BYU linebacker Harrison Taggart went through a lot of intense practices last season as a member of the Oregon Ducks — including one in which they prepared for then-nationally ranked BYU — as the Pac-12 team contended for a conference title most of the year.
So when the redshirt freshman transfer says the Cougars’ practices this week have been as urgent and impassioned as any he’s been involved in, folks should probably take note.
“We have been a really good running team here for several years. We are having some issues right now. We need to fix those. But I have a lot of confidence that we can.” — BYU offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick
Why have they been so fervent?
Because Friday night’s Big 12 home opener (8:15 p.m., ESPN) against fellow Power Five conference newcomer Cincinnati (0-1, 2-2) feels like a contest that can make or break the 2023 season for BYU (0-1, 3-1), and especially the Cougars’ unbalanced, pass-heavy offense.
“Tons of urgency,” Taggart said Tuesday. “You can feel it from the way people are hitting scouts, the way people are running to the ball, and even the way we are getting lined up. There is a different type of urgency, for sure.”
The winner will become the first of the four new Big 12 teams to get a league victory and avoid starting league play 0-2. The loser will head into a bye week on a multigame losing skid and worried about getting bowl eligible.
The stakes are extremely high for a late-September matchup.
“Absolutely, absolutely,” said Cincy coach Scott Satterfield when asked if it is important to the Bearcats, who went toe-to-toe with No. 12 Oklahoma last week in a 20-6 loss, to become the first newcomer to taste conference victory. “This is our second game in the Big 12, and we need a win, desperately. For them, too.”
The last thing BYU wants to do is head into a nightmarish October schedule — at TCU, vs. Texas Tech at LES, at No. 3 Texas — on a two-game losing streak and with an offense that can’t run the ball.
“We are both fired up, both us and Cincinnati, to go play,” said BYU receiver Chase Roberts, chuckling after being inexplicably asked if the Cougars and Bearcats have a “friendly rivalry” even though they haven’t played since 2016, a 20-3 BYU win at UC’s Nippert Stadium. “It is going to be a battle.”
The prevailing storylines for the Cougars this week after they lost 38-27 to Kansas and rushed for only 9 yards last week in their Big 12 opener are their injury situation and their nonexistent rushing attack.
BYU offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick said Tuesday that the Bearcats have the best defense the Cougars will have faced this season, and it isn’t even close. That doesn’t bode well for a team that is No. 127 of 130 FBS teams in rushing offense, averaging a meager 61.0 yards on the ground per game.
“Defensive line is outstanding, starting with the nose guard (Dontay Corleone),” Roderick said. “He is a really good player, one heck of a player. … They are disruptive, physical and fast. We have our work cut out for us. Teams have not been able to run on them.”
Uh-oh.
Corleone is a 6-foot-2, 318-pound redshirt sophomore from Cincinnati’s Colerain High who is nicknamed “The Godfather” due to his surname. He was an AP Third Team All-American last year.
Corleone “is as good of a player as I’ve seen in several years,” Roderick said. “… It starts with that defensive line. Those guys are really tough to block.”
As for BYU’s rushing attack, which will again be without projected RB1 when the season started, UNLV transfer Aidan Robbins, Roderick agreed with head coach Kalani Sitake’s assessment Monday that the problems are fixable.
“We have been a really good running team here for several years,” Roderick said. “We are having some issues right now. We need to fix those. But I have a lot of confidence that we can.”
When freshman LJ Martin was named the starter prior to the Arkansas game, it was assumed that he had beaten Robbins out for the RB1 designation due to performance, but Roderick said it was more due to Robbins being slowed by an injury.
The Deseret News has learned that it is a rib injury, with one or more ribs possibly cracked or broken. The only remedy is rest.
“We don’t know exactly when it happened, and I don’t think he does, either. But he definitely wasn’t right for a couple of weeks,” Roderick said. “He kept feeling a lot of pain, but didn’t know what was wrong.
“It took some time to figure out what it was,” the OC continued. “So now we are hoping to get him back pretty soon. Yeah, he was not himself for a few weeks and it was actually a relief for him to find out what the injury actually was.”
Offensive lineman Weylin Lapuaho and receiver Parker Kingston are also likely out for the Cougars; receiver Kody Epps (hamstring) played against Arkansas, but did not play against Kansas.
“There is no estimate on his return right now, so we are just proceeding like we don’t have him,” Roderick said of the oft-injured star.
Defensively, BYU will be without middle linebacker Ben Bywater, the Cougars’ leading tackler this year and each of the past two seasons. That’s why the aforementioned Taggart is expected to get his first career start.
It’s a big ask, considering the Bearcats have an outstanding quarterback in Emory Jones, a two-time transfer who has started games for Power Five schools Florida and Arizona State.
“The quarterback is very athletic. He throws a good ball,” said BYU defensive coordinator Jay Hill. “The transfer wide receiver (Xzavier Henderson) is a great player. He is probably the top wide receiver we will play this year. The running backs run hard. I love the way those guys run. … It is a very similar offensive scheme as what we just faced at Kansas, and a similar quarterback (to Jalon Daniels), really, with the way he runs it.”