Lassiter and the BYU Cougars win. (Graphic by BYU Athletics)
BYU by the Numbers: Plus five in turnover margin.
BYU only had three major categories in the stats that they out did Texas Tech. The most important of course was the final score of 27-13. Another was the all-important turnover battle.
BYU forced five turnovers on defense and had none on offense. The final was in penalties. Texas Tech had nine penalties for 80 yards and BYU had four penalties for 24 yards. BYU played disciplined football where they made few mistakes and forced their opponent to make many and that was what won them the game.
Andrew George-Jonny Harline Play of the Game: Darius Lassiter.
First Chase Roberts now Darius Lassiter making one handed catches for the ages. They both had touchdowns against Texas Tech and are working hard to Fill the Big Blue Shoes of Puka Nacua. Roberts did it against Arkansas and Lassiter did it against the Red Raiders. Lassiter had four catches for 47 yards and a touchdown.
Jaren Hall Offensive Players of the Game: L.J. Martin and Aidan Robbins.
The running game had this week’s Brigham Bounce Back. The whole team rebounded well from the TCU game but the running game did it from a season-long struggle to run the ball and L.J. Martin and Aidan Robbins led the way.
Martin had 10 carries for 93 yards including a 55-yarder. Robbins had 16 carries for 49 yards. As a team the Cougars had 30 carries for 150 yards. It was their first game over 100 rushing yards since week one against Sam Houston State.
Kyle Van Noy Defensive Player of the Game: Eddie Heckard.
Heckard had a day! He had four tackles, half a tackle for a loss, and a pass deflected. His big plays were the fumble recovered for a touchdown above and his interception he had below. Heckard followed Jay Hill to BYU from Weber State and they both have helped turn the BYU defense into a reliable force for the team.
On Heckard’s interception below, check out Kalani Sitatke’s love for his team and the game as he runs alongside his player down the sideline. His positivity and personality are contagious, and his team reflects him. He’s proving he’s the coach to have BYU on solid ground in the Big 12.
Zach Wilson Newcomer of the Game: Crew Wakely.
Wakely bounced back from a tough game against TCU as well. He had a bad penalty in that game and the sophomore responded with a game with a team-high 11 tackles, a half tackle for a loss, and a pass deflection. We could be seeing his name on the stat sheet and said by the announcers more and more every week.
Royal Blue-Collar Player of the Game: Tyler Batty.
Batty had to endure not one but two instances of Texas Tech players spitting on him. He didn’t respond with a penalty himself, he just responded in the game. Batty had nine tackles, six of them completely solo. Batty is the leader and best player on the BYU defensive line.
Dax Milne Quietly Doing Your Job Award: Jakob Robinson.
Having an all-conference lockdown corner like Jakob Robinson allows you to strengthen every other facet of your defense. Your run support, your pass rush, all of it improves when you have a guy who can cover like Robinson. He made a great play on the ball in the interception above.
It’s a rare play because for some reason beyond me, most defensive backs coaches teach their players to play the man and not the ball in coverage. So when a player is confident enough to play the ball by looking back for it and becoming a receiver he’s playing at a high level. That’s why this play was the Kai Nacua Pick of the Game for Jakob Robinson. He didn’t just get a pick either, he had 10 tackles, including eight of them completely solo. A corner who plays the ball and wraps up is every coach’s dream in his secondary.
Payne Family Special Teams Player of the Game: Ryan Rehkow.
Rehkow has a serious case for being the best punter in America this year. Including this booming punt above he had eight in the game for 422 yards averaging 52.8 yards per punt. He does this every week and no one in America does it better.
Loyal, Strong and True: Cosmo joins the fire dancers.
Rehkow is the best punter and Cosmo is the best mascot in the country. Not another one in the country consistently does pyrotechnic work. He joined the fire dancers who’ve been performing at BYU during the break between the third and fourth quarter. Some of the BYU faithful suggested this serves as a good distraction of opposing players wanting to see that instead of listening to coaches at the break. Cosmo helped the team in those efforts this time.
Utah Valley Lows and Y Mountain Highs
The offensive struggles from TCU continued in the second half of this game. The offense sputtered and the Cougars got conservative in the second half as they were more than willing to ride a white-hot defense to victory. The problem is these offensive issues continue to be an obstacle. BYU only had four completions in the entire second half and only four first downs. So there was good and bad even in a very important victory.
1984 National Champions Moment of the Game: The BYU faithful.
The home-field advantage that BYU has enjoyed for the past two and half seasons has been nothing short of spectacular. The fans show up, are loud, and help the team. A loud crowd energizes the home team, rattles the visitors, and can even cause some mistakes for the visiting team. Opposing head coaches have talked about how much of a factor the ROC and BYU Nation have been. The sellout crowd of 63,523 made their presence felt!
Rise and Shout Again: Up next is the Steve Sarkisian Bowl in Austin, Texas.
Top ten-ranked Texas is having a great season but has hit a speed bump ahead of BYU’s visit. Their quarterback Quinn Ewers is likely to be out this Saturday and one of their capable backups Maalik Murphy or Arch Manning will be making their first start of the season against the Cougars.
While Texas will still be favored to win, if you had told me before the season started that going into the final game of the month of October BYU would be one win away from bowl eligibility in their first Big 12 season I would have happily taken it.
