Weekend Recap Week 5: Utes Dominate, It Is Time To Consider That BYU may Just Have A Bad Defense

October 3, 2022 Eric Jensen CFB 0

Each week Eric Jensen takes a look around the state in the weekend recap. This weeks week 5 weekend recap is shorter than usual as Utah State and BYU faced off. Check out the week 5 weekend preview!

Utah

It’s hard to have a better day than Clar Phillips III had on Saturday against the Beavers. The soon to be first round, stud corner made three interceptions on the day and converted one into six points.

Those turnovers ultimately made the difference in the game. Utah’s tremendous defense got this win for the Utes. The Utes forced four turnovers on the day and got four sacks, a tremendous day all around for a unit that could be argued as the best in the state. It truly is hard to be playing much better than the Utes defense is playing right now, huge tests await in UCLA and USC.

The offense for Utah didn’t set the world on fire Saturday but played well. Cam Rising’s legs carried the day. No other Utah ball carrier broke 22 yards on the day. Rising made impressive plays with his legs including delivering a brutal stiff arm while on his way to the end zone.

Devaughn Vele broke out in this game, catching the ball seven times and posting 73 yards in the process. Vele has looked good over the past weeks, he’s a very talented player who runs crisp routes and notably holds onto the ball. Is he an NFL prospect? Probably not, but he’s a very solid pass-catching option to have and he’ll need to star in potential shootouts the next two weeks.

Rising keeps marginally improving week to week as a passer, he limited misses and threw touchdowns against the Beavers. The next three games will determine the type of November the Utes have, one spent in a heated playoff race or chasing a new years six bowl and focused on repeating as Pac-12 champions.

One thing is for certain, October will be fun.

Week 5 weekend preview continues

BYU: Cougars 38 Utah State Aggies 26

After sleepwalking through the first half the Cougars woke up in the third quarter and put a second-half beatdown on the Aggies, 38-26.

Praise first for BYU. Jaren Hall and the offense are consistent, week to week they can make great plays and carry the team. The passing attack is explosive, the running game is becoming more consistent, and they are playing their best football when they need to. This is a team that can no doubt put up 30-point days against Notre Dame and Arkansas, that’s no small task.

The offense is just good. It is well coached, and the players perform from week to week. This is a group that because of the offense can hang with any team in the country.

The defense is atrocious, I’ve seen enough. Every week, missed tackles, no pressure, stupid penalties. The group is just not up to snuff. Either it’s the coaching or BYU just lacks defensive talent. I find it hard to believe the latter is true so it must be coaching. Yet Kalani Sitake isn’t going to make any moves that remove his BFF Ilaisa Tuiaki mid-season, that’s just bad business but BYU needs to make tough decisions in the off-season.

For two years straight this defense hasn’t been up to snuff. For two straight years. Utah State had not been able to run the ball for three weeks prior to this matchup, they put up 204 yards on the ground and dominated the first half mainly on the ground.

This is a defense that struggled to put up more than seven pressures and only had two sacks on the day. That is against a G5 team missing their left tackle. Excuses are gone, we’re half way through the season and this is a bad pass rush.

These are just the facts, BYU is about to lose one of the next two games because the defense is about to get absolutely bullied up front. The Baylor game is an outlier.

USU Notes

  • The offense looks more dynamic with Cooper Legas as the starter.
  • Calvin Tyler is starting to get some stuff figured out and this run game is starting to get cooking.
  • The DBs are so so so so so bad. Anyone can and will throw on this team.
  • The linebackers, specifically MJ Tafisi are very good. MJT is just a stud player. All over the place every week.
  • This team needs to get more disciplined and that includes Blake Anderson.

Check out the latest edition of the Pioneer Pigskin for more thoughts, thanks for reading the week 5 weekend recap!