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PROVO -- After escaping an almost sure defeat, the BYU Cougars are looking to once again make a statement against a football powerhouse. First the SEC now versus Big 12 big dog in the University of Texas.
The Longhorns limped to a 5-7 record last season prompting a shakeup for head coach Mack Brown, who made moves with his coaching staff and with his players.
The changes pushed the Longhorns into the Top 25 preseason poll (No. 24, USA Today). After their win against Rice on Saturday Texas is now No. 21 (USA Today) and No. 24 (AP).
However, questions still linger about this team and if they are closer to last year's losing team or the conference powerhouse it tends to be. Voters need evidence one way or the other and Saturday's showdown with BYU is likely the game they've marked on the schedule.
Offense:
Texas is coming off of a 34-9 victory over in-state rival Rice University. On the way to victory, the Longhorns showed how impressive they can be on the ground rushing for 229 yards; almost half of their total offensive output of 506 yards.
However, Texas head coach Mack Brown doesn't appear to be expecting that type of output against a strong BYU defense.
"You're not going to get any easy yards on these guys, they will hit you. The strength of both offense and defense is their fronts," said Texas coach Mack Brown about BYU's defense. "And Ole miss just could not block their defensive front, so it will be a big challenge for our offensive line."
Seven different Longhorns were used to amass those 229 yards led by freshman Malcolm Brown and junior D.J. Monroe, who combined for 127 yards.
Brown, who seems to be the go-to back for the Longhorns, carried the ball 16 times for 86 yards against Rice. Monroe complimented that with five rushes of his own for 41 yards. Junior quarterback Garrett Gilbert showed his ability to scramble, logging the longest run for Texas against Rice, a 24-yard first down scamper on third down to keep an eventual scoring drive alive.
While Texas does and will rely heavily on its ground attack, Gilbert is credited with propelling the Longhorns to victory, completing 13 of 23 attempts for 239 yards and one touchdown.
His main man appears to be sophomore wide receiver Mike Davis, who has shown his big-play potential. In fact, Davis gained 115 yards through the air, accounting for 42-percent of the Longhorns' air attack.
It's no secret that Davis appears to be the go-to-guy when Texas needs to have big plays made. Of his three receptions, two went for over 50 yards (55 yards, 56 yards). However, nine balls were thrown his way, meaning six fell incomplete. You can bet Brown and his offensive coaching staff will try to find more ways to get the ball in his hands.
But don't be fooled. Davis isn't a lone threat. Gilbert has options. In fact, eight different players caught a pass, led by senior running back Foswhitt Whittacker, who had four catch for 55 yards and a score. He also has nine carries for 33 yards. Plus, freshman wide receiver Jaxon Shipley is the real deal.
Gilbert doesn't appear to be scared to check down and take what the defense gives him, making all that important for BYU's linebackers and secondary to avoid missed tackles. The Cougars must get the Longhorns to the ground on first touch.
BYU's secondary showed some promise with a lot of new faces, but there were still a few mishaps, which you'd expect with such a new group. Ole Miss wide receivers dropped some key passes, one potentially making the score 17-0 during Saturday's game.
"The secondary, I thought the strength was they tackled well, and I think they concentrated well for the most part in terms of play action pass," said Mendenhall. "I'd like to see more balls knocked down, and a few more incompletions just based on coverage. I think our coverage in general could get a little bit tighter and a little bit cleaner than what it was."
Defense:
Rice's senior running back Tyler smith was able to get 67 yards on 10 carries, which bodes well for BYU's three-headed running attack of JJ DiLuigi, Bryan Kariya and Josh Quezada. The Cougars will likely rely on those three and their big offensive line to control the clock, determine tempo and keep the Texas defense off of Jake Heaps, allowing the sophomore quarterback to utilize play-action.
However, the Owls managed just 224 totals yards on offense and ran just 45 plays.
The Texas defense is led senior safety Blake Gideon, senior linebacker Keenan Robinson, who had 106 tackles last year, and defensive tackle Kheeston Randall who could put a damper on BYU's running game.
"I think it will be physical. Texas is deeper in talent and more athletic than Ole Miss in our assessment. A more diverse scheme and schemes offensively and defensively," said BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall. "We'll probably see the next tier in terms of just the variety of things to either block or defend. It will be a more difficult test than even our first one."
Coach Brown reiterated Mendenhall's words referring to this game as something you'd see down an alleyway.
"This will be like an old-fashioned street fight, it will be very physical. We've been concerned about how tough we were in both lines of scrimmage the last couple of years," said Brown. "This game will be about the lines of scrimmage; it's going to be about who's the toughest. It's a great test for us before we get ready to go to UCLA."
Kickoff is set for 5 p.m. from Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas.
Email: onlinesports@ksl.com
