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 3rd down. After the opening score the Aggies next two scores both game on long 3rd 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.
