Another season is in the books. In many ways, their final game on the road at Oklahoma State served as a microcosm of the inaugural year in review with the Big 12. It began with a less than inspiring start, a promising even brilliant second quarter, a spirited comeback fourth quarter comeback and a crash in overtime. Honestly, that truly summed up unfortunately the 2023 football season. Certainly, a rather disappointing way to close out the season including no post season play for the first time since 2005.
September seemed rather promising for the cougs going 4-1 with it's lone loss on the road to Kansas. If someone would have asked me at that point that BYU would be 4-1 with a road win on the road in SEC territory against Arkansas I would have replied that they are out of their mind. Unfortunately, it seems to be pretty much downhill after that with the same issue each game rinse and repeat concerning the play of the offensive line.
Heading into the 2023 season it was expected the OL play would be clearly the strength of the team. Somehow, it became it's biggest liability which impacted pretty much the entire offense in both the run game and any passing game it was able to put together. Last season the hogs up front only gave up 7 sacks. This season they allowed 63 hurries which ultimately led to Slovis' injury and emergence of Retzlaff. It also led to OL coach Darrell Funk being released and no longer with the program.
Although, Jay Hill's installed defense didn't exactly put up stellar defensive rankings by the end of the season. However, it certainly showed a considerable amount of improvement and signs it is heading in the right direction. The cougs secondary was definitely a bright spot with Eddie Heckard, Kamden Garrett and Jakob Robinson. The question will remain though for next season is that will Hill be able to get enough talent to operate his scheme in the Big 12 moving forward.
Moving forward it seems that there is some collective talent to compete at the P5 level. However, it is pretty obvious that they may need much more depth to truly compete at the P5 level consistently. It was a brutal pill to swallow not having access to their top talent at so many times: Aiden Robbins ribs, Ben Bywater torn labrum, Kody Epps and Keanu Hill out much of the season, etc.
There is certainly hope that can built around the youth movement of RB LJ Martin, LB Harrison Taggert, CB Marcus McKenzie, LB Siale Esera, SS Crew Wakely, DT David Latu, and WR Parker Kingston to name a few. Shoot, we even finally found a kicker in Will Ferrin. Was this season a total disappointment? Yes, if you consider what the cougs could have been honestly capable of. However, there are some positives in moving forward. Can BYU find the depth necessary to compete on a weekly basis? That remains to be seen. The Big 12 can be a tough conference and the play may get even deeper when adding the 4 schools in next year's schedule.
Although, Jay Hill's installed defense didn't exactly put up stellar defensive rankings by the end of the season. However, it certainly showed a considerable amount of improvement and signs it is heading in the right direction. The cougs secondary was definitely a bright spot with Eddie Heckard, Kamden Garrett and Jakob Robinson. The question will remain though for next season is that will Hill be able to get enough talent to operate his scheme in the Big 12 moving forward.
Moving forward it seems that there is some collective talent to compete at the P5 level. However, it is pretty obvious that they may need much more depth to truly compete at the P5 level consistently. It was a brutal pill to swallow not having access to their top talent at so many times: Aiden Robbins ribs, Ben Bywater torn labrum, Kody Epps and Keanu Hill out much of the season, etc.
There is certainly hope that can built around the youth movement of RB LJ Martin, LB Harrison Taggert, CB Marcus McKenzie, LB Siale Esera, SS Crew Wakely, DT David Latu, and WR Parker Kingston to name a few. Shoot, we even finally found a kicker in Will Ferrin. Was this season a total disappointment? Yes, if you consider what the cougs could have been honestly capable of. However, there are some positives in moving forward. Can BYU find the depth necessary to compete on a weekly basis? That remains to be seen. The Big 12 can be a tough conference and the play may get even deeper when adding the 4 schools in next year's schedule.
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