Stanford has had two weeks to prepare for BYU and coaches in Provo are preaching how different Saturday’s game against a Power Four opponent will be compared to its season-opener opponent, Portland State, a 69-0 victim at LaVell Edwards Stadium.
Statistics from BYU’s blowout win over Portland State may not register with many college football analysts because the competition was so lopsided in favor of the home team.
That might slide, but it’s OK.
More importantly for defensive coordinator Jay Hill is how clean the team played. That includes how seamlessly BYU got into formations, avoided dumb penalties, misalignments, mental mistakes — things that commonly crop up even when playing against air, seven-on-seven, or 11-on-11 in practice.
On defense, Hill made 25 different defensive play calls in a 49-play game.
It would have been easy for players to mess up on that many calls.
“That’s one of the cleanest first games I’ve ever been a part of, in all three phases (offense, defense and special teams), ” Hill told reporters this week leading up to Saturday’s game against Stanford, now in the ACC.
Hill lets that stand as the big takeaway.
Even so, the statistics of that game go into the record books, just like other Big 12 teams last Saturday when Texas Tech beat Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Arizona State defeated Northern Arizona, West Virginia won over Robert Morris, the 46-7 Kansas win over Wagner, Kansas State’s 38-35 win over North Dakota, and Iowa State’s 55-7 bashing of South Dakota.
No. 25 Utah’s stats this week against Cal Poly are expected to be just as gaudy as those BYU and their Big 12 brothers registered. And, of course, they’ll count.
Examples?
Today, BYU ranks No. 1 in total defense, rushing defense, scoring defense, fourth-down conversion percent defense, red-zone defense and first-down defense. And that’s just defense. On offense, the numbers are equally mined from Portland State and include a No. 1 ranking for scoring offense and rushing offense.
Nuts.
Hill said this week he wants to continue the goal of being a multiple-look defense.
“We want multiple fronts, multiple coverages and multiple blitzes that come from all directions,” said Hill.
This is what Stanford coach Frank Reich referred to as an NFL-type defense.
Speaking earlier this week, Reich explained in his weekly press conference, “Their schemes are very sound defensively. I feel like I’m watching an NFL defense with everything they do. I mean, they do a little bit of everything. They’re multiple in every way. Their pressure package is quite sophisticated. (It’s) a lot of stuff you see at the NFL level, and they do a good job of executing it.”
BYU head coach Kalani Sitake used his contract extension to get resources to keep his entire coaching staff intact. This is a good thing, maybe a great thing. But, it also means Reich will have film of what each of those position coaches like to do with schemes and personnel.
“That’s one of the cleanest first games I’ve ever been a part of, in all three phases (offense, defense and special teams).”
— BYU defensive coordinator Jay Hill
Still, Sitake counts staff continuity as huge because his returning players have the benefit of building on what they’ve learned the last year or two under Hill, linebackers coach Justin Ena, D-line coach Sione Po’uha, defensive ends coach Kelly Poppinga and cornerbacks coach Jernaro Gilford. Hill coaches the safeties, the QBs of the defense.
Said Sitake of Hill’s defenders, “They’re in the system now. There are a lot of guys who have been here for a while and who have spent a lot of time with Jay Hill and the entire defensive staff. Having the whole defensive staff intact and returning was huge for us. I’m really thankful we were able to hang on to our coaches. Jay Hill’s done a great job with the defense. Really, really happy with what he’s done, and looking forward to what they can accomplish even more this year, and especially Week 2 against Stanford.”
Commented Hill: “We’ll get their best shot.”
That will include a physical run attack that will test BYU’s defensive front seven in ways Portland State could only fantasize about.
