Cougars still seeking offensive improvement despite 5-0 start

BYU offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick took advantage of the Cougars being idle last weekend to celebrate his wife’s birthday, but football and his offense’s need for improvement were never far from his mind.

“We probably practiced a little too much last year after the bye week. You don’t want to be rusty, but you don’t want to overdo it, either. We think we have found a good balance. We will find out on Saturday if we did it right.”

BYU OC Aaron Roderick

In particular, Roderick kept thinking about last year, and what happened after the bye week in early October when the Cougars traveled to TCU. The offense struggled mightily, and the Horned Frogs rolled to a 44-11 win in Fort Worth.

The Cougars mustered just 243 yards on 66 plays (3.68 yards per play) and only pieced together one long drive all day. Kedon Slovis passed for only 152 yards, and gave up a 35-yard pick-six to TCU’s Millard Bradford on the third play of the game.

In the second quarter, BYU got great field position after an Eddie Heckard interception, but Slovis fumbled the ball away a few plays later, and TCU drove 42 yards to go up 24-0. BYU’s QB was 15 of 34 for no touchdowns, and was sacked three times.

BYU averaged 2.8 yards per rushing attempt. Any momentum BYU had garnered from the win over Cincinnati two weeks prior was out the window.

“Yeah, we have talked a lot about that. What did we do last year to play so bad after the bye? And we took a look at everything,” Roderick said Wednesday. “I think we made some good corrections. We probably practiced a little too much last year after the bye week. You don’t want to be rusty, but you don’t want to overdo it, either. We think we have found a good balance. We will find out on Saturday if we did it right.”

The No. 14 Cougars (5-0, 2-0) play host to unranked Arizona (3-2, 1-1) on Saturday at LaVell Edwards Stadium (2 p.m. MDT, Fox). Roderick said he’s far from satisfied with the way the offense has played through five games, despite the undefeated record.

But he’s still bullish on this group, even though injuries sustained by key offensive linemen and running backs have created challenges.

“This season we have improved every single game, and so I think as long as we keep making that incremental improvement, we are going to have a chance every week,” Roderick said. “The end goal is just to play a little bit better each week than we played the week before. That’s it. … Win this game and show some improvement. And if we keep improving, then we will see where we are at in the end.”

Receiver Keelan Marion said that performance last year after the bye week — he scored BYU’s only TD against TCU, via a 3-yard run — has been discussed the past 10 days, but not a lot.

“We honestly just told ourselves that we know what happened last year when we came off the bye week. We played terrible,” Marion said. “The guys stayed at it over the weekend, got some more stuff done, watched film and stuff like that to make sure we stay on top of everything to be ready for Saturday.”

Roderick said the offense worked on getting healthy and tightening its execution during the bye week, while also getting backups ready to play. He acknowledged that center Connor Pay (fractured left foot) and receiver Kody Epps “are the only two (offensive players) that are out, for sure.”

Replacing Pay will be the bigger challenge, as the receiving corps is considerably deeper than the offensive line. Roderick said sophomore Sonny Makasini “played well” in Pay’s place against Baylor, and converted defensive lineman Bruce Mitchell has stepped up, too.

“We have some contingency plans (for the O line),” Roderick said. “We have been working different combinations so we are ready for anything.”

The good news is that BYU should have all of its running backs available for the first time this season; sophomore running back LJ Martin should play for the first time in a month (he went down against SMU on Sept. 6 against SMU) and backups such as Enoch Nawahine, Sione I. Moa and Hinckley Ropati, a new father, are healthy, head coach Kalani Sitake said Monday.

Because of the running back injuries, BYU’s leading rusher is quarterback Jake Retzlaff, who has 156 yards on the ground.

“With the injuries at O line and at running back, it has been hard to get anybody in a rhythm and get them rolling,” Roderick said. “But our run game has improved a great deal from a year ago. We are a lot better than we were a year ago, and we are getting better every game.”

Martin was averaging 4.8 yards per carry in two games.

“LJ is a good player, and if he is feeling good Saturday and ready to go, you will see a lot of him,” Roderick said.

Another strength has been red-zone offense; BYU is tied for 21st in the country in that category, scoring on 94.4% of its surges inside the opponent’s 20. That’s 12 touchdowns and five field goals in 18 attempts.

“It has been a positive up to this point,” Roderick said. “There are still some things we can do a little better there. But red-zone offense has been a bright spot, for sure.”

Retzlaff has also improved every game , and his efficiency rating (150.4) is climbing. He has completed 61.2% of his passes for 1,208 yards and 12 touchdowns, with five interceptions.

“I thought he played very well against Baylor. As far as overall, I think he is getting better every game, and up through nine starts, nine games, he is up there with some of the best QBs that have ever played here, at least statistically,” Roderick said. “I expect him to keep getting better every game. That’s the goal, to play a little better each week. I see that happening with him, and I expect that to continue this week.”