BYU football: Turnovers, short fields leave Coug 'D' hurting

One thing BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall pointed out after the game, the final score of the Cougars' loss to Utah on Saturday looks more lopsided than the game really was.

In fact, the Cougars actually gained four more yards in total offense than the Utes, so those who might want to blame BYU's defense for the loss might want to take another look.

"People will look at the score and think they raced up and down the field," Mendenhall said. "The first half we struggled stopping them, but the second half I didn't feel that way."

Looking at the stats, Mendenhall's assessment is pretty accurate. In the first half, Utah quarterback Brian Johnson had his way with BYU's secondary, completing 21-of-25 passes for 228 yards and two touchdowns.

"They stayed in their base formations that they had been in all season long," Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said. "No one prepares better than (Johnson), so we were confident that we could have success against them because of what we had seen on film."

But with the Cougars trailing 27-17 at the break, they knew they couldn't continue to give up so many yards and so many big plays and have any chance of catching up. From that standpoint, BYU's defense did its job and gave the Cougars a chance to win — stopping Utah on its first three third-quarter possessions and holding Utah to only 129 yards of total offense in the second half.

"I really liked how they played, especially in the second half when they made some adjustments," Mendenhall said. "Other than some turnovers and short fields, I think Utah would have really struggled to put points on the board against us."

Two of BYU's top defenders, however, were more than disappointed in the Cougars' defensive effort. Both David Nixon and Jan Jorgensen said they simply gave up too many big plays. When the offense is stumbling, it's up to the defense to pick up the slack, Jorgensen said.

"We didn't do that tonight," he said. "You can't say that (we played good defense) when you give up 48 points."

Nixon agreed, but did credit the defense for keeping the Cougars close through the first three quarters.

"I think maybe it took us a little bit to adjust to their game ... but finally when we started adjusting, things started to go better," Nixon said. "We wish we could have adjusted earlier, but what happened happened."

The Cougar defenders also credited the Utes for the arsenal they threw BYU's way and the difficulty they caused.

"They are the best offense we've seen. They just have so many weapons. They have great running backs, a great quarterback, good receivers and an offensive line that does its job. They're a very good offensive team," Jorgensen said.

One critical thing BYU's defense failed to provide were some turnovers. The Cougars figured that was one battle they needed to win to have a chance at winning the game. The Cougars also allowed Utah to score on 7-of-7 red-zone possessions.

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E-mail: jimr@desnews.com