BYU is playing its best football of the season. Coming off season-highs in points and yards gained, the Cougars are 6-2 and on a five-game winning streak. However, this week BYU will have perhaps its biggest challenge of the year as the team plays just its third opponent with a winning record.
Friday night BYU takes on TCU at a “neutral site” at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. TCU’s campus is about 25 minutes away from Cowboys Stadium, which isn’t much of a commute for Horned Frog fans.
“It’s a really fun place to play at,” senior linebacker Jameson Frazier said. “It’s an amazing feeling. It can be kind of distracting but when you’re playing a team like Oklahoma, you had to focus everything on the opponent so you don’t really get too distracted.”
The last time the Cougars played at Cowboys Stadium, they upset the No. 3-ranked Oklahoma Sooners, 14-13. This time the Cougars hope to end a three-game losing streak to the Horned Frogs.
“We have a difficult game coming up on a short week,” coach Bronco Mendenhall said. “[We’re] anxious to return to Cowboys Stadium, anxious to play against TCU. We’re looking forward to the challenge.”
This game marks the 11th meeting between TCU and BYU, with the series split at 5-5. The Cougars have not performed well recently as they have managed to score only 17 total points during the last three games.
However, since quarterback Riley Nelson has been the starter for BYU this year, the Cougars have not played three downs, then punted the ball. Nelson has averaged three touchdowns per game since the game against Utah State. Mendhenall knows his offense needs to be on the field more for his team to defeat a high-scoring TCU team.
“Riley’s ability to create and get us out of bad plays … keeps momentum,” Mendenhall said. “It’s hard to score without the football so we keep the ball so the defense doesn’t have to play as much. Against a team like TCU that scores so many points and a team that we have not even averaged a touchdown per year for three years in a row, we need to hold on to the ball and score points. Hopefully that trend continues of no three-and-outs , holding on to the ball and scoring points.”
Nelson was awarded the Independent Offensive Player of the Week for his performance against Idaho State. Linebacker Kyle Van Noy was honored as the Defensive Player of the Week — his third time receiving the award this year. Although individual players continue to win awards, senior offensive lineman Terrence Brown said the team is continuing to improve and work better together.
“We got a chance to get some good rest this weekend to get going today,” Brown said Monday during a media conference. “[Idaho State] was a good game to continue to come together. We’ve felt like we’ve been doing a good job of that on offense the past couple weeks and hopefully it shows on the field Friday night.”
