Boise State Football: 3 takeaways from runaway victory over BYU

2. The Boise State defense is heating up ahead of Mountain West play

In the first half of the game on Friday night, Boise State’s defense held BYU to 115 yards of offense on 29 plays for an average under four years per play. By the end of the game, the Cougars finished with 238 total yards and had no plays of 25 yards or more. That was all thanks to a dangerous Boise State defense that clamped down to hold BY to seven points.

The Broncos secondary picked off two Tanner Mangum passes as the veteran BYU quarterback struggled. Boise State finished with only 66 yards on 23 carries, averaging under three yards per carry as they clamped down on every run. No BYU runner managed a single play of 10 or more yards, thanks to the dominant effort, and Ula Toloutau led the hosts with just 38 yards on nine carries.

Boise State was just as good against the pass. Mangum went only 18-of-33 for 164 yards on the day. The BYU quarterback threw two interceptions, and missed on several other plays as he felt pressure from the Broncos defensive front.

A New Year’s Six bowl is still within reach if Boise State can sweep through its Mountain West schedule to win the league for the first time since 2014. To do so, they will need more dominating performances from a defense that held BYU to a single early touchdown on Friday.