BYU Football's opponent Power Rankings continue with teams 4-6.
Yesterday, I released the 7-12 best teams that BYU Football will face in 2019. If you missed that click here. While there was a lot of questions as to why Toledo was ranked as low as they were when many analysts are projecting them to win their division in the MAC, it ultimately came down to last season.
Last year, the Rockets went 1-6 against teams that were bowl eligible and lost by an average of 11 points per game. Against bad competition they rolled with 55 PPG which is why I believe they got attention. Assuming BYU is a good team, I project a big win for the Cougars. The gap between Toledo, South Florida, and San Diego State was microscopic and honestly any of those teams could have been 7, 8 and 9.
Today's rankings cover teams 4-6 and will be more detailed than 7-12. While I don't expect BYU to go 6-0 in the 7-12 teams (okay maybe I do), there isn't a game they should lose, so they didn't necessarily deserve that much coverage.
Teams 4-6 are all games that I see as 50/50 for the Cougars. They could go 0-3 or 3-0 depending on which team can get the momentum.
No. 6 Utah State
Yesterday, the Aggies announced that their game against BYU is going to be a blackout game. That should be an energy boost to the already confident Aggies as they hope to take down BYU for the third straight times, something that hasn't happened since 1974...yeah. The Aggies are coming off an excellent season that saw them go 11-2 overall including a 25 point thumping of the Cougars and a final 23 ranking. They return who I personally rank as the top quarterback in the state Jordan Love, however they lost just about everyone else. This will be a dangerous team with a lot of inexperience, but should they find their stride by midseason, the Cougars could be in trouble.
No. 5 Boise State
Normally the Broncos would be ranked higher than they are because of their consistent No. 15-25 ranking year in and year out. This year is different however with the Broncos in rebuild mode (do they do that?). Andrew Van Buren, who contributed 163 yards last season is most experienced player in the backfield. Their quarterback has only thrown nine times in his career if they even use him. Overall, the Broncos lost six starters on offense including most of their playmakers. The defense should be good with eight returning starters including multiple all conference players, so don't be surprised if it is another low scoring close game between the Cougars and Broncos.
No. 4 USC
If the Cougars played the Trojans any later in the season USC would have been ranked in the Top three. I truly believe that USC is going to end this season as a Top 25 team and be one of the better teams going into 2020. That said, the Trojans are going to be inexperienced and still breaking in a new offense when the travel to Provo for their first road game of the season. With quarterback JT Daniels returning and most of the
offensive playmakers coming back as well, the Trojans could put up some points if they can protect him. Three of their losses on the offensive side of the ball are linemen. Khyiris Tonga and the Kaufusi brothers will likely expose that during the game. Their defense is only returning five starters from last season and lost their top three defensive backs. This game could be a shootout with a lot of mistakes that comes down to whoever has the football last or whoever has the least amount of turnovers.
Click here to see the final three teams.