College Football Preview: BYU Cougars

BYU COUGARS:  LOOKING FOR A "HALL" OF FAME

Today we take a look at the BYU Cougars, always explosive on offense and always capable of busting out on the national scene:

2008 Record:  10-3 SU, 3-9 ATS
Three-Year record (’06-’08):  32-7 SU, 19-17-1 ATS

BetOnline Sportsbook NCAA Football Odds

To Win National title  +15000
Under 9 Wins  -140
Over 9 Wins  Even

BYU had an outstanding season last year, and it could have been even better. The Cougars seemed to lay down in routs by TCU (32-7) and Utah (48-24) and lost to Arizona in its fourth straight Las Vegas Bowl appearance. This season 29 lettermen are lost, but the team should be better at stopping people.

Once again, the main guy the offense revolves around is quarterback Max Hall, who is at worst a fringe Heisman Trophy candidate and one of the more productive signal-callers in the country. Hall completed 69% of his passes last season for 35 TD’s and only 14 interceptions. He loses Austin Collie, his top wide receiver who was drafted by the Colts, but his all-conference tight end, Dennis Pitta (83 catches, 1083 yards) does return. BYU always seems to find some wideouts, and they’ll look to sophomores McKay Jacobson, O’Neill Chambers and Stephen Covey to carry the load.

Balance in this offense is always a priority, and for that the Cougars can turn to a very dependable running back. Harvey Unga not only ran for 1132 yards and 11 touchdowns last year, he also caught 42 passes out of the backfield. The problem to be solved involves the offensive line, which brings back players with only 23 career starts, and only one player (Matt Reynolds) who started last season. That’s a concern for Hall, who was sacked only 20 times last season, a low figure when you consider his 477 pass attempts.

Brigham Young gave up almost 22 points a game last season, and allowed five of the last seven foes to top 30. This year that may change. All three defensive line starters return, as does the entire linebacking crew. Middle linebacker Matt Bauman had 108 tackles to lead the team last year, and Jan Jorgensen, a defensive end, has been first-team all-conference the last two seasons. Now he has streamlined himself, losing 15 pounds in order to make himself a quicker pass rusher.

However, there are a few questions that could have an impact. Nose tackle Russell Tialavea may be getting called to his mandatory two-year mission, and though he will try to have it pushed back until the end of the football season, that is not guaranteed. Also, cornerback Brandon Bradley, who is tabbed to be one of the starters in the secondary, has had "personal issues" to deal with and his remaining in the program was iffy.

BYU gets to play both Utah and TCU at home this season, but they have some trouble with the non-conference slate, which includes a home game with talented Florida State and a game at the new Cowboys Stadium against Oklahoma. They would probably have to lose all four of those games to find the "under" in the BetOnline wins prop (-140 for Under 9 Wins) so we’ll lean toward the "over" on that bet, which is even money in the BetOnline NCAA football futures betting odds.