I predict Covey will have a great game this Saturday

[ProudUte]

Those of you who watched the BYU game Saturday night saw how the small, quick transfer from Northwestern did against BYU’s defense.  They would get him the ball in space and he did the rest.  I suspect Utah will do the same with Covey.  We did not really go deep against Weber, but if the opportunity is there this Saturday, I suspect we will go to Howard and Dixon deep.

On top of that, we have three studs at tight end, and we passed to our RBs a good amount last week.  I don’t believe BYU can stop all these weapons.  Something has to give and it is a matter of Ludwig and Brewer determining where the openings are.

My totally uneducated prediction is that we will start with short passes and screens because BYU will likely be in zone coverage.  When BYU moves up to cover the short passes, we will go over the top.  I think we will also try to run a lot early against their 3 man Dline. 

 

[Tony (admin)]

I’m looking for three TE’s to have a great game. 

[Ghost of the HEB]

BYU-P is committed to the drop 8 zone due to lack of confidence in the DBs they can recruit there. Their passing defense philosophy revolves around yards per attempt. They want to eliminate big play opportunities, force you to go on long drives with short yardage gains, and hope you make drive-killing mistakes/stall out and settle for/miss FGs (like AZ did on Saturday). They rarely bring pressure with this philosophy.

This worked well for them vs freshman Slovis in 2019, their 2020 schedule, and U of A last weekend. But a good QB who has adequate weapons will shred this defense all day with the amount of time it affords them (see Jacob Eason + Washington at BYU-P in 2019).

[Tony (admin)]

If they drop 8 that means a three-man rush. Our run game should shred them in that case. 

[MFury]

I didn’t see a ton of drop 8 from
TDS against AZ. They played deep safeties, but LBs seemed pretty active at the LOS. Fair number of blitz packages as well. But I could be misreading the coverage.

I agree that we’ll see deep safety coverage and should open up covey + TE. And if they do drop 8, Bernard and TT will go off.

[UteThunder]

The drop 8 claims are a bit of a misnomer. Their LBs read and react just like everyone else. They just don’t blitz a lot. This results in them “dropping 8” on passing plays more frequently than other teams. But on running plays, their LBs aren’t “dropping” into coverage and opening up running lanes. They make their reads and react to fill gaps. 

[Tony (admin)]

Well that’s just standard LB reads then. 

[UteThunder]

Exactly

[Ghost of the HEB]

They played slightly more aggressive with their LBs versus AZ because they weren’t as worried about their QBs, but I would bet money they try to play it very safe again versus Utah.

[Trailgoat]

Defense needs to pressure and contain Hall and not let him run wild. Stuff the run game, don’t get beat deep on big plays. Score points early forcing BYU to play catch up. Hall has not seen a defense like Utahs, big test for him.

[Charlie]

If Utah sets the edge well keeping the RBs inside and keeping the QB in the pocket, the defense will do fine. Must set the edge.