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BYU junior safety Malik Moore runs with the ball after making an interception during the 21-19 BYU win over Washington State at Martin Stadium in Pullman, Wash., on Saturday, Oct. 23, 2021. (Jaren Wilkey, BYU Photo)

Jaren Wilkey/BYU Photo

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BYU freshman defensive back Jakob Robinson breaks up a pass during the 21-19 BYU win over Washington State at Martin Stadium in Pullman, Wash., on Saturday, Oct. 23, 2021. (Jaren Wilkey, BYU Photo)

Jaren Wilkey/BYU Photo

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BYU junior running back Lopini Katoa celebrates scoring a touchdown during the 21-19 BYU win over Washington State at Martin Stadium in Pullman, Wash., on Saturday, Oct. 23, 2021. (Jaren Wilkey, BYU Photo)

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Virginia Cavaliers head coach Bronco Mendenhall watches the game from the sidelines during the second half of a NCAA college football game against Miami, Thursday, Sept. 30, 2021, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

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In the eight games the BYU football team has played so far in the 2021 season, the Cougars have seen a variety of opposing offensive styles.

The stat rankings, however, show that BYU hasn’t faced a true passing juggernaut.

Here is where the eight Cougar foes are ranked in passing offense this fall:

• Utah State, 303.4 yards per game (15th in the nation).
• Boise State, 287.6 (23rd).
• Washington State, 262.5 (40th).
• Baylor, 233.4 (69th).
• Utah, 231.9 (70th).
• Arizona State, 229.9 (73rd).
• Arizona, 209.9 (91st).
• South Florida, 169.6 (113th).

BYU’s defense held just half those teams under their season averages, although two of those successes were by only a few yards.

Now the Cougar pass defense faces by far its biggest test of the year, since Virginia is coming into Provo with the No. 2-ranked passing offense in the country and averages 100 yards more than any prior BYU opponent (404.6 yards per game).

“They’re really good,” Cougar defensive coordinator Ilaisa Tuiaki said earlier this week. “They’re obviously well-coached and have a lot of good players. I think Robert Anae has just done an awesome job with them as shown by where they’re at and just the type of stats they’re putting up, the amount of points they’re putting up. It’s a really, really tough offense to prepare for. We’ve got our work cut out for us.”

BYU sophomore defensive back Jacob Boren agreed that the Cavaliers are going to present some problems for his guys.

“We have a big challenge in front of us,” Boren said. “They have some really good wide receivers especially. And so this week, we really need to be dialed in with just our technique, and our coverage isn’t like that. So every day we have to practices really important.”

Leading the way for Virginia is quarterback Brennan Armstrong, who Cougar head coach Kalani Sitake said is a great student of the game.

“The core of what they teach, he fits that,” Sitake said. “That goes before Virginia. He has a high football IQ. You can see when you’re watching him that he has a great presence about him. He is a great leader and has confidence that you want in a quarterback. He throws efficiently and makes great decisions. When you have that, you’re going to score a lot of points and make the other team’s defense look silly. They really stress the defense. Their quarterback watches the defense and finds your one mistake and really exposes it.”

But these are the challenges the players embrace, a sentiment BYU junior defensive lineman/linebacker Pepe Tanuvasa emphasized.

“it’s something you dream about as a kid,” Tanuvasa said with a grin. “These are the games that you want to play the most.”

Since there is going to be immense pressure on the BYU defense, it will be key for the Cougars to get support from the other parts of the team.

It would certainly help out the BYU defenders if the Cougar offense was able to flip the script had have the ball more. Opponents have won the time-of-possession battle in six of BYU’s eight game.

“I think that’s a huge help in football in general,” Tuiaki said. “You look at just any of the teams playing. If the offense is scoring, then it takes a lot of pressure off the defense. When the defense is playing well and the offense is keeping the ball, it’s a complimentary deal. I think it’s just the tactical game of football. You want the offense to do well and you want the defense to keep key points off the board. The more you have possession of the ball, the better off you’re going to be.”

Cougar offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick said his unit always wants to score on every possession but understands the importance of performing at a high level this week.

“In any football game when when one team is controlling the pace of the game or controlling the clock, that can that can have an impact,” Roderick said. “We just want to just want to be efficient and want to score points.”

No. 25 BYU vs. Virginia

TIME: 8:15 p.m. MT

TV: ESPN2

WHERE: LaVell Edwards Stadium

THE WORD: This will be the sixth meeting between BYU and Virginia with the Cavaliers having a 3-2 lead in the series. The Cougars won the last game, a 41-33 win in Provo in 2014, while Virginia won, 19-16, in Charlottesville in 2013 … This is the only game BYU will play against an opponent from the Atlantic Coast Conference but the sixth of seven games in 2021 where BYU will play an opponent from a Power-5 conference. BYU is 4-1, having defeated Arizona, Utah, Arizona State and Washington State and having lost at Baylor. BYU will finish the regular season playing at USC … BYU has won 599 games since its first official collegiate season in 1922. Its next win will be No. 600. The Cougars would become the 60th program in the history of college football to win 600 games.

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