Three Thoughts on BYU’s 14-0 Win Over Sam Houston
After a long offseason filled with drama, Week 1 of the college football season is finally here. Saturday was a historic day for the Big 12 as three new conference members took the field for the first time with a new conference logo on the field and on their jerseys. However, it was also a historic day for all the wrong reasons as well. Luckily for BYU, Saturday night ended with a victory. Here are my three thoughts on BYU’s 14-0 win over Sam Houston.
1. The Defense Was Outstanding
You can say what you want about the offense, but the BYU defense was lights out on Saturday night. Yes, I know it was against Sam Houston, but keep in mind that Sam Houston was an FCS powerhouse before they made the jump to Conference USA this season. The Cougars defense held the Bearkats to just 185 yards of offense. Sam Houston ran for just 38 yards on the evening and went 2/14 on third down. BYU was also able to get three turnovers as well which was huge. Jakob Robinson came away with two interceptions and overall, I thought the Cougars did an excellent job on Saturday night. There is still a lot of football left to be played, but if BYU’s defense can play like this all the time, then watch out.
2. The Offense Was Hard to Watch
While the defense was great, people don’t really watch college football for the defense. The fans in the stands and on the couch want to see the scoreboard light up. Unfortunately, we didn’t see that in Provo on Saturday against Sam Houston. The offensive line didn’t get much of a push against the Bearkats as BYU ran for just 112 yards averaging 3.3 yards per carry. LJ Martin led the team with 91 yards rushing and had the longest run of the game with a 21-yard carry.
Meanwhile new starting quarterback Kedon Slovis struggled a bit in his debut going 20/33 for 145 yards through the air. Luckily for the offense he did manage to score two rushing touchdowns which ended up being the only points scored for BYU. He did a decent job of spreading the ball out, but I want to see more explosiveness from this offense. They will get another easy test next weekend against Southern Utah so I hope they can figure a few things out offensively before they go to Arkansas on September 16th.
3. The Crowd Was Rocking
Earlier I talked about the new schools making their Big 12 debuts this weekend and BYU made quite an impression. The stands were jam packed and I saw plenty of folks eating those delicious cougar tails. It’s been a two-year process for this football program and Saturday was a big day for BYU as they now have played a football game as a member of the Big 12 Conference. The schedule will only get tougher from here and I can’t wait to see LaVell Edwards Stadium rocking when other Big 12 teams come to Provo.
