BYU football: Aztecs may be perfect for sendoff

BYU is obscenely favored to defeat San Diego State today in the Cougars' final home game of the season.

It marks the final appearance in LaVell Edwards Stadium for Cougar senior defenders David Nixon and David Tafuna, along with most of Max Hall's offensive line. Good-bye receiver Michael Reed, too.

The Cougars are picked over the Aztecs by 35 1/2 points. Gulp.

That's a lot of expected firepower on a cold November day. When did scoring points come so easy? Well, it depends upon who is doing the covering and tackling.

Defensively, the integrity of both the Cougars and Aztecs will be on the line today.

The Cougars should chalk up their 18th consecutive home win, although doing it by almost 36 points is a stretch when one considers Mendenhall's penchant for mercy.

The real intrigue in this matchup is seeing how much progress BYU's defense makes after starting corner Scott Johnson was lost for the regular season, safety Andrew Rich was moved over to Johnson's boundary corner spot and senior safety Tafuna has returned from an injury.

Kind of like watching a bunch of Ewan McGregors transition from the poet in "Moulin Rouge" to Obi Wan Kenobi.

A week after giving up a combined 77 points to UNLV and Colorado State in their previous two games, BYU defensive coordinator Jaime Hill has focused on several philosophical pillars of football on that side of the ball.

One in particular: Trust. Without it, things can go a little helter skelter.

"Everybody's trying to do someone else's job instead of doing their own job, trying to help people out. Just do your part and you'll be fine. If you try to help somebody else out and not do your part first, you're going to have a challenge," said Hill.

Some players, said Hill, haven't played enough with others to trust them.

"So, you've got to get to the point where you trust others." Hill said if you take away four plays last week where people were out of position, trying to do somebody else's job, it's whole different ballgame.

Can you say trick plays?

"We learn from those experiences and try to get better," said Hill.

As a season creeps into November, opponents have more film, expose more tendencies and become better at attacking one another, said Hill. The other challenge is facing better quarterbacks and receivers — all which have accounted for more points against the Cougars' defense since September.

"It's a little bit of both. Coaches in the conference have gotten better. Talent in the league has improved. People are now seeing our defense for the third time, so they have a better understanding," Hill said.