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The BYU defense celebrates during a college football game against Portland State at LaVell Edwards Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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BYU defenders Tanner Wall (28), Tre Alexander (1) and Evan Johnson (0) react during a college football game at East Carolina in Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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Football has been humorously described as 15 minutes of action crammed into three hours.

You can thank commercial time outs for much of that waiting around. But the game within the game is the 40 seconds between plays as the two teams sub in different personnel packages.

That short period of time can get pretty hectic.

The BYU defense, which is ranked fourth nationally (9.5 points allowed per game), usually rotates through 20 or more players in a game.

“I think it can definitely be labeled as chaos, sometimes even for us as players,” BYU senior defensive tackle Keanu Tanuvasa said. “Sometimes we can find it difficult to get lined up. The biggest part is that we trust the scheme of our defensive coordinator. We have to recognize personnel and recognize the intelligence of why he (defensive coordinator Jay Hill) is doing things.

“It can be last-minute at times but ultimately when we get the proper team out there, the proper formation and the proper defense we want to run, it’s a huge blessing because it makes it easier to stop the offense that’s expected to come from his understand and his greater point of view.”

In most cases, a graduate assistant provides the opponent’s personnel package on a given play to Hill up in the coach’s booth. That process happens 60-70 times a game and has to processed in only a few seconds.

In the first four games, the Cougars have continued to sub at a rapid pace and with many different players, from a high of 23 defensive players in the opener against FCS Portland to 19 different defenders on Saturday against Colorado.

“It can be hectic at times, but we try to buy into what Coach Hill believes and his process,” Tanuvasa said.

The substitution patterns can sometimes lead to penalties. BYU has been flagged twice this season for 12 men on the field, one of them taking away an interception at East Carolina. The frantic nature can also lead to having the wrong personnel on the field or players out of position.

The rules allow for the defense to have time to make substitutions if the offense changes it’s personnel. As many as five or six players for both sides transition onto the field to exchange places with teammates. Fans are often treated to the site of 300-pound defensive linemen slowly trotting off the field in an attempt to force a delay of game.

BYU head coach Kalani Sitake believes the use of frequent subs is an essential action that will lead to success in the Big 12.

“You have to match what the offense does,” Sitake said. “If they come out with two tight ends, it’s going to be a different personnel group (for BYU) then if they have no tight ends. Or they may come out with four wide receivers. We wish we could have a bunch of Fred Warners where we could cover wide receivers with our ‘backers, but you have to make some adjustments. We stayed in our base defense and asked Zay (Isaiah Glasker) and Jack (Jack Kelly) to cover slot receivers. We’re not against it.

“With the pace and change up of (the other team’s) offensive coordinators and how they try to use different personal, I think Jay has done a great job of combatting that. The offense dictates what they are going to be in and we have to respond to it and in a timely manner before the refs give us that window to sub into.”

Raider Damuni is a junior safety who helps direct the subs to the right spots.

“I think it’s good because we see the field,” he said. “We see everything. We get the play call, and once we see what personnel we’re in it’s easier for us to get everyone lined up and we can communicate that. Being in an away situation game, it’s easier for us to communicate. At home, we have to yell because you can’t hear each other. But it’s something we’ve gotten better at over the years.”

One of the advantages of subbing so frequently is, hopefully, a fresher defensive unit on the field down the stretch.

That’s what championship contenders need.

“The defense has done a good job of getting out of those final drives when a field goal or touchdown beats you,” Hill said on this week’s Coordinator Corner. “I think about SMU and Baylor last year. Everybody (in the Big 12) has a great offensive coordinators this year, every game is going to be a dogfight. I don’t care what the stats say, we’re facing good teams, good offenses and good coordinators every week. Our guys have got to make sure they stay hungry and humble and keep working to what has got us where we’re at. As good as we are, nobody is going to bow down to us.”