HOUSTON — Whether it is called BYU’s Big Moment Part II, just another matchup with a non-Power Five foe, or something in between, Friday’s game at talent-laden Houston has to be considered one of the most important of the disjointed 2020 college football season for the No. 14 Cougars.
It might not even be a stretch to suggest that it is the biggest game in years for BYU, given the 4-0 Cougars’ trajectory and newfound status as a media darling with a swashbuckling quarterback, creative play-caller and courageous head coach who hasn’t seen a fourth-down situation he doesn’t believe the aforementioned can’t conquer.
Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. MDT in front of a national television audience on ESPN and a smattering of 10,000 or so spectators at TDECU Stadium, marking the first time this season BYU will play with people in the seats. The stakes are incredibly high, at least to those who subscribe to the notion that this pandemic-altered season still means something and BYU will have to run the table to reach its only avenue for remarkable postseason glory, a berth in a New Year’s Six bowl game.
“Oh, it is going to be really fun,” said soft-spoken junior receiver Gunner Romney, fringe Heisman Trophy candidate Zach Wilson’s most explosive weapon. “It is a Friday night game, so we are going to have the whole country watching.”
“Oh, it is going to be really fun. It is a Friday night game, so we are going to have the whole country watching.” — BYU receiver Gunner Romney
Watching to see if the Cougars are legit, or if last Saturday’s 27-20 grinder over unsung UTSA exposed a team that got sated and fat, and nationally ranked, on an array of cupcakes.
“We are fired up because we have been hearing that, ‘Oh, your strength of schedule is … whatever,” Romney said. “Houston is a good team, so we are excited for the challenge and we are ready to amp it up this week.”
Independent BYU’s first venture into the nation’s consciousness, Big Moment Part I, was a smashing success Labor Day night as the Cougars wrecked Navy 55-3 when football-starved fans everywhere tuned in and, for most of them, got their first glimpse of the potential BYU had to make this a special season.
But Friday’s opponent, albeit also from the American Athletic Conference, resembles nothing like ill-prepared Navy, both in terms of scheme and athletic talent. The blue Cougars have spent the short week saying Houston has Power Five-type personnel.
Houston is “explosive,” even on defense, said BYU offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes. “Just big, powerful, fast guys at every position. They have got a very aggressive style about how they play in the defensive line. The ball is snapped and they are up the field, in your face and attacking every play. Their linebackers have fast triggers and they are on you quickly. Their safeties are big hitters who can also cover. … I really don’t see a weakness at any position. They have guys who are big and explosive at every spot.”
Offensively, Houston is also dangerous, evidenced by its season-opening 49-31 win over Tulane last Thursday. Cougars’ receiver Marquez “Speedy” Stevenson is an NFL talent and quarterback Clayton Tune has filled in nicely, at least in one game, for departed star QB D’Eriq King, now at Miami.
“I think that playing Houston presents such a great opportunity for us,” said BYU safety Troy Warner. “They showed a lot of upside last week. It is a great opportunity for us to kinda show everybody that we are capable of accomplishing great things this year and even though we had a little hiccup this past game, we are able to clean those things up and we are still able to execute at a very high level.”
Aside from the fact that both programs dream of joining the Big 12, BYU and Houston have little in common, and not much history. BYU leads the series 2-0, but both contests were close, down-to-the-wire affairs, most notably the Taysom Hill-led 47-46 win in 2013 at nearby NRG Stadium, home of the Houston Texans.
Another barnburner appears to be in the offing, with plenty of national implications. In this shortened season, neither program can absorb a loss and still get to a NY6 game, the thinking goes.
Houston has played just once because it has had five other games postponed or canceled. Every game is huge when you’ve only got six or seven left. BYU, on the other hand, needs to not only win, but gather style points.
“It is definitely a huge game for us,” said BYU offensive tackle Brady Christensen. “We always say each game is the biggest game of the season, but this is the biggest game of our season so far.”
Houston won’t be intimidated, as some of BYU’s lesser opponents this season appeared to be.
“I like to think we are going to have a good defensive plan and we are going to have something to prove, playing against one of the best offenses in the country,” said UH coach Dana Holgorsen, an oft-stated admirer of BYU’s offensive system back in the glory years of Cougars football under LaVell Edwards.
Indeed, BYU takes the No. 5 offense in the country, averaging 556.8 yards per game, into 40,000-seat TDECU, which is expected to be around 25% capacity. Houston held Tulane to 211 yards, which put the red Cougars at the top of the heap in total defense, Holgorsen noted somewhat bashfully Tuesday because his team has only played one game.
BYU is No. 4 in total defense, allowing 250.5 yards, but senior defensive tackle Bracken El-Bakri said wins are all that matter in this season of chaos.
“This defense doesn’t play like we are looking to move up or down on the charts or worried about where we are going to be ranked and what our reputation is going to be after the game,” El-Bakri said. “We are a really tough, hard-nosed defense, and that’s how we play. That’s our identity. We are not looking to improve upon, or disprove, our reputation because it just speaks for itself by the way we play football and the way we show up on Friday.”
When everybody is watching.