BYU football report card: Cougar defense shines in win over Ole Miss

OXFORD, Miss. — On an afternoon when their offense played out of sync and struggled mightily to put any points on the board, the BYU Cougars relied on a terrific defensive effort to get a victory over Ole Miss in their season-opener as a football independent Saturday.

Star-in-the-making Kyle Van Noy, an outside linebacker for the Cougars, forced a fumble and recovered it for a touchdown late in the fourth quarter to propel BYU to a nail-biting 14-13 win.

Here’s how BYU was graded against the Rebels:

OFFENSE: What a forgettable day for sophomore QB Jake Heaps and his offensive counterparts. The Cougars dominated time of possession but had an unbelievably hard time putting points on the board. Heaps was ultimately 24 of 38 for 255 yards and 1 TD and 1 INT, but it was tough sledding throughout. To his credit — and to the credit of his offensive teammates — they kept fighting and did just enough to get the win. GRADE: C-.

DEFENSE: BYU’s defensive seven was hyped over and over again throughout fall camp, and on Day 1 of the 2011 season, they sure lived up to all that hype — and then some. It’s hard to overstate how good BYU’s front seven was against the Rebels. They continually stuffed Ole Miss’s run, got pressure on the quarterback and made plays. No play, obviously, was bigger than Van Noy’s scoop and score for the game-winner with 5:09. Van Noy was terrific, fellow linebackers Jordan Pendleton and Uona Kaveinga were terrific, and BYU’s defensive linemen — led by Eathyn Manumaluena — were terrific. GRADE: A.

SPECIAL TEAMS: BYU’s special teams got off to a poor start when veteran punter Riley Stephenson booted an 11-yard punt deep in his own endzone, and it was mostly all downhill from there. The Cougars gave up a costly punt return near the end of the first half to set up a momentum-changing Ole Miss field goal, and sophomore kicker Justin Sorensen missed a field goal when the Cougars needed it badly. GRADE: C.

COACHING: BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall masterfully guided the Cougars’ defense, while BYU offensive coordinator Brandon Doman had a rough afternoon in his first game calling the offense. Doman’s offense was out of sync throughout, and its tempo coming out of the huddle was woefully slow. Lots of things to work on, to be sure. GRADE: B-.

OVERALL: BYU ultimately did what was absolutely necessary — it got a victory. Undoubtedly, the Cougs will thank their tremendous-looking defense, which kept BYU in the game and made plays to win it. GRADE: B.