A little about allot.
Ryan Finley took what was given him or what he saw. Time will tell the difference. It is entirely possible that Washington had a great game plan to take away the intermediate throws and force Finley to check down or launch deep. He did a lot of checking down. No completion was longer than 23 yards and 37% of his 16 completions were to his running backs. Most of the time in the first half, the offense was in a 3rd down and short situation and short passes or runs worked well. That’s what happens when you run the ball on 1st and 2nd down as well as Boise State did. Beyond that, a Finley interception and Young fumble in Washington territory limited the scoring opportunities. As far as Finley’s personality goes, I think he knows the offense didn’t produce enough and in his post-game presser I could tell he was biting his tongue. He seems confident and ready to bust out. Reminds me more of Joe Southwick or Ryan Dinwiddie then understated Kellen Moore or Grant Hedrick.
The BYU defense allowed 319 yards passing and 3 touchdowns to Nebraska. They also missed a lot of tackles at the line of scrimmage and in the Husker backfield. BYU’s best defensive player, nose guard Travis Tuiloma, hurt his knee and is out 4-6 weeks. BYU also suspended 3 defensive players for the game so it will be a different Cougar defense for Finley and company in Provo. I think high scoring. In his relief appearance, QB Tanner Mangum was 7-11 for 111 yards with one Hail Mary TD. He looks polished and ready to open the playbook. His storybook season continues with his hometown team, Boise State, showing up in Provo for the Cougars home opener and best home game on the schedule. Coach Pete was the first to offer a scholarship to Mangum but BYU was his calling. He was going on a mission after high school, his older brother played there and he had attended BYU summer camp each year. Boise State ended up with Nick Patti in the class of 2012 instead. He plays WR at Central Florida now.
