BYU unimpressive in win over Houston

BYU’s win over 18.5 point underdog Houston was rather lackluster. With BYU up 23-0, it looked like things were playing out as they should have. BYU was in total control and then a fluke strip/fumble and subsequent Hail Mary kind of turned the tide. I would have liked to see BYU rebound in the second half, score another 20 points and put the game out of reach. They only managed 10 points in the second half and ended up winning by just one possession, 33-25. That said, good teams still win even when they don’t play their best. Give BYU credit but they will need to play much more impressively if they want to move up in the polls.

A few observations:

• Taysom Hill is an incredible football player – “Mormon Tebow” as I’ve heard him called. As mentioned before, he will likely be the single best athlete on the field in the remainder of BYU’s games.
• If BYU can’t keep their best athlete on the field though, this team is completely different. Hill just takes so many hits. He is very tough but one guy can only endure so much pain.
• Jamaal Williams is being overlooked this year. He is a very, very good running back. All the focus is on Taysom Hill but Jamaal ran for 89 yards against Texas and then 139 against Houston last night. A tailback on pace for a 1200 yard season is nothing to sneeze at (and he didn’t even play in the first game because of suspension). Not only is Jamall not the first option, even when it is a designed running back play, Hine and Lasike get a fair share of carries also.
• It would be nice to see Williams carry, or even catch the ball more. He has big play potential and increased touches would also reduce the number of times Taysom gets hit in a game by 4 or 5.
• The other problem I see with the offense is Taysom is still not a reliable thrower. He has some weapons to throw to and he’s frankly not shown the ability to drop back, stand in the pocket and hit guys in stride 20-30 yards down field. Part of it is that his first instinct is to run but he is also just not a real accurate passer.
• What I’d like to see BYU do more of is get the ball to their play-makers on quick hits. Jamaal Williams, Jordan Leslie, and Devon Blackmon (who I believe was playing in his first game last night). More screens, quick slants, maybe some reverses, etc. As the game wears on it seems like Taysom is playing school yard football. He tells everyone to run out and get open and if they aren’t he just takes off scrambling. Again, he’s great at it but even when he doesn’t take a hit and he’s weaving and dodging would-be tacklers, he is prone to injury. Why not remove 5 or 6 of those “school yard” plays and run actual designed quick throws to the other guys on the team that have big play potential. It would make BYU even more dangerous. Tasyom would still have plenty of chances to run wild and work his magic. And of course you would still need to throw down field to keep teams honest, even if that is not Taysom’s greatest strength.
• The quarterback from Houston is a very nice player. It would be wrong to say BYU just let Houston back in the game. That O’korn kid can really play which we already knew from watching him in the game last year in Houston.
• BYU’s defense is pretty nasty. They were without Bronson Kaufusi last night but they still looked really good. If you take away the Hail Mary, they only gave up 18 points. And the BYU offense did them no favors by turning the ball over 3 times. I think what I love most is how they just fly to the ball and hit. They are fun to watch. And no one seems to be able to run on them.

All in all – a win is a win. That said, BYU missed a golden opportunity. They were the premiere game on ESPN on Thursday night with their QB getting a little Heisman pub. What looked like a game that was heading to a 50-10 type thrashing turned into a hard fought contest. BYU could have really made a statement and maybe climbed another 3 or 4 spots in the polls.