By: DJ Andreasen
ESPN 960 Intern
Hello Cougar fans! My name is DJ and I’m the newest member of the ESPN 960 team. You may know me from my twitter profile (@byustatsman) where I’ve been posting a variety of BYU stats for the last few years. My hope is that with this new position, I can provide these stats to a wider range of Cougar fans.
I grew up all the way out in South Dakota, so I may be a bit newer to BYU sports than some of you. 2006 was my first season that I followed BYU sports. Though I didn’t get to watch many games that year, I got hooked quick. My BYU fanhood was cemented when I sat and listened to the “Beck to Harline” game on KSL with my dad. I’ve missed only one or two games since that season. Besides following a variety of sports, I play the bass guitar and am a record collector in my free time. On to the stats!
With the recent loss to LSU, Cougar fans are looking all around for answers to BYU’s offensive struggles. While this is by no means an indictment of Ty Detmer as BYU’s offensive coordinator, I think it is a very interesting look into the offense’s performance with him as OC.
The number that stands out immediately to me is the difference in passing yards per game in comparison to recent OCs. I’ve always been drawn to the passing game at BYU and so I still have it ingrained in my mind that BYU should be QB U. Or at least close to it. The decrease in passing yards wouldn’t be concerning to me if it wasn’t paired with a decrease in efficiency.
I think it should be of some concern that the yards per attempt, yards per completion, and the QB efficiency rating are all lower than the Doman years. The rushing game was good for BYU in Ty’s first season but time will tell if that was purely a result of having Taysom and Jamaal or not.
