By: DJ Andreason 
ESPN 960 Intern
Well, we’ve hit the midseason point of the BYU football season, so now it means it’s that time to look at the season so far. While it has mostly been bad or even ugly, there are some good things I’ve seen so far. Let’s get to it!
Good: Matt Bushman is on pace for 52 catches and 559 yards. That would be the most catches and yards by a TE since Dennis Pitta had 62 catches and 829 yards in 2009.
Bad: BYU QBs have a pass efficiency of only 87.0 when targeting Bushman.
Ugly: BYU has a team pass efficiency of 90.8. If the season ended today, it would be the first BYU team to have a sub-100 pass efficiency since 1972 (98.6).
Good: Beau Hoge had a QB rating of 195.3 in his brief start against Utah State. He is BYU’s highest rated passer of the season (116.9).
Bad: Tanner Mangum, who has started 4/6 games this season for BYU has a QB rating of 93.6 on the season. He had a QB rating of 137.1 in his freshman and sophomore seasons.
Ugly: BYU has a pass efficiency of 59.0 when throwing the ball 10+ yards downfield in 2017. It was 142.1 and 115.2 in 2015 and 2016.
Good: Beau Hoge has a QB rating of 193.6 on deep balls (20+ yards from LOS)…albeit on only 7 attempts.
Ugly: Tanner Mangum has a QB rating of 7.7 on deep balls (2/19, 69 yards, 3 INT). He had a career QB rating of 141.7 on deep balls coming into 2017 (27/99, 1145 yards, 7 TD, 3 INT).
Ugly: BYU has failed to pass for 200 yards in an FBS game in 12 straight games. Last 200 yard passing game against an FBS opponent was against Toledo in 2016.
Good: Ula Tolutau has emerged as the featured back in this offense. Since taking over as main back, Ula has averaged 66 yard/game and 4.6 yard/carry.
Bad: BYU is averaging only 97.8 rushing yards per game in 2017. That is the lowest since 1999 when the team only averaged 91.6.
Good: Trey Dye has caught 8/12 passes thrown his way, gaining 68 yards and scoring a TD. He has 49 YAC and is BYU’s highest rated receiver (min 10 targets) with a 141.8 efficiency rating.
Ugly: The next highest rated receiver (min. 10 targets) is Micah Simon with a 91.6 efficiency rating.
Good: Jonah Trinnamann can pick up yards after the catch. Currently he’s averaging 5.0 YAC…unfortunately he only has 8 catches on the season.
Good: Micah Simon has shown potential to be a solid receiver down the road for BYU. He has caught nearly everything that has been thrown within his reach.
Good: The interior offensive line (Koroma, Kanuch, Norman) have been great so far.
Ugly: BYU has been outscored 156-70 through six games this year (average of -14.3 ppg). The worst average margin of defeat for BYU since 1961 (-16.9 ppg)
Bad: BYU has a defensive pass efficiency of 142.3, the worst for a BYU defense since 2005.
Ugly: BYU is averaging 0.8 takeaways this season after averaging 2.4 last year. Their TO margin is -10.
Bad: BYU only has 8 sacks and 5 QB hurries through six games
Good: Fred Warner has 51 tackles, 6 TFL, 1 sack, 2 PBU, 1 FF, 1 FR. He’s quietly been great this season.
Good: Khyiris Tonga has been getting consistent push on the defensive line. Can’t wait to see what he can do not coming off a mission. He has 2.5 TFL and 0.5 sack.
Bad: Defense is giving up 167.2 rushing yards per game. That is the most allowed since 2002.
Good: Brayden El-Bakri has been good on kickoff coverage and blocking on offense. And he had that nice touchdown catch from Hoge.
Ugly: BYU has 9 punt returns for 12 yards this year. That’s 1.3 yards per return. James Dye, an all-time great returner for BYU, averaged 19.8 per return at BYU
Ugly: The offense is averaging 253.8 ypg this season. That is the lowest for a BYU team since 1970 (240.7)
A lot of “ugly” things in this list, but there are a few good things to see as well. Hopefully we can see more “good” by the end of the season. Find me on Twitter @BYUstatsMan for more BYU football and basketball stats!
