Boise State beat Washington, holding on for a 16-13 win, and now heads to Provo for what promises to be a tough challenge with BYU.  The Cougars were 33-28 winners at Nebraska and snapped the nation’s longest home opening winning streak as the Huskers hadn’t lost since 1985.

I thought all along that this game will be the hardest on the schedule.  Coming off an emotional win, a new quarterback in Ryan Finley making his first road start and having to face one of the best quarterbacks in the country. With Taysom Hill’s injury, Eagle’s Tanner Mangum will be the Cougars QB and he will be making his first start.

In watching the BYU/Nebraska game, I think the tall BYU WR’s will be a handful for the Bronco secondary. The defense looked very good on Friday night against both the run and pass and I expect them to be very good all season.  They handled the UW run game much better than I expected.  This week the task will be harder with a big veteran OL for the Cougars.  and the Boise State offense is going to have to find a way to be balanced and get in to the end zone more than twice.

Offensively, I look for Finley to be better and the offense to be sharper.  The special teams will need to be better…blocked extra point, blocked punt, and two big punt returns (one for a TD) were costly.

Going back to my three thoughts this summer on the game, I think the UW win was emotional, but there is a lot to work on that no one should feel satisfied.  I think that is going to be good for Saturday night in Provo.

Chris Lewis and I will get you ready for the BYU game all week.  We’ll also unveil our Playoff 4 and New Year’s 6 Non-Power 5 choice.  We’re on 1-3 beginning Tuesday this week.