BYU Vs Florida St: So What Happened?

In the first two games of the 2009 season, the BYU cougars defense allowed only 16 points. In the first half of the game on Saturday against Florida State,  the Cougar D allowed 30, in the first half!

The question is what happened to the aggressive hard hitting D that played against Oklahoma and Tulane? It looked as if the Cougars didn't want to hit anyone and dove at the feet of the Seminoles players instead FSU rolled over the Cougar D and converted every third down conversation until late in the third quarter.

The soft bend but not break defense that BYU has made its triumphant return to Provo and FSU made a huge statement by blowing the doors off of it.

The hard thing to really grasp is that this should have been a closer game. The Cougar offense looked as if they were running on all cylinders as they scored touchdowns on two out of three possessions in the first half with the only stop coming off of an O'Neil Chambers fumble.

The problem is they only had the three possessions. After the Cougars fumbled, they were playing catch-up while FSU was able to convert on every possession and score a crushing 30 points in the first half.

Playing from behind, it seemed like the Cougars just fell apart. It looked a lot like the Cougars from last year and that's not a good thing. A year ago BYU folded under the pressure of big games but it looked as if BYU had shaken that as they were able to pull off the upset of Oklahoma in week one. They then put on an offensive clinic against Tulane in week 2. Then in week three, history seemed to repeat itself.

Could it have been that the Cougars overlooked Florida St? It is really hard for me to get there but as poorly as the defense played I can't seem to find another reason. FSU was clearly ready for BYU but the Cougars were clearly not ready for the Seminoles.

Now the Cougars have to concentrate on trying to win their 3rd MWC title in 4 years as they open conference play next week vs. Colorado St.