BYU-UTEP Bowl Recap

Sorry, I'm a little late on this one.  Tithing settlement, Sunday nap, and Christmas parties interfered with a more timely recap...

BYU fans should be very encouraged for next season.  Watching this game was like watching the BYU of old.  They were scoring a lot of points with a lot of different people involved in the offense, playing mostly sound defense, and giving up several big plays.  Most of the plays BYU had were made by underclassmen, which is the most encouraging part.

BYU scored on its first 5 possessions.  They moved the ball on short fields and long fields.  They did it through the air and on the ground.  They controlled the line of scrimmage.  They established the running game.  They worked the play-action passing game.  They even played a lot of the more traditional BYU passing offense as well.  They completely dominated the time of possession, amassing 17 more minutes of possession than UTEP.  It helped that their opponent was inferior at every position.

The Offense: A
Jake Heaps was on target, completing 74% of his passes, with 4 TDs and over 250 yards, in barely over 3 quarters of work.  The most important stat to the BYU offense: Heaps hit 10 different guys at least once.  James Lark added an 11th receiver to get involved.
Cody Hoffman emerged as a big play, big-time receiver, with 8 catches, 137 yards, and 3 TDs (or 2.5, depending on which replay you saw).  Jacobson got back to catching more balls.  Devin Mahina and Richard Wilson both had a couple of catches and gave hope for the Tight End position next season.  Remember that Ross Apo didn't even play this season, and he was supposed to be the best of the bunch.
Joshua Quezada added 101 rushing yards and a TD.  DiLuigi and Kariya each added TD runs as well.  That is going to be a very good trio next season.  Quezada has come a long way as a blocker since the beginning of the season.  Kariya is money when it comes to picking up the blitz.  All three of them are capable of moving piles, though Quezada is fun to watch when someone tries to make a solo tackle on him.  He looks like Unga, without the great vision, but with better speed.  They also have a few other backs that will be pushing for playing time: David Foote is tough to bring down and Drew Phillips is supposed to be the fastest BYU player since Reno Mahe roamed the field.  Mike Hague has filled in nicely as a fullback, with great pass-catching skills.  He's no Manase Tonga, but he had a good blocking game in the bowl game and caught a pass that yielded a first down.

The Defense: B+
Andrew Rich and Vic So'oto meant a lot to this BYU defense.  They made a lot of plays, they caused a lot of chaos, and they displayed a lot of leadership, especially when the chips were down this season.  Rich had a sack and two picks.  So'oto had a sack and several "disruptions" on other plays.
The defensive line controlled the game and never let UTEP do anything on offense.  UTEP had 153 yards on 3 big passing plays that were on Uale, Bradley, and Logan.  UTEP's other 52 plays netted 80 yards.  That is a line of scrimmage dominated.  To hold any team to -12 rushing yards on 22 attempts (with only 4 of those attempts as sacks) means that the front 3 ruled the game.
With the exception of Rich, most of the plays were made by guys that will be on the team next season.  Kyle Van Noy, Jameson Frazier, Eathyn Manumaleuna, and Corby Eason all made some plays consistently the last 3 or 4 games, and did so again in the bowl game.  The future is bright on defense.

Special Teams: A-
Mitch Payne will be gone next season.  While he was very reliable inside of 40 yards, he was inconsistent outside of 40 yards and I have never seen another kicker have as many extra points blocked as he did.  He was perfect in the bowl game, so I will give him props for making 7 extra points and a 38-yard field goal.  I will be excited to see the return of Justin Sorensen and his big leg.
Holder Matt Marshall and Longsnapper Reed Hornung both had flawless games (and flawless seasons) as well.  They both return next season.
Riley Stephenson is just a sophomore and had a good bowl game.  He had 3 punts, with 2 returned for a total of 2 yards, one inside the 20.  His other punt went 60 yards into the end zone for a 40-yard net.
BYU did give up a big kickoff return and changed their entire kickoff plan following that.

In a later post, I'll talk a little bit more about what BYU brings back, what BYU loses, and what BYU will try to use to replace the losses.  But to just a brief summary: BYU doesn't lose much, and what they replace it with should be just fine.  Rich and So'oto are the toughest guys to replace.  BYU has a two-year understudy for Rich in Jray Galea'i who was a redshirt freshman this season (not that I'm giving him the job, but he was number two on the depth chart) and they added Snow College Safety Preston Hadley.  BYU played about 8 guys on the Defensive Line, with 7 of them coming back.  So'oto was good, but there is a lot of experience behind him.
They lose Shane Hunter at Linebacker, but that shouldn't be a problem with the other 9 quality Linebackers in the program.  The CBs are both gone, but Eason showed he had some skills this season, and Lee Aguirre is still in school and could be eligible to play next season, according to a buddy of mine whom I trust implicitly...they also added a JC Corner from San Mateo, the cousin of Brian Logan.  The taller cousin of Brian Logan.

If BYU can get off to a good start in 2011, there are great things in store for BYU football next season.