It’ll be a tall task for BYU Football to knock off No. 6 Wisconsin this weekend, but three things can keep the Cougars in the running for the upset.
BYU Football is entering the proverbial lion’s den. And the literal Badgers’ den.
Both statements are accurate, as the Cougars will take on No. 6 Wisconsin this week in one of their toughest games of the season.
In fact, it’s the toughest game they’ve played since they took on the Badgers last year at LaVell Edwards Stadium.
And that game wasn’t very pretty.
Very few people are expecting the result to be any different this time around, especially after BYU’s offensive disappearing act in the second half of last week’s loss to Cal.
The Cougars are facing long odds in this one…literally. They’re 22 point underdogs according to most betting lines.
Can BYU knock of Wisconsin? It’s not impossible.
But the Cougars will have to play one of their most perfect all-around games in recent history, and even then they’ll probably need a few things to bounce their way.
If they’re going to pull off the shocker, they’ll need these three things to go right:
Chunk Yardage
There are only two teams in the country that don’t have an offensive play of 30 or more yards so far in 2018. Fortunately BYU isn’t one of them.
But the Cougars only have one 30-yard play, tied for third-worst in college football.
BYU has six plays of more than 20 yards so far in two games, and here’s the kicker: they’ve scored a touchdown on every possession that they’ve had at least one of those plays.
On all the rest of their offensive drives, the Cougars only have two touchdowns.
According to SportSourceAnalytics, since 2005 only three percent of all drives of 80 or more yards end in a touchdown if they don’t include at least one play of 15 or more yards.
In order to sustain a drive all the way into the end zone, big plays are a must. Last year BYU was horrendous at creating big offensive plays, and they haven’t been a whole lot better so far this year.
In order to beat Wisconsin, the Cougars have to sustain drives and they’re going to have to make big plays.
And they’re going to have to do it against one of the best defenses in the nation.
No easy task, but a necessary one.