BYU starts slow and comes up short against Notre Dame in Las Vegas. Substitutions and having enough players on the field. The coaches forgot to how to coach efficiently tonight and can anyone count to 11 this played a big role in the first half on how the Cougars started the game. The refs missed so many calls and it was an ACC officiating staff. Coaching needs to step it up as getting started like they did hurt the Cougars in their 28-20 loss. Notre Dame controlled the clock and gave the Cougars very few times to put points on the board.
Players who Stood out
Lopini Katoa
Katoa who started as a running back had 45 yards which is good for our running backs considering the season they have had. He put up some bigger runs and also was big for the Cougars in the first half.
Chris Brooks
Brooks had 90 yards and one touchdown for the Cougars tonight. Many wondered what kind of running back he was until tonight where he stepped up and was the big guy that BYU fans were hoping he was.
Players with a Big Game
Kody Epps
Kody Epps came out and played an amazing game he also was the main receiver tonight who could catch the ball. He put up his first 100 yard receiving game as a Cougar and this will be many more to come.
Payton Wilgar
Wilgar was all over the field tonight and he played a big role in helping stop Notre Dame from going up more.
Tyler Batty
Batty getting into the backfield and blowing up plays for the Fighting Irish was big. He also was playing with a lot of heart to help keep the Cougars in the game
Max Tooley
Ball Hawk Alert. Max Tooley with another interception to the Cougars the ball back when it was needed. He also made plenty of tackles to keep the Cougars in the game
Players who struggled
Jaren Hall
Hall came into tonight throwing for over 200 yards in every game so far. Tonight he put up 120 yards, with one interception and two touchdowns. He was injured tonight and it showed when he came out and threw a flouter that was intercepted. Hall also showed it when he just wasn’t playing his game.
Puka Nacua
Nacua came back after missing another game this season. He didn’t have any receptions tonight. Nacua was also the down fall of the refs because he kept getting held and then many times pass interference calls were missed too.
Gunner Romney
Romney saw the field tonight after playing in only his second game. He had eight receiving yards and was also struggling to get open for Hall to throw the ball too.
Takeaways
Offense
Starting slow and also throwing an interception the first play hurts any team. It really hurts a team though when their starting quarterback is playing hurt but showing it in everything that he did tonight. They only had the ball for 19 minutes in total of those 60 minutes. You can’t win a game when the offense can’t score and can’t keep the ball longer than about four plays. The running game tonight looked like it was going in the right direction and I hope it continues to go this way. The passing game was just not it and with Hall’s shoulder injured it hurt the team chances of winning tonight.
Defense
The defense held on as long as they could. They played way more than the should have tonight and that is what costs the defense so many points. Allowing almost 500 yards in total is bad and a lot of that had to do with being tired and it coming early as the offense just couldn’t stay on the field. They just go beat out as Notre Dame had the ball for the majority of the game.
Special Teams
The special teams played amazing tonight. Justen Smith handled the kicking game well tonight. After that first miss he steppe up and made some more points. Hobbs Nyberg had a big return that helped set the Cougars up for a score in the first half and bring some light to a hard game.