three touchdowns. Whatever the issues are with the pass defense, whether they be play calling issues or the wrong personnel, will need to be fixed in a hurry if the Cougars want to stay undefeated.
Kicking game
So far, the kicking game has been adequate for the Cougars. Trevor Samson has made 5-of-6 field goals, which is a strong improvement over recent years where the kicking game was borderline awful. Still, it’s safe to say that the kicking game is hampered by the inability to kick long field goals. Thus far, the Cougars have yet to even attempt to kick a field goal 40 yards or longer. If any of the kickers are able to rectify this deficiency, the Y. needs to find him fast because the kicking game is currently only a minor threat to opposing teams.
What areas would you like to see improved coming off of a bye?
Dylan Cannon is a regular KSL.com contributor and can be reached by email at dylancannon86@gmail.com or via Twitter @DylanCannon11.
