BYU football: Can the Cougars rebound as the schedule lightens?

Things are looking really ugly for BYU football. But as the schedule gets significantly lighter, can the Cougars rebound and finish strong?

The final six games of BYU football’s schedule look like a cake walk compared to the first seven.

Unfortunately, the Cougars don’t exactly inspire great confidence.

Still, if the team wants to extend its postseason streak, it will need to win five of its final six games. With their backs against the wall, and with the competition coming down a notch or two, can the Cougars do it?

Well, they certainly can. No telling if they will, but it’s certainly a real possibility. Firstly, two of the games are at home. That will be a huge help for the Cougars. Secondly, two trips will be short (to UNLV and to Fresno State).

The diciest games seemingly come down to this week’s game against East Carolina and the regular-season finale at Hawaii.

Both games involve long trips to different time zones, and both teams have potent offenses. So things could turn south quickly for the Cougars.

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Luckily, ECU is allowing well over 40 points per game – so even though BYU football has struggled offensively, you’d think this game would let them get back on track.

Then the team returns to Provo for lowly San Jose State. The Spartans have already had games where they gave up 42, 56, 54 and 41 points. They were also easily handled by Fresno State. So you’d think this would be an easy win for the Cougars.

After that, BYU football travels to Fresno State. It’s tough to know just how good (or bad) the Bulldogs are. They seem to be a middle-of-the-pack Mountain West team. Following that, the Cougars travel to Vegas to take on UNLV.

The game against the Rebels is a bit of a trap game in my opinion. After the tragic events in Vegas, any UNLV home victory will be rightfully celebrated. You would expect a healthy number of BYU football fans to show up in Vegas, but the Rebels have a potent offense.

After that, the Cougars return to LaVell Edwards Stadium to host UMass. That’s probably an easy win – although UMass showed up against Tennessee earlier in the year. Still, we’ll assume it’s a win.

The final game of the regular season comes on Nov. 25 when the Cougars travel to Honolulu to take on the Warriors. Luckily, that game kicks off at 4PM HAST, which works out to 8PM MST. So it won’t even be BYU football’s latest kick.

More often than not, the time difference really can rattle visiting teams, immediately putting them behind the eight ball.

If the Cougars fall to ECU this week, then all hope may be lost. But with the Pirates defense being so lackluster, BYU football might finally be able to get rolling.