Week 1 PFF Curiosities - BYU vs Arizona

-- Your season-opening dive into some stats of note, courtesy PFF

Unleash the Blitzing Hounds?
BYU blitzed 19 times against Arizona last week. Per PFF this is only the second time in the Sitake era in which BYU has blitzed 19 times or more. (the other time was in 2018 against UMass in the ** looks around sheepishly** revenge game for 2017). Did Tuiaki experience a transformation over the summer? Did he do the anti-Robert Anae, and choose to adjust his ways instead of doubling down on what critics called out as his biggest weakness?

Maybe.

I'm being a little deceptive with the stats above. By volume it's true the 19 blitzes were the second most in Tuiaki's BYU career. But measured as a percentage of dropbacks, 19 blitzes on 58 dropbacks means BYU brought pressure on 33% of Arizona's passes. Yes that's a high rate by Tuiaki's standards -- on average BYU has blitzed on 20% of dropbacks since he's been defensive coordinator -- but there have been ten other games where BYU has brought pressure at a higher rate than that. So it's not like this was something from Tuiaki we'd never seen before.

But on the other hand ...

Against a P5 school that was the most aggressive a Sitake-led BYU has ever been.11. With the exception of the 2017 LSU game, in which BYU blitzed on 8 of 20 dropbacks for a 40% blitz rate. But that was a weird game that was over from the onset so I'm throwing it out.  

What does this mean going forward? Is BYU going to be more aggressive this year? I'm guessing no. Looking at BYU's blitzing profile, it's clear they are aggressive against teams they don't respect (BYU's largest blitz rates have come against subpar outfits like UMass, Western Kentucky, USU, SDSU, and this struggling Arizona team). When facing teams that are talented, BYU plays it safe (for example, against Washington, Utah, and USC in 2019 BYU blitzed 6 times on 87 dropbacks, for a 6% blitz rate).

In Tuiaki's four games against Utah, BYU has blitzed at rates of 20%, 13%, 18%, and 20%. Charlie Brewer has enough mobility and game experience that I expect BYU will stick with their 'retreat into coverage' philosophy. Which is unfortunate. Good coaches roast BYU's drop everybody defense (see Washington 2019). Bad coaches don't (see USC 2019).

I want to barf when I say it but alas, Whittingham is a good coach.


Is the Day of the horizontal run over?
During the Grimes era BYU used horizontal run plays like reverses, end arounds, and sweeps about once out of every ten running plays. During Roderick's time OC-ing at Utah, he used those plays about once out of every fifty running plays.

In BYU's first game away from Grimes, BYU ran zero horizontal runs. It's only one game, but as a fan of the horizontal attack I'm bummed about this development. 


Who Got Dem Snaps (WR Edition)
In the absence of both the Nacuas and Gunner Romney, as well as Epps and Cosper, the pecking order for healthy wide receivers went as follows.

Pau'u 57 snaps
Hill 47 snaps
Jackson 34 snaps
Hobbs Nyberg 1 snap

Let's just say I did not expect to see Calvin and Hobbs Nyberg on the field in game one. A position that looked so strong and deep in July now looks obliterated. It'll be interesting to see who plays this weekend and how healthy those who play look. 


Ben Bywater - the good and the less good

In a game where BYU had 14 missed tackles -- BYU reached that high a number only once last year, against Houston -- Ben Bywater was a tackling stud, missing on zero of his double-digit tackle attempts. Unfortunately Arizona didn't miss either, when targeting Bywater, going 7 for 7 on passes when he was the man covering the intended receiver. Those 7 completions went for 94 yards, which is more than anyone else on the team gave up in coverage. Perhaps that's more a reflection of BYU's scheme than Bywater's coverage ability, I honestly don't know. Something to monitor. 

My apology to Neil Pau'u
Last week I asked why there was so much hype coming from the coaches about Neil Pau'u.

Whoops. 126 yards on 8 catches with 2 TDs was why. Got it. I'm dumb. My bad.

Here's an interesting Neil stat for you. Pau'u had 150 yards after the catch ALL of last season. He had 67 against Arizona. Maybe he's a bit faster than I've given him credit for.


Running Back Usage
BYU has to use Lopini Katoa because he's a weapon. But they also need Allgeier on the field as much as possible to be a true 'three-down back' so that defenses don't identify BYU as likely to run when Allgeier is on the field and likely to pass when Katoa is on the field.

How's BYU doing with this balancing act so far? On Saturday BYU ran the ball 53% of Allgeier's snaps, and 56% of Katoa's. That's good! Compare that to 2020, when BYU ran 49% of the time when Allgeier was on the field, and ran only 39% of the time when Katoa was on. Depending on which player was on the field was a giveaway for the defense. Let's eliminate that tip this year. 

One way to juggle these guys might be by lining Katoa up as a receiver more (while keeping Allgeier in the formation at RB). Katoa's lined up in the slot or out wide 68 times in his career. Not a lot by any stretch, but it's a degree of exposure and he clearly has good hands. The guy has always struck me as a bit Reno Mahe-ish and Reno started his career as a running back too. And if all our receivers are out, well, it only makes sense. 


Special message from this blog to all Utes
You suck.