BYU Football: It's Time for the Offense to Step Up

This Saturday’s game against UNLV provides the perfect opportunity for the BYU offense to get healthy.

Bronco Mendenhall has said that he and his staff have seen small, incremental improvements in the offense.

The fans, however, are restless and eager to see a marked improvement as the Cougars embark on the final third of their season.

This is the second game of four very winnable contests, starting with Wyoming two weeks ago, and finishing with Colorado State on the road on November 13th, and New Mexico at home on November 20th.

Victories in all four games would make the Cougars bowl-eligible before they venture into Salt Lake City to take on Utah in the season finale.

Come Saturday, BYU will have had two weeks to prepare for the lowly 1-7 Rebels.

Many thought that the Cougars’ last game against Wyoming would be the breakout game for a BYU offense that was facing one of the worst defenses in the country in the Cowboys.

The Cougars won the game 25-20 despite just 81 yards through the air and 298 yards of total offense. The offense seemed to be on the verge of putting the Cowboys away until Jake Heaps threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown, followed by a fumble by Josh Quezada that led to a Wyoming field goal.

Those two turnovers kept Wyoming down by only six points despite having -18 total yards in the first half. In the end, the BYU defense was called upon to hold back the Cowboys late in the game to preserve the victory.

Last week’s bye was a good opportunity for Heaps and the Cougars to get themselves right and work out a legion of kinks, and UNLV provides BYU with the perfect opportunity to win two games in a row for the first time this year.

The Rebels are coached by first-year head coach Bobby Hauck, who came to Las Vegas from Montana, where he led the Grizzlies to three appearances in the FCS national title game.

Hauck and his staff are trying to create a winner in Las Vegas.

Many have tried in Sin City, but none have been successful. UNLV’s lone victory this year was chalked up against a hapless New Mexico team that may be the worst FBS team in America.

The Rebels give up 38 points per game, which is 113th in the country. They are 99th in total defense, and rank 118th in rush defense.

UNLV is 54th in pass defense, but that stat is misleading.

Since opponents have had so much success running on the Rebels, they have had little need to attack through the air. When they have thrown the ball they have been successful, witnessed by the fact that UNLV is 113th in the country in pass efficiency defense.

Outside of the Lobos, UNLV has given up 30 or more points in every game this year. They have given up 40 or more in five of their eight games.

It may be safe to conclude that after two weeks of prep time for this game, if the Cougars offense doesn’t get something going and show real improvement against the Rebels, it’s not going to happen in 2011.