The Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl between Utah and BYU was a football analytics writer's dream. So many of the tenets of football analytics were on display as Utah jumped to an early 35-0 lead (almost entirely because of its defense) and held on for a seven-point win over rival BYU. Here are a few general lessons to take away from this episode of the Holy War.
1. Utah was outgained by 189 yards and it didn't matter
When presented with a box score, many fans’ first instinct is to look at the final score and then look at the total yards each team gained.