BYU Football: Airing it out and two more keys to beating Boise State
By Shaun Gordon
![BOISE, ID - OCTOBER 20: Wide receiver Thomas Sperbeck #82 of the Boise State Broncos makes a defensive play knocking away a pass interception by defensive back Troy Warner #11 of the Brigham Young Cougars during first half action on October 20, 2016 at Albertsons Stadium in Boise, Idaho. (Photo by Loren Orr/Getty Images) BOISE, ID - OCTOBER 20: Wide receiver Thomas Sperbeck #82 of the Boise State Broncos makes a defensive play knocking away a pass interception by defensive back Troy Warner #11 of the Brigham Young Cougars during first half action on October 20, 2016 at Albertsons Stadium in Boise, Idaho. (Photo by Loren Orr/Getty Images)](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape/cover/sport/47c5a8bba1c2f2054685a3ff7f096509dfb13d950572c5295623427853a40859.jpg)
3 – Defensive Disruption
In BYU’s weekly press conference on Monday, head coach Kalani Sitake stated that he wanted to see more offensive explosion and defensive disruption.
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The first two keys to beating Boise State revolve around creating that explosive offense, since the offense needs to see the most improvement.
But the defense has to create havoc against the Broncos or BYU will get blown out of the Stadium.
Boise State is averaging more than 40 points per game, which means that the Cougars’ bend-don’t-break defense won’t be able to consistently contain them without creating that disruption.
The defense has to make plays rather than react to them. BYU has to win the turnover battle to win this game, and they’ve got to put pressure on the quarterback. The Cougars haven’t been able to do that consistently with just their four lineman, so it’ll be on defensive coordinator Ilaisa Tuiaki to find ways to get into the backfield.
For some reason he’s been hesitant to blitz, and aside from Corbin Kaufusi’s new hybrid role the defensive scheme has been pretty vanilla.
That vanilla defense won’t stop the Broncos consistently enough to keep the Cougars in the game. They’ve got to find a way to cause that havoc that Sitake is looking for.
It’s on Tuiaki to find a way to do that.