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Provo • Before suffering a season-ending broken leg in BYU's fifth game of the season, quarterback Taysom Hill almost single-handedly carried the Cougars to wins in their first four games.
So when former walk-on Christian Stewart took over the quarterback duties midway through that crushing fifth-game loss to Utah State, the first thing he decided to do, naturally, was play differently than Hill did.
"I had to be myself," Stewart said as the 8-4 Cougars continued preparations to take on 9-3 Memphis at the Miami Beach Bowl on Monday (noon, ESPN) at Marlins Park. "I realize that Taysom ran this offense really well, but for me, I play different than him, so I never tried to emulate his style of play, just because it doesn't fit me. I can't really play the way he plays, so I just tried to focus on what I needed to do."
What Stewart needed to do was throw the ball all over the place, and let talented receivers such as Mitch Mathews, Jordan Leslie and Mitchell Juergens do their thing.
At the same time, offensive coordinator Robert Anae adapted as well, moving away from a heavy reliance on the run game and Hill's innate ability to overwhelm teams with his legs. With top running back Jamaal Williams at less than full strength and then eventually lost for the season with a knee injury, the Cougars became a passing team, and Stewart proved to be the right man for the job.
"I do believe a sign of a good offensive coordinator — you find out what your quarterback does well," Anae said. "You usually can gauge if you are on point there depending on how productive that position is."
In their first five games, the Cougars averaged 46 running plays and 32 passing plays a game.
Not counting the glorified scrimmage known as the Savannah State game, in their last six games the Cougars averaged 38 running plays and 42 passing plays. While acknowledging that BYU is throwing the ball more, Anae said a lot of the plays are run-pass options, "and Christian is erring on the side of passing those instead of running them."
Stewart kept getting better and better after that inglorious effort against USU when he completed just 10 of 29 passes and was intercepted three times. Sure, weaker competition could be fingered as the reason he guided the Cougars to four straight wins after their four-straight losses, but the senior validated his improvement against the Pac-12's California on Nov. 28, completing 23 of 38 passes for 433 yards and five touchdowns.
"Man, I think Christian can throw the ball, and that's what we did, that's what we turned to, and I think every single play we had on our script, there was a pass attached to it for him to use to be able to throw the ball," Mathews said. "That's how much confidence we have in him. We are winning games and we love to play with him."
Stewart says all the off-field training he did with BYU mental strength coach Craig Manning paid off.
"There have been a lot of times where I have questioned myself, doubted myself, especially after losing four in a row," he said. "I was wondering, am I capable of winning a Division I football game as a starter?"
In his first four games, Stewart completed 56 percent of his passes for 992 yards and eight touchdowns, with five interceptions. In his last four, he completed 62 percent for 1,281 yards and 14 TDs with just one interception.
Using Stewart's strengths, Anae started calling more passing plays, and the Cougars started to look more like the Cougars of Max Hall and John Beck, quarterbacks Anae coached in his first stint as the offensive play-caller.
"We have taken a real hard and conscientious look at trying to do the best things that highlight the quarterback's skill sets," Anae said.
Twitter: @drewjay —
Cougars vs. Tigers
p Miami Beach Bowl
Dec. 22, Marlins Park, Miami, Fla.
BYU vs. Memphis, noon MST
TV • ESPN —
Christian Stewart by the numbers
First Four Games (USU, UCF, UNR, BSU)
Comp/Attempt Pct. Yards TDs Ints
94-167 56.2 992 8 5
Last Four Games (MTSU, UNLV, SSU, Cal)
Comp/Attempt Pct. Yards TDs Ints
82-133 61.6 1,281 14 1