BYU football: Can the 2017 defense be one of the Cougars’ best?
By Shaun Gordon
BYU football’s defense in 2016 was good, but not elite. Can the 2017 squad reach that elite level?
The Quarterback Factory.
A forerunner of the modern passing attack
High powered, high scoring football games.
These things have been the hallmark of BYU football for the last four decades, and all of them have one thing in common.
They’re all about the offense.
But two straight Cougar head coaches have been gurus on the opposite side of the ball. Starting with Bronco Mendenhall and continuing with Kalani Sitake, BYU’s defense has often matched, and sometimes exceeded, their offensive counterparts.
Statistically, three of BYU’s four best defensive teams played under Mendenhall. If you look at both scoring defense and total defense, the four best Cougar defenses are:
- 1996 – 18.5 papg, 295.2 yapg
- 2006 – 14.7 papg, 319.2 yapg
- 2007 – 18.5 papg, 307.8 yapg
- 2012 – 14.0 papg, 266.1 yapg
That 2012 defense is arguably the best defense BYU football has produced in the modern era. Led by Ziggy Ansah and Kyle Van Noy, the Cougars held eight teams to 14 points or less, and 5 of those teams to 7 or less.
BYU finished 2012 with these final defensive rankings nationally:
- No. 2 rushing defense
- No. 3 scoring defense
- No. 3 total offense
- No. 4 first downs allowed per game
- No. 10 passing offense
If only that defense could have been matched with an offense nearly as good. It could have been a magical season.
The jump from good to elite
Last year’s defense could be considered good, but not elite. The Cougars gave up 19.5 points per game, a near-elite average. However, they gave up 365 yards per contest, far from elite. So how did they keep the scoring low?
Turnovers.
The Cougars forced 31 turnovers in 2016, tied for second most in the nation. Those timely takeaways often masked BYU’s tendency to give up plenty of yards and too many big plays.
It’s not likely that the Cougars will match last year’s turnover output. Can they generate turnovers? Sure. But it takes a certain amount of good fortune to force 31 turnovers in a season, and you never want to count on fortune.
So how can the BYU defense be better this year?
Those defensive deficiencies started up front, with a defensive line that was stout in the run game, but wasn’t able to generate constant pressure on the quarterback in the passing game.
This year’s line will miss Logan Taele, Harvey Langi, and Sae Tautu, but the rest of the line will be back with another year of experience under their belts. Plus, they’ll be rejoined by Sione Takitaki.
Takitaki is a backfield disruptor. In his first two years as a Cougar (2014 and 2015), he totaled 11 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks. That kind of production will be sorely needed in 2017.
The Cougars will field arguably one of their best linebacker corps, along with a deep and talented secondary. But even the best secondaries can can only do so much when the quarterback has ample time to make a play.
If the defensive line can improve their backfield disruption this season, look for the defense to be as good, if not better, than last year.
It’ll be sacks, hurries, and tackles for loss, rather than turnovers, that make the 2017 defense elite.