BYU (3-2) vs. San Jose State (2-3)
Saturday, October 8th, 2011 / 8:15 MST (ESPN-U)
LaVell Edwards Stadium

Riley Nelson - QB BYU

When BYU planned their move to Independence in football last summer the strategy was to align themselves with the WAC in all other sports. In a last minute twist that plan was nixed when Fresno State and Nevada accepted invitations to leave the WAC and join the MWC. To help fill in football schedules, the Cougars and the WAC agreed to help each other the next few years. Four of BYU’s last seven games will pit them against a WAC school, the first being San Jose State. The San Jose State Spartans racked up one win last year under first-year coach Mike MacIntyre. That one win was against FCS school Southern Utah. There weren’t a lot of positives last year, but the Spartans are capable and confident they can turn things around this season. While the offense has been a little shaky this year, the Spartans are hoping to lean on the leadership of their ten returning starters on defense.  The Spartans have already surpassed their win total from last year so it’s all up from here for them. The Spartans will cap off BYU’s longest home-game stand since 1991 of four. With BYU going independent and the WAC losing teams and looking for opponents, this may be the beginning of something good for both schools.  

BYU Keys to Victory

#1 Get the Starters on the Bench

BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall is no stranger to sitting his starters if he feels comfortably ahead. With exception to the game against Utah, the problem has been that every game has gone down to the wire. BYU has won their three games by a total of 13 points. Last week Mendenhall benched starting QB Jake Heaps in favor of Riley Nelson. Something clicked and I believe Mendenhall will stick with Nelson this week.  When it rains it pours offense at LaVell Edwards Stadium and BYU is hoping to get their explosive offense back on track this game.

#2 Stay Focused

The fake punt, the onside kick, the going for it on 4th and 10, all things will be in the Spartans’ playbook. It’s not a matter of if the Spartans are going to take a chance with a gadget or trick play, it’s when. When Bronco Mendenhall assumed the defensive coordinator position five games into last season there was an instant change that was very visible. The Cougars were not caught off guard much and they were definitely better prepared each game with more focus and energy.  BYU’s defense has given up a lot of big plays this year but they have defended the gadget plays well. Last week against Utah State the Cougars stopped the Aggies on a fake punt late in the game.

#3 Win Field Position

Spartan punter Harrison Wade averaged 43.8 yards per punt last year and is doing about the same this year.  Unfortunately when you’re punting like that it usually means you are punting  a lot from your own territory. BYU needs to keep the Spartans backed up and not give them a short field to work with. If the Spartans hope to upset the Cougars they are going to have to do it by forcing turnovers and starting in Cougar territory. The Spartans’ strength lies with their defense. Although they suffered several devastating injuries last year, the defense still remained the glue that kept the team together. BYU has had troubles holding onto the ball, they have lost six fumbles in the last three games.

#4 Keep the Spartans Guessing

San Jose State senior Matt Faulkner got his first start this year against Stanford. He hasn’t done anything to hurt the Spartans. He will be coming off his best game of the year, throwing for 313 yards and two touchdowns in a win against Colorado State. BYU uses several blitz schemes with their 3-4-4 defense and all of their linebackers are capable of getting into the backfield quickly. If the Spartans do not get their offense going early with some good runs up the middle and quick passes to the sidelines then it will be a long day. San Jose State has given up only 1.6 sacks a game. While BYU has been successful pressuring quarterbacks, they have not been able to get to them. Their first sack of the year was during their fourth game against UCF.

Final Score

BYU 31 – San Jose State 17

Interest Level

3 (5-1 scale; 5 – can’t miss, 1 – organize your sock drawer)

BYU fans are emotional wrecks right now. They have a QB controversy and many are a bit miffed the Big XII invited TCU and not the Cougars. Even though we’re five games into the season, nobody really knows who this BYU team is. Their defense has been great at times and their offense has been miserable. 8 offensive touchdowns in 5 games is not going to get it done in Provo.

Marcus Matthews - BYU TE

Another game into the season and we know even less about BYU. BYU’s offense was once again stagnant and it took starting QB Jake Heaps getting benched to give it a kick-start. What we have now in Provo is a quarterback controversy five games into the season. Riley Nelson came in and lead the Cougars to victory but Heaps is still the QB with the most upside. The winning touchdown pass was only made possible because Nelson threw the ball well behind JJ DiLuigi. Without that bad pass there would have been no deflection and no winning touchdown catch by BYU tight end Marcus Matthews.  Here’s how the Cougars graded on our keys to victory:

#1 Stop Aggie RB Robert Turbin- C+

Robert Turbin took the first carry of the game 80 yards for a touchdown and only had eight more carries the rest of the game. Turbin ended the game with 123 yards rushing on nine carries with one rushing and one receiving touchdown. This game might have ended a little differently had the Aggies leaned on Turbin late in the game instead of freshman QB Chuckie Keeton’s arm. The Cougars gave up some big plays to Turbin but stopped him late in the game when they needed to.

#2 Avoid Allowing Big Plays- D

BYU allowed several long runs and struggled to contain Chuckie Keeton on 3^rd down. After the opening score the Aggies next two scores both game on long 3^rd downs. The first was right before halftime; Keeton avoided multiple tackles in the backfield and threw a 13 yard touchdown pass. The next was in the third quarter when Keeton hit Turbin for a 24-yard touchdown pass. Late in the game down by 4, BYU gave up a 52-yard run but dodged a bullet when Utah State went for a fake field goal and failed to convert. The Cougar defense is suffocating at times but had been extremely prone to giving up big plays this season.

#3 Run, Run, Run- A

 BYU’s rushing attack has continued to improve every game this year. The running backs have been consistent, the difference has been the blocking up front. There have been a lot of holes the last two weeks that weren’t there to start the season. Backup QB Riley Nelson had 68 of BYU’s 208 rushing yards. The Cougars ran the ball 46 times and passed it 39 times, extremely unorthodox for a BYU team but it was effective. All the ball carriers did a tremendous job getting positive yards and setting up short second downs.

#4 No Mental Mistakes- C

The Cougars had several mental mistakes, none of which really affected them because they did end up winning the game. Late in the game JJ DiLuigi fumbled the ball and gave Utah State an opportunity to run out the clock but BYU’s defense forced a punt. The punt was a line drive and instead of fielding it at the 28, BYU punt returner JD Falslev opted to let it roll all the way to the 4-yard line. BYU heads into this week with a QB controversy on their hands. Riley Nelson was spectacular, but Jake Heaps wasn’t bad. What Nelson did that Heaps did not was score touchdowns. Heaps had several drives killed by passes that were either overthrown or dropped. Heading into the half BYU settled for a field goal because Cody Hoffman and Ross Apo both dropped TD passes. BYU will need to clean up the mental mistakes and rally around whoever is named the starter for this week against San Jose State.