As the BYU football team gets ready to take on TCU in what might be this year’s premier Mountain West Conference matchup, fans have to be feeling a bit confused about the offensive and defensive units.

Despite an explosion against Tulane, the offense spent the first five games of the season largely out-of-sync. The team was scoring and the chains were moving, but the heralded BYU passing attack, which contributed 10 touchdowns but also 11 interceptions, seemed inconsistent and possibly even unreliable.

The defense, on the other hand, was a force to be reckoned with through the first few games. After a spirited performance against Oklahoma, holding the Sooners to 13 points (Oklahoma averaged 51 points per game in 2008), the BYU defense shut down Tulane on the road, allowing three points and 162 total yards.

But the tide has shifted.

The offense is dominating opponents again. BYU has averaged 49.5 points in its last two games – in that time, previously struggling QB Max Hall is 48 for 66, throwing for 666 yards and 5 TDs with, yes, no interceptions. Hall even channeled his inner Tim Tebow this past Saturday, rushing for 47 yards and a score on 14 attempts.

The defense, well, has regressed. The Cougars haven’t been able to hold an opponent to under 17 points since the second game of the season, allowing an average of 28.6 points in that five-game span. Fans are starting to see the parallels to last year’s defense, which also featured early defensive statements (UCLA and Wyoming) but then began to regress with the loss at TCU, giving up an average of 32 points in the final seven games of the season.

The offense is clicking yet again, but a defense that impressed so many early in the season might be on the decline.

The defensive pass rush is taking too much time to apply pressure in the backfield, giving quarterbacks too much time to scan the field and make a play. Any decent college quarterback worth his scholarship can make a throw when he has all day – only the best can make a play in the face of defensive pressure.

For the third consecutive week, BYU’s 89th-ranked defense allowed a pass completion over 30 yards, something the unit hadn’t done through the first four games. The team allowed its second 100-yard receiver in as many games when SDSU’s Vincent Brown caught 8 passes for 147 yards, the third receiver to accomplish that feat against BYU this season.

Yet even after a surge of big plays from SDSU on Saturday, it never really felt like BYU was in trouble. The team is second only to Florida in passing efficiency and boasts a stout 23rd-ranked run defense that is only bested by TCU in the MWC. If the offense can keep you in any game and the defense can prevent an opponent from running out the clock, what’s the problem?

The problem is that big plays will kill any good team, as will opponents converting crucial third downs. You can survive these mistakes against SDSU, but experienced and talented teams like TCU and Utah feast on those errors.

Fans might remember the number that FSU’s Christian Ponder did to the Cougars in Provo. The quarterback sat in the pocket for several seconds before a hole formed in front of him, allowing Ponder opportunities to rush 11 times for 77 yards. Four of these rushes occurred on third down, resulting in three drive-extending first downs and one touchdown. BYU wasn’t able to get rushers to Ponder quick enough, and couldn’t seal the deal when they were able to get there.

FSU’s very next game against South Florida was completely different. One designed quarterback draw in the first half resulted in a loss for Ponder, as the South Florida defense was on him seemingly as the ball was snapped – I timed the play and have the pressure arriving in 1.64 seconds. On a first and goal for FSU in the third quarter, Ponder dropped back to pass, was forced to escape the pocket within 1.89 seconds, and was eventually brought down in 3.26 seconds.

On each of these plays, South Florida sent five players to the quarterback, attacking the gaps and relentlessly pursuing Ponder just one week after he set up a campsite in his pocket at LaVell Edwards Stadium.

With 6:29 left in the first quarter in San Diego, the Cougars sent a four-man rush at quarterback Ryan Lindley, who promptly scanned the field for 2.85 seconds before throwing a 45-yard bomb to Vincent Brown. The one-on-one coverage wasn’t bad by any means, but Brown had an extra split-second to separate himself from the BYU defender and make a play. On a 3rd and 27 in the third quarter, the Cougars lined up four and dropped one into coverage, giving Lindley 3.43 seconds against the three-man rush to throw a touchdown pass and tie the game at 21.

In his book “Football: Winning Defense,” hall of fame coach Bud Wilkinson lays out four ways to create long-yardage situations if the secondary is playing error-free football. The first three: penalties, ball-handling errors and offensive assignment errors. These are always helpful to a defense but shouldn’t be relied upon. The fourth suggestion on Wilkinson’s list is the most important because it can be controlled by the defense regardless of what the offense does: “a well-executed defensive maneuver by the linemen and linebackers resulting in a loss of yardage on the play.”

It’s time for the front-seven to step it up. Nobody who watches BYU football can doubt the heart and effort of the defensive line and linebackers, but effort only makes half the play. The defensive unit is talented enough and is now deep enough that defensive game plans should play to the strengths of the personnel: strong gap stuffers up front and quick playmakers in back, just like a 3-4 scheme is supposed to be.

Almost every successful 3-4 scheme in college and in the NFL is able to pressure the quarterback by securing the A and B gaps with the front three while a couple of speedy linebackers beat the offensive tackles by coming off the edges. There are numerous permutations, but a well-executed scheme featuring rushes of five or more has a much better chance of forcing an early pass and protecting the secondary.

This weekend’s matchup pits the BYU defense against a unit that is ranked 11th in rushing offense and 22nd in total offense. The focus will and should be on stopping the run, but I’m sure the defense doesn’t want to spend a fourth week giving up big pass plays. Not to a team this good.

As the great Bud Wilkinson wrote, put the front seven in a position to make plays. One “well-executed defensive maneuver” might be the difference between an epic homecoming victory and a bitter conference defeat.