BYU game

[martymoose]

Good showing today.

I was really impressed with our defense. If one were to tell me that we’d only give up six points in the second half against BYU, I’d have called you crazy. I liked how we were pressing with the corners, but there were a few times when we were beat by a pretty underwhelming group of BYU receivers where a better pass would have burned us. That being said, we also had some great plays by the corners where they were in position, looked back to the ball and made the play. Seisay had some good break ups. I’m excited to see how our defense does next week against OSU, as I think we should be a little deeper on the defensive line. Speaking of depth, I thought that stood out. Elevation, high temps, being an FCS program, and we didn’t fall apart. Says quite a bit for our defensive depth.

Eason looked good. By good I mean mistake free. He sure didn’t look like a true freshman in his first game. That pick he threw was a bit of luck for BYU. If he puts that ball about five to six inches lower, we’d now be talking about what a great throw it was. He did seem to be high on quite a few throws, and some seemed to have a little more heat on them than needed. Although, some needed to be really fired in there, and he was able to get that done. Not sure if the early short pass calls were by design to build some confidence, but it sure seemed to work that way. I was also impressed with his reads on the option plays that were ran.

Cowden was money punting today. 47.9 over 7 punts. Can’t ask for more than that. Well, two touchbacks. Come on Cowden. Kidding. Great first game on a big stage. Place kicking will be interesting to watch this season. I feel bad for Brosio since he missed that PAT and didn’t get another chance today. That 0-1 will probably not sit well in the back of his mind this week. Hopefully we score early and often next week and he’ll forget about it.

86 yards on the ground is normally a bit concerning, but damn, BYU’s linebackers are so freaking talented. There were many times that we had the edge and were just ran down. We seemed to run a lot of draws today that looked open initially, but closed so very fast. I can see those being productive as we get into BSC play.

We’ve never played BYU, but man, their reputation for being a ‘cheap shot’ team is a little bit solidified in my mind. Two chop block flags and a third that was called off. Also, there was a few plays out there today that could have had flags thrown for targeting. Our unsportsmanlike call on our TD was nothing to brag about, but raising your finger up to your mouth after scoring is a far cry short of a chop block or going head to head on a tackle. Eh, maybe I’m just being a bit critical.

Onward to OSU next weekend. So close in 2014 for the upset, hopefully we can pull it off next weekend.

 

[BroadwayVik]

PROVO — For BYU, playing a Week Zero game against an FCS opponent wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.

So much for working out the kinks and developing a rhythm before diving into the teeth of the schedule.

The Cougars put on an underwhelming, lackluster performance — particularly on the offensive side of the ball. But BYU did enough to beat Portland State 20-6 in front of a national television audience and a crowd of 55,427 at LaVell Edwards Stadium on a sweltering Saturday afternoon.

“Tough game,” Cougar coach Kalani Sitake said. “I’m happy we got the win, but I thought we made some mistakes that didn’t help much.”

In the locker room after the game, Sitake had to remind his players that they actually won.

“The guys obviously weren’t happy with the performance,” Sitake told reporters afterward.

“This definitely wasn’t our best performance. It was a little too sloppy,” said quarterback Tanner Mangum. “We had way too many penalties, shooting ourselves in the foot, especially on big plays. That’s something we don’t want to have happen. We have to get better than that.”

Who would have guessed that BYU would be clinging to an eight-point lead at the start of the fourth quarter? Portland State was driving into Cougar territory with seven minutes left in the game, trailing just 17-6.

BYU’s offense, breaking in a bunch of skill position players, sputtered for much of the contest. Even the veteran offensive line committed untimely penalties, including chop blocks.

“That’s supposed to be our strength,” Sitake said of the O-line.

Still, despite the struggles, Sitake remains optimistic about his team’s future.

“I’m not worried. Obviously, I wish we would have played differently and not made so many mistakes,” he said. “But I know what our coaches and our players are capable of. If we would have played our best, and the same result would have happened, then I would have been grateful for the win, but I would be a little nervous about how good we are.

