BYU at Wisconsin - Week 11

PROVO, Utah -- BYU football rounds the home stretch of the regular season with a road game at No. 21/22 Wisconsin Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CST. The Cougars and Badgers will face off on ESPN.

Kickoff is slated for 2:35 p.m. CST.

The Countdown to Kickoff pregame show will begin at 12:30 p.m. MST on BYUtv and BYUtvsports.com. Fans can also tune in to BYUtv and BYUtvsports.com for the live postgame show at the conclusion of the game. Radio coverage will begin at 11:30 a.m. MST on the Cougar IMG Sports Network 1160 AM/102.7 FM and BYU Radio (SiriusXM channel 143).

BYU (6-2) at Wisconsin (6-2, 4-1 Big Ten) 
Saturday, Nov. 9, 2013 at 2:30 p.m. CST
Camp Randall Stadium
Provo, Utah

BYU at Wisconsin Complete Game Notes

Series

• BYU and Wisconsin meet for the second time. The Cougars enter the game on the five-game win streak. BYU last played the Badgers in September 1980, when BYU took a 28-3 victory on the road.
• BYU and Wisconsin both have players on three national award semifinal and quarterfinal lists. BYU OLB Kyle Van Noy and Wisconsin MLB Chris Borland both are on the Butkus and Bednarik semifinalist list, and on the Lott IMPACT Trophy quarterfinalist list.
• Bowl eligible. With BYU’s win against Boise State, the Cougars reached the six-win bowl eligibility mark. If not selected for a BCS bowl, BYU has accepted a spot in the Fight Hunger Bowl in San Francisco Dec. 27.

Offense

• BYU ranks No. 14 in the nation in rushing offense with 258.8 yards per game earned on the ground. Wisconsin ranks 10th in rushing yards with 287 per game.
• BYU is also No. 12 in total offense with 511.1 yards per game, while Wisconsin is No. 18 with 494.6.
• Quarterback Taysom Hill ranks No. 6 in the country with an average of 357.5 yards per game of total offense. Hill is currently No. 3 all-time at BYU among quarterbacks with 1,177 career rushing yards. The sophomore also ranks No. 20 in the FBS rushing yards per game with 105.13 per contest. Hill is one of seven quarterbacks in NCAA history to throw for 400+ yards and run for 100+ yards in the same game. In the win at Houston, he tallied 417 yards through the air and 128 on the ground.   
• Four different Cougars scored in BYU’s last game against Boise State. Taysom Hill found the end zone early in the game on a 20-yard rush to give BYU a 7-0 lead. Junior receiver Ross Apo recorded the next touchdown as he caught a 37-yard pass from Hill in the second. Three minutes later, Cody Hoffman set the BYU record with his 31st career receiving touchdown. The Cougars went up 30-6 in the third quarter on a 40-yard completion from Hill to Mitch Mathews.
• Keep an eye out for The Hoff Show. Wideout Cody Hoffman has an opportunity to end his Cougar career as possibly the best receiver in BYU history. The senior now stands No. 1 in career receptions with 232 and receiving touchdowns with 31. He enters this week needing just 14 yards to take the top spot as the all-time leader in that category. As of now, Hoffman has amassed 3,242 yards in his career. Hoffman holds the record for receiving touchdowns in a game (5) and needs two more 100-yard receiving games to have the most in program history.
• As Taysom goes, so do the Cougars. During the first three games of the season, quarterback Taysom Hill had an efficiency rating of 74.28, a 35.1 percent completion rate and one passing TD. BYU went 1-2 during that time. Over the last five games, the sophomore notched an efficiency rating of 157.11, completed 65.4 percent of his passes and threw 11 touchdowns. The Cougars are 5-0 over that stretch.
• BYU has not been shut out for 120 consecutive games. The last time the Cougars failed to score was in 2003 in a 3-0 loss to Utah. That loss was the only time BYU has not produced points since 1975. BYU has scored in the last 481 of 482 games since 1975.
• Good coaching company. Bronco Mendenhall’s 80th win came last week vs. Boise State in Mendenhall’s 111th overall game. Hall of Fame BYU coach LaVell Edwards also acheived his 80th victory in his 111th game. 

Defense

• BYU’s defense has 11 players with 30 or more tackles in 2013, led by Uani ‘Unga’s 86. ‘Unga is No. 15 nationally for total tackles.
• Van Noy has 26 career sacks, which is the second most nationally among active FBS players. The senior needs eight more sacks this season to pass the career sack record at BYU (33). 
• BYU defense likes to get off the field, a lot. The defensive unit has forced 5.88 three-and-outs per game to rank 10th nationally in that category. Of the 129 opponent drives this season, the defense has gotten off the field in three plays or less 47 times, meaning that the defense has either forced a punt after three plays or has caused a turnover before the opposing team recorded a first down of any kind (36.4 percent). At the same time, BYU has forced 8.4 punts per game to rank first overall and 67 punts to rank thrid overall in that category. Of the top five teams, BYU is the only team not to have played in nine games.
• The Kyle Van Noy Show. The 2013 All-America candidate, who is also on the Bednarik Award, Nagurski Trophy, Butkus Award, Lombardi Award, Lott IMPACT Trophy and Walter Camp Award watch lists, is third nationally among active players with 26 career sacks and tied for fourth all-time at BYU with Jim Herrmann. The senior was named to the Phil Steele Midseason All-America First Team, a Chuck Bednarik Award semifinalist, a Butkus Award semifinalist, a Lott IMPACT Trophy quarterfinalist the Chuck Bednarik Player of the Week for his game against Georgia Tech and the FBS Independent Defensive Player of the Week two times. Currently, Van Noy is second on the team with 46 tackles, first on the team in tackles for loss with 11.0, first on the team with four sacks, tied for second with one interception and first on the team with 11 quarterback hurries. After being the only FBS player to record a stat in every defensive category the past two season, Van Noy needs to cause a fumble and block a kick to do it for a third straight year.
• Making a name for themselves. A strong fall camp earned Alani Fua a starting role at outside linebacker. Currently Fua is tied for the team lead with two interceptions, fifth on the team in tackles with 44, tied for fifth on the team with three tackles for loss and tied for second with two sacks. He recorded his first career touchdown on an interception that he ran back 51 yards against Georgia Tech. Senior Spencer Hadley has returned from a suspension and has 36 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, one sack, one interception, two pass breakups and one fumble recovery.
• Forcing turnovers is leading to wins. Over the first three games of the season, the BYU defense forced three turnovers and held a 1-2 record. Over the last five games the unit has forced 13 turnovers and has won all five games. In that span, Alani Fua and Daniel Sorensen have both registered two interceptions while Fua and Kyle Van Noy have both returned a touchdown for a touchdown. Uani ‘Unga and Robertson Daniel have both forced two fumbles and Remington Peck has two fumble recoveries. On the season, the BYU defense is averaging almost two turnovers a game. 
• Points per game and per play. The BYU defense is allowing an average of 21.3 points per game to rank 27th nationally while allowing the offense to outscore its opponents by 11.1 points per game. The defense is allowing .265 points per play on the season which is close to the .226 points per play that the defense allowed last season. At the same time, BYU is allowing just 4.8 yards per play and just 4.6 yards per play in away games. 
• Defensive stalwarts. On the defensive side of the ball, players have played in more than 40 games in their careers including Mike Hague (45), Spencer Hadley (42), Austen Jorgensen (45) Daniel Sorensen (46), Kyle Van Noy (47) and Eathyn Manumaleuna (51). Combined the six players have played in 276 games and have 133 starts.  Manumaleuna has started in 45 games, and Sorensen and Van Noy have each started in 34 games.