When Kansas beat BYU last year one of the reasons was the ability to shut down the Cougars running game. The defense held the Cougars to nine yards rushing and limited LJ Martin to 28 yards.

This season the BYU rushing attack has improved and defensive coordinator Brian Borland said that is one thing that stands out after watching their game film.

“They're certainly able to run the ball better,” Borland said. “I think they're more physical. I think they addressed that issue. And even though there's some of the same guys there are some different guys too, but I just think a mindset of they're playing with much more, much less finesse and much more physicality.”

The Kansas defense is giving up less than 10 yards rushing a game compared to last season and Borland believes they can put together a good game tonight in Provo. Last year they beat BYU up front and he feels they can do it again.

“I just remember they were really big last year when we played them,” Borland said. “We got after them pretty good up front, and I'm confident we can do the same thing Saturday. But they're certainly way ahead of where they were last year.”

BYU will present challenges with their diverse scheme and the ability Jake Retzlaff brings to make plays running from the quarterback position. The Cougars will use a variety of ways to move the ball with the option, designed quarterback runs and different formations.

That forces Borland to cover a lot during the week of preparation to get ready for BYU’s playbook.

“You certainly have got to work on it,” Borland said. “You think about some calls you might want to stay away from because I think there's times they're checking to those plays based on what they see. There's a daily emphasis on some of their option game, and it's not just the option game itself, it's how they block it on the perimeter.”

The defense has faced mobile quarterbacks this year and Retzlaff fits in that category. The defense gave up yards earlier in the season in the QB-run game but have worked to limit that in recent games.

Part of that strategy could be using a spy on the quarterback.

“It's more of the same this week too,” Borland said about facing a mobile quarterback. “But we're making some calls in certain situations so we're not leaving ourselves quite as vulnerable. We do have calls where we assign somebody to the quarterback, and so we're doing some of that. And I think that pays off to a degree. But, you know, you can't do that all the time.”

The BYU offense enters the game second in scoring offense in the Big 12. Borland knows they have to defend every aspect of their offense to have a good game.

“I think they're good in everything,” he said. “I don't think they're weak anywhere, where you can't just say, well, if we can take this away, they won't have a chance. I think they can do everything pretty well. They're pretty solid in running the ball and passing the ball. I don't think there's a weak position where they just don't measure up.”