BYU Football: Airing it out and two more keys to beating Boise State
By Shaun Gordon
Boise State’s Smurf Turf is the location of BYU Football’s Saturday night showdown this week, and they need to do three things to avoid another loss in Idaho.
BYU Football heads north to the Smurf Turf on Saturday to take on Boise State, and they can’t play any worse offensively than they did against Northern Illinois.
Right?
Hopefully?
Maybe?
Only twice in the last decade has a college football game ended in a 7-6 score. Last week’s Cougar loss was one, and BYU’s loss at Boise State in 2012 was the other.
Lightning won’t strike a third time, will it?
While Boise State’s defense isn’t as stingy as Northern Illinois’, BYU can’t afford another sub-par offensive performance if they want to keep up with the Broncos.
A lot of things will have to go right for BYU to pull off the upset this week, but they’ve pulled off bigger ones. If they’re going to do it again there are three major things they’ll need to focus on.
1 – Air It Out
There’s nothing wrong with trying to establish the run game. There is something wrong, however, with stubbornly trying to establish it over and over while avoiding a passing game that’s more effective.
That refusal to lean on the passing game led to stalled drive after stalled drive last Saturday, and the same results will come if the Cougars try the same thing in Idaho.
The Broncos only give up 132 rushing yards per game, roughly 20 more than Northern Illinois allows.
BYU doesn’t have to abandon the run game altogether, they just have to pass the ball more than they run it against Boise State, and do so by a significant margin.
Last week BYU ran the ball 37 times and passed it 30 times. Those numbers have to flip (at least) in order to jumpstart the offense.
We’re going to call our shot here. If BYU doesn’t finish the game with at least 10 more passes than rushes the Cougars will lose big.