Joel Klatt is familiar with BYU, as he called last year’s game between BYU and Arizona at Lavell Edwards Stadium with Gus Johnson on FOX.
I have a lot of respect for Joel, however, I think he’s completely missed the mark about his latest take “Buy and Sell” in which he categorized BYU as an “easy sell” this year.
There’s a number of reasons why — which I’ve outline below — but to quickly summarize, Joel, is an outsider that doesn’t pay much attention to BYU. Like most national media members, they focus on the SEC and Big Ten schools, and combined with the Retzlaff news, it has completely erased what the team did last year for them. It shouldn’t — for all the reasons I mention below — but it has.
To give you the backstory, back in May, FOX Sports analyst Joel Klatt had BYU flying high. He ranked the Cougars No. 14 in his early preseason Top 25, praising the teams physicality, depth on defense, and veteran leadership at quarterback. Klatt even named BYU his top team in the Big 12 with Arizona State, Iowa State, and Kansas State all right behind.
Fast forward two months later and Klatt’s view on BYU has drastically shifted. Yes, there are questions at the quarterback position with Retlaff transferring after breaking the honor code, however, some of Klatt’s points don’t make sense. Let’s break it down.
BYU Offense
Klatt: “This is an easy sell. Unfortunate for this program, but this is just what happens right now. I love Kalani Sitake. Again, this is not indicative of an overall program decline, it’s just an indicative of terrible timing at the most important position on the field. Retzlaff is a guy that on the field was steady. He was a good leader for them from last year, they believed in him and now all of a sudden, you lose your quarterback, and the three-man battle has had no time to develop. They have 12 total quarterback starts at the college level, zero at the Power Four level. That’s tough. It’s really tough to overcome that.”
I get the concerns at quarterback. It is the most important position, however, having said that, Retzlaff’s play wasn’t that great. That’s the honest truth. Yes, BYU went 11-2, so of course, the quarterback received most of the credit. But let’s not forget that BYU’s defense and special teams played a huge part in the number of wins the team had last year. Special teams had a program-record five touchdowns, and the defense was tops in the nation in takeaways with countless pick-6 and scoop and scores too.
Retzlaff would play great for a half, but that was it. Very rarely did he put together a complete game. For the season, he completed just 57% of his passes and had 12 interceptions. How does that compare to other Big 12 QB’s? Based on total QBR, Retzlaff finished near the bottom at 11.
In addition, Klatt mentioned rival Utah as a “buy” on his show saying: “I’m hearing great things about Utah quarterback Devon Dampier.”
So why do I bring this up? Because of the double standard.
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Klatt mentioned that none of BYU’s quarterbacks have zero starts at the P4 level, which “worries him.” That’s part of his thesis as to why he’s selling BYU this year.
Yet, if Klatt did any research, he would know that Utah QB Devon Dampier is from New Mexico, and also has zero P4 starts. But for whatever reason, Dampier gets a pass, but BYU’s quarterbacks, including McCae Hillstead, who played at Utah State — the same conference as Dampier — doesn’t get the same benefit of the doubt.
It’s just laziness, and if I had to put stock on national analysts giving predictions on BYU, I would short them all day. Yes, Retzlaff leaving in May hurt the team as it didn’t give other guys more reps in spring ball, but again, Retzlaff was a below average quarterback who was fortunate to have arguably one of the best defenses (22 takeaways) and special team units (5 TDs) in all of college football last year.
Without that, BYU, would have lost several games that they were fortunate to win last year (Oklahoma State, Utah). The Cougars were the only team last year with multiple kickoff and punt returns for touchdowns. Let’s not pretend that Retzlaff was some Heisman candidate. I don’t want to knock the guy, but he was average at best and that production won’t be difficult to replace.
In addition, taking a look at BYU’s schedule, the Cougars have a very favorable draw. Outside of the 4-game gauntlet in Utah, Iowa State, Texas Tech and TCU towards the end of the season, every other game is very winnable and the Cougars will be favored in those as well. Also, let’s not forget that there was a lot of uncertainty at the QB position last year heading into fall camp, and the team still managed to win 11 games. The team still has a great supporting cast, so no matter who becomes the starting QB, they should be in good shape with playmakers all over the field.
Bottom line: Yes, the Cougars won’t be able to replace Jake’s limitless confidence, but for people to think that the Cougars can’t get average production in another QB to replace Jake is absolutely silly. Retzlaff is easily replaceable, especially in the system that Sitake has built where the quarterback just manages the game and doesn’t try to do much. BYU will be just fine.
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BYU Defense
After talking up the defense just two months ago, Klatt did a complete 180 as he’s now suddenly worried about the defense. Where was all this two months ago? Spring ball has been over since April, and there hasn’t been any notable defensive transfers out of the program when Klatt made his Top 25 in May.
Now it’s an issue all of a sudden?
Let’s be honest, Klatt needed some click bait offseason content and he decided to go with BYU because of the recent Retzlaf news.
Yes, the Cougars are losing some star players in Tyler Batty and Harrison Taggert, however, the defense might be just as good as last year with guys stepping in such as Keanu Tanuvasa, Tausili Akana and Justin Kirkland.
According to coaches and several insiders, the defense might be even better than last year. Of course everyone drinks the kool-aid during the offseason, so take that with a grain of salt, but with the additions of Tanuvasa, Akana and Kirkland to name a few, the Cougars seem poised to reload.
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Conclusion
Oddsmakers have BYU’s win total (over/under) set at 6.5 games. To me, that is an obvious BUY, no question about it. If I was a betting man, I’d bet the house. With BYU’s current schedule, any walk-on should be able to get the program to bowl eligibility — at minimum. I’ll have another writeup soon about oddsmakers significantly underestimating BYU which goes right along with the next topic in which BYU leads the nation in the most AP Top 25 final appearances without starting ranked in the preseason poll. The Cougars have proven it time and time again, and they’ll look to do so again.
Lastly, BYU and Kalani Sitake play extremely well as the underdog. All the national media and the lack of respect should motivate the Cougars and provide the fuel in fall camp and throughout the season to show what they can do. Yes, it will be a harder hill to climb to get in the Top 25 and be in the playoff discussion by starting the season unranked, but winning takes care of everything.
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