BYU Football: Takeaways from the Week 1 win at Arizona

BYU  Football pulled off the upset in the desert, beating Arizona 28-23. The Cougars’ dominance at the line made the difference.

And BYU wins it.

The Cougars came out and played smashmouth football, dominating both sides of the line of scrimmage in their 28-23 win over Arizona.

Here are some quick takeaways from the win:

Offensive Line Dominance

Any questions about whether the offensive line will be better in 2018 were answered. The line completely manhandled Arizona’s defensive front, and the Cougars were able to wear the Wildcats in the second half and open up huge holes for the running backs.

Aside from a few false start penalties, the line played a clean game in pass protection as well.

As the offensive line goes, so goes the offense.

Containing Tate

Khalil Tate’s Heisman Trophy candidacy may be over. BYU played assignment-sound defense and kept the Arizona quarterback from making big plays with his legs. The Cougars made Tate beat them with his arm, and he wasn’t able to do it.

Just Enough Pressure

While it doesn’t show on the stat sheet because of Khalil Tate’s elusiveness, the defensive line did a good job of getting into the backfield. For the most part, Tate wasn’t able to get comfortable in the pocket for long.

BYU didn’t have to blitz much, allowing the secondary to play straight and the linebackers to roam and make plays.

Tanner Mangum’s Third Quarter

Call it nerves. Call it rust. Call it whatever you want, but Tanner Mangum’s first half performance was shaky.

His second half, on the other hand, looked like the 2015 version of himself. In the third quarter alone, Mangum went 10/11 for 118 yards and a touchdown. That’s a pass efficiency of 211.

Third Down Defense

The league average in third down conversion percentage is about 39%. Last year, the Cougars were a little worse than that, giving up conversions on 41% of the opponents’ third downs.

BYU was even worse against Arizona. The Wildcats converted 6/15 (40%) of their third downs. That number will have to drop as the season progresses.

Balance

Another key to an effective offense is balance, and BYU’s offense was balanced. The Cougars threw the ball 28 times for 209 yards, and ran it 43 times for 183 yards.

If BYU can keep the numbers balanced like that, the offense should be much more effective than last year.

Penalties and Mistakes

The Cougars have a lot of things to clean up before Cal next week. The Cougars had big penalties, including three key Pass Interference calls and a late hit personal foul. One of those pass interferences and the late hit directly contributed to Arizona’s first half touchdown, and another interference contributed to their second end zone trip.

There were some miscommunications on offense as well. A quarterback/running back miscue stalled a drive early, and a few mistimed throws put the Cougars in third-and-long situations.