BYU College Football Predictions 2010

The BYU Cougars come off one of the most successful seasons in school history posting a 11-2 record that was capped off with a win over Oregon State in the Las Vegas Bowl.  Expectations always seem to be high in Provo since head coach Bronco Mendenhall has led the Cougs to five straight bowl appearances since arriving.  The Las Vegas Bowl seems to be the desired location for the Mormon school as it has played in this bowl all five seasons.  TCU is the clear cut favorite to win the MWC after their storybook year in 2009, but expect Utah to challenge for the top spot.  BYU is a 125 to 1 long shot to win a BCS title.  View our full conference breakdown in the 2010 Mountain West college football predictions article.

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BYU has benefited from outstanding quarterback play since 2006.  John Beck and Max Hall left the Cougar program holding multiple school records while Hall topped Beck as the MWC all time career passing leader.   Replacing 3500 yards passing and 33 tds is no easy task for any program.  Highly touted QB Jake Heaps will battle it out with Utah State transfer Riley Nelson when camp begins to lead BYU against Washington in the opener.  Each bring something different to the table as Heaps is a pure drop back QB with the big arm while Nelson can hurt opposing defenses with his feet.  Former Cougar RB Harvey Unga had a chance to become the 9th player in NCAA history to rush for over 1000 yards in all four seasons, but he left decided to leave school in April to enter the NFL supplemental draft.   JJ Di Luigi will see his work load increase after rushing for 248 yards and three tds as a Sophomore.  Offensive coordinator Robert Anae might opt to run the ball more often with the inexperience at quarterback and could use a back by committee.  Tight end Dennis Pitta was a fourth round draft pick of the Ravens following a 62 catch season for over 800 yards receiving.  They won’t have the luxury of using Pitta over the middle, but do possess a deep threat in WR McKay Jacobson who averaged over 24 ypc last season.  Matching last year’s offensive juggernaut that put up 35 ppg is out of the picture for this unit.  This team should be involved in a lot of close games that will come down to the wire.

Coach Mendenhall called the shots for the BYU defense until 2008 when promoted Jaime Hill to the position.  Hill had a solid season in his first go round holding opponents to 21 ppg with a veteran group of players.  This season will test Hill in a variety of ways with only five returning starters and a real possibility of starting two true Freshmen at linebacker.  The Cougs will stick with a 3-4 alignment even with the lack of experience in the front 7.  CBs Brian Logan and Brandon Bradley are two returning starters that will be asked to showcase leadership on this side of the ball.  It will take a complete team effort on defense to defend the talented offenses in the MWC.

This year is going to be a rebuilding one for the BYU program even though they have proved to win on a consistent basis.  The schedule does not set up nicely with road games at Florida St, TCU and Utah.  Both sides of the ball have major question marks at key positions.  If the chosen quarterback plays well and they get other contributions from unexpected sources, this could be a 7 win team.

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