BYU backup QB Christian Stewart has had to takeover for injured star Taysom Hill, one of many crushing injuries to BYU. Mandatory Credit: Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports
Former players and coaches for both BYU and their opponents have long agreed that the Cougar starting talent typically matches up with that of the nation’s powerhouse teams. That’s no small feat, considering the difficulty that comes with recruiting either primarily LDS athletes or non-LDS athletes that will commit to a code of conduct atypical for most collegiate football players. The differences between BYU and the powerhouse teams start to emerge when you get away from the starters and get further down the depth chart. The events of the last eight days have proven this resoundingly accurate. Injuries to myriad of not just starters, but some of the best starters on the team have severely crippled the Cougars on both side of the ball, turning them from a Top 10-caliber team into a team now fighting, perhaps, just to be bowl eligible. It’s safe to say that key injuries have ruined BYU’s season.
Obviously the loss of junior quarterback Taysom Hill is the most glaring key injury on the Cougar roster. Hill is a special player, gifted not just with an incredibly athletic body, but also with a high football IQ. There are many athletes on all levels of football with incredible speed, shifty feet, or huge throwing arms that can’t perform the way that Hill did. He possesses intangibles that can’t often be explained and are rarely replicated. He has “it.” His injury against Utah State last Friday is so devastating because Hill really is irreplaceable as the signal caller . He created plays for himself and for his teammates that aren’t in the playbook. He sees the field in a way that adapts outside of what offensive coordinators can prep a player for. He is truly gifted. Beyond his highlight reel performance on the field, he is also the undeniable leader of this team. To say that his presence is missed both on the field and in the locker room would be an understatement.
What the loss of Taysom Hill has exposed is the realization that perhaps neither his supporting staff nor the offensive scheme are all that good. Christian Stewart has played well. He hasn’t played great, and you certainly can’t expect him to pick up where one-of-a-kind Taysom left off, but he has made some good throws, made some plays with his feet, and is improving with every passing quarter. But this offense just isn’t clicking. Perhaps the offensive success of the past 1-1/4 seasons with Taysom can be derived by his improvisation and ability to make plays beyond what shows up on the playbook. For whatever reason, the offensive line has struggled in pass protection all year and receivers have struggled to create separation in their route running. Those things didn’t matter (as much) with Taysom because he could improvise. He could move and shift in the pocket to either find time for someone to come open, or to tuck it, hit his “Left-C, UP, DOWN, DOWN, Left-C, Right-C, Right-C” turbo, and burst downfield.
While the Hill injury is the most obvious, other injuries have contributed to the rapid decline in offensive performance and the crushing of lofty dreams. Nick Kurtz was expected to be THE “big play” receiver for the Cougars and it was announced before kickoff Thursday that he will take a medical redshirt this year after not yet taking the field. Jamaal Williams missed virtually the entire UCF game with an ankle injury. While Algie Brown and Paul Lasike are good, hard runners in the backfield they aren’t big play guys like Jamaal. No discredit to them, but they are in a similar position as Christian Stewart in that they just don’t have the speed, awareness, and football IQ to bust the big plays. Jamaal is gifted and truly a special player. Barring significant injury or off-the-field issues, Williams will leave BYU as its all-time leading rusher. That isn’t easily replaceable. The offensive line has been beaten up with injuries to Brayden Kearsley and Brock Stringham. When your offensive line is a piecework group to begin with, you have to rely on game experience as a unit to improve. That hasn’t been there.
Then there is the defensive side. Let’s be honest, this isn’t the best defense that Bronco Mendenhall has put on the field, even when healthy. Early victories against UConn, Houston, and Virginia saw higher offensive performances than those teams have put up against their other opponents. The “bend, don’t break” mentality on defense led to a 4-0 record, despite a non-existent pass rush and a soft secondary coverage that has seen BYU allow nearly 300 yards passing per game. Dismal. But we seemed to all put the blinders on, so long as we were winning. Now we are losing and the blinders are off. Injuries to Alani Fua, Michael Alisa, Bronson Kaufusi, Dallin Leavitt, Jordon Johnson, and Craig Bills have taken a defense that was hanging by a thread and all but cut off that lifeline. After building a 24-10 2nd half lead, the defense was unable to keep UCF quarterback Justin Holman from moving the ball up and down the field. Holman is not a good quarterback. It was announced from the onset of the game that Holman was fighting for his job and that he could possibly be replaced if he didn’t perform. Instead, his performance bettered his previous game passing yardage record by 120 yards. He took advantage of a warm, comfortable pocket all night and picked apart the BYU secondary at will.
The injuries keep piling up. It’s heartbreaking to watch the players go down, one after another. I don’t know how much more of it my crumbled emotional state can take. Backups and backup-backups are being forced onto the field and expected to contribute. Perhaps our expectations need to be levied. BYU can hang with the best of them with a healthy starting lineup, but we are far past that point now after a series of key injuries have crushed the dreams we held just eight days ago.