Coming into the game, BYU had a chance to prove to the nation that they were a legitimate team in 2022.
After a thrilling double overtime win over then No. 9 Baylor, the Cougars had another opportunity to show the country that they can compete with anyone. This week’s challenge? Hitting the road to play the 25th-ranked Oregon Ducks at Autzen Stadium. Although the Ducks got demolished by Georgia in their season opener, Oregon is still a team that is viewed highly in college football. They are known to have strong recruiting classes and very fast players in their program.
Coming into this game the Ducks had won an impressive 20 straight home games, one of the longest streaks in the nation. If BYU were to win this game it would most likely propel them into the AP Top 10, and discussions of a special season would start to emerge. For the Cougars to be victorious in this difficult road test, they would need to be disciplined and play very physically at the line of scrimmage.
Ducks embarrass the Cougars
The Cougars, however, got beat in physicality and in being disciplined, resulting in Oregon rolling over BYU in this matchup. From the opening kickoff, the Cougars did not look like they were prepared to play this Ducks team. The defense had many missed assignments and missed tackles, something we haven’t seen much from BYU this season.
The Oregon offensive line dominated all game long, helping the team rack up 212 yards on the ground and average 4.8 yards per rush on the Cougars’ defense. The Ducks’ offensive line also provided quarterback Bo Nix with plenty of time to throw each time he dropped back. Nix was decisive and played poised against BYU’s defense, throwing for 222 yards and two touchdowns. It felt as though the Ducks were able to move the ball at will against the Cougars.
BYU’s offense did not help out the defense much either, only scoring seven points until the fourth quarter of play. The Oregon defense was able to constantly get pressure against an experienced Cougar offensive line. The running game was never able to get going for BYU for the second straight week, rushing for only 61 yards on the day. That is not nearly good enough for them to have a chance against this Oregon team. The Cougars’ offense relies heavily on running the ball and when they are not able to do so the team will struggle to put points on the board.
Quarterback Jaren Hall was one bright spot on the day for BYU, throwing for 305 yards and two touchdowns. Hall continues to look impressive each time he takes the field and played poised throughout this game despite the team’s struggles. Despite his best efforts, Hall could not keep the Cougars in this game as they lost 41-20 to the Ducks.
An opportunity still on the horizon
This loss will hurt for the Cougars and their fans, but BYU still has a chance to have a special year. This team has the goal of playing in a New Year’s Six bowl game, and this is still a possibility if they can win the rest of their games although it seems like a lofty goal at this point. However, this team has veteran players as its leaders and if they can step up, it may be possible.
Keys for the Cougars going forward will be to stop the run and establish the run game themselves. They may need to change their schemes to provide opportunities for this to happen. For instance, when BYU is not blitzing and dropping eight defenders into coverage, they have a hard time disrupting the opposing team’s offense. Blitzing more often could provide some disruption that the defense needs to create stops.
If they start to execute on these fronts, however, I like their odds in many of their remaining games on the schedule. There will be tough tests ahead for this team so they can’t mourn this loss for too long if they want a chance to still reach their goals. This team has a lot of football ahead of it but they will need to improve to compete on the biggest stages.
Next up
The Cougars (2-1) host Wyoming (3-1) on Saturday, Sep. 24. The game kicks off at 8:15 p.m. MT and can be seen on ESPN or ESPN2 (TBD).
