BYU Football

Kaneakua Friel, Devin Mahina and the BYU Cougars must have been pleased after walking off the field last Friday. They knocked off Boise State for the first time in program history, accepted a bowl invitation and added another victory to a previously four-game winning streak.

But Friel and Mahina had another reason to be happy—it seemed that the tight end position was back in business at BYU. The pair of bruisers caught seven receptions for 93 yards against Boise, and although those numbers aren’t extremely flashy, consider that they combined for only three catches and 41 yards in the first seven games.

“At first it was hard for me to stay engaged because I wasn’t getting the ball,” Friel said, via the Deseret News. “Through the first two weeks of the season I just told myself that I still have a responsibility and I need to be grateful for what I do have and for what I’ve been doing in the game. I think as I’ve improved with that, that things have started coming my way.”

You can’t blame Friel. He caught 30 passes for 308 yards in 2012, and was second on the team with five receiving touchdowns. To go from a huge junior season like that and then to barely be targeted as a senior has to be rough. Respect is due to Friel, and Mahina, for hanging in there when not much was going for them.

At least some of their work has paid off, but will it continue? Robert Anae’s current offensive system seems to use tight ends as blockers more than receivers, but that could change. In the past, Anae found his most success with great Cougar tight ends including Jonny Harline, Andrew George and Dennis Pitta, so why wouldn’t he try to execute now in the same fashion?

Perhaps the high-octane, fast-tempo strategy is made to tailor wideouts only; but that can be fixed. We saw against Boise what some balance between wide receivers and TEs can do, so why not continue that?

It is logical to have Friel and Mahina, along with others, in the game to block in rushing situations. But their roles should not be limited to blazing the way for running backs, especially when they have the skill sets to be great receivers.

Wisconsin is up next for the Cougs, and we will learn very quickly if BYU’s passing game is as good as we think. The tight ends could play a big role if given the chance, and that opportunity could be coming.

Please, Anae. Please.

The Boise State Broncos and BYU Cougars had met three times previously, with Boise State coming away the victors each time, often by the narrowest of margins. A rivalry is starting to form between the two teams, with a series between the two scheduled to run for at least another decade.

On this night, though, BYU got its first win in the series in rather emphatic fashion.  The Cougars won 37-20, in a game that was honestly even more lopsided than the final score would suggest.

BYU came out in the first half much more prepared and pumped up than Boise State and entered the locker room at halftime with a 24-3 lead.

With less than a minute remaining in the first half, BYU QB Taysom Hill found WR Cody Hoffman in the end zone for a four-yard touchdown pass.  It was especially significant, as it was the 31st touchdown reception of Hoffman's BYU career, moving him past Austin Collie for first on the school's all-time touchdown receptions list. 

This is the second week in a row in which Hoffman has broken a school record, as he passed Dennis Pitta in last week's game against Houston for most receptions in BYU history.

In the second half, Boise State did manage a little more offense, but 10 of those 17 points were due in large part to just two plays, a 61-yard run by Jay Ajayi that set up a field goal and a 47-yard pass from Grant Hedrick to Aaron Burks that led to a touchdown.

While Boise State put up a respectable yardage total of 499 yards, the BYU defense was absolutely ruthless in forcing turnovers, getting an interception and forcing and recovering three fumbles.

While BYU's defense was causing turnovers, the Cougars offense did a superb job at preventing them, as the Broncos' defense wasn't able to force a single turnover. About the only excitement the Boise State defense produced was when safety Dillon Lukehart got ejected for a vicious targeting foul on Hoffman in the end zone.  The foul saved a touchdown but cost the defense Lukehart for the second half of this game and the first half of their next game.

Hill continued his growth as BYU's QB, notching 339 yards and three touchdowns passing and another 69 yards and a touchdown rushing. He also significantly lessened the number of big hits he took, which is important given his injury history.

BYU RB Jamaal Williams continued to be a workhorse, racking up 102 yards on 21 carries. He now has 728 yards rushing on the season and looks poised to be the first BYU running back to rush for 1,000 yards in a season since Harvey Unga in 2009, despite having missed about two full games' worth of playing time this season already due to injury.

The BYU tight ends had their best game of the season after having little impact at all up to this game. Kaneakua Friel, Devin Mahina and Marcus Mathews combined for eight receptions for 102 yards.

Overall, it was a convincing win for BYU, who put to rest any doubt over which team is better this season. 

The win gave BYU their sixth of the season, making them bowl eligible.  Shortly after the game, BYU accepted a bid to the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl in San Francisco, to be matched up against a Pac-12 team that will be determined later.

