RECAP: BYU takes down #9!
In one of the wildest games LaVell Edwards Stadium has ever seen—in one of the highest-profile matchups the storied venue has ever hosted—the 21st-ranked BYU Cougars overcame tough competition, fatigue, and serious miscues to pull off a gutsy double overtime win over the visiting 9th-ranked Baylor Bears, defending champions of the Big XII and the Sugar Bowl. It was a revenge match of sorts—the two teams met in Waco last year and the Cougars, still reeling from their stunning loss to a bad Boise State team, got themselves thoroughly dominated by the mighty Baylor rushing attack in a humiliating 38-24 defeat. Would the 2022 edition of the matchup see a similar result?
No. The answer was a resounding no. The BYU defensive line took last year's thrashing personally. Giving up 300+ rushing yards hurt their pride. When, in the aftermath of that embarrassment, Coach Sitake challenged the entire team to be more physical, the D-line took that challenge and ran with it. The result was that Baylor (and former BYU) OC Jeff Grimes found himself totally unable to use his favorite weapon—Baylor's fearsome rush attack was held to a sluggish 2.9 yards per carry as the Cougars physically wore down the Bears in a big-time home victory. Here are some more observations from and thoughts about the game:
The Good:
The defense, as mentioned, was much improved over last year's dismal performance. In particular, I want to mention the improved tackling and, even more specifically, Max Tooley's excellent night. Tooley has always had talent, but he's struggled at times to make his presence felt against physical blockers. Against the Bears, he had no such problems and neither did his teammates. Missed tackles were at a minimum and Tooley was especially dominant, racking up a team-high 13 tackles and a quarterback hurry. He looks like an NFL linebacker at this moment. If he stays healthy, he could have a very special season. Ilaisa Tuiaki has been criticized, sometimes more fairly than others, for his unit's inability to stop the run in critical scenarios (see: last year's Baylor and UAB games). It seems as if some of those problems have finally been ironed out. This defensive unit is as talented, physical, and well-coached as any that has played at BYU. Arguably, we haven't seen its equal since the legendary 2012 squad headlined by Kyle Van Noy and Ziggy Ansah.
Jaren Hall was brilliant in this game. The BYU run game struggled mightily against the stout Baylor defense, ending the night with just 83 yards, so the Cougars had to rely on their aerial attack to move the ball. Fortunately, Hall had no trouble doing just that. He displayed laser accuracy and a cool, steady demeanor which gave his teammates confidence. His stat line was nothing spectacular, but he made virtually no mistakes and delivered at all the right times. For example, despite the offense's issues with moving the ball in the first half, Hall drove the Cougars down the field in 1:35 to score a touchdown at the end of the first half. Though the offense got bogged down at times, Hall always seemed to be able to shift it into another gear when it counted.
Hall could not have accomplished what he did last night without a bevy of receiving targets to be on the other end of all of those pinpoint passes. Puka Nacua and Gunner Romney were both out for this game (Nacua's recovery seems not to have been quite as miraculous as Coach Sitake indicated last week), leaving major questions as far as who would step up in the receiving game. Turns out, those questions had a clear answer: Chase Roberts. In fact, it might be fair to call this the Chase Roberts Game. Roberts, a redshirt freshman playing in just his second collegiate game ever, was Jaren Hall's go-to target and didn't disappoint. He rang up eight catches for 122 yards and a touchdown and also threw a nice pass to Hall for a touchdown on a trick play. He turned in an almost flawless performance that exceeded expectations in every way. Keanu Hill also had a couple of very nice catches, though as the nominal WR1 for the Cougars with Romney and Nacua out, he was blanketed by the Baylor secondary for much of the game. That youthful duo—Hill and Roberts—will probably headline the Cougars' receiving unit next season and BYU fans should be very excited about them.
Lastly, I can't conclude this section without mentioning the unbelievable BYU student section—the rowdy, rowdy ROC. In double overtime, with the game on the line, Baylor trailed by six and had a third-and-goal from the BYU 4-yard line with the incredible noise of the ROC directly in front of them. What followed was a disastrous sequence for the Bears' offense—they false-started, completed a short pass, then false-started again, setting up a 4th-and-11 desperation play that never had a prayer. In that moment, BYU's best defensive resource was the ROC. The students collectively made it physically impossible for Baylor to finish the drive. What a weapon! Baylor HC Dave Aranda commented on the ROC's impact after the game:
The Bad:
In the preseason, I raved about how deep and talented the BYU offensive line is. I wasn't the only one—most observers agreed that the hogs up front would be a major strength for the Cougars this season. While they've done an admirable job in pass protection—Jaren Hall has seldom been pressured through two games—the run game has been another story. So far, run blocking doesn't seem to be this unit's strong point. While Baylor's defensive front is certainly formidable, even the USF game showed signs of trouble. Against the Bulls, a significant percentage of the Cougars' rushing yards came on a handful of explosive plays by Chris Brooks and Puka Nacua. Those chunk plays inflated the team's rushing numbers and obscured the fact that in normal run formations, the Cougars struggled to get enough push to break their running backs loose. This offensive line is still deep and it's still talented, but if the Cougars are going to have the genuinely special season they want, the big boys are going to need to step up their run blocking.
Special teams. Oh glory, special teams. I've been losing a lot of sleep lately and I might be able to pinpoint the Cougars' last two special teams performances as the reason. Last week, strategic blunders and poor coverage led to the Cougars giving up a kickoff return TD—embarrassing but ultimately irrelevant, as the game was already out of reach by that point. This week, the consequences of the Cougars' special teams failures were much more dire. Both at the end of regulation and in the first overtime period, Jake Oldroyd had chances to win the game instantly with relatively easy 35- and 37-yard field goals. He missed both badly. It's not as if Oldroyd isn't "clutch"—his performances against Arizona in 2016 and Tennessee in 2019 proved his mettle. What happened against the Bears is as inexplicable as it is alarming, representing a trend of special teams letting the Cougars down in critical situations. Oldroyd's misses kept Baylor in the game when it should have been over twice. The Cougars pulled off the win anyway, but fate might not be so kind next time. This special teams unit needs to do a little introspection and figure out how to better support the rest of the team.
That's where I'll end this section. It's tough to say too much was bad in a win over a top-10 opponent!
Any time you beat a team ranked as high as Baylor was, it's a great feeling and a very big deal for the program. National pundits have taken notice—BYU jumped nine spots from #21 to #12 in the AP poll following the win and has entered the fringes of the college football playoff discussion. With the leadership of Jaren Hall and the continued growth of the team, it's hard not to be excited about where this season could be headed! All of that is far in the future, though. Next week, the Cougars will travel north to play Oregon in Eugene. The Ducks are a team that looked a lot scarier before losing 49-3 to Georgia, but they're still a talented group (now ranked #25 after previously dropping out of the AP poll) and Autzen Stadium provides a big-time home field advantage. It's time to see if this team's so far impressive mental toughness and resilience can translate to the most hostile of road environments. I think it will. BYU is straight-up better than Oregon this year and should win this game. It will be tough, but I ultimately think they'll do just that. BYU 35, Oregon 26.
Tweets of the game:
Before the Cougars could even kick off, rival and future opponent Utah State had a very, very, VERY bad day
The defense was the story early on, as the Cougars struggled to move the ball but kept Baylor completely in check
Possibly my favorite moment of the game came right after the Cougars' game-winning defensive stop, as Jaren Hall comforted a distraught Jake Oldroyd on the sideline
Also, it was really fun to read Baylor fans' responses to the way they were treated at LES, particularly from one Baylor blogger who described the fans as "an entire fanbase/school of Ted Lassos"