For about 54.5 minutes of game time, BYU-Kansas State was a fairly boring affair, not all that unlike the Cougars' win over SMU—two offenses that couldn't move the ball and two defenses that traded blows and didn't allow much in the way of scoring. The only exciting thing about the game for BYU fans in the early going was the team's look—the Cougars wore their absolutely stunning 1996 throwbacks in recognition of the fact that the two teams' last meeting was the Cotton Bowl that capped off that historic season for BYU. But then, for the roughly 5.5 minutes surrounding halftime, this BYU football team put on one of the zaniest, most electrifying, and most unexpected scoring spurts in program history, turning a 6-3 deficit into a 31-6 lead that allowed them to pretty much coast to victory. How did the Cougars do it?
Well, it all started with K-State's decision to begin running out the clock on the first half with around 2:10 to play. The 13th-ranked Wildcats were more than happy to take their 6-3 advantage into the locker room, knowing that they were set to receive the opening kickoff for the second half. But on the third play of their possession, quarterback Avery Johnson handed off to running back DJ Giddens, who was promptly plastered by Jack Kelly and lost the football in the process. BYU freshman safety Tommy Prassas scooped the ball up and high-stepped into the end zone for the first touchdown of the game by either team. Just like that, the Cougars were up 10-6. Now, instead of contentedly running out the clock, the Wildcats shifted into a two-minute drill, desperate to retake some momentum heading into halftime. But after throwing an incompletion, Avery Johnson dropped back to pass and, with a rusher in his face, threw the ball straight to Tyler Batty, who had sagged into coverage. Two plays later, Jake Retzlaff delivered a gorgeous back-shoulder throw to Chase Roberts in the end zone. Just 29 game-seconds earlier, BYU had trailed 6-3. Now, the Cougars led 17-6.
If the Wildcats thought halftime would change their fortunes, they were mistaken. Their first drive of the second half lasted just three plays and netted just a single yard before Johnson threw another pick, this one to Harrison Taggart. The Cougar offense again took just two plays to cash in, with Sione I. Moa taking the ball down to the goal line and Retzlaff finding Darius Lassiter for a short TD pass and a 24-6 BYU lead. And the insanity still wasn't over. After the Cougar defense forced a Kansas State three-and-out, Parker Kingston got set to return the punt. The ball went over his head and then straight through his hands, making it a live ball that he had to chase nearly back to his own goal line. But the muff had caused something unexpected—suddenly focused on the ball instead of Kingston, many of the Wildcat coverage players had left their lanes and overrun the play. Kingston used his blistering speed to get to the far sideline and turn the corner, and there was suddenly nobody in front of him. After a 90-yard return that was more like 140 with all the lateral running, Kingston sprinted untouched into the end zone for what will surely go down as one of the more insane plays of the season for any team. It was BYU's first punt return for a touchdown since JD Falslev took one the distance against Middle Tennessee in 2013, and it was the Cougars' fourth touchdown in five minutes.
From there, the game pretty well went on cruise control, with the Cougars locking down the K-State offense and rolling to a 38-9 victory. Here are some thoughts on one of the most insane games in the history of LaVell Edwards Stadium, and a massive momentum builder for this BYU team:
The Good:
It seems that I'm making a weekly tradition of starting off these recaps by talking about the defense. There's a reason for that: this BYU defense is really good, and really fun to watch and write about. If the Cougars go as far in the Big 12 as some writers are now projecting, it will be because of this defense. BYU still has not allowed a passing touchdown in four games, and the Cougars haven't allowed a touchdown period from either P4 opponent so far. I want to highlight a couple of players in particular. First up is Isaiah Glasker, who had an ankle tackle on Avery Johnson for a key 4th down stop and was also Parker Kingston's lead blocker on the punt return, somehow keeping pace with the speedy WR despite outweighing him by around 55 lbs. Glasker sometimes gets forgotten in a LB room featuring luminaries like Jack Kelly and Harrison Taggart, but he's a hard-nosed workhorse with crazy athletic upside. Kelly himself deserves a shoutout, too—he was all over the field, constantly pressuring Johnson in the backfield. The defensive line had a great overall performance, with John Nelson, Tyler Batty, Isaiah Bagnah, and Blake Mangelson all doing their jobs well and effectively containing Johnson's running. And finally, a shoutout to the Moa brothers, Aisea and Sione (not to be confused with Sione I. Moa, the running back), who looked really good in the snaps they were given. Aisea was a big-time recruit—the #5 overall in-state player in his class—and looks like a star in the making for the Cougars as a redshirt sophomore. I haven't even mentioned the secondary, but a large portion of the credit for not giving up a single passing TD through four games belongs to that extremely talented group and their excellent position coach, Jernaro Gilford.
