BYU football: 4 things to know for the Holy War

The BYU football team knocked off Arizona in its season opener 18-16. Now the team prepares for a different Pac-12 foe in Utah. Here’s how the Holy War is shaping up.

Utah defeated Southern Utah 24-0 at Rice Eccles Stadium to open its 2016 season., while BYU football knocked off  Zona. Neither team played perfect football, but now they’ll have every eye in the state of Utah on them as they clash this Saturday in the Holy War. It marks the first rivalry game under Kalani Sitake, and Cougar fans on both sides of the fence are buzzing. So how do the teams stack up? Let’s find out.

BYU limited the playbook against Arizona

Nothing particularly surprising here – I’d be willing to bet Utah did the exact same thing with SUU. But it’s still worth noting because it means more on BYU’s end. Utah’s offensive coaching staff from a season ago is still largely intact, so the Cougars still have plenty of game film to analyze. But with BYU’s new offense being so drastically different from what Utah is used to seeing, it may give the Utes fits on gameday.

That being said, I don’t see BYU rolling into Salt Lake and dismantling the Utes. But I do think Ty Detmer will open up the playbook much more than we saw against Arizona – which may catch Utah off guard.

I think for the majority of the game against the Wildcats, BYU was pretty vanilla offensively. But while this new pro-style offense will continue to be about clock management, I think we’ll see more three and four wide receiver sets and more designed plays for Taysom Hill on Saturday.

It’s also important to note that while BYU didn’t light up a sub-par Arizona defense, the Cougars didn’t seem overmatched in the slightest. They lost points because they committed some costly penalties (eight for 65 yards). That’s obviously going to need to get cleaned up for the Utes, but there’s no reason to think BYU will get physically overpowered in Salt Lake.

Utah’s offensive line struggled against SUU

That was a weird phrase to type. I don’t really remember the last time Utah’s offensive line struggled against anyone. However, it certainly seemed that way against the Thunderbirds.

Now, there are a number of reasons as to why it happened. Maybe it was first game jitters, maybe they underestimated SUU, or maybe they got outmatched. I’d be shocked if they played that poorly against BYU, but I think their inability to run block may hurt them.

Watching the game, it looked like a lot of their pass blocking struggles stemmed from confusion rather than a lack of talent, so I would expect the coaching staff to really hammer home their reads this week in practice.

For the Cougars, it means they may have an edge at the line of scrimmage. If Sitake and defensive coordinator Ilaisa Tuiaki think they can confuse the Utes on blitzes, then we may see more pressure being dialed up. But on the flipside, BYU didn’t have to blitz to create pressure against Arizona, so coach Tuiaki may be content to let his front four go to work.

Expect more physicality

Sure, the Holy War is always a tough and grueling contest, but I think BYU is finally the hammer and not the nail. In the past, BYU’s defense was reactionary and never seemed to be in attack mode. That certainly isn’t the case anymore and I believe that the Cougar defense will want to set the tone early in Salt Lake – they won’t be getting pushed around any more.

Both teams play so similar defensively (which isn’t a surprise), it seems like we’re gearing up for the irresistible force to meet the immovable object when the teams clash in Salt Lake.

I expect the Cougars to be effectively aggressive against the Utes, and really I expect the same from Utah. I imagine there will be a lot of bending, but not much breaking and my gut says the first team to 21 points probably wins the football game.

Utah’s new quarterback looks like a good one

Troy Williams is the new man under center for the Utes, and he seems to be a real threat. The former four-star recruit and Washington completed 20 of 35 passes for 272 yards and two touchdowns.

Watching him throw, he’s got great arm strength and he’s mobile enough in the pocket to extend plays (think Anu Solomon, only maybe a tad quicker). He’s also demonstrated good footwork, albeit against a lackluster SUU squad.

It appears he’s found a favorite target in 6-foot-5 senior Tim Patrick. Patrick entered the game with just 16 receptions in his career (he missed all of last season), but he lit up the Thunderbirds secondary on five receptions for 105 yards and two touchdowns. His size could cause problems, especially in the red zone. His first touchdown against SUU came on a fade route where he was able to box out the shorter defender. Size obviously isn’t everything, but it’s tough to out-jump a 6-foot-5 wide out.

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All in all, the game is shaping up to be another classic. There’s a lot on the line for both universities, but perhaps no school is more desperate for a victory against their rival than BYU, who has lost each of the last five games against the Utes.

The game kicks off at 5:30 p.m. MDT on Saturday, Sept. 10.