BYU vs. Texas: Game Grades, Analysis for Cougars and Longhorns
The BYU Cougars stomped the Texas Longhorns for the second straight season, cruising to a 41-7 victory on the road.
After a slow start to the game, the Cougars hit their stride in the second half by scoring touchdowns on their first four drives. After that onslaught, the Longhorns looked like they just gave up.
Check out the final box score at NCAA.com, and read on to see how both teams graded out on the night.
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
| Passing Offense | C | C+ |
| Rushing Offense | B | A+ |
| Passing Defense | C | B |
| Rushing Defense | A | A+ |
| Special Teams | B- | A |
| Coaching | A | A |
BYU Cougars Game Analysis
Pass Offense: Taysom Hill regressed to the mean a bit from last week, seeing a lot more pressure from a stout Texas front. Even then, he forced the Texas defense to respect his arm by completing 18 of his 27 passes for 181 yards. His lone mistake was an end-zone interception in which Quandre Diggs made an NFL-type play over his shoulder. Jordan Leslie continues to be a reliable target, reeling in seven passes for 85 yards, including a juggling act in the third quarter that won't get enough attention.
Rush Offense: The numbers are skewed by how many times Hill was sacked, but 248 yards and five touchdowns is nothing to scoff at. The dual-threat quarterback picked up big chunks once he broke through the initial rush, while the true running backs always seemed to make one man miss. This group kept running hard after yards were tough to come by in the first half, then feasted in the final two frames.
Pass Defense: Tyrone Swoopes started the game 7-of-7 when these guys were daring him to throw. He had a tougher time once the coverage tightened up, and Robertson Daniel did a great job forcing a first-half fumble to kill a drive. Alani Fua stepped up after Bronson Kaufusi succumbed to an ankle injury.
Rush Defense: An excellent job from start to finish. The Longhorns wanted to lean on the run and ended up with just 82 yards on 35 carries. Texas' most effective runner was Johnathan Gray, who averaged just 3.4 yards per carry. He and Malcolm Brown never saw daylight.
Special Teams: Marcus Johnson almost broke loose a couple of times on kickoffs, but he was stonewalled otherwise. Trevor Samson made both of his field goals, while Scott Arellano averaged over 47 yards on his five punts. The return game was average.
Coaching: Bronco Mendenhall can coach a defense worthy of his awesome football name. The Longhorns were a predictable bunch Saturday night as far as how they were going to try to beat the Cougars, and he called the game like he had it in his back pocket. Mendenhall's team kept pounding the run and never let Texas believe it could do the same. Looking at the schedule, Mendenhall's Cougars have a legitimate chance to be the College Football Playoff's first grenade as a 12-0 independent.
| Passing Offense | C+ | C |
| Rushing Offense | F | F |
| Passing Defense | B | C |
| Rushing Defense | B | F |
| Special Teams | D | F |
| Coaching | C+ | D |
Texas Longhorns Game Analysis
Passing Offense: Tyrone Swoopes looked sharp, throwing the ball 31 times in his first start. Instead of being a weakness that Texas had to cover, he delivered on-target passes for most of the night. Despite his interception, there's no reason to blame this loss on him.
Rushing Offense: Grades out as somewhere between Bigfoot and Megalodon—that is, between never existed and was around a long time ago. Short three starters, the offensive line had no shot of creating lanes for Johnathan Gray or Malcolm Brown. These two will take heat for their performances, but they were running into eight-man boxes all night. It was never going to happen.
Passing Defense: The pass rush kept after Hill all night. Considering all of the single coverage, this group deserves credit for never giving up the big pass. Quandre Diggs showed off the stellar ball skills everyone forgot he had.
Rushing Defense: The tale of two halves. The Longhorns bent but didn't break on the five first-half possessions in their territory. Once the 10-minute possession difference started to kick in, the entire defense looked drained. Hill and Adam Hine had way too much fun in the third quarter.
Special Teams: Somebody needs to come up with a good theory on what Nick Rose was aiming for on his field-goal attempt. William Russ was inconsistent punting, and the kick coverage was spotty at best. He and Marcus Johnson's fumble donated two second-half scores. The unit looked a lot like last year's group, minus All-American nail-driver Anthony Fera.
Coaching: Offensive coordinator Shawn Watson and line coach Joe Wickline have a lot of questions to answer. The defense did all it could in the first half, and the offense rewarded it with a big fat goose egg. Wickline's offensive line failed to create any space for the running backs, and Watson's play-calling gave the Cougars zero incentive to pull anyone off the line of scrimmage. These two need to figure it out before 1-1 becomes 2-4.
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
