...impact a new OC and a new Offensive scheme can have on a team the first year. BYU finished a plus 3 in TO margin in the game but couldn't close the deal. It wasn't running the ball that we had difficulty with, it was moving it through the air. We avg'd 5.2 yds per rush and even less than that per pass attempt (only 4.6 yds per att). The difficulty posed by a new offense negated any advantage gained by having a senior QB.

Last year Troy Williams was new to the offense but had a huge advantage playing behind an NFL offensive line (4 2017 NFL draft picks) and yet with that major advantage he could only complete 53% of his passes. Imagine how bad it would've been if he was playing behind a more normal OL? This year Utah's OL will be more along the lines of normal (Utah always has good OL's but last year's was exceptional) but once again Williams is learning a new offensive scheme and a new OC is learning about Williams. It will shackle the offense, especially early in the season. So will a brand new OL trying to gel together and build chemistry.

This is why I said this about playing Utah in another post in this thread:

"I respect how good you guys have been during this streak and how hard it is to break a streak. Bronco is gone and with that goes a degree of motivation that Kyle used to his advantage. We're due, nothing stays the same forever. We have as many question marks as you guys do so like I said for last years game, I think this one comes down to the wire. If (big IF) we have 1 or fewer turnovers we win comfortably (especially if we have zero). If we have 2 it moves to the 50-50 category. Any more than 2 and you guys win comfortably.

I agree it comes down to TO's but as in last year's game a TO was more devastating to us than it was to the Utes. I think we will be better positioned this year to take advantage of a TO than last season and so if we can keep it even it favors us in the game and if we can come out in the plus by a significant margin it would lead to a more comfortable winning margin, provided.........................that BYU can get over the mental hurdle they face against Utah due to Bronco's Legacy (the culture Bronco left behind regarding this rivalry). That might be a big hurdle once again.