BYU Football: Are Injuries or Coaching to Blame for Recent Struggles?

In just a few short weeks, BYU's 2014 football season turned from a fairytale to a nightmare.

The Cougars started with a 4-0 record, including convincing wins over Texas and Virginia, and had a legitimate Heisman contender in Taysom Hill. Within days, the storylines flipped—the Cougars lost to Utah State (USU) and Central Florida, and more than a few key players, including Hill, were injured in the process.

All of a sudden, hopes of a perfect season, potential New Year's bowl game and another Heisman are gone. Naturally, with another seemingly disappointing season, BYU fans have let pointed fingers fly. But is there any single thing to blame for back-to-back losses and smashed hopes?

Of course, the common scapegoats have been thrust into the spotlight—anything from the referees, to bad coaching, to the injuries. All three are reasonable, but the former shouldn't make for a reasonable argument.

Sure, the officials in the past two games have missed calls here and there. The one that gets Cougar fans the most heated—a pass interference no-call against UCF—turned out to be a major factor in the final outcome. 

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This was not called as PI. 4th and 3 with the game on the line. UCF DB was hugging the WR for BYU. pic.twitter.com/EJmIwrI3Eu

— Dustin Fox (@DustinFox37) October 10, 2014"

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Still, even if the Cougs got that call, they would still have to score. And, even if they would have scored, UCF would get the ball back and be in a position to win the game. So, no matter what, the referees did not—in any way—lose the game for BYU. The Cougars had a two-possession lead in the third quarter and blew it.

So, with referees out of the way, up comes the issue of injuries. In the past two weeks, injured starters or key players include:

• Taysom Hill (QB)
• Jamaal Williams (RB)
• Alani Fua (OLB)
• Dallin Leavitt (DB)
• Craig Bills (DB)
• Brayden Kearsley (OL)
• Jordan Johnson (DB)
• Adam Hine (RB)
• Terenn Houk (WR)

On top of that, linebacker Bronson Kaufusi and receiver Jordan Leslie are currently rehabbing after recent injuries. In addition, JUCO transfer Nick Kurtz will seek a medical redshirt season after a lingering ailment.

Obviously, it is difficult to win games without almost half of your starters. The injury situation has taken its toll on BYU—and will keep nagging the team for the rest of the season—but at this point, it's just something you have to deal with and move on.

Although you can't really control injuries, one thing you can control is coaching. BYU's coaching—especially since Taysom Hill got hurt against Utah State—has been hideous. Of course, it had its issues before (see play-calling, delay-of-game vs. Virginia, etc.,) but it took a big plunge during the USU game.

George Frey/Getty Images

From the first few minutes of the USU game, anyone could tell that Utah State was the better-prepared team. They came out more physical and more motivated. It only got worse when Hill went down—instead of Robert Anae calling running plays and short passes to get backup quarterback Christian Stewart comfortable, he stuck to deep routes which killed Stewart's confidence.

The next game, against UCF, Algernon Brown and Paul Lasike played their hearts out, combining for 151 rushing yards in regulation. That opened up the passing offense, making Stewart more relaxed and buying more time in the pocket.

But as soon as overtime hit, Anae went back to the Utah State game plan—to make Stewart attack the defense with his arm. Although the rushing offense had been shredding UCF all night, every play Anae called in overtime was a passing one.

That alone cost BYU the game. And that's not to mention defensive coordinator Nick Howell's in-game shenanigans, when he was forced to play backup safety Kai Nacua:

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Howell on Nacua: "He knows I didn't trust him. I was forced to throw him in, and he proved me wrong. He played good...he's a good player."

— Greg Wrubell (@gregwrubell) October 14, 2014

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It's one thing to doubt your backup safety in a big situation, and it's another to tell him that you have trust issues. Forget Nacua—if I were BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall, the people I wouldn't trust are Howell and Anae.

Blame the refs, blame the injuries, but the coaching against UCF and Utah State—not to mention in the previous four games—has been downright ugly. If the Cougars can't clean things up soon, they could have a rough finish to the season.