Recapping the BYU Cougars 2023 season in college football.
BYU Cougars, 2023 Season Recap
Scheme and Fit
BYU and head coach Kalani Sitake pass at a higher rate than the median in neutral game scripts given the raw data. This has been the case due to their defense’s inability to stop any offense in the Power 5. The team has seen a negative game script where they’ve had to abandon the run and catch up on points far too often.
BYU was forced to go into the portal and grab Super Senior Kedon Slovis to be their Quarterback for the 2023 season. For the better part of two seasons, BYU have tried to improve their defense. Unfortunately, they have not been successful in doing so. Let’s take a look at the 2023 season in review.
Spring and Fall Camp
Throughout Spring and Fall camp there were rave reports about Kedon Slovis and how quickly he took command of the offense. As a Super Senior with five years of experience, Slovis should have. The concepts of the BYU offense isn’t too intricate and Slovis was able to command the offense from the scrimmages we saw.
True Freshman running back LJ Martin was also the buzz around camp as he looked physically ready to take on a decent workload. BYU brought in UNLV running back Aidan Robbins, who many predicted would be the top portal transfer of the cycle. Camp talk was buzzing with the running duo and how they could use play action to free up the passing game.
Chase Roberts looked best within the wide receiver group, while the defense struggled to shut down the BYU offense during practices and scrimmage. BYU had hopes of making a bowl bid with a veteran quarterback and a duo at RB poised to slow the game down.
Start of the Season
The Cougars got off to a fast start, starting the season 3-0 with a victory at Arkansas in a hostile environment. BYU overwhelmed Arkansas early and often causing turnovers; they had no answers for the Cougars.
— Big12 Mafia (@B12Mafia) September 17, 2023
After a 3-0 start and a win versus a SEC school on the road, they would travel to Kansas and found that test to be a little too much, losing 38-27. Through the first quarter of the season, Kedon Slovis looked good. He really did have command of the offense. Running back LJ Martin also looked good with his opportunities.
Middle of the Season
BYU would bounce-back from their loss to Kansas with a home victory over Cincinnati. They would then travel to TCU, where they were dismantled 44-11. Following that loss they hosted Texas Tech and earned a hard fought victory. BYU leaned on LJ Martin in the run game and let Kedon Slovis manage the game. The Cougars had a tough schedule ahead but took care of business early. They won the games they should have and flipped some games where it looked like it wouldn’t be favorable. BYU needed to finish the season strong with one win in their final five games to go bowling.
End of the Season
The season absolutely unraveled after the Texas Tech game. BYU would lose the remaining games on their schedule with losses to Texas, West Virginia, Iowa State, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. Kedon Slovis would be forced to miss the rest of the season after the Texas game due to injury.
The BYU offense looked lost with Jake Retzlaff taking over for the injured Slovis. He was simply not a good quarterback and BYU’s defense was horrendous. BYU was consistently in negative game scripts with a QB who was not ready to play against Power 5 schools. BYU would lose five straight to end the season and miss out on a bowl game.
Bowling
BYU did not qualify for a Bowl Game in 2023.
Team MVP (And Freshman of the Year)
Running back LJ Martin was the bright spot for the offense. While his efficiency dropped, he still led the team in carries (109), rushing yards (518), and touchdowns (4) with 11 receptions.
BYU!! LJ Martin 45 yards the house!! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/v3SEjJhy4j
— ★★★★★ (@TSV__1) September 17, 2023
Martin is a player BYU should build around in 2024. Feeding him will keep their defense off the field. This should allow them to rest while the offense eats clock to slow the game down to reduce the amount of possessions in the game. While they’ve leaned on the passing attack lately, this should shift the other way if BYU wants to be competitive in the Big 12 next year.
Concerns
The main area of concern is what the team will do at quarterback. BYU will head into 2024 with Jake Retzlaff as the starter as they have failed to grab anybody from the portal. The Cougars did snag three QBs in this recruiting cycle in Enoch Watson, Carson Suesue, and Noah Lugo. We’ll break them down extensively when we cover the QB room later this winter.
Another area of concern is the defense. Nothing has been fixed, and they didn’t really address their needs in the transfer portal. They did grab a dozen defensive players in the recruiting cycle, but playing True Freshman in the Big 12 is a recipe for disaster.
This is a program that seems lost. They don’t know what their identity is and with their strict honor code, they can’t recruit players who can athletically fill in the gaps to make up for their lack of explosive athletes on the current roster.
2023 Conclusion
BYU has real concerns. They recruited the worst class for the Big 12 per On3 team rankings and they don’t have the necessary talent at the quarterback. The next portal session opens up after the Spring game. It can be addressed at that time, but one has to wonder why they haven’t addressed that need yet. They were reportedly in on Boise State quarterback Taylen Green, who opted to go to Arkansas. They have a trio of True Freshmen coming in, but it’s worth wondering if they end up with at least a couple of options in the portal for guys that have failed to land a better or a more lucrative spot.
A 5-7 season is a failure, there’s no way to sugar coat it. The Big 12 will lose Oklahoma and Texas, but an argument can be made that the conference is actually deeper as an entire entity. BYU will need to address the defense or else they will be wishing for a 5-win team in 2024. There’s a lot of work to be done, and that starts with Spring Camp later this year. Other than RB LJ Martin, we have to see what other pieces will emerge for this team to take the next step in 2024.
Andy Pham
Andy is the creator of the Devy Digest. His passion is devy and C2C. Andy's Devy Diguest articles provide insightful, yet thoughtful commentary to give you a leg up on the devy prospects so you know how to approach your devy and C2C drafts. With The Devy Digest podcast, Andy provides episodes of interesting and exciting topics and when he invites guests, you get to be a fly on the wall, listening in on two people having a conversation where they give you a different perspective. Come, join the journey that is Andy's Devy Digest.