05 September 2008

Keys to a Cougar win

If BYU wins at Washington tomorrow, it will be the first Cougar win against a BCS team on the road since Doman and Staley beat Mississippi State 41-38 in 2001. 

That was a long time ago. 

I personally believe it'll be a BYU win tomorrow, but I thought the same thing about Tulsa last year, and look what happened there.

If Hall, Unga, Collie and Co. win this game, it will be because of three things:

1. Unga gets holes. Unga is not the kind of back who can create something out of nothing. If the play doesn't develop like it should, he's down in the backfield almost every time. And if the offensive line can't get the run game going, Washington's defensive backs will force Max to beat them long. As I mentioned in my thoughts about the UNI game, I don't think Hall can do that. 

2. BYU needs to contain Washington quarterback Jake Locker and make him beat them with his arm. Locker is a fast and quick, but he can't throw worth beans from what I've seen. If the Cougars stick one or two linebackers on him and prevent the scramble, that will stop the Huskies dead in their tracks offensively.

3. If Washington brings the linebackers on every play, essentially denying BYU the ability to run the ball, Pitta will be the key, much like he was against UNI. Hall will need to look for him early and often.

That's it. We'll be able to see pretty quickly whether or not BYU can do these three things or not on Saturday.

Go Cougars!

2 comments:

LaPaube said...

Only one key to this game: don't screw it up. True, UW is a BCS-conference team, but it isn't a BCS team. Not this decade anyway. There will be no excuse for losing this game.

Heather O said...

Locker is a good quarterback, I was surprised how well he played today. Pitta was amazing, that guy is unstoppable - two weeks running. And Harvey Unga I think did make something of nothing several times today. Good thing they squeaked that one out, bring on the bruins!