Saturday’s BYU game against Texas Tech is not a must-win game. I repeat, Saturday’s game is not a must-win — so why does it feel like it? The Cougars are six games into a 12-game schedule and already two wins from bowl eligibility. On paper, that’s nice, and better than most.
What has caused public opinion to flip from feeling good at 4-1 to feeling restless at 4-2? I’ll tell you the culprit — and it’s not TCU. Sure, the Horned Frogs pounded BYU 44-11 last week in Fort Worth, Texas, but the glaring issue is half the season is over and the Cougars are still plotting to put a complete game together.
TCU excelled in all three phases — offense, defense and special teams. So did Kansas. As a result, the Cougars were left with small margins for error on the road, and they made just enough of them to lose both contests.
Even in their Big 12 home victory against Cincinnati, BYU was outrushed 242-70 and outpassed 256-225. The two game changers were the two Bearcats turnovers, and the moment offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick turned his quarterback loose.
Kedon Slovis went on the attack. He needed just 30 seconds to drive the Cougars 82 yards in three plays and his touchdown pass to Darius Lassiter erased two quarters of futility and gave BYU a 14-10 halftime lead. Early in the third quarter, with Roderick’s creativity, Slovis directed a five-play, 73-yard drive that ended with a 29-yard touchdown run by LJ Martin to extend the lead to 21-10.
Later in the third quarter, Slovis threw a 59-yard touchdown pass to Chase Roberts and BYU ran on from there to win 35-27.
Playing fast and free seems to be the ticket for success in the Big 12. Playing slow and careless breeds just the opposite. Fast and free is what TCU and Kansas did to BYU, and it is what the Cougars did just enough of to Cincinnati. Head coach Kalani Sitake said it best coming out of fall camp: “When Slovis is slinging it, he is deadly.”
So let him sling it. I’m not suggesting an assault of long bombs, although that would be cool to see. I’m referring to a little bit of everything, including the kind of short passes that can get a quarterback into a groove — especially when the running game is grounded.
In baseball, they call it small ball — bunts, steals, hit-and-runs — the kind of things that can get an offense moving. Small ball in football could be short hitches, slant routes and screen passes mixed in with a few creative runs.
The concept “by small and simple things are great things brought to pass” has been studied for years — and it’s true. It applies to life, and it applies to football. So often when small ball is working, the long ball comes into play — or in the case of Slovis, longer down-the-field passes.
This is nothing new to Roderick and his staff. They know their stuff and they are searching madly for a solution. All of it is easier said than done. But this is what has Cougar Nation restless. This is why 4-1 before TCU felt ahead of schedule and why 4-2 afterward seems like the beginning of the end.
Nothing would make Sitake happier than to see his Cougars deliver a complete game in all three phases. But until they do, playing fast and free with a slinging Slovis, helped by a big crowd under the lights, has proven to be enough in the past and it might have to be again on Saturday.
The difference between 5-2 or 4-3 going to No. 8 Texas next week is night and day. That being said, I repeat, Texas Tech is not a must-win for these newcomers in the Big 12, but admittedly, it sure feels like it.
So go play like it.
Dave McCann is a contributor to the Deseret News and is the studio host for “BYU Sports Nation Game Day,” “The Post Game Show,” “After Further Review,” and play-by-play announcer for BYUtv. He is also co-host of “Y’s Guys” at ysguys.com.