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SpiffCougI know it's a little late, but here is what I noted from the box score, my spreadsheet and watching highlights and listening to the BYU at Middle Tennessee game.
- I claim having changed MTSU's uniforms. The Blue Raiders wore their blue helmets. This was clearly in response to my tweet last week (that was favorited by @MTSU_Equipment) that under Bronco, BYU was 7-8 (.467) against blue-helmeted teams and 15-1 (.938) against grey-helmeted teams. Their attempt to avoid the BYU grey helmet domination was all for naught however. Bronco is now 8-8 (.500) against a blue-helmeted team.
- With the win, Bronco also improved to 7-1 (.875) against teams from Conference USA.
- It was the first game since the Texas game that BYU covered the spread.
- BYU had 0 turnovers for just the second time in the last 14 games.
- BYU won the PER battle and has now won 62 of the 67 games under Bronco (.925) where the Cougars met the 135 PER standard.
- In his four starts, Christian Stewart's PER is almost exactly what opponents average giving up. Against UCF he was 9.4 PER points above the Knight's average, but he was 1.0 points above Nevada's, 0.1 points below Boise's and 0.4 poitns above Middle Tenn's.
- C-Stew is also doing a great job at distributing the football and spreading the wealth.
11 players were targeted with 10 catching passes in the MTSU game. Against Boise, the numbers were nine and eight. In the Nevada game, 13 players were targeted and 10 caught passes. And it was nine and nine against UCF. By comparison against Texas it was eight and six, and seven and six against Virginia.
- BYU's penalties seem to be coming under control. After racking up 62 penalties and 552 yards in the first six games, the Cougars have only been flagged 20 times for 215 yards in the last three.
- BYU won the completely irrelevant stat of time of possession for the first times in six games.
- I've begun tracking "chunk" plays. I had been tracking explosive plays, which I define as plays of more than 20 yards. Chunk plays are those that gain between 10-19 yards. MTSU had just one explosive play - to tie a season low for BYU's defens- and just five chunk plays, which was a season low.
- MTSU had just six passing first downs. It was the fewest passing first downs allowed by BYU since New Mexico St had just five to finish the 2012 regular season.
- Pass protection has remained relatively constant this year. Taysom Hill was sacked 14 times in his 4 1/2 games. C-Stew has been sacked 15 times.
- So far this season, BYU has completed 61.2% of its passing attempts. That is the highest since completing 67.3% in 2009. It is a nine-percent increase over last season, and 1.5% higher than the next highest (59.7% in 2012).
- I claim having changed MTSU's uniforms. The Blue Raiders wore their blue helmets. This was clearly in response to my tweet last week (that was favorited by @MTSU_Equipment) that under Bronco, BYU was 7-8 (.467) against blue-helmeted teams and 15-1 (.938) against grey-helmeted teams. Their attempt to avoid the BYU grey helmet domination was all for naught however. Bronco is now 8-8 (.500) against a blue-helmeted team.
- With the win, Bronco also improved to 7-1 (.875) against teams from Conference USA.
- It was the first game since the Texas game that BYU covered the spread.
- BYU had 0 turnovers for just the second time in the last 14 games.
- BYU won the PER battle and has now won 62 of the 67 games under Bronco (.925) where the Cougars met the 135 PER standard.
- In his four starts, Christian Stewart's PER is almost exactly what opponents average giving up. Against UCF he was 9.4 PER points above the Knight's average, but he was 1.0 points above Nevada's, 0.1 points below Boise's and 0.4 poitns above Middle Tenn's.
- C-Stew is also doing a great job at distributing the football and spreading the wealth.
11 players were targeted with 10 catching passes in the MTSU game. Against Boise, the numbers were nine and eight. In the Nevada game, 13 players were targeted and 10 caught passes. And it was nine and nine against UCF. By comparison against Texas it was eight and six, and seven and six against Virginia.
- BYU's penalties seem to be coming under control. After racking up 62 penalties and 552 yards in the first six games, the Cougars have only been flagged 20 times for 215 yards in the last three.
- BYU won the completely irrelevant stat of time of possession for the first times in six games.
- I've begun tracking "chunk" plays. I had been tracking explosive plays, which I define as plays of more than 20 yards. Chunk plays are those that gain between 10-19 yards. MTSU had just one explosive play - to tie a season low for BYU's defens- and just five chunk plays, which was a season low.
- MTSU had just six passing first downs. It was the fewest passing first downs allowed by BYU since New Mexico St had just five to finish the 2012 regular season.
- Pass protection has remained relatively constant this year. Taysom Hill was sacked 14 times in his 4 1/2 games. C-Stew has been sacked 15 times.
- So far this season, BYU has completed 61.2% of its passing attempts. That is the highest since completing 67.3% in 2009. It is a nine-percent increase over last season, and 1.5% higher than the next highest (59.7% in 2012).