BYU football: The Cougars may be close to an offensive breakthrough
By Adam Gibby
Run the two-minute offense (almost)
Tanner Mangum has struggled to be accurate, decisive or effective all season long. The exceptions to this have been when the Cougars are in a hurry-up type offense. Although I am not suggesting that BYU football run a two minute offense throughout the whole game, I believe that having a up-tempo offense is what the Cougars need right now.
To show how drastically Mangum plays in a hurry-up style versus the pro-style offense, here are his stats in all three games.
Portland State:
Hurry Up (two drives): 5-for-7, 123 yards, TD (Also 1 rushing TD)
Pro-Style (nine drives): 11-for-20, 71 yards (2 field goals)
LSU:
Hurry Up (one drive): 2-for-4, 13 yards
Pro-Style (eight drives): 10-for-20, 89 yards, INT
Utah:
Hurry Up (two drives): 7-for-14, 71 yards, TD
Pro-Style (11 drives):14-for-25, 99 yards, 3 INT (1 rushing TD)
Overall:
Hurry Up (five drives): 14-for-25, 207 yards, 2 TD (1 rushing TD), 41 yards and four points per possession.
Pro-Style (28 drives): 35-for-65, 259 yards, 4 INT (1 rushing TD and 2 FG), nine yards and 0.4 points per possession.
Analyzing these stats, you can see that Tanner Mangum has nearly thrown for as many yards in five drives running the hurry up offense as he has running 28 drives in the pro-style offense. Mangum’s completion percentage (including two bad drops against Utah) is 56 percent (64 percent without drops) in the hurry up and 53 percent in pro-style.
The Cougars have scored over four points per possession when they run hurry up and less than half a point per possession with the pro-style offense. Finally, Mangum has thrown for two touchdowns and zero interceptions in the hurry up while throwing zero touchdowns and four interceptions in the pro-style offense.
There seems to be a difference when Mangum is not searching for the “best receiver.” Often times, it appears that Mangum is checking all of his reads before releasing the ball. When he does this, often he ends up having to throw the ball away, force an off target pass or get sacked. When Mangum is in the hurry up offense however, it appears as though he is just looking for someone who can get a first down. His decisions are quicker and more accurate.