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: Defense/Special Teams

Outside of one quarter during the Utah game, BYU's defense was solid all year long. With a lot of key returning starters and (possibly) improved units, there is little reason to believe it won't be just as good (if not better) in 2012.

Here is what the participating members of Cougar Nation thought:

Average Response: 13.8 interceptions

Average Answer: 25.9 sacks

Average Response: Kyle Van Noy (the last "y" in that name is actually from Preston Hadley's last name

Average Response: 1.2 punt/kick returns

As always, this year's BYU team has a lot of expectations attached to it. Barring a string of serious injuries to key defensive players, I think the overall idea that the defense will be better in 2012 than it was in 2011 (and it was very good in 2011) is well warranted. This defense has a lot of returning starters, and BYU fans clearly will be surprised if it takes a step backwards in 2012.

Last year was pretty special with the two touchdown returns, but the chances of something happening that hadn't happened since 1996 are probably low. Nevertheless, Cody Hoffman and JD Falslev are exciting players to watch on special teams. It's not surprising to see so many responses for at least one touchdown return.

How to improve a top-10 team

Having been so rarely ranked inside the top 10 in basketball, the hoops team has been a real treat to watch this year. If you haven't figured out by now, Jimmer Fredette and Jackson Emery are special talents; you really should make every effort to attend every BYU basketball game you can this year.

How can a top team improve? A couple of thoughts to watch as the season progresses.

First, it all begins with "D" - Davies, that is. With the news yesterday of Chris Collinsworth's microfracture knee surgery, Davies' role on the team becomes increasingly important. The most glaring problem for Davies is the tendency to pick up quick fouls that should never happen. This probably cuts Davies' effective minutes more than anything else.

Second, it continues with "D" - team defense. If BYU can continue to apply defensive pressure, teams shoot low percentage shots and other defensive indicators like steal % go up. Jackson Emery, of course, can make automatic offense with the steals and layups at the other end, and this will be killer for teams in the MWC that do not have as good of guards.

The emergence of another player will be important down the stretch. If Abouo wasn't struggling with injury and fatigue from playing all summer for the Ivory Coast, he would be the person of choice. He brings great defense and is one of BYU's better on-ball defenders. Of course, height is never a bad thing, and if Stephen Rogers can get his offense on track, his height and lankiness will be helpful against taller teams (SDSU) and should help in rebounding.

If BYU can improve these things, expect good things to come during the tournament.

Next week on Tuesday we will break down the Jan 26 match-up at the Marriott Center between BYU and SDSU.