BYU football: Foes' offenses share roots

LAS VEGAS — The two offensive coordinators in today's Las Vegas Bowl used to be staff mates at Texas Tech. They know one another extremely well.

Sonny Dykes and Robert Anae. Once Red Raiders.

They used to share film room time, conspire to beat Texas, engulf themselves in formations and terminology of a passing offense that had its roots at BYU before morphing at Kentucky, then blooming in Lubbock.

They both learned from the master, Mike Leach, a lawyer who never played the game but has consistently produced the best passing offense in college football in the modern era. Leach got his start hanging around LaVell Edwards' practices in the early '80s.

"We'll probably run the same plays and call them the same thing," Dykes said.

The Cougars bring in the nation's No. 7 passing offense (308 yards per game), while the Wildcats have mixed in more running plays and rank 40th in passing (237.3 ypg).

The Cougars are 17th in the NCAA in total offense (444.8 ypg), while the Wildcats are 34th (401.25 ypg). Dykes' Arizona crew has scored two more touchdowns than Anae's group (58-56).

"Sonny Dykes is an exceptional coach," said Anae. "It is no surprise to me they are going to a bowl game this year. They play sound defense and there is no question they have a good offense."

Anae describes Dykes as a "very innovative" guy.

"He was able to adapt to the personnel at Arizona, which is recruited different, like here, than Texas Tech," Anae said. "It's a different kind of recruit that you get in the program and he was able to adapt to it. To me, that shows he is a real innovative skill.

"When you go from one program to the other, you don't have the same kind of recruit to work with and you have to make changes and adapt your offense to take advantage of the kind of talent you have. He has done that. To his credit, he's been able to adapt and be successful."

One such adaptation from Texas Tech that both Anae and Dykes have made is the use of the tight end.

The Cougars have had great success with players such as Dennis Pitta and Jonny Harline. The Wildcats, under second-year coordinator Dykes, have had big Rob Gronkowski, a favorite target of QB Willie Tuitama.

"We just thought we'd adjust to what we had and take a little bit of heat off our quarterback," said Dykes. "We tried to make our system fit the players rather than make the players fit our system."