To nobody's surprise, this game marked another great performance from the BYU receivers. Chase Roberts and Darius Lassiter caught touchdowns and were their usual surehanded selves, and Parker Kingston had the highlight of the night with his punt return TD. Jake Retzlaff didn't have a spectacular day throwing the ball because he didn't need to—the Cougars ran less than 50 offensive plays thanks to the fantastic field position that the defense kept handing them. But even in limited action, Retzlaff posted a strong passer rating of 162.46 and made no serious mistakes.
Another week, another random freshman running back stepping up for the BYU offense. True freshman Sione I. Moa, who uses his middle initial to distinguish himself from linebacker Sione Moa, was an obscure recruit not even listed by 247 Sports, and he didn't appear on the depth chart for the SIU or SMU games. But he got a few carries against Wyoming and looked solid, and with LJ Martin, Hinckley Ropati, and Miles Davis all out, he was handed RB1 reps for this game. He played really well, though (as mentioned) the offense in general didn't get to run a ton of plays. He averaged over 5 yards per carry and had an absolutely electric 4th quarter TD run to ice the game away, and he also caught three passes out of the backfield. At this point, we don't know how long Martin, Ropati, and Davis are sidelined, but if Moa keeps running like this and stays healthy, it may not matter. He came out of nowhere and looked like a P4 lead back in this game. That's an impressive feat.
Finally, I can't end this section without talking about BYU's legendary home field advantage. On Saturday night, Kansas State became the latest in a long line of ranked opponents to learn that BYU simply doesn't lose night games at home in September. Ninth-ranked Baylor discovered the same thing in 2022, as did #21 Utah and #19 Arizona State in 2021. The ROC, as has become expected, was deafening throughout, particularly from Tommy Prassas's fumble return onward. Aaron Roderick recounted after the game that Kansas State's staff was having such a hard time even hearing each other on the sideline that they tried to switch to more effective noise-canceling headsets, only to find that they didn't have enough of them. Opposing fans like to sometimes scoff about the impact of the ROC, but ask anyone who's played at LaVell Edwards Stadium after dark and they'll set the record straight. And the Cougar faithful weren't just deafening—they were magnanimous in victory. Avery Johnson has been running a fundraiser throughout the season on behalf of a beloved former high school principal of his who is battling cancer. In the aftermath of the game, BYU fans began pouring in donations (often accompanied by friendly smack talk or in the cheeky amount of $38.09). Within hours of the game's final whistle, Johnson's fundraiser had smashed through its goal of $20,000. It has since crossed its updated goal of $40,000 as well and is now working towards $80,000. Anyone who wishes to donate can do so here.
The Bad:
I don't have a ton of complaints about this game. The team largely delivered in all three phases and won a commanding victory over a ranked conference opponent. I only have two issues to point out, and the first is that for most of the first half, the offense didn't really do much. The Cougars' first points didn't come until 2:10 before halftime, and their first offensive TD (which came literally seconds later in game time) only happened because of a Tyler Batty interception deep in K-State territory. When the offense wasn't handed a short field by the defense, it struggled somewhat to move the ball. Jake Retzlaff, as mentioned, had a solid statistical game and didn't make any serious mistakes. But I'd really like to see a little more...well...oomf from this offense. I want to see the Cougars move the ball confidently and decisively up and down the field for multiple drives in a row, which is something we really still haven't seen this season. Jake Retzlaff may, indeed, be the guy. But if BYU is going to really compete in the Big 12 this year, he and the Cougar offense will need to produce more.
The only other complaint I have is that the Cougars' returners seem to be having trouble gauging and fielding kicks correctly. Parker Kingston's punt return touchdown was a spectacular highlight—potentially the play of the season, never mind the game—but it only happened because Kingston vastly miscalculated where the ball was going and muffed the catch. And that wasn't the first muffed kick the Cougars have had this year; it's becoming a problem, and it's something that Kelly Poppinga needs to address. Kingston's TD was possible because of his speed, but also because the ball took an insanely lucky bounce straight into his hands (as opposed to, say, out of bounds or backwards past him to the coverage team). The Cougars can't afford to rely on luck to that extent. Kingston, Keelan Marion, and the others who occasionally step in as returners badly need to be more surehanded and make better decisions with the ball.
What a game!! This win will be hard to forget. Last year might have been BYU's first as a P4 program, but this year, they really feel like one. National publications have begun to take notice, with more than one author now picking the Cougars to compete for a spot in this year's expanded 12-team playoff. I'm not sure I'm ready to get that optimistic—this team still has some bugs to fix—but there's no denying that the Cougars look significantly better than they did at this point last season. It's fun to be a BYU fan when the team is playing like this.
Up next is Baylor, a team coming off a surprising overtime loss to Colorado. The Bears aren't exactly the Big 12's gold standard this year, but they're a dangerous team at home and 10am kickoffs seem never to be friendly to BYU. This game should tell us a lot about whether the now-22nd-ranked Cougars are actually in play for a Big 12 title this year. They absolutely have to win this game to even have a chance. That said, this is a winnable game—this Baylor team hasn't looked all that good so far this season. I expect the Bears to keep it close on their home field, but I think BYU pulls this one off.