“There were a lot of plays for us to make, and we didn’t really get the opportunity to show it today,” Sitake continued. “Hopefully it shows up next week. We know what to work on now. It’s good to get that game out of the way and get the win.”

BYU’s offense gained only 13 first downs (compared to 14 for PSU) and had 365 yards of total offense. Mangum completed 16 of 27 passes for 194 yards and one touchdown.

The Cougars punted on their first two drives, then on the first play of their third drive, Mangum connected with Matt Bushman for 36 yards. Mangum then threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to Neil Pau’u to give the Cougars a 7-0 lead.

Midway through the second quarter, a 33-yard completion to Talon Shumway set up Squally Canada’s 1-yard touchdown plunge to make it 14-0. Canada finished with a team-high 98 rushing yards, including a 34-yard scamper.

“We did some good things. We busted out some big runs, we had some big catches,” Mangum said. “There were flashes there. We’ve just got to learn from the positives and focus on that for this next week.”

On Portland State’s ensuing drive, the Vikings converted on a pair of fourth-down plays, drove 87 yards on 17 plays and consumed 5:57 off the clock to cut the deficit to 14-6 as PSU’s extra point kick attempt failed.

Mangum fumbled the ball on the first play of BYU’s next possession but fortunately for the Cougars, left tackle Thomas Shoaf recovered late in the first half.

Early in second half, Jonah Trinnaman’s holding call negated a long run by Kavika Fonua. Later, in the fourth quarter, Fonua scored on a short touchdown run that was called back due to an illegal formation penalty.

BYU was held scoreless in the third quarter. Rhett Almond booted a 27-yard field goal to put the Cougars up 17-6 in the fourth.

Later in the final quarter, Almond drilled a 33-yarder, but it was nullified because BYU called a timeout just before the attempt. He missed his second try. Later, with 2:09 remaining, Almond booted a 35-yarder.

Defensively, the Cougars limited the Vikings to 220 yards of total offense. But at times BYU had a tough time getting PSU’s offense off the field.

“The only thing defensively we need to do better is get out of third downs,” Sitake said. “They converted a lot of third downs on some drives and some fourth downs as well. We need to get out of those and create more disruption and get some big plays. We had one turnover. That’s not good enough.”

“I think we did well,” said linebacker Matt Hadley. “I think there are definitely things that we need to work on both offensively and defensively, but that’s normal. First game, we are just glad we got out with a win. Now we are looking forward to next week and getting better.”

BYU is scheduled to play No. 13 Louisiana State next Saturday at NRG Stadium in Houston.

 

[BroadwayVik]

Attendance: 55,427

Freshman starting quarterback Jalani Eason played well enough in his Portland State debut to keep the Vikings close for much of the contest before PSU fell to BYU 20-6 on Saturday in Provo, Utah.

A young Vikings defense hung tough as well, keeping PSU within a score of the Cougars up until the fourth quarter.

"We executed the plan (today)," PSU coach Bruce Barnum said. "We are young, but I feel we really have a good football team. This team played a helluva game today and we are going win a lot of football games.

"I knew we had a young defense, but today they showed me they can fight. They showed me they are tough. That was my question (going in)."

Portland State held BYU to six points in the second half, but the Vikings' own offense couldn't put up any points in the final two quarters.

Eason finished 16 of 36 passing for 134 yards with a touchdown and an interception. He found Darnell Adams on a four-yard scoring pass that capped a 17-play, 87-yard drive late in the first half.

Tanner Mangum threw for a 28-yard touchdown, and Squally Canada added a rushing TD from a yard out for the Cougars in the first half as BYU led 14-6 at the break.

Portland State's offense crossed midfield just twice and went three-and-out on four of its first five possessions.

Rhett Almond made fourth-quarter field goals of 27 and 35 yards to cap the scoring as the Vikings had three turnovers -- two on downs -- in their final three possessions.

Chris Seisay had three of the Vikings' six pass breakups, and PSU's Charlie Taumoepeau had six catches for 73 yards. Za'Quan Summers led the Vikings' rushing attack with 55 yards on 20 carries.

Five freshmen saw playing time for Portland State, which visits Oregon State next Saturday.

-- The Associated Press contributed to this report.