BYU is in its third year as a football independent after leaving the Mountain West Conference in 2011. The Cougars are in the midst of a four-game winning streak heading into Friday's showdown with Boise State in what's now an annual rivalry showdown.

But no matter what happens the rest of the season—even if BYU goes 10-2 with victories over Texas and Boise State—the Cougars won't be part of the BCS conversation and will have to settle for a second-tier bowl, as they have the past two years.

So did the Cougars make the right move in going independent? And are their prospects going to improve once the BCS era ends after this season?

Over the summer, BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe emphatically said striking out on its own was the right thing to do, telling the Salt Lake Tribune: "For sure, I would do it again. It has given us new energy and additional opportunities. We were in a good spot before, but I believe we are better off now."

In terms of television revenue, it's hard to argue with Holmoe. BYU got a national TV deal with ESPN in which nearly all its home games and many of its road games are broadcast on the World Wide Leader's networks. Between ESPN and BYUtv, the school receives about $10 million annually, more than triple what Mountain West schools get, with the exception of Boise State, which has its own sweetheart deal.

The windfall BYU might be missing out on is a spot in one of the lucrative BCS bowls. Under the current BCS selection process, there is no chance for the Cougars to automatically qualify for a berth. And even to qualify as an at-large team will require them to finish in the top 14 of the final BCS standings, which is a long shot given that they already have two losses. 

But the access and payout problem gets worse for BYU in the new College Football Playoff, which is set to debut in 2014.

If Navy joins the American Athletic Conference in 2015 as planned, BYU and Army will be the only "non-Notre Dame" football independents left in FBS, and neither is getting any kind of access to the six CFP contract bowls. The highest-rated conference champion among the "Group of Five"—AAC, MWC, MAC, C-USA and Sun Belt—will earn a spot in one of the four bowls not hosting the semifinals.

Unless BYU is one of the semifinalists in the new CFP, it will be shut out of the big bowls and get a paltry payout of $200,000 per year. (What Group of Five conference teams will receive is still unknown at this point, but the lion's share of the expected $500 million annually from CFP games will go to the five power conferences.)

Holmoe has let his displeasure over the unequal distribution be known, but for now he's plowing ahead with BYU remaining as an independent. The Cougars have significantly upgraded their schedule since becoming independent in 2011. This year, they have six games against BCS conference teams, plus Notre Dame and Boise State. They will also take on USC, Michigan and Wisconsin in the coming seasons.

It can be argued that BYU, in the new CFP era, might have a better shot at winning the national championship than playing in a CFP bowl game. With their challenging schedule and television exposure, if the Cougars can run the table in any given year, they will definitely be on the selection committee's radar.

Ultimately, that might be what the Cougars are aspiring for. Remember, they're still the last team from a non-power conference to win a national championship, which they accomplished in 1984.

Follow on Twitter: @BCSGuru.

BYU first rose to national prominence on the football field in the seventies and eighties by utilizing the west coast offense in a way that revolutionized college football and led for huge point totals for the Cougars.  With the exception of a few seasons here and there, defense wasn't exactly a strong point. 

BYU won game after game by winning shootouts. The last few seasons, BYU has had a very different modus operandi. The Cougars relied on one of the most dominant defenses in the nation to keep the score low enough for the offense to go out and put up just enough points to win a defensive struggle.

This season, while the offense has been improving, it has still been the defense that BYU relied the most on.

Until the Houston game, that is.

BYU won a wild 47-46 shootout, the type of game not seen from BYU in years.

Consider these statistics: BYU had 681 yards of total offense, 417 yards passing and 264 rushing. BYU ran 115 plays on offense, a school record. Houston had 483 yards of total offense, including 435 yards passing.

After the initial score, there were seven different lead changes.

Nearly every type of score imaginable occurred in this game, from countless passing touchdowns to rushing touchdowns to a kickoff return for a touchdown to a pick-six.

Despite the high score and offensive outburst, there were several big defensive plays as well. Each defense registered three interceptions.  Houston linebacker Derrick Mathews returned one for a touchdown. BYU linebacker Alani Fua had an interception with under a minute remaining that arguably clinched the game for his team.

With over 1,300 yards of combined offense, the BYU Cougars and Houston Cougars put on one of the most exciting games of the year. While both Coug (BYU) and Coog (Houston) fans alike had to deal with one of the most nerve-wracking games of their seasons, it was an impressive show of will by both teams.

In the end, BYU came out on top thanks to a high-flying offense, just like the good old days.