BYU Football had a good season and exceeded expectations. Let’s break it down and look at who stood out.
There’s no doubt that BYU has exceeded expectations this year. The Cougars were projected to win four to five games. They won ten and beat two ranked teams, SMU and Kansas State. On top of that, BYU beat rival Utah for the second consecutive time. This season had big highs and rough lows. Let’s look at how everything shook out.
BYU started the season with a warm-up game at home against the Southern Illinois Salukis. The Cougars started hot and never looked back, winning 41-13. BYU would then head to Texas to play the SMU for their first road game. BYU would struggle offensively, managing just two touchdowns and a field goal. The Cougars held the Mustangs to five field goals and won 18-15.
Next on the list was old rival Wyoming. BYU traveled to the Cowboy State, getting up early and never looking back. A second-half kickoff return that went over 100 yards was the highlight of the game. BYU didn’t score in the second half but they did hold Wyoming to a single touchdown before melting the clock away. BYU won 34-14.
BYU would start their Big 12 campaign against Kansas State, who were ranked number thirteen at the time. BYU would have a slow start with both sides scoring field goals before Tommy Prassas would recover a Wildcat fumble and return it for a 33-yard score. On the next drive, Wildcat quarterback Avery Johnson threw an interception to Tyler Batty. BYU would take advantage of the short field and score a touchdown to make it 17-6. Kansas State would kneel the ball down for halftime. Johnson threw another interception in the second half, this time to Harrison Taggert. BYU scored again and added a 93-yard punt return touchdown by Parker Kingston. The Cougars won 38-9.
BYU would then play Baylor and go up early, with a 31-14 lead at halftime. BYU would collapse in the second half and it would take a Crew Wakely interception to seal the win for BYU. Next up was Arizona at home. BYU started strong and never looked back, defeating Arizona 41-19 while forcing four turnovers. The highlight was a Pick Six by Isaiah Glasker.
Next on the schedule was Oklahoma State. BYU would struggle and need a late miracle pass from quarterback Jake Retzlaff to Darius Lassiter to win the game. BYU would then travel to Florida to play UCF, where the Cougars had a strong start. The Cougars again would fall apart near the end when the Knights would switch quarterbacks. But it was too late and the Cougars would improve to 8-0 with a score of 38-35.
BYU headed into Salt Lake City to play bitter rival Utah. A controversial holding call gave BYU life after what appeared to be a fourth-down sack. Emotions ran high, with Utah Athletic Director Mark Harlan claiming that the game was “stolen from us” and Head Coach Kyle Whittingham kicking a chair during the postgame press conference. BYU won with a score of 22-21.
BYU faced Kansas at home. But turnovers mixed with poor execution on their final drive was too much to overcome and the Cougars lost 17-13 at home. This game was followed by chaos in Tempe as the game appeared to be over after Arizona State quarterback Sam Leavitt threw the ball out of bounds. After the fans were cleared and play restarted, BYU’s Hail Mary attempt fell incomplete, causing them to lose 28-23.
BYU would then trade some turnovers against Houston before pulling ahead by two scores with too little time for Houston to respond. BYU would win that game 30-18 to close the season.
BYU Football 2024 Reactions
BYU started strong this year, with a strong defense. There were times when the defense struggled against the run. BYU had trouble stopping mobile quarterbacks and was punished on several occasions. When the defense was clicking, they were among the leaders in takeaways.
BYU had an unpredictable offense, sometimes they dominated, and other times they were unable to get much done. Jake Retzlaff found his rhythm as the season went on and BYU’s offense became more and more potent. However, a struggling run game and turnover problems were all too common for the Cougars.
BYU had a strong special teams unit, scoring four special team touchdowns and countless field goals, including the winner at Utah. Will Ferrin still has one more year left and could be key to BYU’s success next year.
Overall, despite the shortcomings and the failure to make the Big 12 Championship, BYU played much better than expected and proved a lot of people wrong. The future is bright and the Cougars can only go up from here.
