Kalani Sitake, the BYU Football Head Coach, has preached being “Humble and Hungry” throughout this whole season. In most of his interviews and in a lot of players interviews too, they talk about how Kalani is trying to keep his guys humble and hungry. That is EXACTLY what BYU has to to do this week. After a setback this past week, where we saw BYU fall to Kansas, 17-13, BYU is seeing what it feels like to be humbled. Now they have to be hungry!
Game Recap vs Kansas
As you read above, BYU lost to Kansas, 17-13. It was a weird game with a weird ending score. I thought this game was going to be a shootout type game, instead it was a big defensive battle. In this game, BYU looked like last years BYU. They had mistakes, didnt execute on offense, and lost the turnover battle. It was a punch in the gut for sure after looking like they were having a special season. BYU can still have a special season, but now it gets harder. No more games full of mistakes, not executing, or losing the turnover battle.
BYU Offense
BYU’s offense was bad. Where do we even start? The biggest mistake was at the end of the first half. Retzlaff threw a fade in the end zone that wasnt nearly long or far enough and it was intercepted. BYU had the ball at the 5, it was first down, 40 seconds were left, and they had 2 timeouts. There was no need to force a throw like that. To make matters even worse, it was the second week in a row that Retzlaff threw an interception on that same end zone fade play, he did it against Utah too on a 2 pt conversion try. If I see a fade thrown in this weeks game against Arizona St and it gets picked off, I will lose my mind.
Retzlaff and his receivers was also just very off. He had a lot of throws sail over receivers heads and his receivers were also not helping him out and missed a lot of catches. It was very unlike this offense based on what we had seen so far. BYU had 4 trips to the red zone (inside the 20) and came away with 6 points out of a possible 28. 2 of the trips resulted in a field goal and 2 of the trips resulted in turnovers, a turnover on down at the end of the game, and an interception at the end of the first half. That to me, is the game. If BYU was even able to convert one of those trips into a touchdown, the game would have been tied at 17.
Where BYU did see success was in the run game. And yet, they only ran LJ Martin 15 times for 76 yards. Thats 5 yards a carry! BYU needs to FEED him more. He is a great runner. Hinckley Ropati also had 8 carries for 35 yards. Again, 4.4 yards per carry, thats pretty good! After the game, both Jake Retzlaff and Chase Roberts said that BYU didnt have very good practices this last week leading up to the Kansas game. That can happen after an emotional, high intensity, rivalry game the previous week.
BYU Defense
The defense played pretty well! They held a high scoring offense to only 17 points. In my previous post, where I was previewing this game, I said that BYU had to hold Kansas’ offense to 100-150 rushing yards for BYU to win the game. BYU held them to 73 total rushing yards. The offense just didn’t hold their end of the bargain. Devin Neal only had 52 yards rushing and Daniels only had 15 yards rushing. The defense was also able to get an interception, 1 sack, and 6 tackles for loss, getting into the backfield and disrupting plays. Marque Collins had the INT, and he has had a great year this year after transferring from Weber St. The defense did their job. They tied with Illinois in the giving up the least amount of points to Kansas at 17.
CFP Rankings Update
The latest College Football Playoff Rankings came out Tuesday night. BYU fell 8 spots from #6 to #14. BYU’s next opponent, Arizona St, jumped up into the rankings at #21. Call me biased, but BYU is being discriminated in the rankings. The previous week, Miami who was ranked #4 and lost to a 5-4 Georgia Tech team and they only fell 5 spots. Notre Dame lost to Northern Illinois, a team that is 6-5, and they are now ranked #6.
It just shows that its better to lose early than late. It also shows that the committee is saying one thing but ranking another way. They have said that head to head matchups matter, wins matter, etc. But they penalized BYU hard for getting by the past couple of weeks and then finally losing. BYU is now lower than SMU, who BYU beat. SMU is ranked #13. But they are also lower than Boise St who has 0 top 25 wins and 1 loss, like BYU. BYU has 1 loss and now has 1 top 25 win, thanks to Kansas St dropping out. Miami is also now ranked #8 and guess how many top 25 wins they have? If you guessed 0, youre right. They also lost to a middling team in Georgia Tech.
So why are SMU, who BYU beat, Boise St, who has less top 25 wins than BYU and same amount of losses, and Miami, who also has the same amount of losses as BYU and less top 25 wins, higher than BYU? The committee is biased, thats why. Thats my conclusion. This is my TED talk of the day, thank you for coming.
Game Preview vs #21 Arizona St
Arizona St is now a ranked team! This game against Arizona St is now a top 25 matchup. The stakes have been raised, especially after BYU’s loss and especially after Arizona St just beat Kansas St and is now tied for 2nd in the Big 12. This is now one of the top matchups this weekend in all of college football due to it having a huge impact on the Big 12 championship game race. The 4 teams that are vying for the Big 12 championship game are BYU, Colorado, Arizona St, and Iowa St. These teams are also all ranked in the top 25. There are other scenarios, should all 4 of these teams lose out, that other teams could get in, like Baylor and Texas Tech, but I dont see all 4 of these teams losing out.
