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PROVO — Dave Noriega and Jason Shepherd from KSL Sports and Cougar Sports Saturday give their impressions as the Cougars and Utes begin preparing for Rivalry Week.
Was the bye a good or a bad thing for BYU?
Noriega:
We were wondering if the bye-week was a good thing or a bad thing. Bronco laid that to rest — it's a bad thing. He did not like the way the team practiced on Monday. They were tired of hitting each other and wanted to play the game.
Coming off that great game against Texas, then to have to wait a week and lose your momentum, I can see why Bronco doesn't like the bye.
Shepherd:
I like the fact that they had two weeks before a big game. Bronco Mendenhall's teams are 7-1 following a bye-week. I like the ability to watch the team you are facing and have that extra tape to watch your opponent.
What was learned in the Oregon St. vs. Utah game?
Noriega
What I learned from the Utes was that they are pretty darn good offensively, but defensively, they are not the typically dominant Utah team that BYU has seen in the past.
Shepherd:
Utah is averaging 49 points per game, but they haven't gone against great defenses — no offense to Utah State and Weber State. Oregon State's defense was not great, and I'm interested to see what they can do against BYU's defense, because I feel pretty confident in saying that BYU is going to keep them under their average.
Turnovers have historically been the key to wins and losses, how does BYU protect the ball?
Noriega:
Taysom Hill is completing 33 percent of his passes, meaning that 67 percent of his passes are errant — errant passes get picked off. I'm not so much concerned with the passes he's completing as the one's he is not.
Shepherd
That's obviously a cause for concern. Taysom knows that, the coaches know that and Utah knows that.
Utah is going to do everything they can to stop the run. They saw what BYU was able to do against Texas. I don't think we expect them to run for 550 yards again — it would be awesome — but I don't think we can expect that again.
