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BYU Football: Fans, the sky is not falling

By Adam Gibby

Sep 4, 2021; Paradise, Nevada, USA; Brigham Young Cougars fans cheer during a game against the Arizona Wildcats at Allegiant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 4, 2021; Paradise, Nevada, USA; Brigham Young Cougars fans cheer during a game against the Arizona Wildcats at Allegiant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports /
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Sep 4, 2021; Paradise, Nevada, USA; Brigham Young Cougars fans cheer during a game against the Arizona Wildcats at Allegiant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 4, 2021; Paradise, Nevada, USA; Brigham Young Cougars fans cheer during a game against the Arizona Wildcats at Allegiant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports /

BYU Football fans seem to be hitting the panic button after BYU’s 24-16 win over Arizona.

BYU Football won on Saturday. Want to know a few teams who lost?

  • No. 20  Washington lost to Montana
  • California lost to Nevada
  • Tulsa (ranked 2020) lost to UC Davis
  • No. 10 North Carolina  lost to Virginia Tech (5-6 last year)
  • Duke lost to Charlotte
  • Wash St lost to Utah State

Week One is always filled with weird and crazy games that don’t make sense. Iowa State beat Northern Iowa by three points. Utah was up only nine points until four minutes left in the third quarter against Weber State.

BYU’s eight point win against Arizona is nothing other than what we can attribute to being a Week One game. And guess what? Arizona isn’t as bad as they are being made out to be. After re-watching the game from an Arizona perspective, the Wildcats are a drastically improved team from last year. They are bought in to Jedd Fisch and their teammates and will win games this year against Pac 12 teams.

The bottom line is BYU Football beat an Arizona team that is better than probably half of the G5 teams out there.

It is also worth noting that BYU planned on having the Nacua brothers and Gunner Romney on offense and that didn’t happen. Keenan Ellis went down with what appeared at the time to be a life changing injury, and Max Tooley, Jake Oldroyd and Jackson Kaufusi also didn’t play. It isn’t often that a team walks into a stadium expecting six guys to play just to have all six of them not playing three possessions into the game. While Romney and Ellis likely will be out against Utah, the other four may be ready to go this Saturday.

Promising Signs

While there were moments that were dull, ugly and concerning for BYU Football this weekend, there were also promising signs. On BYU’s scoring drives, the Cougars looked like a well oiled machine. Jaren Hall looked like he was in control and never seemed to be overwhelmed with how the big the moment was. There weren’t forced throws or bad decisions made by Hall throughout the entire game.

On defense, the Cougars actually got four sacks. Last season against G5 teams, the Cougars only averaged 1.6 sacks per game. The defense also didn’t give up any deep balls or big plays. If BYU can tighten up their coverage inside of ten yards, teams will struggle to pass against the secondary.

The sky isn’t falling

BYU Fans, the sky isn’t falling. This wasn’t 2017 Portland State. This team has the potential and explosiveness to win big games, including over Utah. We should be celebrating that BYU beat Arizona and that they have a chance to be 2-0 this weekend.

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