PROVO, Utah – The BYU Cougars look to get again to their profitable methods this week with one other Pac-12 matchup on the schedule. BYU travels to Pullman to tackle the Washington State Cougars. It’s the Cougs vs the Cougs on the Palouse.
Cougs vs Cougs pic.twitter.com/0cC0tIkrTI
— Washington State Soccer (@WSUCougarFB) October 21, 2021
BYU vs. Washington State
The Cougars in Crimson have had fairly the week following the departure of their head coach Nick Rolovich and four other assistant coaches. Washington State enters this recreation 4-3 on the season, though they’ve received their final three video games in Pac-12 play.
BYU makes its first ever visit to Martin Stadium on Saturday. The Cougars in Navy are 5-2 on the season and trying to enhance to 4-0 towards the Pac-12 this season.
Three Storylines: BYU vs. Washington State
1) Distractions Aplenty
The most important storyline this week is undoubtedly the chaos across the Cougar teaching workers. Defensive Coordinator Jake Dickert takes over because the appearing head coach for Wazzu. He has lower than 5 years of expertise on the FBS stage and none as a head coach.
Washington State head soccer coach Nick Rolovich has reportedly been fired.#BYU performs the Cougs on the Palouse this Saturday.https://t.co/YtOKlvGe1S
— KSL Sports activities (@kslsports) October 19, 2021
How will the group react to the chaos this week? Their former head coach introduced that he will file a lawsuit against the university. It’s been an up-and-down season in Pullman and the group enters their hardest stretch of video games. After dealing with the visiting Cougars at residence, Washington State will journey to Arizona State after which #10 Oregon.
Earlier this season, USC traveled to Pullman on the heels of dropping their head coach Clay Helton, who was fired on September thirteenth. Behind the arm of former Corner Canyon star Jaxson Dart, the Trojans rallied and dominated the Cougars 45-14. Can Washington State rally round an appearing head coach within the midst of all this off-field chaos?
2) Get Puka Free on the Palouse
Last week was a breakout week for one offensive player for BYU, wide receiver Puka Nacua. Nacua had 5 receptions for 168 yards and a landing within the loss to Baylor. It was his second 100-yard recreation of the season for Puka, who has seemingly adjusted to the brand new group and is creating an amazing rapport with quarterback Jaren Corridor.
With a deep and gifted receiver group, it took Nacua a while to get wholesome and built-in into the group. Now, Nacua has turn into BYU’s finest deep menace. He’s second on the group in receiving yards and third in all of faculty soccer in yards per reception, averaging 22.2 yards per catch.
#BYU followers are lastly seeing the greatness of Puka Nacua on show in a recreation.
— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) October 16, 2021
BYU quarterbacks have performed an amazing job at distributing the ball to the various targets on this offense. Final week proved that Jaren Corridor is prepared to take deep photographs, particularly if it’s quantity 12 on the route. I’d anticipate that to proceed this week as the previous Washington Huskie faces a former Apple Cup foe.
3) A Uncommon BYU Shedding Streak
It’s not typically we’ve got seen a Kalani Sitake-led group endure a three-game dropping streak throughout their season. In 2020, BYU misplaced only one recreation. 2019 noticed BYU lose three straight video games earlier than upsetting #14 Boise State with quarterback Baylor Romney. In 2018, the Cougars by no means misplaced greater than two video games in a row earlier than righting the ship with a win.
It’s been virtually two years since BYU final dropped back-to-back video games. The group appeared to remained centered after a disappointing residence loss to Boise State two weeks in the past. After a tough introduction to the Massive 12 final week, how will they reply?
BYU’s hopes for a New 12 months’s Six bowl bid are all however gone at this level. With no convention championship to play for, can the group keep centered on the remainder of the season? Within the school soccer season it’s a must to keep centered on the current, not what’s forward. Let’s see how the Cougars deal with the remainder of the season, one recreation at a time.
#BYU‘s journey to Washington State this weekend would be the first-ever go to to Martin Stadium.
It’s the one Pac-12 venue #BYU has not performed a recreation at within the historical past of this system.#BYUFootball @kslsports pic.twitter.com/zOD5k5knoe
— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) October 20, 2021
BYU vs. Washington State takes place in Pullman, Washington at Martin Stadium on October twenty third. Pre-game protection begins at 9 a.m. (MDT) on KSL NewsRadio 102.7 FM and 1160 AM. Kickoff is at 1:30 p.m. (MDT).
Dallen Graff is a KSL Sports activities Contributor. He’s the Producer of Cougar Sports activities Saturday (SUBSCRIBE) on KSL NewsRadio. Comply with him on Twitter.
https://kslsports.com/470633/three-storylines-that-could-determine-winner-of-byu-vs-washington-state/ | Three Storylines That Might Decide Winner
