Is there a good explanation for this?

CougarStats:



BYU is dead last (128th) in pass efficiency defense vs non-P5 teams and 38th against P5 teams.

https://twitter.com/CougarStats/status/789524763999809536



I do realize that the first response to the Tweet is that BSU and Toledo are not representative of most G5 teams ... but dead last?



I think there is more to it. Ideas? Insights?

I believe it.

Here are some thoughts...



Our passing defense is terrible. The P5 teams we've played have been better geared towards the run. The G5 teams we've played have been geared towards the pass. P5 teams may assume they can beat us any way they want to rather than play to exploit our weaknesses.

We'll go from dead last to middle of the road as soon as we play more g5 teams

ABYUFAN wrote:
We'll go from dead last to middle of the road as soon as we play more g5 teams

I hope you are right. BUT, if Hawk is right and the issue is that we have a poor pass defense and G5 teams are more pass oriented, then maybe "not so fast" ...

mtnradio wrote:

We'll go from dead last to middle of the road as soon as we play more g5 teams

I hope you are right. BUT, if Hawk is right and the issue is that we have a poor pass defense and G5 teams are more pass oriented, then maybe "not so fast" ...

I just want to clarify that I meant the G5 teams we have played have been more pass oriented. Not all G5 teams will be as successful against our pass defense as Toledo and Boise State were.

UofA, UCLA, and WVU don't strike me as run-oriented teams.

hawkwing wrote:

ABYUFAN wrote:
We'll go from dead last to middle of the road as soon as we play more g5 teams

I hope you are right. BUT, if Hawk is right and the issue is that we have a poor pass defense and G5 teams are more pass oriented, then maybe "not so fast" ...

I just want to clarify that I meant the G5 teams we have played have been more pass oriented. Not all G5 teams will be as successful against our pass defense as Toledo and Boise State were.

While I understand that, I guess I'm wondering if the G5, in general, run a different style of offense than what is generally found in the P5. I base this question/thought in part on an article I read in the last few weeks (sorry, I don't remember where), wherein they argued that the spread offense is generally a gimmick offense designed to hide weaknesses and that teams that are truly strong run the pro-style offense. I realize that I have poorly paraphrased what was a good argument set forth at length by an analyst who knows a great deal about the game ... so don't hold my paraphrase against the argument. The question boils down to: Do G5 schools typically/generally run spread-type offenses while P5 schools typically/generally run pro style offenses? And, does that tend to explain this statistic?

I don't know why teams don't do anything but throw deep on us all game long. Teams are refusing to beat us deep. I don't get it. I'd call the deep fly route all game long. We've shown routinely that we can't cover 20+ yards down field.

Maybe we played two G5's that had better passing games than the P5's we've met.

SpiffCoug wrote:
I don't know why teams don't do anything but throw deep on us all game long. Teams are refusing to beat us deep. I don't get it. I'd call the deep fly route all game long. We've shown routinely that we can't cover 20+ yards down field.

I have wondered about this all year long - actually, for many many years. I told my son, before the game, that if Boise would just throw deep passes against us on all four downs, they would win by 80.



After the 1st quarter, they were averaging 25 yards per completion. Heck, if they only connected on 25% of their passes, they would never be stopped. And if we played for the deep pass, they would just throw under the coverage and run the rest of the way. It's not like our D-backs know how to tackle.



Anyway, that's a gross oversimplification. But it does make a point.

1967cougar wrote:

I don't know why teams don't do anything but throw deep on us all game long. Teams are refusing to beat us deep. I don't get it. I'd call the deep fly route all game long. We've shown routinely that we can't cover 20+ yards down field.

I have wondered about this all year long - actually, for many many years. I told my son, before the game, that if Boise would just throw deep passes against us on all four downs, they would win by 80.



After the 1st quarter, they were averaging 25 yards per completion. Heck, if they only connected on 25% of their passes, they would never be stopped. And if we played for the deep pass, they would just throw under the coverage and run the rest of the way. It's not like our D-backs know how to tackle.



Anyway, that's a gross oversimplification. But it does make a point.

Maybe BYU is better at defending the deep pass than you think or the other team is poor at throwing deep ball as they have a low completion rate to begin with.

maybe because it's also so easy to beat BYU on the short and intermediate throws as well.