The running game.
@ Baylor was a perfect example of this. At the end of the first half I pulled up the stats and our RBs were averaging above 5 yards per carry (5.1 if I remember right). Offense looked amazing. Long sustained drives ending in TDs. We moved the ball with ease.
Then comes the second half.....our two RBs ended the game with 2.7 YPC (Nawahine) and 3.0 YPC (Haunga). Yikes! Run game was utterly worthless in the 2nd half.
You can't consistently move the ball when your RBs are only getting 2-3 yards per carry. ARod started calling 2 pass plays for every 1 run play for a while there in the second half (look at one of the several posts breaking down the play calling). But when you become one dimensional, it's going to be a huge struggle to get anywhere.
There's been multiple times where our run game has struggled, but the pass game has been solid and kept us in it. I can't recall any time where the run game has been good but the pass game has been bad.
If we figure out our run game (maybe that just means getting LJ back), then this team could be really really good.
I was just listening to the PFF guys talk about BYU's PFF stats this year as well...OL pass blocking has been excellent, far above average, but run blocking has been well below average for a P4 team. Connor Pay being out is only going to make things more difficult. Hopefully they figure things out.
Lastly, the run game is absolutely vital for the Baylor-type games where we get off to an early lead. You need to be able to hand it off to your RBs and just have long grueling drives to kill the game and to demoralize the other team. Tyler Allgeier & co were amazing at this. We're missing that on this team.