Two weeks ago against Washington State Allgeier set career highs in missed tackles forced (8), first downs gained (11), and had his second best mark for yards gained after contact (137). I got all excited about how given the importance of the Wazzu game it represented the best game of his career.
And then he one upped himself. Holy smokes.
Against Virginia he set new career highs in missed tackles forced (13!), in first downs gained (14), and in yards gained after contact (170 - LOL). He tied his career high in rushes of over 10 yards (7) and rushes over 15 yards (4). He tied the record for BYU touchdowns in a game (5). He rushed for the most yards against a P5 team by any BYU player ever. He rushed for the third most yards in BYU history (266).
Oh and this other small note. He gained 291 scrimmage yards -- scrimmage yards are rushing and receiving yards combined -- which just happens to be ...
wait for it ...
wait for it ...
THE MOST IN BYU HISTORY
Let me repeat myself: I believe no skill player has ever donned a BYU uniform and ran or caught for as many yards as Allgeier just did.
As far as I can tell, the prior record for most scrimmage yards gained was Jamaal's 286 against Toledo. Yes, I know there are higher "all-purpose yard" totals out there, but I don't care about those. All-purpose yardage is inflated by the return game where anyone with legs and opportunity can rack up 80 free yards on kickoffs each game. If you subtract kick and punt returns from those all-purpose yardage leaders, Allgeier gained the most yards in a BYU game that didn't involve a quarterback in the history of the program.
Tyler Allgeier enters the Tier 1 RB conversation
After Allgeier obliterated Utah State I felt he had done enough to solidly entrench himself in the tier 2 BYU running back conversation, which basically includes Curtis Brown, Ronney Jenkins, Jamal Willis, Pete Van Valkenburg, and Lakei Heimuli.11. Yes, I know some might drop Heimuli into tier 3 or promote Jenkins to tier 1 -- that's why I said roughly. I like Heimuli in tier 2 because he is one of a select few to go over 3,800 yards and because he killed the Utes in 3 games (553 total yards and 5 TDs)
Legacies sure can change quick, eh? A month later Tyler has vaulted past tier 2 into tier 1 and has now expanded what once was a holy trinity of BYU running backs fighting for top dog status -- Unga, Staley, Jamaal -- into a Mount Rushmore, where four players now have to be considered for GOAT.
Tyler is doing historic stuff. He is 364 yards away from the 1,600 scrimmage yards club. Only 4 Cougars have ever recorded that many yards in a season: Collie, Unga, Staley, and Jenkins. He's 464 yards away from reaching the 1,700 yard club, which has only Unga and Staley as members. 464 yards in 4 games is within reach. By the way, not only did Unga and Staley reach the 1,700 club, they eclipsed 1,800 as well.
(Meanwhile only one man has ever touched 1,900 yards in a season and his name is Luke Staley.)
The record for touches (carries and catches) in a season is 288 courtesy Harvey in 2007. 18 touches per game by Tyler over the last four games would tie the record. Anything more and he breaks it. And of course Staley's rushing record is potentially catchable. So it's not just rarified air we're talking about with Tyler. It's best-of-all-time stuff.
Last spring I bored the internet with a 10,000 word deep dive into who was BYU's best running back ever. I never would have assumed I'd have to potentially revisit it one season later. For now I'd still take Unga as my GOAT -- I'm a sucker for runners with receiving prowess and to this day PFF claims Allgeier has still never caught a pass that traveled more than 10 yards down the field -- but I honestly will have to take some time to think about where Allgeier sits relative to Luke and Jamaal.
Tyler Allgeier one more time
I don't think I'll get over this game for another 7 months. Allgeier Allgeier Allgeier. In the Bronco return game he gained almost 300 yards and five touchdowns. Look, I'm a Bronco fan (alien nature notwithstanding) but whenever someone you loved leaves you for something allegedly better -- even if it's a good reason like tripling your payday -- you still want to stick it to them, and Allgeier used gorilla glue. He basically put on suspenders and did the football equivalent of that one punk Utah fan from back in 2012.
Of course Tyler didn't poop his pants after Bronco stared back at him so maybe it's not the best comparison. Plus I feel dirty putting Tyler in anything red. Let's forget this happened and move on to something else.
The short passing game still is missing
Another week, another game where BYU threw short passes to limited success. Hall threw six times behind the line of scrimmage and those plays generated only 20 yards, or 3.3 yards per attempt. Last season BYU was the second best in the country on passes behind the line of scrimmage, averaging a whopping 8.4 yards per attempt. As discussed in length last week, YAC seems to be the culprit.
Virginia's blitzes didn't land
Nick Howell tried to pressure Jaren Hall a lot, sending blitzes on 40% of BYU's dropbacks. But Virginia only generated pressure on Hall 7 times, which suggests BYU's offensive line did a great job neutralizing the extra rushers.
Teams have been all over the place in how they play Hall lately. Boise dropped back and barely blitzed while Baylor and Virginia tried to send extra guys nearly half the passing downs. Hall is gaining good experience playing against these varied looks.
Jaren getting the ball out quicker
One reason Virginia's blitzes didn't result in pressure may have been that Jaren got the ball out quicker than average this game. Against Virginia his average time to throw was 2.67 seconds, which is the fastest time he's had this season. His prior marks were:
2.75 vs Arizona
3.26 vs Utah
3.44 vs ASU
3.34 vs Boise
3.4 vs Baylor
2.72 vs Wazzu
Prior to Virginia his season average for time to throw was 3.18 seconds. Hall was a good half second faster this game.
What about the tackling?
Yeah, it was as bad as it looked. Over the last couple seasons BYU is averaging one missed tackle for every 7 or so tackle attempts. Against Virginia BYU missed a tackle every 2.7 tackle attempts.22. The math? BYU attempted 51 tackles per PFF and missed on 19. And look, Virginia is the number four offense in the country for a reason. They've got players. That one giant receiver made me think of Calvin Johnson's days at the Lions. But still, yikes.
Puka Watch
Man he's been good. The guy is a bonafide deep threat in the manner of Collie and Watkins. You have to go back to 2015 to find a BYU receiver who has an average depth of target (ADOT) as deep as Puka's 16.6 yards.33. Minimum 10 catches on the season. That player was Mitch Mathews and his ADOT was a giant 18.3 yards.
But Puka's been excellent on the ground lately too, where on the season he's converted 8 jet sweeps into 98 rushing yards. He even has the highest elusive rating on the team per PFF.44. The formula if you're curious is (Missed Tackles Forced) / (Designed Run Attempts + Receptions) * (Yards After Contact Per Attempt * 100) The eye test tells us Allgeier is the true king of eluding tackles, whether by speed or force, but Puka has been great. Our other nine jet sweep attempts have only yielded 34 yards.
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