Every week of this season, I've hoped to finally answer the question "Is BYU football good?" And every week thus far, I've been disappointed. That's not to say the results on the scoreboard have been disappointing—this week's game was much like every other this season for the Cougars, as they played imperfect but solid football and held on for a 34-28 road win over Baylor to improve to 5-0 on the season. To look at the Cougars' record, their #17 AP ranking, and their place alone at the top of the Big 12 standings, you would think this BYU team was bordering on elite status and in serious contention for a berth in the Big 12 title game.
And yet, I still haven't decided whether I think this team is actually good or not—that is, whether or not their success is sustainable. This week, BYU once again won without looking especially strong for over half the game. Other than their smackdown of FCS Southern Illinois, the Cougars still arguably haven't played anything remotely resembling a complete game this season. To some extent, that should be really exciting and encouraging for BYU fans—we still haven't seen the best this team can do, yet they're 5-0 and rocketing up the polls. But it's also a cause for concern—if not for a few fortunate bounces of the ball, the Cougars could easily be 3-2 or even 2-3. It's hard not to wonder just how far this white-hot start can last for BYU—if the Cougars can't nail down some consistency on both offense and defense, it feels like their luck is bound to run out eventually.
For now, though, that's for the coaches to worry about. As fans, we can enjoy the fact that our team survived another week undefeated and ranked. Here are some thoughts on win number 5—a triumph over Baylor that was much closer than it needed to be:
The Good:
The Cougars exorcised a couple of serious demons in this game. Demon #1 was the simple fact that the Cougars had never won a Big 12 road game. Demon #2 was the "early start time curse"—going into this game, BYU hadn't won a day game against an FBS opponent since Washington State back in 2021. It's really nice to see both of those streaks end. There are various arguable reasons for BYU's struggles in day games—CougarStats did an excellent breakdown that showed why the "curse" was less supernatural and more schedule-related—but we can all now breathe easy again knowing that this team can, apparently, win in daylight. I didn't relish the thought of rooting for the Fightin' Edward Cullens.
Against the Bears, the Cougars got off to not just their fastest start of the season, but their fastest start in years. On both sides of the ball, the first ten minutes of the game were all BYU. Receiving the opening kickoff, the Cougars marched down the field decisively on a series of nice throws by Jake Retzlaff, culminating with Retzlaff finding Miles Davis on a wheel route for a 26-yard TD to open the scoring. Baylor then got the ball for their first possession, and QB Sawyer Robertson...threw an interception on the first play of the drive. John Nelson batted the ball into the air and Blake Mangelson came down with it for the Cougars' second Big Man Pick® in as many weeks. A handful of plays later, Chase Roberts took a backwards lateral into the end zone for a 14-0 BYU lead. In total, the Cougars scored touchdowns on all of their first four possessions, something they hadn't done since the Idaho State game in 2021. A start like that will win you a lot of games, even if (as they did in this game) things slow down from there. One other notable stat from this game is that against a Baylor defense that recorded eight sacks against Colorado last week, the BYU offensive line didn't give up one, even after losing starting center Connor Pay to injury in the second quarter.
I'll talk about some of the defense's struggles later, but let's not get it twisted—at the end of the day, the BYU defense won the Cougars this game. Trailing by 13 with 12:28 left in the game, Baylor put together a workmanlike six-play TD drive to cut the deficit to 6. The BYU offense then went three-and-out. It seemed like the Bears held all of the momentum and would inevitably score the go-ahead touchdown in short order. Instead, their final three possessions of the game ended in a punt, a turnover on downs, and an interception. When the BYU offense struggled late and the defense was called upon to stand firm, Jay Hill's unit delivered decisively. The Cougar defense stepped up and negated the offense's disastrous late-game mistakes and lack of production just as it did against SMU. Specific credit goes to the defensive line—Tyler Batty (who recorded his first sack of the season in this game), John Nelson, and Blake Mangelson are the key to the entire defense's success. They consistently get pressure in the offensive backfield with as few as three rushers, making it difficult for opposing quarterbacks to get through their progressions and easing the burden on the secondary. Linebackers Jack Kelly and Isaiah Glasker also deserve recognition for what they add to the Cougars' dynamic pass rush. Serious defensive pressure up front was the number one factor missing from the old Ilaisa Tuiaki/Preston Hadley defenses. This team, though, has it in spades—and that's a major reason for the Cougars' 5-0 record. I also want to shout out a couple of BYU defensive backs: Crew Wakley had the game of his life, recording a sack, four total tackles, and the game-sealing interception, while Jakob Robinson was a blanket in coverage all game and was the point man on a key late 4th down stop.
Kelly Poppinga has been brewing something special in the special teams department. This game marked the third straight outing where the Cougar specialists made a huge, momentum-changing play—in this case, a massive fake punt by Australian punter Sam Vander Haar which set up the Cougars' only second half points. And while the fake was the flashiest special teams play of the game, it was far from the only important one—Vander Haar also averaged a booming 51 yards per punt with a long of 70, and Will Ferrin nailed a 54-yard field goal (a career best) right before halftime, stemming Baylor's momentum at a key point.
