No. 11-ranked BYU is eight quarters of football away from appearing in the Big 12 championship game in Arlington, Texas, Dec. 6, but first things first — the Cougars must defeat Cincinnati on the road this Saturday.
Fresh off a huge 31-point home win over TCU, the Cougars will face one of the best passing quarterbacks in the country in Brendan Sorsby, plus the Bearcats will be motivated to knock off the Cougars before their home crowd. Road games are tough, and this one will require all of BYU’s focus and attention.
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Offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick told BYUtv’s “Coordinator’s Corner” that BYU’s situation right now is exactly what the coaches need to get attention. Win, and the Cougars control their future. “Style points, statistics and rankings don’t matter,” he said. “Just win. We don’t have to count on anybody else, or see where others are positioned.”
Roderick said when playing in the Big 12 it is so important to flush the last game right out of the mind — win or lose. “You just flush it and get onto the next game — nothing else is more important.” Here is what Kalani Sitake said about style points.
Cincinnati is on a two-game losing streak and is hungry for a win at home. The Bearcats should have beat a very tough Arizona team last week, if not for a couple of plays late that did not go their way. The other loss was to Utah in Salt Lake City.
“Their trip to Utah was like our trip to Lubbock,” said Roderick. “They hit a buzzsaw early and just had a bad night on the road. You know, two time zones and all that stuff.”
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Roderick said Cincinnati’s offense plays fast and is very efficient. He said he studies Cincinnati’s game film to prepare, seeing what Cincy does against defenses.
This is a big one. BYU really needs to salt this game away to be able to determine its own destiny in the Big 12.
The Big 12 is a cluster of two-loss teams. Only BYU and Texas Tech have a single loss and control their futures. Everyone else is hoping for those two to lose and for a complex set of tiebreakers to kick in like last year.
Here is John Kurtz’s latest speculation on how the Big 12 might only get one team in the CFP, found in his latest newsletter “Opened For Business.”
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Cougar Insiders predictions
Question of the Week: In BYU’s blowout win over TCU are we to assume BYU’s defense and offense have reached a different level of health and execution in a critical November stretch? Explain your theories and predict the game at Cincinnati.
Jay Drew: BYU’s 44-13 win over TCU last Saturday at LaVell Edwards Stadium marked the Cougars’ most complete game of the season, perhaps their best game since they entered the Big 12 three years ago. It was that impressive.
Naturally, the offense and defense led the way, as BYU got back to playing complementary football after it was lacking in the 29-7 loss to Texas Tech. Even special teams contributed, with Will Ferrin making three field goals.
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Is there more room for improvement? Of course. It might be nitpicking a bit, but the offense could still do better in the red zone. A couple of the field goals could/should have been touchdowns, which would have given BYU a few more style points when those are needed in November.
The defense was sensational, particularly the interceptions by Tanner Wall and Faletau Satuala. Especially impressive was the way the defensive backs shut down TCU’s Eric McCallister after he had a big first half. I was also impressed by the effort, particularly when nickel Tayvion Beasley chased down McCallister to prevent a touchdown. The Frogs had to settle for a field goal three plays later.
Can the Cougars keep it up? They seem to be as healthy as they’ve been all season, with the possible exception of the receivers room. Cody Hagen was missed. He’s BYU’s best kick returner. Weylin Lapuaho missed the second half with an undisclosed injury, but the Cougars are deep at both guard positions, with Sonny Makasini and Kyle Sfarcioc.
Prediction: BYU 28, Cincinnati 24
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Dick Harmon: Every team has players banged up, bruised and hurting this time of the year, but what we saw in the TCU game was more healthy linebackers — Isaiah Glasker, Jack Kelly and Siale Esera. They were impressive and, while not at full strength, they were well enough to make the kind of plays seen earlier in the season.
This is a huge development for head coach Kalani Sitake and defensive coordinator Jay Hill.
We also saw just how important it was for LJ Martin to feel healthy and make huge plays. At Texas Tech, he said he was not confident and played with some hesitancy. I think that impacted the entire offense, at least it appeared that way. He is so important to the offense. He changes the dynamics with Bear Bachmeier and the receivers. Roderick has to be doing cartwheels.
I also believe at this stage of the season, Bachmeier has progressed a lot. Roderick is more comfortable in opening the playbook and sending out three or four receivers instead of pulling back blockers in max protection to ease him along.
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The TCU game was the best we’ve seen out of BYU’s offensive line. They were dominating and imposed their will on the Horned Frogs’ front seven.
While the Cincinnati game will test every aspect of the Cougars in all three phases, it does appear BYU has the focus and execution to finish strong in November and it starts with this last road trip in the regular season. If you get the same kind of play out of the guys in the trenches, as witnessed against a good TCU team, this could be an exciting two weeks.
Prediction: BYU 31, Cincinnati 21
Cougar tales
BYU blew away TCU in LaVell Edwards Stadium on Saturday. Here’s our game reports and analysis of that victory:
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BYU’s comeback to upset No. 3 UConn in TD Garden fell two points short, and here’s Tad Walch’s report. Here is his follow-up analysis on Cougar hoops as Kevin Young’s squad remains in the AP Top 10. This is what UConn coach Dan Hurley said about the Cougars after his Huskies eked out a win. BYU plays Wisconsin in the Delta Center Friday at 2 p.m.
BYU’s men’s and women’s cross country teams head to the NCAA championships this week after freshman Jane Hedengren blew away the competition at the Mountain Regional.
This week’s BYU vs Cincinnati game will be featured on Fox’s “Big Noon Kickoff” show.
From the archives
From the X-verse
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Extra points
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How AJ Dybantsa decided to become a Cougar (ESPN)
Fanalysts
Comments from Deseret News readers:
When I watched and it came to halftime, I thought this was the best thing that could have happened to this team. They’ve been told for so long they are going deep in the tourney. Then, they made that incredible comeback. They showed incredible grit, determination and their talent basically in an opponent homecourt. UConn is an incredible program. That felt like a win with everything they overcame. They are going to be a really, really good team. They were humbled and they will use that to adjust their mindset. Can’t wait to see how they come out vs. the next big team!
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— RR
The time will come for Kalani when it will be important he speaks up in defense of his team. It’s naive to believe there isn’t a ton of politicking going on behind the scenes. Kalani’s job as head coach is to stick up for his players. If BYU beats Cincinnati this weekend, I really hope to hear him making the case for BYU as an at-large candidate. An 11-1 BYU, with their lone loss to a national-contending Texas Tech team on the road, should absolutely be safely in the field. Everyone knows it. Now, I want to hear Kalani say it out loud for the whole world to hear and acknowledge.
—Befair
Up next
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Nov. 19 |TBA | tennis | NCAA individual Championships, Orlando
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Nov. 19 | 6 p.m. | women’s volleyball | Arizona
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Nov. 19 | 7 p.m. | women’s basketball | @ Montana
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Nov. 20 | TBA |diving | USC Invitational, Los Angeles
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Nov. 20 | TBA | swimming | Wolfpack Invitational, N.C.
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Nov. 21 | 2 p.m. | men’s basketball | Wisconsin, SLC
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Nov. 21 | 6 p.m. | women’s volleyball | Kansas
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Nov. 22 | 8:20 a.m. | cross country | NCAA championships, Columbia
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Nov. 22 | 2 p.m. | W Basketball | Weber State
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Nov. 22 | 6 p.m. | Football | @ Cincinnati
