BYU Football: Game-by-game predictions for 2019 season

STARKVILLE, MS - OCTOBER 14: Tanner Mangum #12 of the Brigham Young Cougars hands the ball to Ula Tolutau #5 during the first half of a game against the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Davis Wade Stadium on October 14, 2017 in Starkville, Mississippi. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images) /

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(Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images) /

Hugh Freeze arrives in Lynchburg hoping to trumpet his brand of vocal Christianity at an uncompromisingly fundamentalist Christian institution.

Freeze, for all his foibles at Ole Miss, is still a decidedly solid head coach. He takes over a program that went 6-6 last season under Turner Gill and returns a solid batch of talent on both offense and defense. That bodes well for a springboard to bowl contention in 2019 for the Flames.

Liberty is another first-time opponent for BYU this season. The Cougars have gone 3-3 against independent programs since leaving the Mountain West, with two of those three losses coming against Notre Dame. Against other independents, only the 2017 loss to Massachusetts blemishes an otherwise perfect record.

BYU is going to use this game to recover from a pair of losses on either side of their second bye week. Wilson will have a huge day against the Flames secondary, while Katoa and crew will churn out some hard yards against the Liberty front seven.

The Cougars’ defense will stand firm against Freeze’s squad, and the trip to Provo will end poorly for the Baptist school going up against their Mormon counterparts.

Prediction: Liberty 30, BYU 44 (5-4)

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