A major shoutout needs to go to the many young players who stepped into the shoes of injured teammates and held down the fort in this game. As I'll discuss later, the Cougars were already banged up heading into this game and lost several more players to injuries throughout. Guys like Logan Lutui and John Taumoepeau on the defensive line; the Moa brothers and Siale Esera at linebacker; and Mory Bamba, Jonathan Kabeya, Tommy Prassas, and Faletau Satuala in the defensive backfield all stepped up and played major rotational snaps on defense. On offense, Enoch Nawahine and Pokaiaua Haunga carried the bulk of the rushing load for the Cougars, and Bruce Mitchell, Sonny Makasini, and Austin Leausa all played extensively on the offensive line, with Makasini stepping into the all-important center position after Connor Pay went down injured.
The Bad:
The BYU offense once again had an inconsistent day, and this time, as against SMU, late-game struggles would likely have cost them the game if not for the defense's intervention. As mentioned, the Cougars scored touchdowns on their first four drives—but after that, they didn't score another one the rest of the game, and their only other points came on a pair of field goals. In the second half, the offense had six meaningful possessions, and they ended in a made 37-yard field goal, an interception, a missed 49-yard field goal, a punt, an interception, and a punt. Incredibly, only two of those drives lasted longer than three plays—the two that ended in field goal attempts. The others were either three-and-outs or interceptions within the first three plays. Considering how cavalierly the Cougars had moved the ball down the field in the first half, their total inability to do so in the second half was jarring.
Given how bad the offense looked in the second half, it won't come as a surprise to learn that after a near-flawless first half, Jake Retzlaff completed just 4/13 passes with two interceptions in the second. Some of that was the fault of Aaron Roderick, who changed his playcalling dramatically after halftime to emphasize shorter, more conservative passes—the kind of dink-and-dunk game that Retzlaff still struggles somewhat to execute. Retzlaff's deep ball is a thing of beauty, but his issues in the intermediate game are well-documented. And yet, Retzlaff's average pass attempt in-air distance dropped by around four yards after halftime. In the entire second half, only two of Retzlaff's pass attempts were targeted past the sticks. That decision may have been based on some change made by Baylor's defense, but if it was, that's not a great sign—it would mean that the Bears were essentially able to scheme the BYU offense out of the game in the second half, which would suggest that the Cougars were out-coached on that side of the ball. Some of Roderick's choices were truly strange—his backward pass call on 3rd-and-2 on the Cougars' second-to-last possession, a play which ended in the lateral being intercepted, is straight up one of the worst playcalls I've ever seen live in a game. I couldn't believe it at the time and I still can't. To call, of all things, a backward pass on a 3rd-and-short in a situation where a first down nearly ends the game...I'm baffled by that decision, and it reinforces many of the doubts I've expressed about Roderick's situational awareness and abilities as a playcaller. The RB room's inexperience and the offensive line's injury struggles also meant that the Cougars' rushing attack essentially disappeared after halftime, which further hampered their ability to move the ball by limiting Roderick's first down playcall options significantly.
The BYU defense doesn't get a pass here, either. Though the Cougars did stop the Bears three times at the end of the game, culminating in Crew Wakley's game-ending interception, they wouldn't have needed those three massive stops if they had played more solidly in the second and third quarters. They allowed Baylor to have alarming success in the intermediate and deep passing game, and—most worrying of all—let the Bears convert multiple crucial 3rd and 4th downs in the second half. I'm not particularly worried about the defense—it's been the strength of this team in every game and I'm confident it will continue to be. But Baylor proved that the Cougar defense is mortal, and it was certainly a wakeup call.
The injury bug is starting to really bite the Cougars. Connor Pay, Harrison Taggart, Isaiah Glasker, and Kody Epps all left this game injured, though Kalani Sitake confirmed that none of those injuries were season-ending and that Taggart, at least, has already been cleared to play in the Arizona game. Those four, though, joined a BYU injury report that already featured running backs LJ Martin and Sione I. Moa, offensive lineman Weylin Lapuaho, defensive lineman Isaiah Bagnah, linebacker Choe Bryant-Strother, and cornerback Evan Johnson. BYU's bye week could not have come at a better time, as the Cougars have two weeks to get healthier before a much-anticipated matchup with Arizona.
Let's talk about that Arizona game. The Cougars will be coming into it off a General Conference bye week, but the Wildcats have a date with Texas Tech between now and then. This Arizona team has looked questionable for much of the season—the Wildcats allowed a horrible New Mexico team to score 39 on them in game 1, only scored 22 points against FCS Northern Arizona in game 2, and got their doors blown off 31-7 by Kansas State (a team BYU beat 38-9) in game 3. And yet, for all of that, Arizona is not a team the Cougars can afford to underestimate in the slightest, and the Wildcats proved just how good they can be in game 4, a 23-10 road win over #10 Utah this week. When he's on, Arizona QB Noah Fifita is one of the Big 12's most dangerous signal-callers. In addition, the Wildcats feature arguably the league's best WR (if not the best in America) in Tetairoa McMillan. This Arizona offense is as potent as they come, even as the Wildcats' defense has often looked vulnerable. The Cougars will need to be at their best to beat Arizona. If they can do that, the road to the Big 12 championship game suddenly looks a lot smoother (I can't believe I'm even typing those words).