BYU hasn’t played a game of football since October 20th and not a difficult one since October 13th. By the time they run onto the field this Saturday, Nov. 3rd, it will be three weeks since playing a FBS team. While it has been great for healing and we should have all players back at 100% this week, it means there could be a sloppy quarter or two offensively as players try to get back their rhythm.

According a news report, CSU coach Sonny Lubick says he team was caught looking ahead in their loss to Utah. They were focusing on BYU.

BYU has branded itself with a target: The lead in the race for the conference championship and closest MWC team to getting ranked (low 30’s in both polls.) For some of these teams, it is their equivalent of a bowl game. CSU has already said they were looking ahead and have no chance at a bowl game. Utah has a countdown clock to the BYU game. SDSU won’t be bowl eligible, the Dec. 1st date just became their Poinsettia Bowl. BYU can’t afford to show up halfway the rest of the season. They can’t take two quarters off and still come out ahead anymore. CSU is the last chance they have to get firing on all cylinders before the gauntlet of TCU, Wyoming and Utah. It’s now or never. They really need to focus on the following:

1) Blow out CSU: My wife hates watching football games that are over by halftime, but if it’s BYU doing the damage, I couldn’t be happier. BYU is strong where CSU is weak and they need to exploit that for all it’s worth. BYU has three healthy and punishing running backs. CSU has the 115th-ranked rush defense in the country. BYU has a top 15 offense. CSU has a #86 total defense and #87 scoring defense. BYU has a top 16 defense. CSU has the #78 offense. BYU needs to reestablish itself in the air and this is the secondary that will allow it. Hall says that Anae is opening up the playbook this week and it should be interesting to see how BYU handles new material. Max Hall is the premier QB in the MWC and needs to have a standout game, with help from his receivers, to eliminate any doubt of this.

2) Practice, Practice, Practice: My favorite thing to read about a football practice is that players stick around after to work on timing. In an offense dependent on timing, they really need to have this down. Reports are that Hall, Collie and Pitta have stuck around after to work on routes, so lets hope that this translates to less drops and better throws on game day.

3) Manage turnovers: Point #2 should eliminate/cut down on interceptions, but both Max Hall and his receivers have had multiple fumbles. Taking care of the ball will be huge in putting teams away early. On the other side of the coin, the defense has stepped up interceptions but have only recovered 3 fumbles the whole year. Coach Mendenhall was going to try to focus on that last week, so lets hope we see the ball on the turf a couple times this weekend from CSU.

4) Protect Max Hall: BYU is ranked right in the middle of the pack (#57) with 1.86 sacks allowed per game. However, most of those are blindside hits that he can’t take much longer. Any one of those hits could have Gaskins taking over and if it continues he will get injured. Hall needs to learn to protect himself and the line/running backs need to pick up the blitz.

5) Open up the playbook: BYU really played a vanilla game against EWU and needs to go all out against CSU for their own sake. CSU has been tripping over themselves all season and aren’t the team to make BYU pay for playing sloppy. However, BYU needs to regain its offensive swagger and realize they are capable of controlling the game. Defense needs to blitz and get Caleb Hanie out of the game early by rattling him. They have had two weeks to throw in wrinkles and plays ironed out, now is the time to showcase them at home.

And for the fans:

6) Wear blue and Smile!: If you are going to the game, make sure to wear blue and smile big between the first and second quarter. BYU is having photographers come out after the first quarter to take pictures to create a panoramic picture from midfield. If you are going to be immortalized, might as well do it well.