BYU Football: Cougars have been both trick and treat this season
By Shaun Gordon
It’s been a season full of both tricks and treats from BYU Football, and it’s a safe bet that the Cougars will continue their rollercoaster after Halloween has ended.
Halloween is a time of choice. When you go door to door dressed up in a costume, you say the same thing over and over when a door opens.
“Trick or Treat.”
The origin of that phrase is simple: either the homeowner gives the kid candy or gets a trick (or prank). Frankly it’s full-fledged bribery, but that’s an argument for another time.
BYU Football has been doing its own version or trick-or-treating this season, but in a different way. Half the time they’ve treated fans with an awesome performance or upset win, then made those same fans wonder if it was just a trick after some inexplicable or maddening losses.
Treat – Arizona
The Cougars were double-digit underdogs heading down to Arizona for the season opener. Pretty much everyone expected the Wildcats to win pretty easily, especially with Heisman Trophy candidate Khalil Tate.
Instead the Cougars effectively neutralized Tate and moved the ball well on offense, dominating both sides of the line of scrimmage in the upset.
Trick – California
After knocking off Arizona it looked like BYU was in prime position to start the season 2-0 with a home-opening win over Cal.
But Cal had other ideas. The offensive improvements that fans saw in the season opener seemed to disappear, especially in the second half. The 2-0 start vanished with the offense.
Treat – Wisconsin
Cougar Nation’s ultimate treat came in Week 3 when BYU traveled to No. 6 Wisconsin and knocked off the Badgers.
Even more impressive was how the Cougars beat Wisconsin at their own game, playing more physically and winning the battle in the trenches. The last time BYU beat a team ranked as high or higher than Wisconsin was 2009 (No. 3 Oklahoma).
Trick – Washington and Utah State
We’ll lump these two together since the games were so similar. Both were blowout losses in which both sides of the ball for BYU looked absolutely abysmal.
The biggest difference was the feel of the opponent. Washington was a Top 15 team, so the blowout loss to them didn’t hurt too badly. But losing to in-state little brother Utah State in the fashion that they did hurt a whole lot worse.
Treat – Hawaii
Hawaii came to Provo with a 6-1 record and got completely run out of town. Quarterback Zach Wilson’s first start was a resounding success, as the ball moved better on offense than it had in a long, long time.
The defense wasn’t too shabby either, severely limiting the Rainbow Warrior’s vaunted aerial attack.
Trick – Northern Illinois
After the blowout win over Hawaii and a much-needed bye week, the Northern Illinois game was supposed to be a tough defensive battle but a win for BYU.
Instead the offense forgot to show up and play, completely ruining a dominant outing by the Cougar defense. BYU pulled off one of their most difficult tricks of the season – only giving up seven points but still managing to lose.
Is Boise State a rival? In Idaho they certainly are. dark. Next
It’s safe to say that neither the tricks or treats are over this season. We’re only two-thirds of the way through, and there are multiple opportunities for both treats (beating Boise State and/or Utah) and tricks (losing to UMass and/or New Mexico State).
Consistency certainly hasn’t been the name of the game for the Cougars so far (just ask Kalani Sitake), and there’s no reason to believe that trend won’t continue even after the real trick-or-treating is done.