BYU football: BYU vs. San Jose State from an insider's perspective

"In the secondary, Bene Benwikere has been the impact player. He's got four interceptions and two defensive touchdowns. Both TDs have come in the last two weeks. He had an interception return against Idaho and fumble return against New Mexico State. He also had an interception return for a TD called back against NMSU by a penalty. He started the year as a backup safety and nickel back, but moved into a starting cornerback role due to injury and has twice been the WAC Defensive Player of the Week.

"Defensive tackles Travis Raciti and Anthony Larceval have also been good. Johnson leads the WAC in sacks and Raciti and Larceval are second and fourth, respectively. The defense is prone to allowing big plays, but they are also capable of making big plays of their own."

5. What does San Jose State need to do in order to win Saturday?

"Balance on offense will be key. SJSU didn't establish a running game against Utah State and the Aggies teed off with 13 sacks, which is three more than the combined total the Spartans have allowed in their nine other games. Even though SJSU has proved to be most effective when it's primarily passing, it wants to produce an honest run game to allow the passing game to succeed.

"Defensively, I think they need to force a couple turnovers to set up some short fields. They also need to start fast. They trailed 28-3 in the blink of an eye against Utah State. They rallied back, but not nearly enough. They'll need to keep it close going into halftime and hope their second-half success continues."

Email: bgurney@desnews.com

Twitter: @BrandonCGurney