BYU Football: Cougars Will Inch Closer to Top 25 in Week 3

The Brigham Young Cougars will crack the top 25 this college football season.

It won’t be after Week 3, but they’ll give voters every reason to consider it.

The Cougars suffered a devastating loss to the Texas Longhorns. They had Texas teetering on the ropes Week 2, but couldn’t pull off the upset.

Still, BYU only won the game by or one point and received their due credit in the polls. They received 14 votes and will continue to receive more moving forward.

If history is any indication, BYU is in store for a winning season.

“Starting the season 1-1 is nothing new for head coach Bronco Mendenhall. In 2006 and 2007 Mendenhall and the Cougars started 1-1 in the first two games and went on to 11-2 seasons each year,” according to BYUCougars.com’s Jordan Christiansen.

Considering the amount of movement we’ve seen through two weeks, we can only expect more teams to fluctuate at the bottom of the top 25. This will give BYU the opening they need to pounce and catapult themselves inside the poll.

Saturday’s matchup with Utah could prove to be an even greater test than Texas was. Utah is one of the most underrated programs in the nation and was close to knocking USC off its perch last weekend.

USC running back Marc Tyler proved to be the key to victory for the Trojans, not QB Matt Barkley. Barkley only threw for 284 yards, one touchdown and one interception. It was Tyler serving as the workhorse that took down the Utes, as he carried the rock 24 times for 113 yards and a score.

This is the moment JJ Di Luigi has been waiting for. This is his chance to finally breakout for the Cougars after two sub-par games. He has been limited to just 26 attempts for 95 yards this season, but BYU will need to rely on him if they want to complete an upset. It is imperative the Cougars control the clock and pace of the game with Di Luigi. He needs at least 20 carries for nearly 100 yards.

More importantly, the Cougars need to continue getting the ball into their running back’s hands through the air. They need to get their running backs in open space to do massive damage.

“BYU’s offense has featured the passing game for decades, including the running backs getting into the action. Often times the running backs can be seen spreading out into the slot receiver position or catching passes out of the backfield. Four different running backs have caught passes for the Cougars in the 2011 season, including JJ Di Luigi (eight catches for 56 yards), Michael Alisa (four catches for 33 yards), Bryan Kariya (three catches for 20 yards) and Josh Quezada (two catches for 8 yards),” according to Christiansen.

If Di Luigi can force the Utes to focus on him, he will open the aerial attack for Jake Heaps. Heaps has been decent this year, but he needs Di Luigi to take the pressure off of him and his receivers. Only then will the Cougars offense enjoy success.

The defense is already there. They’re yearning for the offense to keep up to pull off this upset. Utah has a solid offense led by RB John White IV.

White IV already has 208 yards and three scores on the ground. He is opening the offense for Jordan Wynn to enjoy success as he already has three touchdown passes of his own through the air.

BYU has a stout defense that can counter Utah’s offense, but it is up to the offense to show up in this game and win it for the program.

The Cougars’ season lies with the progression of the offense. Their time is now to make noise in the BCS. They need to take the momentum they built against Texas and use it to upset Utah. The Cougars need this game to inch closer to the top 25, which they are more than capable of doing.

This is BYU’s chance to take the nation by storm. They’re on ESPN2 Saturday night at 9:15 p.m., so all eyes will be on them. BYU will have an electric crowd behind them as it will be their home opener. Everything is aligning for the Cougars to upset the Utes.