Five Most Impactful Losses in BYU Football History
#5 – 2009 vs. Florida State
I have been a BYU football fan since I was a little boy. I have attended countless BYU games in my life. However, this was the game that I will never forget. This was the game where every hope and dream of a BCS bowl game was flushed down the toilet. This was the game that would be a BYU coaching disaster. This was the only BYU football game that I had ever left early in my life. When BYU faced Florida State in Provo in week 3 of 2009, the Cougars were ranked #7 in the nation and had just come off a thrilling upset win over third ranked Oklahoma. The Cougars then followed that win with a 54-3 blowout over Tulane in New Orleans. All the major national sports media was talking about the possibility of BYU making it to a BCS title game if they ran the table. BYU was in the nation’s spotlight. Meanwhile, Florida State was coming off a near upset loss to Jacksonville State, and avoided arguably one of the most embarrassing upsets in school history. The Seminoles defense was ranked near the bottom of the NCAA. BYU had all the momentum and reason to beat the Seminoles in Provo. They just flat out didn’t. And we didn’t just lose to Florida State, we got handled.
The reality of that loss is that BYU entered the game very unprepared and mentally overconfident. From Florida State’s first offensive possession, I knew we were in for a long game. The ‘Noles made it look so easy. You would have to imagine that Christian Ponder was letting out an audible laugh before every throw, thinking, “How could my guys be so wide open? Is this defense ever going to make any adjustments?” The game changer was BYU’s first offensive possession after Max Hall was also exposing the weak Florida State defense and marching the Cougars down the field. Tragically, O’Neill Chambers would proceed to add another fumble to his career stats, killing the drive, eliminating the possibility to answer back, and shifting momentum to the Seminoles. In the second half, a comeback effort by the Cougars was halted after a Florida State pick-six, which occurred during a no-call pass interference play. In the end, the BCS ranked Cougars had committed 5 turnovers, given up 512 yards of offense, and allowed 54 points. Final score: Florida State 54, BYU 28. The victorious Seminoles would go on to finish the 2009 season at a mediocre 7-6.
WHAT IF… It’s hard to say “what if” for this game, since the outcome wasn’t nearly as close as fans and analysts predicted. Florida State entered as the underdog, and BYU left the game as the ugly dog. Despite the blowout defeat, it was still one of those games where I felt that BYU could have won. What if O’Neill Chambers doesn’t fumble on that first drive and we answer back with a touchdown? What if Bronco Mendenhall and BYU defensive coordinators Jaime Hill make proper adjustments to slow down the Seminole offense? What if the refs pulled their flags out and called pass interference on the Max Hall pick-six which shattered the hopes for a BYU comeback? Had BYU shown up against the Noles that day and won, the Cougars would have been undefeated and highly ranked going into the game against TCU just five weeks later. Perhaps the momentum of an undefeated season would have allowed for a different outcome against the Horned Frogs during a College Gameday atmosphere. Who knows? All I know is that a victory over Florida State in 2009 may have produced a different impact on the remainder of the season.