Five questions: Salt Lake Tribune’s Jay Drew on BYU

After easily dispatching Virginia and UNLV to start the season, UCLA suddenly finds itself in one of just four of the top-25 matchups in Week 3. BYU has outperformed expectations through the first half of September, vaulting to No. 19 in the latest AP poll following dramatic wins over Nebraska and Boise State. Are the Cougars playing above their heads, or do they have the makings of a surprise contender? The Salt Lake Tribune’s Jay Drew answered five questions about the team, which kicks off at the Rose Bowl at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

(Also, here are five questions I answered about UCLA for the Deseret News.)

1. Now in his 11th season, Bronco Mendenhall is one of the longest-tenured coaches in the FBS. How is he viewed by BYU fans, and is there any thought that he peaked when the Cougars were in the Mountain West?

I think most BYU fans view Mendenhall favorably, but there is certainly a vocal contingent out there that would like to see him resign or be replaced. Since Mendenhall took over in 2005, BYU ranks 12th in total wins among FBS teams, so it is hard to ignore his record. He’s won games, albeit against some lackluster schedules since BYU went independent in 2011.

By comparison, legendary BYU coach LaVell Edwards posted 94 wins in his first 131 games in Provo; Mendenhall has 92 wins in 131 games.

The argument that Mendenhall peaked when BYU was in the Mountain West has legs, especially since he saw early success using former coach Gary Crowton’s recruits. Not many guys that Mendenhall recruited himself have reached the NFL.

Perhaps the biggest knock on Mendenhall is that he hasn’t won a lot of “big” games against the tougher opponents on the schedule; Also, he has lost four straight games to rival Utah, an unforgivable sin in Provo. Three have been razor-close, but that doesn’t cut it for BYU fans.

Still, the coach has guided the Cougars to bowl appearances all 10 years at the helm, and BYU is 6-4 in those postseason games.

Personally, I think he has one of the most difficult jobs in the country, seeing how his hands are somewhat tied by the BYU honor code and now non-Power 5 affiliation. He once said there are about 40-50 players across the country each year with Division I ability who are in BYU’s recruiting pool, due to the school’s fairly tough academic standards and the honor code.

If he’s done anything wrong, in my opinion, it is that he has fueled some lofty and unrealistic expectations among the BYU fanbase with talk about competing for national championships and the like. From my view, he just doesn’t have the horses, or the resources, to get that done.

2. BYU has a bit of a reputation for being a dirty team, with Ului Lapuaho’s punch and last year’s Miami Bowl brawl both attracting widespread coverage. Is that reputation being overblown due to a few isolated events, or is there some truth behind it?

Not sure how to answer this one. It’s probably more about perception than anything else, because the Lapuaho punch got so much play on television and the internet, to be sure. Like you said, mostly just an isolated event.

I would say BYU is neither the dirtiest team in the country, nor the cleanest. Probably somewhere in the middle. Last year, the Cougars were certainly an undisciplined team and were one of the most penalized in college football. Maybe that’s where the perception comes from. The deal with Lapuaho’s punch may have fed into that. It was unsportsmanlike, and deserved an ejection, no question about that.

The Miami Beach Bowl brawl was ugly for BYU, and certainly an embarrassment for both BYU and Memphis, but calling it “dirty” is probably a stretch. Fights happen. Players retaliate.

3. What do the Cougars miss most about quarterback Taysom Hill, who just suffered the third season-ending injury of his career? How does Tanner Mangum’s skill set compare, and in what ways does that change the BYU offense?

Hard to say the Cougars have missed Taysom Hill, because they are 2-0, but it is safe to say that they will before the season is over, perhaps as soon as Saturday against the No. 10 Bruins. Hill was pretty much going to be everything to this team this year. Everything the past few months was built on having him taking snaps, from his election as captain to the design of the offense to take advantage of his dual-threat capabilities.

“We got to the point where there were so many fun things to do with Taysom that he executed really well,” said BYU offensive coordinator Robert Anae. “And this year was that year to take the roof off. Well, he got hurt after that first one. Tanner’s deal is a little shorter, but he has been around now for a spring, and is familiar with the offense at some level. And then are two freshmen [Beau Hoge and Koy Detmer Jr.], their [toolbox] is smaller.”

Mangum is an entirely different player than Hill. He’s a true pocket passer, and nowhere close to as mobile as Hill was. Hill was also a much better runner. A case could be made that Mangum is a better passer — jury still out on that one, despite the early success.

Against Boise State, BYU tried to run the ball, and when that didn’t work, it tried to run it some more. It did work late. But clearly, Anae didn’t trust Mangum enough to let the freshman throw the ball 50 times. My guess is that UCLA will see a very, very conservative approach from BYU again this week.

4. Jamaal Williams withdrew from the school last month, and is now redshirting instead of pursuing BYU’s all-time rushing record. How much have the Cougars felt his absence?

Williams has been sorely missed. BYU just doesn’t have a back with his type of speed and explosiveness. He was also really reliable, with just one lost fumble (on a bad handoff) in his three-year career. His absence was really apparent in the Boise State game, as BYU tried to run the ball with Adam Hine, Algernon Brown and Nate Carter with little success until the fourth quarter, when Hine got some yards on a tired BSU defense.

Williams was also an outstanding pass-catcher out of the backfield. Brown is usually pretty good at that, but had a costly drop against Nebraska on a crucial 4th-and-3 situation that swung the momentum just before halftime.

5. BYU had a top-25 scoring defense from 2011-13, then outside the national top 70. What are the Cougars lacking now, and have the first two games this season shown any new promise?

Mendenhall is viewed by many as a defensive genius, and he was his own defensive coordinator through the 2013 season (since 2010). But in 2014 he inexplicably turned the defensive play-calling duties over to a young coach, Nick Howell, and the results were not good. Mendenhall announced last January he was taking back the play-calling but letting Howell retain the title of D.C.

So far, the results have been pretty good. BYU’s defense kept it in the game the first half vs. Boise State when the Broncos had great field position most of the first 30 minutes but scored just 10 points.

The Cougars had some of their best defensive playmakers in school history a few years ago — linebacker Kyle Van Noy and defensive end Ziggy Ansah (both now in NFL with Detroit Lions) — but haven’t been able to replace their production the past two seasons.

Some guys have shown flashes — like defensive end Bronson Kaufusi and linebacker Fred Warner — but still have a ways to go.

RELATED:
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» The Cougars have yet to allow any fourth-quarter points in 2015.
» Safety Kai Nacua talks about moving on from his role in the Miami Bowl brawl.
» Former Oregon receiver Devon Blackmon, a Fontana native, is still searching for his first career touchdown.