Another week has come and gone and another loss for BYU football has come and gone. But BYU now travels home, after two consecutive road games, for two consecutive home games. Like any Big 12 matchup so far, its going to be a battle the next two weeks, and it starts with Iowa State this weekend.

BYU vs West Virginia Game Recap

BYU played in Morgantown, against West Virginia this last weekend, and lost 37-7. For those of you keeping score at home, that is two consecutive losses and BYU has only mustered 6 and 7 respectively. Yes, one of them was against the #7 team in the nation, but still. That’s bad. With the struggles, BYU decided to switch to QB Jake Retzlaff, a junior and BYUs backup QB for the game. I wrote about how he needed to get some action in my last blog and who would have thought, but he started this last game!

Retzlaff Analysis #BYJew

First off, that hashtag is what Retzlaff has called himself. He’s Jewish for those of you who didnt know, and I think its a pretty cool nickname. Retzlaff did pretty well for what he was given. He was 24/42 for 210 yards and had 10 carries for 26 yards with no INTs and no TDs. In your first D1 collegiate start, im okay with that. He didn’t turn over the ball. That was huge. He also created a lot more with his legs and being able to run when the reads werent there or if no one was open. In my opinion, he will be the starter this weekend against Iowa State. I think BYU gives him one more shot to see how he does, at home. If he does well, he starts the last 1 or 2 games. If he doesnt, it goes back to Slovis for those games.

Where is our Offensive Line?

But what this game showed me was that it doesn’t really matter who is the QB of the offense, the offensive line is awful. There were times on a running play or a screen when they came out to block and didn’t block anyone. Like they just looked lost or confused. BYU revamped their defensive coaching before the season this year and I think a similar thing needs to happen with our offense this next offseason, especially with our O Line coaches. I am not saying that offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick needs to go, but he has a lot to prove in the last 3 games, hopefully 4, if we become bowl eligible. If he doesn’t prove anything, he should be out the door.

Injuries, Injuries, Injuries

BYU is banged up. Especially at the WR position. Chase Roberts had a concussion but was able to play the rest of the game, surprisingly, so he should be good to go for this weekend. Darius Lassiter, one of our top WRs, was out last week and we dont have an update on his status for this weekend. Keanu Hill has been dealing with an injury for quite some time and he wasn’t able to go last week. No update on his injury. And lastly, Kody Epps took a big shot last weekend and had to be helped off with two other guys. It didn’t look great and I doubt that he plays this weekend.

Game Preview vs Iowa State

BYU gets to take on a team that is very similar to West Virginia in my mind. Iowa State was not supposed to be very good this season and even started the season 2-3. They have since won 3 of their last 4 games to improve to 5-4. Iowa State played Kansas last week and only lost by 7. Up until last weeks lost to Kansas, they were 4-1 in conference play, and were tied for 1st with 5 other teams. Matt Campbell is a great coach and has been so great in his comments about BYU. He said that he has the most respect for Kalani and the BYU program and loves the program and would want his sons to go play at BYU for Kalani.

Offensive Rankings

In a sense, BYU and Iowa State kind of mirror each other. Iowa State is not great on offense. They average 337 yards per game. 39 more than BYU. They are 76th in the nation in passing offense with 219.7 passing yards per game. BYU is 78th in the nation at 218.3. Iowa State is 106th in rushing offense at 117.6 rushing yards per game. BYU is 126th with 79.7 rushing yards per game. I dont expect either team to light the scoreboard up. We could be looking at a game where its the first one to 21 wins.

Defensive Rankings

Iowa State’s defense is a lot better. They rank 49th in passing yards allowed per game with 212.6 and rank 29th in rushing yards allowed per game with 117.7. Their defense is stout. BYU ranks, just for comparison, 79th in passing yards allowed per game with 236.2 and rank 106th in rushing yards per game with 174.7. BYUs defense will get better once Jay Hill gets HIS guys that he gets to recruit. This is only year 1 for his defense, but thats a story for another day. Iowa State’s defense could absolutely shut down BYU and that is the matchup that I am going to be watching, BYU’s O vs Iowa State’s D.

Player Stats – Guys to Watch

Iowa State’s QB, Rocco Becht is a Freshman, true freshman. The one game this year, that I think has matched Lavell Edwards stadium crowd level and noise, is their Oklahoma game in Norman. So this stadium and noise will still be fairly new to him. That could mean some mistakes. He has 13 TDs and 7 INTs on the year, very similar to Slovis, who has 12 TDs and 6 INTs. Does that make Becht good or bad? I dont know. But he seems competent. He is averaging 213 passing yards per game. They have a couple of running backs that they usually use. But their main one is Eli Sanders. He has 410 yards with 3 TDs on the year. Becht also has 3 rushing TDs and can be a sneaky QB option when running the ball. Their two biggest receivers are Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel. Both are juniors. Higgins has 568 receiving yards and 4 TDs. Noel has 438 receiving yards and 2 TDs.

