The eyes of the nation were on Utah this Saturday where BYU Football took care of business, dispatching Portland State at home. Here’s what we learned.
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No Independent team has made an appearance in the College Football Playoff. That’s understandable given the brief history of the playoff and the scarcity of teams without conference affiliations. With Notre Dame in the midst of what looks to be a rebuilding year it might be up to the Cougars to break through.
BYU opened their season against Portland State on Saturday. One game won’t define their ceiling or squelch their dreams, but there were three things that stuck out as important takeaways from their season opener. Here’s what we learned during the Cougar victory over Portland State.
1. Portland State is a dangerous FCS team
The Vikings aren’t your run of the mill FCS team that comes to town, goes through the motions, rolls over and cashes their check. In 2015 they beat a pair of FBS teams: North Texas and Washington State. There has been turnover on the roster since then, but the Vikings have giant-slaying DNA.
Portland State wasn’t able to string together any semblance of a consistent offensive attack. In spite of that they found themselves within one score of a talented BYU team at half time. They cut the 14 point deficit to eight points with a 17 play, 87 yard touchdown drive that required a pair of fourth down conversions before quarterback Jalani Eason hit Darnell Adams on a short pick route for the touchdown.
There are two FBS teams on the Vikings’ schedule in 2017. They travel to Oregon State next weekend and host North Texas later in the year. The Oregon State offense looks to be much more explosive than the Cougars’ was. Portland State will be ready and that matchup should make for a fun one next weekend in Corvallis.
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2. The Cougar pass defense has significantly improved
BYU’s passing defense was mediocre last season. They struggled to get to the quarterback registering only 29 sacks. They were frequent victims of long passing plays, including 11 pass plays of 40 yards or more. Room for improvement was ample. After four quarters of play in 2017 the defense looks like they’ve taken a step in the right direction.
The quality of the competition needs to be taken into consideration when evaluating the Cougars defense. Admittedly, there was a significant talent gap between BYU and Portland State. Given that gulf, the defense should have taken care of business on Saturday. They did a lot more than that.
Sione Takitaki picked up a pair of sacks during the first half. He was in the Viking backfield on just about every play. The Cougar front seven as a whole did a fantastic containing the Portland State offense in third and long situations. Once they got there BYU did a fantastic job shutting down the passing lanes. They forced five straight Portland State punts to start the game and kept the Vikings off-balance the entire game.
Portland State managed 2.4 yards per carry, 3.7 yards per pass. The Vikings converted 36.8 percent of their third down attempts. As mediocre as the offense looked, the Cougar defense looked superb.
3. The BYU passing offense is just okay
Replacing a starting quarterback is never the optimal way for any team to start the season. But that’s the situation that the Cougars find themselves in this season. Their situation, however, is a bit unique given the experience that Tanner Mangum brings to the table.
Mangum has a career 60.3 completion percentage and has thrown for 3,618 yards, 26 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. In 2015 he was meant to be the backup to Taysom Hill, but a Week 1 injury made him the defacto starter for the season. Mangum isn’t as green as the rest of the new starting quarterbacks around the nation.
He showed that he’s not too rusty on Saturday. After trading scoreless drives, Mangum took over and was able to move the ball against a Portland State defense that was playing in relatively tight coverage. He finished with a modest line– 16 for 27 with 194 yards and one touchdown.
The Cougars didn’t take many risks against Portland State. Most of their passes were strictly horizontal with the occasional deep shot to keep the defense honest. Mangum wasn’t put into a position where he had to win the game himself, he was asked to keep the offense moving.
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That’s what Mangum is. He’s a smart passer that’s not going to take over a game by himself. That could prove troublesome if the Cougars can’t find some playmakers to help him out. 14 points is not going to cut it against most of the FBS teams they’re going to play this season.