Don't drink the poison: No. 22 BYU's top-rated defense, explosive offense bringing dangerous praise

PROVO — The BYU football team's fast start to the 2020 college football season is earning the Cougars national respect — in addition to their, uhhh, dance moves?

After blasting Troy 48-7 and finishing with the No. 1 total defense and No. 4 total offense in the country, the 22nd-ranked Cougars maintained their spot in the Associated Press Top 25 — even in the first weekend where all five power conference teams, as well as the Mountain West and Mid-American conferences, were eligible to be ranked.

By outpacing the Trojans and season-opening opponent Navy by a combined score of 103-10, BYU has started to make waves again.

But not everybody is happy about it. To paraphrase the legendary '90s group Bell Biv DeVoe: that stuff is poison.

"It’s poison. Not drinking it," BYU center James Empey told BYUtv as soon as he heard the national ranking and the statistics-based accolades, parroting his offensive line coach Eric Mateos. "We know you’re only as good as your next play, as your next step, as all that stuff. It’s all good and great, but it’s all behind us now."

BYU is the only FBS Independent team ranked in the AP Top 25 — No. 5 Notre Dame is competing as an ACC member in 2020, and Army fell out after a loss to Cincinnati. The Pac-12, which will begin playing in a month, only had one team ranked Sunday: No. 14 Oregon. That’s four fewer than the equally late-arriving Big Ten, which is led by No. 6 Ohio State.

Utah is one of three Pac-12 schools receiving votes.

But the Cougars aren’t paying attention to any of that. Or at least, they’re trying not to. Each player has a cellphone, an Instagram or Twitter account, and it would be naive to believe none of them ever read the news or use the internet.

But in only two years, Mateos’ motto towards awards and recognition has rubbed off on his players. The gritty O-line coach with roots in the South and Texas has taken to the media like Alabama head coach Nick Saban: with an air of duty and responsibility, always willing to talk about his guys, but also recognizing that those words are just words.

The assistant coach even has the motto pinned to the top of his Twitter profile: "I don’t believe in hype. I believe in work."

Mateos has been down that path before with BYU, when players began to buy into the hype surrounding the program, or even certain positions and players on the offensive line.

"Unfortunately, I think there were too many moments in the early part of the season where we listened to too many people talk about how good we were. That's poison," he said after a strong start in 2019 that included wins over Tennessee and USC. "I think we heard too much of that noise, especially in the offseason."

So Mateos' charge to the offensive line now? Don’t drink the poison.

And his players are spreading the message.

"It’s always fun to hear that we’re doing great," said defensive end Zac Dawe, who had four tackles and a sack against Troy. "But when we come to the office, we have to erase those pressures and just focus on what we’re doing here. That’s where the poison kicks in. We can’t focus on the external things; just what we need to work on."

BYU’s 2-0 start and 48-7 blast of Troy didn’t just earn them team accolades from the AP and USA Today Coaches’ poll. The Cougars have begun racking up individual honors, too.

Zach Wilson was added to the Davey O’Brien Award midseason watch list Monday, the award given annually to college football’s top quarterback. That comes two days after throwing for a career-high 392 yards and accounting for four total touchdowns in the victory over the Trojans.

Wilson also earned recognition from the Manning Foundation as one of the Manning Award’s “stars of the week,” and was an honorable mention CFPA national quarterback of the week honors.

The former Corner Canyon signal-caller isn’t alone on national voter and committees’ minds, either. Pro Football Focus has graded out the Cougars' offensive line as one of the three best lines in the country. BYU’s five linemen had an average rating of 87.74, and only allowed five quarterback pressures on 36 drop back plays, according to the publication.

That kind of dominance up font has an effect on the other side of the ball, too.

"There’s no doubt that what the offense is doing is affecting us on defense," BYU defensive coordinator Ilaisa Tuiaki said during his Coordinators' Corner coaches' show on BYUtv. "There’s absolutely no doubt."

More impressive to head coach Kalani Sitake than the fast start, big plays, high-octane offense or lockdown defense is the manner in which the Cougars have handled the attention. That includes the attention to their explosive dance moves viewed by ESPN cameras on Saturday night and broadcast during a window when all of college football was watching.

BYU is having fun, but they aren’t taking their play — or their national awards — too seriously in a season that has already been disrupted more than any other of his tenure due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I’ve learned that I have a good group of young men," Sitake said. "It’s been awesome for me to be a part of this program. But just seeing the guys lead the way on this team has been really helpful, and really since March.

"It’s been a lot of growth, but it’s made us a lot closer as a group."

NEXT WEEK

Game 3: Louisiana Tech (2-0) at No. 18 BYU (2-0)

Kickoff: Friday, Oct. 2, at 7 p.m. MT

TV: ESPN2

Radio: BYU Radio, KSL Radio 1160 AM/102.7 FM

Streaming: WatchESPN

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