Special teams: It's Bronco's baby

BYU coaches knew before this season the challenges of a young offense. That’s why Jaime Hill, who lost plenty of key guys on his side of the ball, put an emphasis in fall camp of third-down defense.

It is also the reason Bronco Mendenhall took it upon himself to coach special teams this year. If the battle over field position means anything, and it does, there’s no better way to control it than effective punting, coverage of punts and kickoff return defense. In other words, make the opposing team have to execute all the way down the field to score.

After BYU’s win over Washington in the opener, Steve Sarkisian made a point of highlighting how big field position was in the loss for the Huskies. He said starting with long fields made his staff and players anxious, that they had to make big plays and keep drives alive because they were not sure when they’d get good chances in the red zone.

Also, in the aftermath, Mendenhall was not so subtle in point out how big special teams were in the BYU win. It helped that Washington had a few kickoffs get away and roll back to the goal line. Those kind of plays may be bad luck, but they might also be coverage pressure, physicality on hits and the lack of vision to hit a path.

BYU ranks No. 1 in the NCAA in kickoff return defense after one game. It may hold up, it may not. The Cougars face some outstanding return personnel in future games.

It is interesting to note, I spoke to several coaches over the years who confirmed that one of the easy ways to tell how good a football team can be is to watch special teams play. It shows work ethic, depth, athleticism, speed, recovery speed, physical play, mental focus and intensity of the squad.

I remember a couple of seasons ago, Mendenhall used offensive and defensive starters on special teams, it was that big of an emphasis. Dennis Pitta played on special teams. This year is no different. To what extend you don’t have to use so many starters, shows how much depth you have.

Brett Stephenson’s punting and the punt cover team is also key to this effort. Stephenson consisently put his punts inside Washington’s 10-yard line and the return man could not advance it last Saturday. That loomed huge in field position and the variety of plays Sarkisian could use in his offense.

Anyway, who knows if this is a trend, a feature or just a one game of being good and lucky?

It could be a huge key to the BYU-AFA game. The Falcons are famous for blocking kicks and punts.