ESPN’s Trevor Matich optimistic about BYU football for 2021
Former BYU star offensive lineman and current ESPN college football commentator Trevor Matich talks during the "State of the Program" show at Cougar football Media Day at the BYU Broadcasting Building in Provo on Thursday, June 17, 2021.
BYU players celebrate after the 49-23 Cougar win over UCF in the 2020 Boca Raton Bowl at FAU Stadium in Boca Raton, Florida, on Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2020.
BYU football players Chaz Ah You (right) and Max Tooley talk to reporters at Cougar football Media Day at the BYU Broadcasting Building in Provo on Thursday, June 17, 2021.
BYU offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick talks during the "State of the Program" show at Cougar football Media Day at the BYU Broadcasting Building in Provo on Thursday, June 17, 2021.
BYU head football coach Kalani Sitake (left) talks to former Utah governor Gary Herbert at Cougar football Media Day at the BYU Broadcasting Building in Provo on Thursday, June 17, 2021.
BYU associate athletic director Gary Veron (left), former Utah governor Gary Herbert (center) and Derek Miller, president and CEO of the Salt Lake Chamber talk to reporters about the "Built 4 Life" program at Cougar football Media Day at the BYU Broadcasting Building in Provo on Thursday, June 17, 2021.
BYU defensive coordinator Ilaisa Tuiaki (right) and assistant head football coach Ed Lamb talk during the "State of the Program" show at Cougar football Media Day at the BYU Broadcasting Building in Provo on Thursday, June 17, 2021.
BYU football players talk to reporters at Cougar football Media Day at the BYU Broadcasting Building in Provo on Thursday, June 17, 2021.
BYU receivers Samson Nacua (left) and Puka Nacua talk to reporters at Cougar football Media Day at the BYU Broadcasting Building in Provo on Thursday, June 17, 2021.
BYU and community representatives pose for a photo as part of starting the "Built 4 Life" program before the Cougar football Media Day at the BYU Broadcasting Building in Provo on Thursday, June 17, 2021.
BYU director of athletics Tom Holmoe talks during the "State of the Program" show at Cougar football Media Day at the BYU Broadcasting Building in Provo on Thursday, June 17, 2021.
BYU offensive line coach Darrell Funk talks to reporters at Cougar football Media Day at the BYU Broadcasting Building in Provo on Thursday, June 17, 2021.
BYU assistant head coach Ed Lamb talks to reporters at Cougar football Media Day at the BYU Broadcasting Building in Provo on Thursday, June 17, 2021.
BYU cornerbacks coach Jernaro Gilford talks to reporters at Cougar football Media Day at the BYU Broadcasting Building in Provo on Thursday, June 17, 2021.
Let's talk football ...
BYU head football coach Kalani Sitake (center) talks to reporters during the "State of the Program" show at Cougar football Media Day at the BYU Broadcasting Building in Provo on Thursday, June 17, 2021. For full coverage of Media Day, see page B1.
BYU director of athletics Tom Holmoe (center) and head football coach Kalani Sitake (right) talk during the "State of the Program" show at Cougar football Media Day at the BYU Broadcasting Building in Provo on Thursday, June 17, 2021.
Trevor Matich maybe a former BYU football star offensive lineman but he also pays close attention to college football on a national level. That’s his job, since he is a college football analyst for ESPN.
He still enjoys seeing his alma mater have success, though.
“BYU was part of ESPN GameDay twice last year and they delivered,” Matich said at Cougar football Media Day last week. “One of the reasons that BYU is so good for ESPN is that they are exciting. There is a natural national and international fanbase for BYU. It’s not just members of the LDS Church. It’s people who have grown up seeing that Y on the helmet and knowing that it’s going to be fun to watch. Those people are all over the world. The team last year delivering that level of entertainment, winning games, dancing on the sideline, all those things bring an emotional component that brings fans to them and brings broadcasters to them as well.”
Matich said what he hears most from colleagues is how much fun BYU is to watch and how BYU players respect the game.
“For them to say that means a lot,” Matich said. “It’s a good time to be a BYU fan.”
While many outside prognosticators expect BYU to take a significant step back from their big season in 2020 (11-1, No. 11 national ranking), Matich isn’t as pessimistic.
“Most people nationally think that if BYU wins eight games this year, it will be a good season,” Matich said. “If the Cougars win nine, it will be incredible. I agree that if BYU wins nine games this year, it will be a phenomenal season but the Cougars could win more.”
He believes the Cougars have the pieces to maintain their high level of play.
“What BYU head coach Kalani Sitake and his staff have done is put themselves on a trajectory to build a Power Five-style program here,” Matich said. “The reason is the way they are able to reload and not just rebuild. They put 12 guys from last year’s team into NFL camps this summer, five of them getting drafted. Normally there would be a big fallback but the guys who are replacing most of those positions have started a lot of games and played a lot of football. They are confident and ready to go. How well they perform? That’s up to them, but that’s a big difference.”
Matich also doesn’t buy into the argument that the only reason the Cougars had a great year last season was because they weren’t able to schedule any games against Power Five opponents during the pandemic-induced turmoil of 2020.
“BYU played a lot of very good football teams, teams that were very difficult to beat,” Matich said. “In doing so, they still came up one yard short of a perfect season during COVID-19, which is extraordinary all the way around. It is fair to say that this year’s schedule with seven Power Five opponents is going to be a different animal. We’ll see how they do but I think they have a good team and will compete very well against this schedule. But fans have to be careful about how they evaluate this team because of the difference in the schedule.”
Matich sees a team that has quality depth and has athletes that are NFL-caliber, which makes him intrigued to see where the Cougars will end up.
“I’m sure they are not exactly where they expect to be in a couple of year but they are heading in that direction,” Matich said. “I think that’s one of the reasons fans can be extremely excited about the potential of this team this season.”
Matich said he is going to be examining BYU in terms of how well the Cougars compete week-in and week-out.
“I’m looking to see if they are getting the most out of the players that they have and looking for the chemistry to come together,” Matich said. “Part of the success last year was that they blazed a trail during COVID, something that had never happened before in college football. BYU went out and showed the rest of college football how to play safely and at a high level. In doing so, they had to come together and rely on each other.”
He believes that the 2021 squad has to show the same chemistry if it wants to be the best it can be.
“That chemistry needs to be completely rebuilt because they lost a lot of guys to the league,” Matich said. “That will really be the key to the season because they have enough talent to be competitive with everybody on that schedule — and even to beat everyone on that schedule.”