BYU head coach Kalani Sitake didn’t waste time laying out the challenge that sits in front of his football team this week.
The Cougars don’t know much about South Florida. And USF knows a lot about BYU.
That’s how it goes in season openers when one team is returning the most production in the country and the other roster is a hodgepodge of transfers.
“It’s causing some consternation,” offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick said about the task at hand.
USF’s quarterback is new, its defense features eight transfers, its offense is under the tutelage of new minds like former SMU coach Chad Morris and West Virginia coach Travis Trickett.
Morris’ last stop was at Allen High School in Dallas and Trickett’s latest gig was as the tight ends coach in Morgantown. So anybody’s guess as to what USF’s offense will look like will be as good as BYU’s guess.
“We really don’t know a lot about them,” Sitake said.
It is a similar challenge to what awaited the Cougars last year when it opened up against Arizona. In Las Vegas, BYU struggled for parts of the game to adjust to a team it had little film on going in.
Roderick said he felt like BYU underperformed in that situation, squeaking by with a 24-16 win.
“[Arizona] did a good job of doing some things we weren’t ready for,” Roderick said. “We tried to prepare for that coordinator as well as we could. So there is a lesson there [to apply to USF]. Try not to guess too much about what they are going to do and just be sound in what we do.
“It is not easy though when you don’t know what they are going to run, or know a lot about their players.”
On the defensive side, coordinator Ilaisa Tuiaki said he is trying to split his time between watching film of the schemes USF ran defensively last year and some old Baylor film for the Bulls transfer quarterback Gerry Bohanon.
BYU played Bohanon last year when they played Baylor in Waco. But Tuiaki said he doesn’t know how he will be used in the new offense, so it is not an easy situation to prepare for.
“We have watched the Baylor film to see him, but schemes are completely different,” Tuiaki said.
Gunner Romney’s and Puka Nacua’s status
The health of BYU’s top two receivers is being closely monitored ahead of the season-opener.
Sitake started the week by declining to comment directly on whether Romney and Nacua would play against USF. Roderick added on Tuesday that he is still waiting on one or two offensive players to be cleared for Saturday. Presumably, he was talking about Romney and Nacua.
“On Wednesday, we will probably have a better idea [about the health] for everyone,” Sitake said. “But we are planning on guys playing. Nobody is lost for the season right now. We still have some work to do in the next couple of days. But we feel good about those guys.”
Romney and Nacua have both been held out of practice at different times throughout fall camp. Coaches called it “injury prevention” for two older players who have injury histories.
Rolling deep on the O-line
Roderick laughed about BYU’s depth chart because the program declined to list starters at multiple spots.
The most interesting unanswered questions are on the offensive line. The Cougars have yet to name starters at center, right guard and right tackle.
Offensive line coach Darrell Funk said he anticipates playing eight or nine players on the line in the first week. Roderick said the decision will be up to Funk if he wants to rotate that many people in.
Who will start getting those snaps? Connor Pay and Joe Tukuafu have oscillated at center, with no starter officially announced. Harris LeChance is in the mix at right guard and right tackle. Kingsley Suamataia is pushing to start at right tackle.
