BYU Football: 5 Biggest Questions Ahead of the Utah Game
There are five big questions for BYU Football going into the season opener against Utah.
Every season there are always big questions going into every single game. The first game, games after a bye week and bowl games always seem to have the most though since players have had time off since the last game.
As we come up on being only one week away from the start of the season, here are the five biggest questions for the Utes vs Cougars.
1. Are Zack Moss and Britain Covey both 100%?
Utah is being very hush about their injuries. Zack Moss has been seen with a cast on his carrying hand but insists that he is alright. Star returner and returner Britain Covey who is coming off of multiple season ending surgeries also says that he plans on playing against BYU. The only question is will they play, and if they do will they be 100 percent?
In the case of Zack Moss, it will be a yes or a no. No team in their right mind is going to send out a running back with a broken hand. With Britain Covey it is a bit more interesting. He is probably healthy to play technically, but whether he will have the same speed, jump and agility that made him so dangerous in 2018 is what to really look out for.
2. How is Jaren Hall going to be used?
After a really promising Spring Practice Jaren Hall has had a relatively quite Fall Camp. There have been a few plays that have come out and both Jeff Grimes and Aaron Roderick have said that they plan on using Hall quite a bit, but the question is how this will happen. I have my own theory on this, but it is just a theory with no hard evidence to back it up. What we do know is that during the live scrimmage, Jaren Hall was not allowed to be tackled, something that is uncharacteristic of Kalani Sitake, and also perhaps suggesting he will play quite a bit.
3. Will the ROC be full?
There is actually a very valid reason to be asking this and it isn't a slight at the students . School won't begin until September 3rd and the day of the game is actually New Student Orientation. With so many families dropping their kids off, it is a valid question as to whether they will either not go to the game or go with their families.
The addition of UVU students getting access to ROC Passes will help with the amount of students at the game, but with so many older students still finishing up internships and travelling back to Provo it is a real question as to whether it will be packed.
4. Who is going to win, the BYU O-Line or the Utah D-Line?
It is hard to imagine a situation where the loser between these two goes on to win the game. Zach Wilson and the running backs are just too good to not outscore Utah if the offensive line is able to open up holes and give Wilson time to throw. On the flip side, it is hard to imagine the BYU scoring much if the Utah defensive line is getting into the backfield and stalling out drives.
5. Will playing Utah first make BYU a better team?
Outside of perhaps 2009 and 1984 it is hard to say that the Cougars have ever been motivated going into the first game of the season. The offseason is really REALLY long and when the first opponent is Portland State or even a good Arizona team it is hard to imagine that there aren't at least some days that the motivation isn't at 100%. How could they be? With a group of young men 18-25 it is hard to be motivated sometimes in the middle of June when the game is 100 days away. Given the rivalry, the ranking of Utah and what happened last season, there is no way that the energy around training wasn't 110% the entire time. Will this make BYU a much better team than what we are expecting?
We will find out the answer to all of these questions very soon.