Two main takeaways for me from BYU's dominating 3rd Quarter against Texas: 1) This defense is legit and 2) this offense can go for the jugular in a big way. There have been very few BYU offenses in the last 20 years that could have finished drives the way BYU did tonight, against what is supposed to be a stout defense.
I understand Texas was starting a new QB and breaking in a mostly new offensive line. But David Ash sat out all spring and Tyrone Swoops got all the reps in spring and a lot of them in fall camp. He was being prepared to be the starter during the offseason. In terms of the offensive line, 4 of the guys starting were similarly being prepped for significant contributions during the offseason. It's not as if they lost 6 offensive starters in the first week of the season. What happened was BYU just absolutely took it to them. The Texas offense wanted nothing to do with BYU for 1/2 the game. Without Bronson Kaufusi for a period of the game, Texas was held to less than 260 yards and only 7 (meaningless) points. They allowed some yards in the passing game, by design. But they absolutely stuffed the running game. The past few seasons, so many of the big plays on defense have come from a small handful of players. The defense has had big plays this season from a lot of different guys. Sacks, TFLs, fumbles (recovered and forced), and INTs have come from 14 different players. In 2 games! And 4 starters have yet to get on the board. That's a lot of guys that can make plays.
Offensively, BYU got contributions from some new sources tonight as well. Texas did everything it could to prepare to stop BYU's rushing attack. They did twice as well as the last time they played BYU in terms of yards, but BYU had 5 rushing touchdowns. They ran up the gut, albeit with only small impacts for most of the game, they went outside, and Taysom scrambled on called pass plays. They hit WRs on timing routes, hit backs out of the backfield, and even got enough mustard on throws while under duress to make acrobatic catches. Yes, they left a few points on the board. Yes, Taysom could have been better in the pocket, he could have gotten more guys involved, and he could have done a better job in the red zone. There were opportunities to get throwing TDs down there and Taysom couldn't get the job done. But still, BYU took advantage of their opportunities in the 3rd Q. Jordan Leslie stepped up throughout the game, that's a good sign. If he can get involved, BYU's passing game will be tough to stop too.
Other thoughts: the story around the country is about Texas getting embarrassed. That's a shame. It's always the story though: the G5 schools never have and never will get proper credit for beating P5 opponents. BYU went into a P5 opponent's house, who has played in 2 national championship games in the last decade, and thoroughly trounced them exactly one year after doing the same thing to them. The storyline should be BYU. BYU should have moved higher than 25th in one poll. Show me a team that has convincingly won two road games so far this season, one against one of the biggest power players in all of college sports. That deserves at least #20 in my opinion.
Taysom Hill is a phenomenal player. But let's not go crazy: he will not win the Heisman this year. If he continues as he is going right now and BYU gets to 11 or 12 wins, he might get an invitation to New York. He'll have a few chances to impress in Thursday and Friday night games, but wise up, BYU fans, this 0 TD, 1 INT performance (against a defense that may not be very good after all, though I think it'll turn out to be a pretty decent D) isn't going to get him the Heisman Trophy.
Finally, barring a miraculous set of circumstances, even at 12-0, BYU will not make the college football playoff. Consider this competition: ACC Champ, Pac 12 Champ, SEC Champ, Big Ten Champ, Big 12 Champ, and the runner up from both the SEC and Pac 12. They have to pass up 4 of those teams to make the playoff (not even counting Notre Dame who has looked formidable and has several big games on the schedule). That is two CONFERENCE champions and quite possibly 1-loss (and top-10 ranked all season) runners up in the 2 best conferences in America that BYU has to pass. 12-0 gets them into one of the "big" bowl games, but that may be the ceiling with this schedule and with BYU's conference affiliation. With that said, winning every game on the schedule by 25+ points would go a long way to setting up those miraculous circumstances.
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