Three Big Questions: BYU Cougars
A look at each FBS program heading into 2023, alphabetically
Welcome to May, and welcome to the state of Utah, where Brigham Young University, or BYU, is one of the state’s top brands. The Cougars are in an interesting state of limbo, losing starting quarterback Jaren Hall to the NFL (a fifth round pick of the Minnesota Vikings), and heading to a new conference. That’s right, all those realignment dominoes are starting to fall and BYU will once again be in a conference, this time joining the Big 12.
Team Information
School: BYU Cougars
Conference: Big 12
2022 Record: 8-5 (competed as independent)
Bowl: 24-23 win over SMU in New Mexico Bowl
Coaching Staff:
Head Coach: Kalani Sitake, seventh season
Offensive Coordinator: Aaron Roderick, third season
Defensive Coordinator: Jay Hill, second season
1. Which Kedon Slovis do the Cougars get?
Surprisingly, BYU has had a lot of quarterback success in recent years. Former three-year starter Zach Wilson became a top three NFL pick. Jaren Hall, the starter in 2022, was a fifth round pick in this past week’s NFL Draft. Now, the Cougars have their next quarterback: Kedon Slovis.
Slovis was once hailed as one of the nation’s brightest young stars after his freshman season at USC, where he lit up the PAC-12 with 3,502 yards, 30 touchdowns, nine interceptions and an astonishing 71.9 completion percentage.
Since that breakout 2019 campaign, though, Slovis has slipped each season. He left USC when Lincoln Riley took over for Clay Helton, spending 2022 at the helm of Pittsburgh. That didn’t go too well. Slovis posted career lows in completion percentage (58.4), touchdowns (10), quarterback rating (127.1), and the most interceptions (9). His QBR ranking placed Slovis as the 94th best quarterback in the nation.
Which Slovis does Sitake and the Cougars get? They’ve unlocked plenty of quarterback potential in the past with both Wilson and Hall, so a Slovis reclamation project has a chance to succeed. BYU also runs the pro-style system that Slovis seems to be comfortable in.
The main worry for BYU fans is that the magical 2019 Slovis was just that: magical. He can’t return. Even looking at that USC roster, which surprisingly didn’t fare too well, you see NFL weapons across the team. Slovis’s top two receivers were Michael Pittman Jr. and Amon-Ra St. Brown, both of which are quality NFL starters. Drake London, an NFL first round pick, was just starting his college career and worked out of the slot and in spread sets. All of these receivers are big, physical presences that could simply overpower the opposition. BYU just doesn’t have that.
What BYU does have, though, is a solid offensive scheme. This is a system that got Zach Wilson a 75.5 completion percentage over an entire season. Jaren Hall, who isn’t known for his high completion marks, even tallied over a 65 completion percentage in each of his two seasons leading BYU.
Slovis has shown he can take care of the ball, and has put the team on his back in the past. BYU needs that Slovis to show up in order to compete in the Big 12. If the Pitt Slovis is what they get, though, the Cougars are in trouble.
2. How does the new offensive line look?
One of the hallmarks of the Sitake era of BYU football is strong offensive line play. This offseason, that took a big hit for 2023. The Cougars lost Clark and Campbell Barringer, their two best offensive lineman, to conference foe Baylor (I already talked about the impact the Barringer brothers’ transfer has on Baylor). Both have NFL upside and can anchor a line that will keep Slovis upright and open up big holes for running backs to run through.
Sitake turned to the spring portal season to address that area of need. They nabbed Caleb Etienne from Oklahoma State, ESPN’s ninth-ranked spring portal prospect, who should compete for the starting right tackle job. Utah guard Paul Maile will likely start on the inside.
The Cougars also added talent from lower levels in Utah State guard Weylin Lapuaho and Missouri State swing tackle Ian Fitzgerald. Both Lapuaho and Fitzgerald bring starting experience, but not at the level that BYU competes.
This is a line that is refreshing its two top spots, which is always difficult. The Barringers left large shoes to fill, and these four transfers are going to compete to see who will fill them. Let’s be clear on one thing, though: none of these players have the talent that the Barringer brothers did. In order to reach that level, every one of the new Cougars will have to improve throughout summer practices.
Don’t be confused, this has the hallmarks of another good offensive line. But, it’s not shaping up to be a “great” line. With Slovis’s limited mobility and the Cougars’ reliance on the run game, a great line may be what they need to succeed in the Big 12.
3. What does the new Big 12 have in store for BYU?
Speaking of the Big 12, that’s the biggest adjustment that the Cougars have going into this season. With BYU joining the conference alongside Cincinnati, Houston and UCF, the league is going to look very different than it has in the past.
Despite previous reports, Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark stated the league will not play with divisions for the 2023 season. Even though this ends the round-robin format that worked well for the 10-team league, the conference will go forward with the two best teams heading to Jerryworld for the title tilt.
This season, the Cougars’ Big 12 schedule is:
at Kansas
vs Cincinnati
at TCU
vs Texas Tech
at Texas
at West Virginia
vs Iowa State
vs Oklahoma
at Oklahoma State
That’s a pretty balanced schedule in a very balanced league. They will travel to a good-looking Kansas quad, the national runner-ups in TCU, and a vastly improved Texas team that will certainly all give the Cougars problems. Who knows what Oklahoma looks like this year? How does Oklahoma State look after its transfer exodus?
To make a long story shorter, the Big 12 has a lot of big questions. TCU surprised everyone a year ago, and the rest of the league was very close in competition. There wasn’t really any one team running away with it, even TCU. BYU has the talent to fit into that conference, but the amount of roster turnover that the conference has seen leaves it completely open for competition.
What are the expectations for BYU?
The Cougars are a good team, but are they great? That rests on whether or not Kedon Slovis can find the 2019 version of himself. They also are stepping into one of the nation’s most competitive conferences.
FPI has BYU tagged as a 4-7 team. I don’t see that at all. They’ll be bowl eligible, and likely sit in the seven or eight win range. Whether or not that’s good enough for a trip to Jerryworld is another story.