Arizona St Offense
Arizona St is hot right now and winning some big games. This is mostly due to their offense. Last week, they beat #16 Kansas St, 24-14. Sam Leavitt threw for 275 yards and 3 TDs with 0 Ints. Leavitts older brother and Dad both played football at BYU. Leavitts older brother played for one season at BYU but transferred to Utah St after something with the coaching staff and playing time caused a problem. Leavitt transferred to Arizona St this past offseason after being at Michigan St. BYU was trying to get him (sort of) in the offseason and now he is having an amazing year at Arizona St. He has a QBR that is 20th in the country, thrown for almost 2,000 yards this year, and has 17 TDs and only 4 INTs on the season. He can also scramble here and there. He had 42 yards rushing last week. BYU will need to at least limit his throwing by putting pressure on him.
Arizona St also has one of the best running backs in the country in Cam Skattebo. Skattebo is something else. He has over 1,000 yards rushing on the season with 11 TDs. Last week he had 73 yards rushing. He also had 4 catches for 44 yards. He can be targeted in the offense a lot so BYU cant forget him when its not a rushing play.
Arizona St does have 2 losses this year, to Cincinnati and Texas Tech. Leavitt didnt play in the game against Cincinnati and Skattebo only had 60 yards rushing and Leavitt had an INT and 0 TDs against Texas Tech. They still managed to score 22 points, but lost. BYU has to limit Skattebo and Leavitt. They are a hard dynamic duo on offense. If BYU can keep Leavitt to only 1 or 2 passing TDs with 1 Int and Skattebo to around 75 rushing yards, I think BYU will have a shot. BYU will have to get pressure on Leavitt and stop the run against Skattebo.
Arizona St Defense
The defense is alright for ASU. They have had some really good games and some really bad ones. Their DBs and LBs are what makes this defense go. 3 of 4 DBs lead the team in tackles and INTs. With that being said, they are a better rushing defense than passing defense. They are in the top 50 in rushing defense and outside of it for their pass defense. Their corners like to crash and make plays in the running game.
I think BYU will try to establish the running game and then use that aggressiveness in the play action pass game. BYU should try to throw the ball more this game. I think they leaned too much on the option/run game at times during the game against Kansas due to Retzlaff and his receivers not playing the best game. We still need to establish Martin and make sure that he gets 20 touches, but the pass game should be what succeeds.
Game Prediction
This game is going to be SO, SO, SO close. There are some clinching scenarios for BYU. If BYU wins and Iowa St loses, BYU clinches a spot in the Big 12 championship game. In this scenario, both teams tied for second, Iowa St and Arizona St, would lose, and have 3 conference losses. BYU would only have 1 conference loss with 1 game to go, meaning a most likely BYU vs Colorado Big 12 championship game. Of course, Iowa St is playing Utah, so you do what you want and root for whoever you want, but it can be hard rooting for your rival to win.
BYU still has everything to play for. Yesterday on BYUtv’s show, BYU Football with Kalani Sitake, Sitake said that Monday was the best practice that they have ever had so far this season. Thats good news since this week could really make or break their chances of going to the Big 12 championship game and possibly the playoff. BYU’s chances of making the playoff did take a huge hit. They now only have a 39% chance to make the playoffs. The idea of getting an at large bid for the playoffs is mostly gone, so BYU will have to win the conference championship game in order to make the playoff.
BYU is also the underdog heading into this game this weekend against Arizona St. Arizona St is favored by 3. BYU tends to play better when they are the underdogs so I am actually okay with this. Especially since both teams are going opposite directions right now. ESPN Analytics gives BYU a 44% chance to win.
I think that BYU wins this game. I think they do just enough to slow down Leavitt and Skattebo. Those guys are dangerous and feeling good right now but I think BYU out physicals them. The Cougars are angry and hungry and I expect them to be ready, super physical, and mad. Same with the offense. I imagine them showing up and showing out and the connection of Retzlaff and his receivers is back. I have BYU winning by 4, 27-23.
BYU Basketball
BYU killed both Queens and Idaho over the past week. They beat Queens, 99-55. Dawson Baker showed up in this game. He had 22 points to lead the Cougars. Knell had 16 and Demin had 14. Keita also had another double double with 13 rebounds and 11 points.
BYU then beat Idaho, 95-71. AJ Dybantsa, the #1 recruit in the nation, visited for this game, so there was a lot of buzz going into this game. BYU started off slow. They were only up by 3 at halftime. But in the second half they turned it on. They finally started hitting more shots and ended up shooting 56% from the field and 39% from 3. BYU still missed a ton of FTs. They were only 63% from the FT line. Fouss had a career night to lead the Cougars. Keita rolled his ankle and missed the rest of the game, so Fouss played most of the second half. He had 29 points on 11-12 from the field. He only missed one shot! Richie Saunders also had 26 points and had a career high in points as well.
One thing that I am worried about so far with this basketball team is defense. So far in this early season, we have given up 80 points to UC Riverside and 71 points to Idaho. That cant happen in the Big 12. BYU will not be able to catch up and Big 12 teams will easily score more than that. I am sure they are working on that and the chemistry, communication, and defense will improve as the season goes along.
Upcoming for BYU basketball is a game against Miss Valley St on Saturday at 7pm MT on ESPN+. Dallin Hall, who has been out since the start of the season, is expected to make his debut on Saturday. Then a much anticipated Thanksgiving Tournament that starts next Thursday against fringe top 25 Ole Miss. If the Cougars win that game, they play the winner of #6 Purdue and NC State next Friday in the Championship. All 4 of the teams in the tournament are currently undefeated.
