BYU Cougars v Washington Huskies
December 27th 9:30pm Eastern
AT&T Park, San Francisco
BYU Season Review
After starting the season slowly with a loss to Virginia – who finished the season 2-10 – BYU beat No. 15 Texas convincingly 40-21. A tough loss to Utah was followed by five straight wins which included victories over notable opponents such as Boise State, Houston and Georgia Tech. Close losses to Wisconsin and Notre Dame as well as timely wins over Idaho State and Nevada saw the Cougars close out the season 8-4.
Birgham Young had two, one thousand yard rushers in Jamaal Williams and quarterback Taysom Hill who steered the independent team to top-ten ranking in rushing yards per game. Hill also passed for 2,645 yards and 19 touchdowns with wide receiver Cody Hoffman his go-to target. The senior caught 45 passes for 727 yards and five touchdowns.
Washington Season Review
Despite losing head coach Steve Sarkisian to the University of Southern California after the regular season finale in November, interim head coach Marques Tuiasosopo has a chance to lead the Huskies to their highest win total in 13 years.
Washington had somewhat of a roller coaster of the season. After starting 4-0 the north west side lost three in a row before winning four of their final five including a home tie with state rivals Washington State.
Bishop Sankey – one of the drafts top running backs – had an impressive junior campaign with 1,775 yards and 18 touchdowns. Tight end and Mackey Award winner Austin Seferian-Jenkins caught 33 passes for 413 yards and seven touchdowns while quarterback Keith Price was efficient in his work with 2,843 passing yards, 20 touchdowns and a stingy five interceptions.
Game Matchup
Who can out-run who? Both sides will display some of the best rushers in the nation on Friday, praise they have all earned with highly successful seasons. Sankey ranks third in the nation with a school record 1,775 yards on the season. Add to that 5.8 yards per carry and 18 touchdowns and you have the makings of a star.
Hill and Williams have combined for 2,413 of BYU’s 3,344 rushing yards for the season. They play with the intention of using up the run to set up the big play for Cody Hoffman. It’s clear that both teams will pound the rock in different ways to open up other parts of their offense. While the Cougars use Hoffman for the big splash play, the Huskies use play-action to involve Seferian-Jenkins. Washington do boast a higher level of talent across the board and their superior play at quarterback from Keith Price gives them the advantage when the passing game opens up in the second half.
Draft Impact
We have already mentioned the three elite players in this game in the form of Sankey, Seferian-Jenkins and Hoffman.
Sankey is a slightly undersized runner who uses vision and patience to great effect. He runs hard for his size and has great acceleration despite not having elite top-end speed. The junior is strong in the passing game thanks to very solid hands.
Seferian-Jenkins was many experts’ number one tight end before the season but a large dip in numbers have left many to question his abilities, not to mention a DUI that saw him banned for the season opener. Nevertheless, the 6’6” tight end is athletic, runs smooth routes, high-points catches and has a huge target zone. Put Seferian-Jenkins down in the basketball prototype tight end category.
At 6’4” and 215lbs Hoffman has great size heading towards the NFL. He has good hands and can suffer from an occasional dose of the drops but does have a spectacular play in his locker. His catching in traffic ability were he goes over defenders in a one on one battle will translate very well to the NFL.