On defense, Beau Freyler is their leading tackler. He has 66 total tackles, 3 INTs, and 4 pass deflections on the year as a DB. JR Singleton, a DL, is their leading sack getter with 3 on the year. Jeremiah Cooper, DB, is their leading INT getter with 5. So it seems that their DBs are quite an active bunch with tackling and INTs. That will be huge to watch and see how BYU counters an aggressive DB group.

Prediction

I am actually quite nervous for this game. I think this is the best shot that BYU has to become bowl eligible but it will not be easy. The next two games after this are home against a top 25 Oklahoma and then away against a possibly top 25 Oklahoma St. Those are going to be harder than this game. But BYU cant look ahead. They get to play at night at home, thats their bread and butter. They need to embrace the night at Lavell and win this game. I say 24-21, BYU wins and becomes bowl eligible.

BYU Uniform vs Iowa State

If you havent seen yet, BYU will be wearing black this weekend. They are rolling out new black helmets with royal specks on them, pretty cool! The only thing that I would change about these helmets and uniform is that the helmets have no royal on them and only white stripes. The stripes on the helmet need to match the stripes on the jersey and pants. I dont like seeing white stripes and white Y logo on the helmet with royal stripes on the jersey and pants, it just looks off. Do any of you guys care about the uniforms as much as me? Just me, okay.

BYU Basketball Update

BYU kicked off their basketball season, Monday night, with a resounding win against Houston Christian. They won 110-63. BYU attempted 43 3-pointers! 43!! That was the most they had ever attempted in a game! They made 15 of those for a 34.9 percentage. The top scorers for the team were Spencer Johnson with 20, Trevin Knell who has returned from his shoulder surgery and started this game, with 19, and Noah Waterman with 16. 5 Cougars overall scored in double digits. It was a great win!

Now #17 San Diego State comes to the Marriott Center this Friday, November 10th. That will be a big test for the Cougars. San Diego State is good. Their star, Jaedon Ledee, had 27 points in their opening game against Cal State Fullerton. SDSU likes to drive the ball and penetrate but if BYU can make them shoot 3s, where they were 29% against Cal State Fullerton, BYU can win this game. My 3 keys are to play and shoot like they did against Houston Christian, play tight defense and help on defense because SDSU is ridiculously athletic, and rebound. No offensive rebounds for SDSU is a big key.

BYU Basketball 2024 Recruiting News

BYU had another of their 2024 basketball recruits make their decision this past week. And…they picked BYU! Brooks Bahr, a high 3 star combo guard from Texas, choose BYU over St Mary’s, USC, Utah, and Wake Forest.

BYU Basketball 2024 Recruiting Wrap Up

Now, last week I was talking about how basketball had kind of hit a dud in recruiting because 3 2024 four star recruits had BYU in their final 4 or 5 schools and went somewhere else. Jaxon Johnson picked USC, Brody Kozlowski picked Utah, and Malick Diallo picked TCU. All of these guys had BYU in their final schools and they went somewhere else, and 2 of them will be in the Big 12, with BYU. But BYU is not going to get every top rated recruit. Of course, we would like to, but its not going to happen. But let me show you this, since the announcement of BYU to the Big 12, this is what we have lost out on and what we have gained.

Lost Recruits

• 4 star Jaxon Johnson – USC (BYU in final 4 schools)
• 4 star Malick Diallo – TCU (BYU in final 5 schools)
• 4 star Brody Kozlowski – Utah (BYU in final 5 schools)
• 3 star Jake Wahlin – Committed to BYU before his mission, transferred to Utah after his mission.

Committed Recruits/Transfers

• 4 star Colin Chandler
• 4 star Isaac Davis
• 3 star Brooks Bahr
• 4 star transfer Jaxon Robinson (Senior – 2023 is last year)
• 4 star transfer Aly Khalifa (Junior – 2 years of eligibility, 2023 and 2024)
• 4 star transfer Marcus Adams Jr (Freshman – 2023 is redshirt year, will begin playing in 2024)

BYU has done their job in basketball recruiting. Its nice to have all of the top recruits come to BYU, but BYU has a certain strategy and certain position that they have to go after and offer. Mark Pope has done a great job, in my mind. The Big 12 has totally given basketball a nice jump in recruiting. And to even be in the running for a lot of these 4 star players is huge. BYU basketball is ramping up their recruiting efforts and its really cool to see.

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