6-0 is real and it is beautiful. BYU football earned its sixth win in as many games for the 2024 season and is officially bowl-eligible after Jake Retzlaff and the Cougars dismantled the Arizona Wildcats in Provo on Saturday afternoon. I think it's safe to say the "vampire cougars" storyline is dying out.
With a 41-19 final score, the Cougars looked strong for the majority of the game, with the mistakes feeling largely inconsequential and the high points sparking encouragement for the remainder of the season.
BYU vs Arizona game recap
After failing to convert in the red zone on the opening drive, and turning the ball over on downs, Noah Fifita marched the Wildcats down the field to break the scoring seal with a first-quarter touchdown pass.
Arizona's 7 points would be matched by 24 straight points from the home Cougars, who quickly responded with a touchdown of their own on the very next drive to settle the score before putting their foot on the gas.
With three straight touchdowns and a field goal for a 24-7 lead, BYU's response before the 13-minute mark in the 3rd quarter would prove to be insurmountable for the Wildcats. Especially as the opening sequences of the second half felt like a reenactment of the Kansas State conference opener, when Jakob Robinson picked off Fifita's pass on a corner blitz before Fifita would fumble the ball away on the next possession.
LaVell Edwards Stadium was rocking under the October sun, and the suspected night-merchant Cougs would respond to Arizona's lone field goal in the third quarter with 3 points of their own, and after trading the Wildcats' following field goal with an LJ Martin touchdown run, the stadium breathed a sigh of relief as the game was finally out of reach.
...but I guess no one told that to Arizona.
As the Cougars regained possession and stood ready to run out the clock, Arizona's defense punched out the football from Hinckley Ropati in an attempt to crawl back into the game down 13-34 with under four minutes to play. Stunned at the audacity of the visiting team, the BYU defense allowed another touchdown score from Arizona but held strong in denying Noah Fifita's desperation 2-point conversion attempt.
Finally, with the possession back in the Cougars' hands and the game clock down below 3 minutes, BYU began to run out the clock. But those crazy cats from Tucson called all three timeouts to stop the Cougars and force a punt.
Though by all accounts this game had been decided long ago, the Wildcats weren't letting go of this football game without a fight. Even as an excellent punt pinned Noah Fifita's offense at their own 1-yard line, the Wildcats battled and decided to go for it on 4th-and-10 in their own endzone. A desperation pass turned into a Glasker pick-6, and the football game was finally put to bed.
Watching the Cougs in this matchup was a strange phenomenon, where BYU's solid--though not flashy--output kept the Cougars in the driver's seat. As they built upon their lead and the game's result was unquestionable, I almost didn't notice how quickly the lead became almost insurmountable. I have to give credit to BYU; they controlled the football game comfortably even though it didn't always feel that way.
Post-game notes for the Cougars
Jake Retzlaff had an uneven performance in this one. Though he made plenty of excellent throws and ran the option play expertly throughout this matchup, inaccuracy and second-guessing kept the Cougars out of the endzone on a handful of possessions. A 22-point win looks great, but a more consistent output from Retzlaff could have helped his overload the scoreboard.
Still, the Cougars won the turnover battle, and Retzlaff deserves praise for taking care of the football, throwing zero picks to Noah Fifita's three.
The defense was excellent, covering the Wildcat receivers terrifically, and forcing Fifita into uncomfortable situations. The defensive line may not have forced many sacks, but they deflected passes and hurried the opposing QB all game.
The Cougars' running back room is finally healthy again, and seeing LJ Martin take the field for the first time since his injury at SMU was a wonderful sight for a BYU team that was very hobbled from injury in their previous game.
Now, in a season where bowl eligibility was originally viewed to be the goal, this BYU football team made a statement in earning their sixth win in six games to open the season, and Kalani Sitake's team looks poised to make a run at the wide-open Big 12 championship.
No matter how you view it, that's an incredible result for BYU football.