BYU opens as a 23.5 point favorite

[NewEnglandBull]

57 minutes ago, Brad said:

Their QB left the game injured Saturday.  Whether he returns or not will make a big difference.

It will be a physical game.  Our guys had better be ready to hit and be hit.

These BYU guys have always been physical. With the lack of hitting we do in practice I am wondering if we are prepared for that. 

[Brad]

Exactly my thought...and without depth it could get uglier.

[E.T.]

3 hours ago, Bulls On Parade said:

 

All 3 wins were less than 10 points 

The teams they beat are a combined 3 and 6...2 wins are FCS teams and one is and 0-3 UNLV team.

I think we play them closer than many expect. 

 

We can Win this! It will take a complete game on both sides of the ball.

Weaver, Horn or Battie returning a ball for a TD could be the difference.

[NewEnglandBull]

1 minute ago, E.T. said:

We can Win this! It will take a complete game on both sides of the ball.

Weaver, Horn or Battie returning a ball for a TD could be the difference.

We will need turnovers as well. 

[bulloni]

Small margin of error in a game like this. 

Fumbles and dropped passes cannot happen. We'll probably need some lucky bounces to go our way as well (NC State tipped pass completion style)

[BullyPulpit]

Everyone should go into this game with realistic expectations. This BYU team is legit. They may have lost their starting QB, but their defense is the real deal. Since last year, they are allowing only 15.6 points per game and, in that time, have only allowed more than 20 points 3 times (Houston-26, UCF-23, Coast Carolina-22). Their offense is not as dynamic without Kyle Wilson, but their defense is stout. They are 14-1 over their last 15 games with victories over 4 top 25 teams in that time span. They finished last season ranked 11/16 and they are currently ranked 15/16. They would have been higher if they had been properly ranked in the preseason, but the loss of Wilson was apparently too big of a question mark. 

ESPN's computers give us a 6.9% chance of winning this game, which is lower than our home contest against #8 Cincinnati. We will need everything to go our way to be competitive in this one, much less win it. Cannot turnover the ball. Have to convert on 3rd downs, and need the defense to hold them to FGs and force a couple of turnovers. Most importantly, we MUST protect Timmy. We cannot have him taking unnecessary hits in this one. It isn't worth it. Let's get out of this one with a respectable showing, healthy, and the eyes on making some waves in the AAC. 

[bulloni]

1 minute ago, BullyPulpit said:

Everyone should go into this game with realistic expectations. This BYU team is legit. They may have lost their starting QB, but their defense is the real deal. Since last year, they are allowing only 15.6 points per game and, in that time, have only allowed more than 20 points 3 times (Houston-26, UCF-23, Coast Carolina-22). Their offense is not as dynamic without Kyle Wilson, but their defense is stout. They are 14-1 over their last 15 games with victories over 4 top 25 teams in that time span. They finished last season ranked 11/16 and they are currently ranked 15/16. They would have been higher if they had been properly ranked in the preseason, but the loss of Wilson was apparently too big of a question mark. 

ESPN's computers give us a 6.9% chance of winning this game, which is lower than our home contest against #8 Cincinnati. We will need everything to go our way to be competitive in this one, much less win it. Cannot turnover the ball. Have to convert on 3rd downs, and need the defense to hold them to FGs and force a couple of turnovers. Most importantly, we MUST protect Timmy. We cannot have him taking unnecessary hits in this one. It isn't worth it. Let's get out of this one with a respectable showing, healthy, and the eyes on making some waves in the AAC. 

Yeah this is the game I'm least confident in the rest of the way, we do not match up well with teams that have great size. Plus Cincinnati let us hang around last year and didn't look like a top 10 team this weekend.

[NewEnglandBull]

7 minutes ago, BullyPulpit said:

Everyone should go into this game with realistic expectations. This BYU team is legit. They may have lost their starting QB, but their defense is the real deal. Since last year, they are allowing only 15.6 points per game and, in that time, have only allowed more than 20 points 3 times (Houston-26, UCF-23, Coast Carolina-22). Their offense is not as dynamic without Kyle Wilson, but their defense is stout. They are 14-1 over their last 15 games with victories over 4 top 25 teams in that time span. They finished last season ranked 11/16 and they are currently ranked 15/16. They would have been higher if they had been properly ranked in the preseason, but the loss of Wilson was apparently too big of a question mark. 

ESPN's computers give us a 6.9% chance of winning this game, which is lower than our home contest against #8 Cincinnati. We will need everything to go our way to be competitive in this one, much less win it. Cannot turnover the ball. Have to convert on 3rd downs, and need the defense to hold them to FGs and force a couple of turnovers. Most importantly, we MUST protect Timmy. We cannot have him taking unnecessary hits in this one. It isn't worth it. Let's get out of this one with a respectable showing, healthy, and the eyes on making some waves in the AAC. 

I think the focus and issue is more on the defense. The DBs need to play much more aggressively than they have so far this year. This will important as BYU will want to primarily run the ball after looking at the FAMU game tape. We need to stack the box and the DBs will need to be an island. 

[Rocky Style]

Just now, NewEnglandBull said:

We need to stack the box and the DBs will need to be an island. 

That's scary since they don't turn around.

[Triple B]

Just now, NewEnglandBull said:

We need to stack the box and the DBs will need to be an island.