Kragthorpe: BYU’s offense makes fans sweat one out in unsatisfying season opener

Provo

LaVell Edwards loved afternoon football, but this was the wrong kind of tribute to the legendary coach in BYU’s first game since his passing in December.

The Cougars’ partnership with ESPN subjected their fans to temperatures in the mid-90s for a day game in August, and BYU’s offensive performance did nothing to justify the effort. Everybody suffered and sweated through BYU’s 20-6 defeat of Portland State, an exercise that succeeded only to this degree: The Cougars became very happy that their season-opening opponent Saturday at LaVell Edwards Stadium was not LSU, Utah or Wisconsin.

Imagine BYU putting this product on the field against one of those teams. So here’s the consolation, or rationalization: For all of ESPN’s lack of logic of ordering a 1 o’clock kickoff and BYU’s playing in front of several thousand empty seats with school not yet in session, this was a case of brilliant scheduling by athletic director Tom Holmoe.

If this is what it takes to get an unsatisfying show into the books before the degree of difficulty becomes ridiculously higher in September, then all of Saturday’s discomfort was worthwhile.

The best review that BYU coach Kalani Sitake could offer: “Just good to get that game out of the way.”

There’s an asterisk. What if next weekend’s meeting with LSU in Houston is canceled, because of the effects of Hurricane Harvey? The Cougars would have to stew about this game for two weeks, before hosting Utah. That would cause even more suffering in Provo than anything LSU could do to the Cougars, even amid some frightening possibilities against a Tiger defense that held the reigning Heisman Trophy winner’s offense to three field goals in a bowl game last December.

What we know for sure is that BYU’s fan base wanted more, expected more and deserved more from the Cougars against Portland State, picked to finish ninth in the Big Sky Conference. An offense that averaged 23.6 points against Power Five opponents last season could not even match that modest number vs. the Vikings.

“The guys obviously weren’t happy with that performance,” Sitake said, citing disgust in the locker room.

They’re not alone. Probably the only fans who stayed to the end and went home happy were the kids getting autographs from Mo Langi, BYU’s 6-foot-7, 410-pound freshman, who remained on the field to meet and greet them long after his teammates were inside the locker room, dealing with the mixed feelings of this win and looking ahead to LSU.

Coming off a 3-9 season, Portland State coach Bruce Barnum left Provo encouraged. “It’s easy to gauge a football team by your first game,” he said. “We’re going to win some games this year.”

The Cougars were far less upbeat. Junior quarterback Tanner Mangum’s passing numbers (16 of 27, 194 yards) may appear decent, but the same issues that bothered BYU during his 2015 season resurfaced. The Cougars posted 367 yards, hardly an impressive total, and their 13 first downs illustrated their trouble with piecing drives together. The offensive line didn’t block especially well on running plays and receivers generally had trouble getting open.

Mangum missed badly on one throw, with Talon Shumway wide open. Shumway and tight end Matt Bushman also made Mangum look good by taking balls away from one-on-one defenders for big plays. Bushman’s dependability as a freshman is encouraging, but when it comes to converting third-down plays, the Cougars already are missing the running of Jamaal Williams and Taysom Hill, now playing for the Green Bay Packers.

Searching for positive words, Mangum landed on “flashes … some sparks.” During the postgame news conference, he also willingly offered a long answer in Spanish, but that review of the game didn’t sound any more fulfilling than his English version.

The hazard of playing an FCS opponent is there are both objective and subjective judgments of what’s an acceptable victory. Label this one unacceptable. Portland State was within 17-6 and driving, midway through the fourth quarter. My sliding scale for evaluating these matchups involves the moment when the backup quarterback appears in the game. Beau Hoge? Never saw him.

BYU’s defense allowed only 220 yards and one touchdown, but those guys also could have given their offense more turns with the ball. The Vikings extended their scoring drive late in the first half with two fourth-down conversions and stayed on the field for 72 plays to BYU’s 61.

Offensively, penalties – notably, two 15-yarders for chop blocks and a holding call away from the play – kept BYU from sustaining and finishing drives. That part is correctable. What’s worrisome is the absence of playmakers and a scheme that keeps moving the chains. The Cougars seemed on the verge of scoring a couple of touchdowns that may have made the opener more satisfying, but they just didn’t do it.

And now it gets tougher. One way or another, that was going to be Saturday’s theme. The likely conclusion was that the Cougar offense shouldn’t get overconfident, with the elite defenses of LSU, Utah and Wisconsin looming. Turns out, that won’t be an issue.

Sitake said he was eager to prove the theory that teams improve the most between their first and second games. That’s the Cougars’ goal, anyway. As of Saturday, they were shrewd enough to give themselves a lot of room to grow.