BYU Football: Sustaining Drives and two more keys to beating Northern Illinois

2 of 3

TUCSON, AZ – SEPTEMBER 01: Tight end Matt Bushman #89 of the Brigham Young Cougars scores a 24 yard touchdown reception past safety Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles #6 of the Arizona Wildcats during the second half of the college football game at Arizona Stadium on September 1, 2018 in Tucson, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /

2 – Use the Pass to Set Up the Run

As mentioned before, Northern Illinois’ rush defense is very good, and if they can keep BYU one-dimensional on offense they’ll leave Provo with the win.

BYU Offensive Coordinator Jeff Grimes wants to establish a power running game, and the Cougars have done that in some of their games this year.

In other ones not so much.

The Huskies will try to make the Cougars beat them through the air, so BYU is going to have to do just that. Grimes’ tendency has been to try to establish the running game and open up the passing game as a result.

This time the Cougars are going to have to do the exact opposite. They’re going to have to establish the passing game early, spreading the field enough to open up the running game. That doesn’t mean that BYU will have to air it out 40 times to win, but they’ll have to pass the ball well enough early on to keep the defense honest.

Husky defensive end Sutton Smith could be a nightmare for BYU. He’s an extremely athletic end who lives in the backfield and makes life miserable for the quarterback. If he’s able to key in on the run game he’ll have 5+ tackles for loss in this game.

Home/BYU Football