BYU football: Cougars' mid-season grades

The BYU football team owns a 3-3 record halfway through its 2016 campaign. A new coaching staff, a new scheme and a brutal schedule have all contributed to some ups and downs.

The BYU football team will host Mississippi State for its Homecoming grade on Friday. A victory would get the Cougars above .500 for the first time since Week One.

We all know there have been offensive woes, defensive issues and questions surrounding the coaching staff. But let’s do some grading.

We’ll start with the Cougar offense.

Taysom Hill

Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

We covered Hill about a week ago, but let’s dig back into it.

Overall, he’s done just enough for BYU football. Luckily, that’s all the Cougars need him to do.

He’s certainly not a potential Heisman threat anymore, but three season-ending injuries and a schematic shift will do that to you.

Hill owns a 6:6 touchdown to interception ratio and hasn’t been able to run as much as in previous years. Still, he’s been effective when scrambling/rushing. He’s averaging 4.4 yards per carry on 63 carries with three touchdowns.

He’s been a quality game manager for the team, and if he can continue to make five to six plays a game, the Cougars can very well run the table on the remaining schedule. If they do, they’d enter the bowl season with a 9-3 mark.

Overall grade: C+

Jamaal Williams (and running backs)

Mike Carter-USA TODAY Sports

Really, this one is easy.

Williams is 64 yards away from become BYU’s all-time rushing leader. He’s second in the nation in rushing (866 yards)and rushing touchdowns (10). He’s the central cog of the BYU offense and is finally gaining national attention.

He’s a special runner, arguably the best that BYU football has ever seen, and is just a few months away from suiting up for a NFL franchise.

Also in the backfield is Squally Canada.

Canada was seldom used early in the season, but has really found himself in the last two weeks.

He averaged 5.4 yards per carry against Toledo, rushing for 49 yards and his first touchdown. Last week against Michigan State he ran for 50 yards. He’s become not only a solid backup to Williams, but he’s eliminated any doubt that he can carry the load next season for the Cougars.

Overall grade: A+

Wide receivers and tight ends

Mike Carter-USA TODAY Sports

Drops. Soft breaks. No separation.

All of these things have plagued the receiving group this season. To their credit, they’ve found ways to get open when it matters, especially late in games. Still, their struggles were at least part of the problem in the BYU offense looking so stagnant through the first three weeks.

Against Michigan State, they did a much better job. Slant routes and quick-hit passes were effective and it got the Cougars yards when they needed them.

Assuming the offense sticks more to short, quick passes and moves away from deep shots and sideline routes, then I think they can continue to be effective. So credit Ty Detmer and Ben Cahoon for developing a game plan around what their players’ talents are.

There was a lot of talk about how the tight end was back at BYU. I don’t know if it’s as back as Detmer would like it to be, but it’s certainly a position that’s trending in the right direction. Tanner Balderree and Hunter Marshall have combined for nine catches and 118 yards thus far.

Overall grade: C-

Offensive line

Mike Carter-USA TODAY Sports

Offensive line coach Mike Empey was pretty vocal all offseason about his linemen. He wasn’t happy with their size (Robert Anae’s go fast, go hard offense made for light linemen), their toughness or their grit. He wanted his players to play with a nasty edge and own the game.

I would imagine he must be pretty happy.

The big fellas up front plowed Williams to a BYU football record against Toledo, then followed it up by breaking Michigan State last week.

They’re playing as a unit and opening up some massive holes for the run game. Michigan State’s Malik McDowell is a top NFL prospect. He made virtually no impact against the Cougars as he got owned at the point of attack.

Thomas Shoaf has been filling in quite well for Ului Lapuaho. It’s sometimes easy to forget that the o-line isn’t at full strength because they’ve played so well. They will only get better with Lapuaho back in the lineup.

Overall grade: B+

Defensive line

Jeff Swinger-USA TODAY Sports

The Cougar defensive line has been pretty good at stopping the run all season. Without Travis Tuiloma for most of the first half, the Cougars have relied on Logan Taele, who has played very well.

Defensive coordinator Ilaisa Tuiaki has utilized a rotation up front to keep players fresh, and that has helped the Cougars stay stout up front.

But between Handsome Tanielu, Corbin Kaufusi, Tomasi Laulile, Moses Kaumatule, Merrill Taliauli, Kesni Tausinga, Tuiloma and Taele, the Cougars have still struggled getting to the quarterback. This is a defense that predicated on getting to the quarterback with the front four, and that’s something that the Cougars will need to improve on as the season goes on.

Overall grade: C

Linebackers

Mike Carter-USA TODAY Sports

The linebacking corps has often been the bread and butter of the BYU defense, and the same is true for this season.

Tuiaki’s got a talented group of backers at his disposal. Led by Butch Pau’u, BYU has one of the best sets of backers in the entire nation.

Pau’u, Fred Warner, Harvey Langi and Francis Bernard have combined for 149 total tackles, four interceptions and 4.5 sacks.

Throw in Sae Tautu, who leads the team with three sacks, and you’re looking at a group that has as much talent as any other team in the nation.

Overall grade: A-

Secondary

Jeff Swinger-USA TODAY Sports

I wasn’t as upset with the secondary’s performance in the West Virginia game as most others. WVU had too much speed, and the Mountaineers utilized with quick throws that got receivers out in space. After that, they put the Cougars on skates.

But I’m not too down on that game because I didn’t think the secondary was poor in coverage. They had to play eight yards back because they couldn’t get beat deep, and even though WVU came away with some deep balls, the coverage couldn’t have been much better.

Toledo was certainly disappointing. You never want to let an opposing quarterback set a school record on you… and that’s exactly what happened.

But, outside of those two games, I think the secondary has played really well – and the Cougars largely did it with patchwork as they waited for Troy Warner to recover.

It took awhile for the Cougars to move on from Chris Wilcox. But halfway through the Toledo game, Tuiaki benched him in favor of Dayan Lake.

It was a smart move.

Lake looks to be every bit of Mike Davis‘ successor and he will likely split time with Warner at the No. 2 corner spot from here on out.

If you take out the WVU and Toledo games, the Cougars are allowing just 208 passing yards per game. Plus, Kai Nacua is tied for first in the country with four interceptions. Not sure what else you could want.

Overall grade: B

Ty Detmer

Chris Nicoll-USA TODAY Sports

Offensive coordinator Ty Detmer went from “The Next Big Thing” to “Are We Sure He’s Cut Out For This?” to “Yeah, He’s Pretty Good.”

Interesting arc for a first-time collegiate coach.

I think it took Detmer a few weeks to grasp the college game at full speed and realize what he was working with. I think Hill’s slow start bothered him, too. Early in the year it seemed like the game plan was to get Hill going, regardless of what else was happening, but we haven’t seen that lately.

He realized that getting Williams 30 touches was the key to a BYU football win.

I still don’t think this is the final version of his offense. I would guess we’ll see something closer to what he envisioned for this season next year with Tanner Mangum at the helm. But regardless, he’s got this team scoring points.

Overall grade: C+

Ilaisa Tuiaki

Mike Carter-USA TODAY Sports

Tuiaki’s defense is allowing just 22.8 points per game – and that’s including the 53 points that Toledo put up.

The BYU football defense is legit. We’ve been saying it for weeks.

Kalani Sitake has been adamant from the beginning that he’s not taking a hands on role with the defense. It’s Tuiaki’s to call and manage.

And he’s done a great job.

Perhaps the biggest change isn’t seen in statistics. Besides, Bronco Mendenhall typically had solid defenses, too. But there’s a massive difference watching BYU on defense this year compared to last year.