BYU Football: Sustaining Drives and two more keys to beating Northern Illinois
By Shaun Gordon
3 – Win in the Trenches
Sutton Smith alone could turn this game in Northern Illinois’ favor, and the offensive line has to contain him. He’s already racked up seven sacks and 13 tackles for loss so far this season.
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The Cougars have had an extra week to find a way to handle him, so we’ll see if that extra time accomplished anything. Of course the Huskies are also coming off of a bye, so that advantage could be moot.
Either way, if the offensive line can’t protect freshman quarterback Zach Wilson and open up holes for the running backs. The line has looked solid at times (Arizona, Wisconsin, Hawaii) and swiss-cheese-like at others (Cal, Washington, Utah State).
The defensive line will have to win their trench battle as well. The Husky offense isn’t very explosive, but if sophomore quarterback Marcus Childers has time in the pocket he’s pretty reliable.
With the Husky passing game a question mark they’ll try to beat BYU on the ground. The Cougars have to plug those holes and contain the running attack.
If BYU wins both line battles they’ll win the game with relative ease. If they win one they’ll still have the advantage. But if Northern Illinois can win both sides of the trench war it’ll be a long Saturday afternoon for BYU Football.