Thoughts from the WSU-BYU game

Photo by Deseret News

BYU 30, WSU 6

After months and months of anticipation, it is so great to start off the season with a win against a BCS opponent, even if it is just Washington State.

As confident as a lot of the fans (myself included) were, I started to get legitimately nervous as the kickoff approached. And the first drive for each team did nothing to put out that fire of nervousness. But BYU's defense and offense both took over the game.

Now that the first game of the season is over, I can start moping around the house, because the next game (vs. Weber State) is more than a week away.

Anyway, here are some thoughts from the game:

• For the first time in a long time, the BYU secondary lived up to a great amount of preseason hype. I constantly read how amazing and deep the secondary was going to be, and they look very solid against Mike Leach's offense.

• It takes time to learn Leach's offense. Not to take anything away from BYU's defense, but WSU's lack of execution is one of the reasons it won't look this bad again this season. They don't face a lot of defense as good as BYU, and they will learn the offense. It. Takes. Time.

• That said, BYU only allowed 224 total yards from WSU. To give you an idea of how awesome that is, you should know that last year's defense - which was really good - gave up 90 MORE yards a game. And this was against a team with a top-35 offense last year. That's impressive.

• Riley has to be more careful . . . probably. I know he was motivated by some of the comments from WSU people during the week, but for heaven's sake, Riley! Please stop leading with your head so much! Every time I saw it last night, I was frightened. I know he's tough and that's Riley being Riley, but with all of the concussion stuff we hear about and what happened to Jason Street from "Friday Night Lights"? I just think he should be more careful. Also, I wouldn't hate it if Bronco took Riley out when we're up 24 points with 4 minutes left, but that's just me.

• If Cody Hoffman is going to be hurt this year - and it is only one time in the season - aren't we glad it was last night? We clearly didn't need him to win that game (and I think we're a lot closer to 40 points if he's healthy), and we definitely won't need him against Weber State. He can rest and be healthy for the Utah game - and we'll need him then.

• Speaking of WRs, how about that Skyler FREAKING Ridley?!?!?! Think it's safe to say we were all surprised to see he step up the way he did, right? His touchdown surprised me, but everything he did afterwards is what really surprised me. I didn't even know he'd see the field.

• Back to Riley, his goal is a completion percentage of at least 70%, and his completion percentage last night was 69.4%. His QB rating was 154.3, which is very solid. Hopefully, he'll keep it up.

• Kyle Van Noy is very good at playing football.

• We have a pass-catching tight end again - even if he does look at little bit like Uncle Jesse from "Full House." Great job by Kaneakua Friel last night.

• OH! And Taysom Hill! That was awesome!

Things look very good for this season. What did you think of the game?

The Pulse of Cougar Nation: Running Backs

Photo by Mark Philbrick/BYU Photo

Ever since Lavell Edwards arrived at BYU as head football coach in 1972, the Cougars' team rushing attack has only managed to gain more than 2,000 yards in seven seasons out of 40. Two of those seasons were 2010 and 2011. Much to the dismay of some Cougar fans, that feat has been accomplished during the last two years despite the use of a true feature back (like a Harvey Unga, Curtis Brown, etc.).  BYU has used a running-back-by-committee approach as of late.

2012 brings us another running-back-by-committee team. In fact, with a mobile QB like Riley Nelson as the full-time starter, the committee gets another member to help out. 

Here's what the fans thought of the rushing game for 2012 (based on 163 responses for each question):

AVERAGE RESPONSE: 2,130 yards

AVERAGE RESPONSE:  2.17 RBs

AVERAGE RESPONSE: 773 yards

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In spite of the fact BYU has gained over 2,000 rushing yards in only seven of the last 40 years, 73.5 percent of the respondents believe BYU will reach that goal for the eighth time in that span, which would also be the third season in a row. I was a tad surprised 23 percent felt the Cougars would gain over 2,300 yards rushing this year, considering it has only happened three times in the last 40 seasons. Not to say it couldn't happen again, but I was surprised it was the answer with the most votes for that survey question. To me, the average response of about 2,130 is probably more likely.

