Three Takeaways From BYU’s Loss At Toledo

SALT LAKE CITY – When the 2019 season began, much was made about BYU’s first four games against Power Five opponents. No one was giving much credit to the rest of the Cougars schedule after the P5 gauntlet. Including maybe BYU’s own players.

BYU cornerback Dayan Ghanwoloku in the postgame at the Glass Bowl on what he takes away from the loss to the Rockets, “Just don’t take anything for granted. Everyone’s talking about how the first four games are going to be the toughest, it’s all going to be tough.

Ghanwoloku continued, “Teams aren’t just going to come out there and like, think they’re not going to win. Everybody’s thinking they’re going to win. So it’s like, every game is going to be a dog fight and we’ve got to fight harder.”

Can’t argue with Ghanwoloku’s takeaway. I’ll add my three takeaways from BYU’s loss as well.

1. BYU didn’t respect their opponent enough

To piggyback off of Ghanwoloku’s remarks, BYU’s loss to Toledo from my vantage point appeared to be a team that didn’t respect their opponent. When I asked associate head coach Ed Lamb earlier in the week on Tuesday if he was pleased with the urgency in practice so far, Lamb replied, “So far so good … but really tomorrow (Wednesday) is the day where I get the best sense if the boys believe in the game plan. If they believe they have an opportunity to win if they are respecting the other team and there’s just that right balance between confidence and work.”

With how Saturday’s game against the Rockets played out, you have to question if this BYU team had that balance of confidence and work and the respect for their opponent needed to pull out a victory.

2. Jaren Hall showed well in one drive

Jaren Hall is a talented quarterback. A native of Maple Mountain, Hall was inserted into the game on the Cougars final offensive drive of regulation. Filling in for an injured Zach Wilson, Hall showed well. He opened the drive connecting with Lopini Katoa for a first down and also had a nice completion to Moroni Laulu-Pututau a few plays later.

Jaren Hall is going to be #BYU's quarterback against South Florida in two weeks. https://t.co/D3lAEnEo7x

— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) September 28, 2019

Hall did make a costly mistake in terms of time management allowing 15 seconds to run off the clock before ultimately running out of bounds for a gain of four yards. After that decision, BYU was left with four seconds on the game clock.

It will be interesting to see how much Hall progresses over these next two weeks as he takes starter reps in practice to prepare for South Florida.

3. BYU is a mystery from one week to the next

Kalani Sitake’s BYU program can deliver big wins but they can also produce some head-scratching losses. Toledo is a good football team and they will do damage in the MAC this fall, but the Cougars were capable of more than they showed in the Glass Bowl.

LIFT OFF! 🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️

The Rockets Take Down BYU, 28-21!@ToledoFB | #MACtion pic.twitter.com/mNUBORgosk

— #MACtion (@MACSports) September 28, 2019

Sitake noted this week that he wanted more consistency from his team. Saturday’s loss did nothing help to that cause.