BYU at Texas Tech (Photo by BYU Athletics)
BYU 7, Texas Tech 29
It was an ugly game. BYU struggled across the board. The defense played a game worth defending. The offense, special teams, and coaches could not get on track. It happens, especially against elite teams. Texas Tech is an elite team. There’s no doubt about that. The worst part is that BYU didn’t play their best football, or anywhere close to it, in the loss. The key for the Cougars moving forward will be not repeating last year’s mistakes.
When BYU lost for the first time last season, it was a heartbreaker—a closely contested home game against a team they were favored over. This was a blowout loss to a team that BYU was the underdog against. Despite the differences of these two defeats, BYU is in almost the exact same spot following those defeats.
Last year, after BYU lost to Kansas, they had to go on the road to play a good team in Arizona State. ASU would eventually be the 2024 Big 12 Champions. BYU came out of the gate slowly against ASU in that game and were down at the half. They battled back, fought to the end, and came up just a few yards short of a come-from-behind victory. The Cougars need to learn from that game.
It can become cliched, but the saying of not letting one opponent beat you twice is a true one. In 2024, for at least the first half of the game against ASU, Kansas was beating BYU twice. That can’t happen this year. TCU is a good team that, if BYU is not 100% focused on, will knock BYU out of the Big 12 title race and the College Football Playoff.
TCU
TCU is a good team with a very good offense. Josh Hoover and Eric McAlister are fantastic in the passing game. BYU’s defense will need to be disciplined in coverage and find ways to get to Hoover in the pass rush. Jay Hill will have the Cougars’ passing defense with Evan Johnson and Therrian Alexander ready and up to the task.
The BYU offense is more worrisome after how badly they played against Texas Tech. They depended far too much on Bear Bachmeier, LJ Martin, and company playing heroically to move the football at all. Relying on legendary play to win is playing with fire, and against Texas Tech, they got burned.
Adapt and Overcome
Going forward, they need to be able to adapt better to a defense. The interior running game was BYU’s bread and butter going into the last game. It was the Cougars’ strength, but the inside defense was even stronger for Texas Tech, and BYU just bashed their own heads in on that brick wall instead of trying to use the speed of LJ Martin and the Cougar receivers.
Coach Sitake and his team never panic. They rarely showed any signs of it against Texas Tech. They’ll need to be just as icy against TCU. All of their goals are still in front of them. The Big 12 title, the College Football Playoff, and beyond. All are still in front of them and achievable. The best thing they can do right now is keep that composure, couple it with determination, play their game with a flexible attitude, and beat TCU.
