BYU football looking for defensive improvement after mediocre half and off week
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- BYU defenders make a tackle during the Big 12 game against Baylor at McLane Stadium in Waco, Texas, on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024.
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- BYU defenders make a tackle during the Big 12 game against Kansas State at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024.
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- A BYU defender attempts to tackle Kansas State quarterback Avery Johnson during the Big 12 game at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024.
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- BYU defenders make a tackle during the non-conference game against Wyoming in Laramie on Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024.
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- BYU defenders make a tackle during the game against Southern Illinois at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo on Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024.
A large part of credit for the BYU football team being undefeated through the first five games of the 2024 season belongs with the Cougar defense, which is only giving up 15.8 points per game (17th in the nation).
That may be pretty good, but BYU defensive coordinator Jay Hill was quick to point out that his Cougar unit still has a lot of areas to work on.
“There’s still a lot of improvement we need to make,” Hill said after practice on Tuesday.
He specified four specific areas where he wants BYU to be better:
- Third downs: “We’ve let teams out of the hole a couple of times when we should’ve had them pinned on third-and-longs,” Hill said.
- Allowing drives: “We’ve let teams into the red zone too many times,” Hill said. “We’ve been good at getting out of those opportunities, but we need to do a better job keeping them out of the red zone.”
- Stopping the run: “Our overall execution could improve a little bit,” Hill said. “I thought the physicality in the run game was better in the Baylor game, but that’s something we’ve got to continue to get better at.”
- Having guys ready: “Depth is another thing we need to work on,” Hill said. “We need to continue to get guys back and improve that overall.”
When asked about the pass rush, Hill said he felt like the Cougars are “close” but “not there yet.”
“We’ve missed some opportunities with linebackers, the defensive line and defensive backs,” he said. “It’s better than last year but no, it’s not quite what I expect from us.”
The entire BYU defense definitely got a wakeup call in the second half of the 34-28 win at Baylor.
The Cougars appeared to be in complete control as they led 28-7 at one point and had a 31-14 lead at halftime, only to have the Bears rally with two second-half TDs and have chances to take the lead down the stretch.
BYU freshman defensive back Tommy Prassas said that game may have been a week-and-a-half ago but there were important lessons the Cougars need to take to heart from what happened in Waco, Texas.
“We can’t let up,” Prassas said. “We’ve got to keep pounding and keep doing our jobs. We need to keep playing with good technique and doing everything our coaches teach. If we don’t, these teams are good. They are going to have the chance to come back and possibly win. We can’t let that happen again.”
BYU junior defensive back Crew Wakley said he feels like the benefit of having the week of was getting some time to lock in on the little things that need to be done better.
“The bye week was good for us to reset, get back to our fundamentals and clean up some of the things we’ve been getting away with,” Wakley said. “It’s a chance to really hone in on what we do.”
But while drilling down on the details and healing up some bumps and bruises is nice, the bottom line is that these guys are football players and so much of what they do is about getting out on the gridiron on game day.
“It’s nice to recover but I think I speak for a lot of people when I say we are chomping on the bit to get back after it,” Wakley said. “We are ready to play ball again.”
The Cougars will look to show those defensive improvements when they host Arizona at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo on Saturday (2 p.m. MT, FOX).
