Too Optimistic Tuesday: Kelly Poppinga proved he can oversee a BYU defense worthy of the College Football Playoffs

Welcome to Too Optimistic Tuesday! This weekly column reminds BYU fans why they should count their many blessings and have an abundance of hope.

Every season in every sport is full of both ups and downs. This column will amplify the "ups" and help fans quickly recover from the "downs". So put on your blue-tinted goggles and just indulge me in some hyperbole while enjoying your BYU fandom for a moment.

A soft, shaky start for BYU's new defensive coordinator

Coming into the 2026 season, the talent and experience on BYU's roster was already known to be elite.

The main question was coaching, especially on the defensive side of the ball.

Defensive coordinator Jay Hill left BYU Michigan last year and long-time assistant coach Kelly Poppinga was elevated to defensive coordinator. Hill was a master DC. In a few short years he completely transformed BYU's once soft, bend-but-don't-break mindset to a much more modern, aggressive approach. He was outstanding.

And not only did the Cougars lose Jay Hill but he took outstanding cornerbacks coach Jernaro Gilford with him to Ann Arbor.

While BYU's defense is loaded with talent, nobody knew how effectively Poppinga would scheme, use, and deploy that talent as the leader of the defensive unit.

The first half results against Arizona was cause for concern.

The Cougars gave up 17 first half points to Arizona and their outstanding, veteran quarterback, Noah Fifita. Here's how the Wildcats' first half drives played out, which was a very mixed bag for BYU's defense:

• Touchdown - 12 plays, 75 yards

• Interception - 3 plays, 2 yards

• Field Goal - 12 plays, 55 yards

• Punt - 5 plays, 18 yards

• Touchdown - 10 plays, 72 yards

What immediately jumps off the screen is Arizona sustained three of its first half drives to last 10 plays or more, generating 17 points. In those long, sustained drives Kelly Poppinga seemed content to employ a passive "bend but don't break" strategy giving many Cougar fans PTSD from the pre-Jay Hill days. Those drives yielded 17 first half points for Arizona.

In the first half, Noah Fifita faced almost no pressure and was picking apart a soft BYU drop zone. Poppinga overutilized a weak three-man rush that gave Fifita far too much time to diagnose and take a scalpel to the Cougars' secondary. And when the Cougars bottled up the Wildcats' receivers, Fifita was able to tuck the ball and easily run for meaningful yards.

The key to BYU's interception by Cade Uluave was pressure on Fifita from Isaiah Glasker, who leveled Arizona's quarterback. The five-play drive that resulted in a punt was also due to pressure and a sack from Tausili Akana that put the Wildcats behind the chains. But the three scoring drives were brutal displays of a BYU defense that looked too hesitant to go after Arizona's outstanding quarterback.

Entering halftime, BYU's defense looked gassed. They had far more questions than answers as the Cougars trailed 17-14.

And then everything changed.

Kelly Poppinga's second half wizardry

Credit to Kelly Poppinga because at halftime he made some outstanding adjustments.

He dialed up pressure, pressure, and more pressure.

The defensive highlight was back-to-back sacks with just over six minutes left in the game and BYU holding on to a 28-17 lead. On the first sack by Tausili Akana in this important series, Poppinga designed a sweet stunt with Akana starting wide, then twisting inside.

On the very next play Akana and Keanu Tanuvasa teamed up for another sack to wreck the Wildcats' final drive, force a punt, then watch BYU's offense salt the game away.

Arizona only had four possessions in the second half. Here's how they went:

• Punt - 4 plays, 20 yards

• Punt - 5 plays, 19 yards

• Downs - 8 plays, 57 yards

• Punt - 3 plays, -14 yards

For those keeping stats at home, in the second half Arizona ran 20 plays for 82 yards and scored zero points.

Zero.

The Arizona Wildcats are a very, very good team and Noah Fifita is a very, very good quarterback. They are going to score a lot of points and win a lot of games this year. Sure, BYU lost Jay Hill, but Kelly Poppinga proved in his first game as defensive coordinator that he knows how to push his team's buttons and put his players in position to succeed. As long as he scraps the weak three-man rush while dropping eight defenders into a deep zone, the Cougars should be fine.

BYU has the players, the talent, and the experience to win the Big 12 and make some noise in the College Football Playoffs.

Kelly Poppinga just proved he's up to the task in leading BYU's defense.

It's time to be more than optimistic for what this means for the rest of the season.

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