BYU 2013 Season in Review.

Many will list the BYU 2013 as a would-have and could-have season.  But for me, the season was better than I expected.  They won two games that early-on I thought they would lose, Boise State and Texas.  Of course, that was tempered by BYU losing two games I thought they would win, Virginia and Utah.  For those expecting more than 8 wins, I have to ask if those people were dreaming.  BYU just didn't have the team that would have gone into Camp Randall Stadium or Notre Dame Stadium and walked out with a win. 

Offense:

Why did I say that?  BYU had two things lacking on offense to be great with the hot-read offense.  First, BYU doesn't have speedy receivers.  They had Cody Hoffman, recognized as a good 'possession' receiver, but not a speedster.  BYU had few tools that could stretch the defense on the passing game.  Second, they are seeing the effects, or the consequences of recruiting smaller, faster offensive linemen.  The offensive line didn't have the ability to protect Taysom Hill for long.  Therefore, BYU had to force defenses to respect his running ability.  Texas refused and got burned.  After that, rather than over-pursue Hill in the pocket, you cover, and when the protection breaks down, you have someone hanging around the secondary to keep the gains minimal.  These are the reasons that the Cougars had trouble in the red zone and on 3rd downs.

Grade: C+

Defense:

The defense was much better earlier in the season.  Part of that was the level of competition, and part of that was the effect of injuries and an offense that didn't hold onto the ball very long.  There were too many drives that were 3-and-out in less than a minute.  BYU's defense was not deep enough to handle that toward the end of the season, where the defense wasn't good enough to keep games against Wisconsin and Washington close enough to win.

Grade: B+

Special Teams

The punting wasn't as good in 2013, but the field goal kicking was much better.  But the kick-off coverage was problem-some in some games.

Grade: B-

Best Win:
Texas

Worst Loss:
Virginia

Offesnive MVP:
QB Taysom Hill

Defensive MVP:
LB Uani Unga

Special Teams MVP:
PK Justin Sorensen