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Week 1 vs Navy
Week 2 vs Troy
Week 3 vs La Tech
Missing Hoge and Empey
So it turns out missing two multi-year starters on the offensive line can be a problem. Here's how PFF graded BYU's pass blocking (on a scale of 0 to 100) in their first four games.
Umm, that's not a great trend. And yes that's a 51(!!!) point drop between game one and game four. Goodness me. Or badness me?
Joe Tukuafu, who is filling in for Empey at center, was individually rated a 28 on pass blocking snaps against UTSA. I don't think I've seen a number that low in my few weeks of perusing PFF. That score makes Clark Barrington's 51 UTSA rating look downright pro-bowl worthy.
This decrease in blocking performance put Zach under pressure on 9 of his 32 dropbacks against UTSA. He'd only been under pressure 10 times total during the first three games! This is a problem because ...
Zach Wilson Is Awesome, but Less Awesome against Pressure
Here is Zach's completion percentage and yards per attempt broken out into four categories of pressure: not pressured, under pressure, not blitzed, and blitzed.
Notice any outliers? We're seeing an enormous drop off in productivity when Zach is pressured - basically a 40% decrease in completion percentage and 5 fewer yards per completion. Against UTSA, when under pressure, Zach was 3 for 9 for 43 yards. I guess the good news is that this isn't unusual? Quarterbacks are generally less effective under pressure. (cue the "Hansen, you're a genius!" jokes)
Here are similar breakouts for some passing stars from the 2019 season, including Tua, Fields, Gordon (the Wazzu guy), and Cole McDonald who BYU fought in the bowl game.
This makes you feel better right? Also, when looking at the McDonald numbers, what a shame BYU couldn't generate any pressure on him in the bowl game. The fact that we only blitzed 5 times probably didn’t help much.
Trivia question -- is there any QB who doesn’t experience a noticeable drop off when pressured? Why yes his name was Joe Burrow. Last year he averaged around 76% and 11 yards per attempt on all throws and 66% and 11 per when pressured.
Who Got Dem Snaps (O-Line Edition)While Chandon Herring subs in for Tristen Hoge, Blake Freeland and Harris LaChance have been splitting reps subbing for Herring at the tackle spot. That "tackle by committee" approach ended on Saturday when Freeland played every single snap. It's a sad day for LaChance, the
2019 BIFF winner.
Who Got Dem Snaps (RB Edition)
For the first time all year Allgeier got more total snaps (43 to 30) and passing down snaps (15 to 13) than Katoa. I want Katoa to be the man because of his receiving prowess, but Allgeier has been great. He's generating an average of 4.1 yards after contact, which is ranked 16th nationally among runners with at least 25 attempts. He's ranked 13th nationally in PFF's elusiveness rating, which takes into account yards generated after contact and missed tackles forced. He's generated 20 first downs on 53 rushing attempts. That's wild. Speaking of running ...
Where is BYU Running the Ball?
On traditional handoffs, BYU is favoring the left side of the line over the right side, which I suppose makes sense given the left side has the people's champion Brady Christensen. By the numbers 47 attempts have gone in the direction of the left end, left guard, or left tackle, while 35 attempts have gone in the direction of the right end, right guard, and right tackle. Oddly BYU's yards per attempt are all higher when going to the right than the left, though we're not talking about a huge difference.
In less traditional running plays, BYU has ran 17 jet sweeps and 3 reverses for a total of 67 yards. That's not superb production but I am happy that BYU continues to keep a bit of misdirection in their repertoire. The more plays the better, and if any team is capable of
memorizing more plays, it should be BYU.
Right now Milne is the player opponents should be targeting on these plays. He has 8 carries for 44 yards. No one else has been remotely successful. Pau'u and Romney have each had three touches but they've gone for a total of 12 yards (Romney 3 carries for 10 yards, Pau'u 3 carries for 2 yards).
Speaking of Pau'u, I write the following with no intention of bagging on him --
like I wrote last week, he's impressed me this year; he's clearly established himself as 3rd in the WR pecking order and is on pace for a 450 yard season in a normal year -- but I must stand by my claims that the guy is just not fast, no matter what Cougarboard tries to tell me. On three runs he's generated two yards. And on 17 total touches he hasn't avoided a single tackle.
Allgeier has avoided 19 tackles on 56 touches. Romney 5 on 23 touches. Miles Davis 7 on 11 touches. Milne 6 on 32 touches. Pau'u has zero. Pau'u can still be a good player. He's proving it. But he is not the athletic marvel that Cougarboard wishes me to believe.
One last note on non-traditional running plays. BYU has called four quarterback sneaks and succeeded on three of them. When Empey is back at center give me all the sneaks. That should be a bread and butter first down generator for BYU.
Shoutout to Keenan Pili
Pili has taken the lead in stops on defense by volume, and stop percentage. He's the team leader in tackles with 26, and he is yet to miss a single tackle. Compare this to his linebacker brethren, where Wilgar has missed 3 tackles on 17 attempts, and Isaiah Kaufusi has missed 6 tackles on 28 attempts. Keep up the monstrous work Pili.
Shoutout to Micah Harper
Opponents are trying to pick on the freshman Harper. Only one other defender on BYU has been targeted on pass plays as much as Harper (Isaiah Kaufusi - both players have been thrown at 13 times). And while Harper has given up 10 receptions on those 13 pass attempts, they've only gone for 85 yards and have generated only 11 yards after the catch. I think Harper is doing OK all told.
Sidenote: Troy Warner has only been targeted three times in four games. I know part of that is because he's playing safety, but part of that is also because he's playing well.
Zach Wilson - Master of the Deep Ball
Finally we must speak about Zach and how dialed in he is on bombs this year (passes of 20+ yards). He's number one in the nation in adjusted completion percentage by a mile, is second in deep yards per game, and second in deep completions. Here's the top 15 nationally sorted by completion percentage. Second place is 20% behind.
The one thing Zach isn't doing this year? Scrambling. In 2018 he scrambled 24times for 206 yards (8.6 yards per). In 2019 he scrambled 18 times for 125 yards (6.9 yards per). So far this season? Five scrambles for six yards. I don't know if this is because the offensive line has done better, or if Zach is making a concerted effort to stay in the pocket, or if he's saving this for a game when he needs it, a la a secret weapon.
I'm hoping it's that last one. We might need such a skill this week against Houston.
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