DICKSON: The Razorbacks scored on eight straight possessions against the Cougars last year at LES.

On Saturday, after Arkansas scored to take a 31-21 lead, BYU’s defense had six straight stops: A fourth down stop, Max Tooley’s interception, a missed Arkansas field goal, a punt, a fumble recovery by Tyler Batty and a final stop at the end of the game. Only one of those stops was a traditional 3-and-out.

In other words, the Cougar defense responded to adversity extremely well. That’s something that can get you a win in a tough situation.

LLOYD: One of the most disappointing facts about BYU football under Kalani Sitake has been the fact that it has struggled to rally when it falls behind. It’s 12-point comeback at Houston in 2020 was the largest deficit Sitake’s squad had ever overcome, prior to last week.

Courtesy BYU Photo

Part of that has been limited legitimate opportunities to make those big turnarounds (most games have been wins or close losses) but you want guys always believing they are never out of a fame.

A game is 60 minutes long not counting overtime and all that matters is who has more points on the scoreboard at the end. How and when they get them is often overrated.

This Cougar team showed me it is ready to battle for four quarters, regardless of the setting or circumstances. That’s a foundation BYU will need in the tough games to come.

2. Given the win at Arkansas and BYU’s 3-0 start, are you revising your prediction for how many wins the Cougars will earn in 2023?

LLOYD: I certainly can’t hide from the fact that I said the Cougars would go 6-6 in 2023, since it was prominently published in the Daily Herald sports section on Aug. 26.

I’ve already got one game wrong and frankly I expect to get a couple of more wrong as well. This BYU defense is creating more turnovers than I anticipated and that changes games.

Courtesy BYU Photo

If I look at the games BYU has left, I think the trips to TCU and Texas will be really tough for the Cougars. I like BYU’s chances to defeat Cincinnati and Iowa State in Provo.

Honestly, at this point, all of the other five games look like toss-ups. I think 5-0 is unlikely but so is 0-5. If you think of the Cougars going 3-2 or 2-3 in those matchups, that is seven or eight wins this year and that’s pretty good.

DICKSON: I thought a 6-6 season would be a great start in the Big 12 but a couple of things have given me an idea that the Cougars could do better.

The first, of course, is the 3-0 start. Maybe the most optimistic BYU fan thought the Cougars could win at Arkansas, but that changes things.

The other item to note is that the Big 12 looks wide open. Texas struggled last week at Wyoming and plenty of other teams looked vulnerable.

I don’t think BYU can rely duplicating the kind of win it had in Fayetteville because so many things went their way. But I do believe the ceiling for the Cougars could be eight wins in 2023, and that would be terrific.

3. What’s the biggest test for the Cougars on this week’s road trip to open Big 12 play at Kansas?

DICKSON: There have been several big wins over the years that have been followed up with a less-than-stellar performance the next week. Consistency is a difficult thing to master for a college football team.

Kansas is not the Kansas of old. The Jayhawks are really talented offensively, maybe even more talented than Arkansas. The defense will surely be tested by the all-around talents of quarterback Jalon Daniels and running back Devin Neal.

Each week presents different challenges, but the Cougars will need to A) get stops and B) win the turnover battle. That would give them the best chance to get a win in Lawrence.

LLOYD: The BYU offense has to take a bigger role in the success of the team.

Yes, the Cougars were opportunistic at Arkansas and when a team gets those chances, it needs to capitalize. But it also needs to churn out some long drives and put opposing defenses on their heels.

I like Kansas’s offense a lot and frankly I don’t think BYU will consistently be able to stop it. The corollary point, then, is that the Cougar offense will have to pick up the slack.

Kedon Slovis and the weapons around him need to elevate their performance this week and make more critical plays. If they do, I see BYU being right there at the end and having another chance to win.

4. The BYU women’s soccer team lost their No. 1 ranking last week, tying TCU at home and losing to Utah State in Logan. What do the Cougars have to do this week to win at Baylor Thursday night?

LLOYD: No team ever wants to lose but sometimes a loss isn’t the worst thing in the world, particularly out of conference early in the season.

Credit the Aggies for holding the potent BYU offense in check, something we saw at times in 2022. Soccer is all about finishing and the Cougars simply couldn’t find a way to get the ball into the back of the net.

This is a BYU team that has plenty of veterans and I thought that made a huge difference in the come-from-behind tie against TCU. At Utah State, though, the Cougars didn’t play cohesively enough.

Now that the target on their backs has diminished a little bit, hopefully BYU can get back to the smooth, free-flowing style that allows the Cougars to get the ball up the field and into dangerous positions — and then BYU just needs to finish those opportunities.

DICKSON: The TCU game was disappointing but the loss at Utah State was a shocker. The Aggies have beaten BYU twice and tied once in the past three seasons, so they seem to have the Cougars’ number.

Against Utah State, the frustration boiled over for BYU and I think it really affected their play on offense. This is a very talented team and to get shut out was a huge surprise. The longer the Cougars went without scoring, the more their frustration showed.

Baylor (5-3-1) has a good club and BYU will need to be focused on the task at hand, not dwelling on what went wrong in Logan. Coach Jennifer Rockwood knows her stuff and should be able to get her team locked in for a redemption performance.

5. Former BYU standout Puka Nacua is setting all kinds of rookie records in the NFL as a receiver for the Rams. What part of Nacua’s game is most impressive?

DICKSON: The most impressive part of Nacua’s game is what has always been his greatest asset: his body control.

No matter what position he ends up in on a route he can get his hands around and on the ball. It’s what makes him so difficult to defend.

Defensive backs often read the receiver to figure out what route they are running and when the ball is going to arrive. Nacua is pretty crafty and the Rams are pretty lucky to have him.

Head coach Sean McVay said that the game makes sense to Nacua, and that is exactly right. He always made the game look easy and that he was a step ahead of any defender.

LLOYD: Nacua fell into the perfect situation in Los Angeles, playing in an offense that loves the possession passing game but had lost its star (Cooper Kupp) for a few games. It’s no wonder the former BYU receiver has gotten the chance to shine.

But as Darnell pointed out, Nacua has always had a tremendous feel for the game, even back during his time winning state championships at Orem High. His intuition regarding how to make plays is something almost impossible to teach.

In that sense, he reminds me of former BYU linebackers Kyle Van Noy and Fred Warner, who often seemed to have that same characteristic.

Ironically, Warner had to chase Nacua around on Sunday as the 49ers played the Rams and although the rookie had a big day, it was Warner’s San Francisco team that got the win.