Bronco Mendenhall expects BYU will game plan differently on both sides of the ball compared to a year ago. His offense may not produce huge margins of victory or as many points as the one led by John Beck, Curtis Brown and Jonny Harline.
Defensively, this may mean more aggressive play and going after quarterbacks in more situations than last year. It might also mean the offense might try to hold on to the ball longer.
Still, Mendenhall is prepared to make adjustments on the fly, starting with the home opener against Arizona on Saturday. Linebacker coach Barry Lamb, whose outside linebackers David Nixon and Bryan Kehl are prime blitz weapons, said Cougar defenders will need to adapt to be successful.
"Last year, when we put the (3-4) package in and we were learning and exploring, we settled into a pattern that fit our players and we played well with the offense," Lamb said. "That's really what we're going to try to do this year.
"Whether the offense is ahead of last year or whether they are not, we're going to approach every game like it's nothing to nothing and we have to get tougher and tougher when they get to our goal line."
BYU's staff has added a few wrinkles this year and improved on others in execution and precision.
"But basically, it's the same defense as a year ago," Lamb said.
The coach also said the percentages of max coverage as compared to zone blitz and full-out blitz may change, but it won't be a big leap.
"Our percentage of max coverage won't go from five to 15 percent," Lamb said. "It might be five-percent change in there, same thing with our max blitz. But it won't be that different. You have to adjust to personnel changes you might have during the year."
The Cougars have already had changes since the start of fall camp. Noseguard Russ Tialavea is out with an ACL and MCL injury to his knee, and safeties Dustin Gabriel (foot surgery) and David Tafuna (Lisfranc ligament) are gone for the year.
"Where you are in a football game makes a difference in what you do, and being ahead is a luxury," Lamb said. "We had the luxury of being ahead in a lot of our games last year. The score changes what plays you call on defense."
This year, the Cougars will have Nixon back, a key player who was injured in the UNLV game and, due to pain, either did not play or was not as effective at the end of the season. This year, Lamb said he will use Chris Bolden more to spell Nixon, who will see 30 to 35 plays instead of 50.
"We'll have to manage their reps better this year," Lamb said.
On the other end, Kehl is expected to have an outstanding senior year. He's backed by Grant Hansen and freshman Austen Jorgensen.
Middle linebacker coach Paul Tidwell said if he had to name three keys for the Cougar defense, they would be: playing with phenomenal effort, stopping the run against bigger and more physical teams and not giving up more than 24 points a game.
A year ago, the Cougars ranked 10th in scoring defense, allowing approximately 15 points a game. The effort on defense is a building block of Mendenhall's practices, and stopping the run has to be an emphasis because of the amount of pass plays the Cougars defend in practice every day with BYU's offense.
"If we're playing together as a unit, running to the ball and making plays, we'll be successful," Tidwell said.
E-mail: dharmon@desnews.com