In all of the years of college football, it comes as a bit of a surprise that the BYU Cougars and Nebraska Cornhuskers have never gone head to head against each other. That streak will come to an end as new Nebraska Head Coach Mike Riley prepares for his debut in Memorial Stadium as he gets ready to face up against a good defensive minded Head Coach in Bronco Mendenhall. Let's take a look at how the independent Cougars did in 2014 before we take a closer look at both rosters.
BYU went 8-5 in 2014. They started off hot winning their first four including victories over the UConn Huskies and Texas Longhorns. But after winning the first four they lost four in a row until they won the final four in a row. They ended up playing in the Miami Beach Bowl at Marlins Park against the Memphis Tigers, where they lost 48-55 in double overtime. The biggest returning player for BYU is their starting quarterback in Taysom Hill, who started the first five games of the season for them last year, before breaking his left leg and having ligament damage in a game against the Utah State Aggies. He was the one that led them to their promising start and he had rushed for 460 yards and 8 touchdowns with 975 passing yards and 7 touchdowns to go with 3 interceptions. But he is indeed a true dual threat quarterback. On defense for the Cougars, be sure to keep an eye on 6'8" 280 pound defensive end Bronson Kaufusi. He tore up the opposing offensive lines this past year with 7 sacks, 7 quarterback hurries, and 6 pass breakups. Another reason this is big news is because Kaufusi is seven inches taller than Nebraska quarterback Tommy Armstrong Jr. He should be able to use his height to block passes and get more than 6 pass breakups this season as he continues to get more experience.
After crunching some numbers, it is important to realize that the Cougars defense, which is usually known for being one of the top defenses in the nation, did give up an average of 27.5 points last year. Also, when reviewing Mike RIley's offensive trends with the Oregon State Beavers, he is able to use a very balanced offensive approach to fit the talent he has in a pro-style type of offense. His best season though was 2003 when he had his best running back in Steven Jackson. Now his starting running back is set to be Terrell Newby, and it will be interesting to see just how quickly this Nebraska group has picked up the offensive game plan that Riley has for them.
When it comes down to it, one team is going to get the win. This writer simply thinks that the Nebraska Cornhuskers are going to have too much going for them at home as it will be another sellout and the Huskers should get their 30th consecutive season opening win. This writer predicts that the final score of this contest will be Huskers 38, Cougars 24.