Dick Harmon: A Change of views provided Brandon Doman with plenty to see

PROVO — Brandon Doman found a perch he can live with.

In Friday's 24-17 comeback victory over Central Florida and the Knights' Top 5 defense, the rookie BYU offensive coordinator took to the booth for the first time this season.

What he saw had to give comfort after a week of criticism in town and from fans.

He saw BYU's offense improve.

He saw BYU's defense make gigantic plays.

But he also witnessed the birth of a new aide in his quest to produce points — knockout plays by BYU's special teams.

The special teams players — the third tier of football for the Cougars Friday — were the guys who swooped through to save the day like comic book heros.

The perch for viewing these heroes? It was the cushiest of cushions for Doman's tush that's been under fire for a week.

He watched Cody Hoffman return a kickoff 93 yards for touchdown, the first such BYU play in 13 years, when Mike Rigel did a similar act against Hawaii.

On the play, Hoffman took off like a rocket, his legs pumping like pistons.

It was the fastest he'd run on any play in his Cougar career. It tied the game at 17-17 with 4:37 to play in the third quarter.

Hoffman's electrifying return, ignited an emotional feeding frenzy on BYU's sideline. It was the most fire and excitement Bronco Mendenhall's squad had displayed all season.

If BYU has turned things around heading into another home game against Utah State next Friday, the Hoffman return may be remembered as the pivot.

In the fourth quarter, Doman watched Riley Stephenson boom his longest punt of the season, a 67-yarder, that made Knight return man Josh Robinson turn and run towards his own goal line like it was a pass and he was a receiver. And he muffed it. That set up an easy 23-yard drive to score BYU's winning touchdown, a 6-yard jaunt by Bryan Kariya.

Doman watched BYU's defense wobble, then recover to make big play after big play in the crucial fourth quarter to preserve Kariya's score.

Doman watched Uona Kaveinga force a fumble and Jameson Frazier recover it. He watched Kyle Van Noy tip a pass by UCF's Jeff Godfrey inside BYU's 15 and corner Joe Sampson intercept to prevent a potential game-tying score with a few minutes left in the game.

He witnessed Van Noy sack Godfrey, coming from what seemeld like Pleasant Grove, to catch the talented, speedy quarterback for a huge loss as he left the pocket with under a minute to play and the Knights desperately doing everything possible to score.

What he watched is playmaking football at its very best, the thing ESPN loves to display.

What he saw is what ESPN hoped to see in his offense when they signed on as a partner.

After a painful 54-10 loss to Utah a week ago, on Friday, BYU's offense had a more palatable pace and rhythm. It was very noticeable. Jake Heaps looked more comfortable in the pocket and finished 16 of 34 for 133 yards and one interception.

"My performance wasn't that great, but we got the W," said Heaps. "More importantly, I can learn from it."

A key Friday night was that the Cougar run game came up with 127 yards, many of those on simplified power plays when Heaps and Company needed big plays.

Bryan Kariya led the charge with 53 yards on 14 carries and J.J. DiLuigi had a 5.4 yard average on 7 carries for 38 yards.