I'd guess the main reasons for that is the excitement around mobile QB Riley Nelson and what he was able to accomplish. What Michael Alisa brought to the team in the second half of last season probably factored in what fans thought. Alisa got over 68 percent of the votes for the 2012 leading rusher. Josh Quezada had a down year in 2011, battling injuries and whatnot, but fans may believe in a comeback season in 2012 for him, since 27 percent of the participants believe he will be the leading rusher for BYU this season. It will be interesting to see how the offensive line, once again touted as "great" (I feel like we've heard that before), holds up and what Iona Pritchard, who missed all of last season with an injury, will bring to the running game.

While DiLuigi had only 584 yards last season as the leading rusher, he was able to gain 917 yards rushing in 2010, so it's hard to put the leading rusher at a specific number of yards. The average response for how many yards the leading rusher will gain was 773 yards. However, 38.7 percent of the survey believe it will be more than 800 yards.

BYU should be able to run the ball this year. They've done it successfully the last two seasons, and going off the remaining personnel, Cougar fans should be able to expect a 2,000+ yard season on the ground.

NEXT UP: WIDE RECEIVERS AND TIGHT ENDS

The Pulse of Cougar Nation: Riley Nelson

Sarah Glenn/Getty Images

***From May 20 to June 18, we polled BYU fans on Twitter and Cougarboard to find out what they were thinking about the upcoming season. We received a total of 160 responses from 5 different countries, although not every participant answered every question. The survey results will be posted through a series of posts. This is the first post. Enjoy!

I think if you had polled BYU fans a year ago and told them Riley Nelson was going to be THE quarterback option for the 2012 season, some would have called you a liar and some would not have had high hopes for the upcoming season. Some, on the other hand, would have immediately liquidated all of their assets and gone into hiding, fearing the worst was near.

Despite the backlash from the time of Riley's 2011 emergence to Jake Heaps transfer to Kansas, I think most of Cougar Nation has settled down to a feeling of acceptance and optimism. While some might already be clamoring for the unknown potential of a backup QB, most are ready to go with Riley.

But what do BYU fans really expect from Riley this year? Here's what they had to say:

• PASSING YARDS (158 responses)

AVERAGE RESPONSE: 2,970 yards

• COMPLETION PERCENTAGE (157 responses)

AVERAGE RESPONSE: About 60 percent

• TOUCHDOWN PASSES (158 responses)

AVERAGE RESPONSE: 26-27 touchdown passes

• INTERCEPTIONS THROWN (158 responses)

AVERAGE RESPONSE: 11-12 INTs

• 2012 QB RATING (158 responses)

AVERAGE RESPONSE: 155.8 QB Rating

• QB RUSHING YARDS (156 responses)

AVERAGE RESPONSE: About 520 rushing yards

• QB RUSHING TOUCHDOWNS (157 responses)

AVERAGE RESPONSE: About 4.75 rushing TDs

So, based on the survey responses, the average stat line for Riley Nelson is the following:

• 2,970 passing yards
• 60% completion percentage
• 26-27 TD passes
• 11-12 INTs
• 155.8 QB Rating
• 520 rushing yards
• 4.75 rushing TDs

Not a bad season if it happened this way. We could do a lot worse (and have recently, if I'm not mistaken) than 3,500 total yards of offense and more than 30 total TDs from the QB position.

With the exception of rushing touchdowns, the survey responses didn't seem to reflect any major increases or decreases in production from Riley Nelson. I expect improvement from him, and it will be interesting to see how Riley does now that he has and will continue to get the majority of practice reps.

• BACKUP QUARTERBACK? (157 responses)

I'm not sure if it has officially been announced yet, but I think James Lark is the favorite to backup Nelson. Really, the only other option is Taysom Hill. Although I did think it was cute that people thought anyone else had a chance at the job.

NEXT POST: THE RUNNING BACKS