BYU’s defense had an off game, but thrived when it mattered most against Arizona

The Cougars' defense had to deal with injuries, penalties (both correct and incorrect calls), a soggy, drenched environment, and a tough Arizona offense on Saturday night. It wasn’t pretty, but BYU’s highly ranked defense got the job done.

BYU came into Tucson allowing only 12.2 points per game, the 6th-fewest in the nation. Arizona would more than double that. BYU had given up only seven touchdowns in its first five games. Arizona would get three. BYU’s 8th-ranked total defense had been giving up only 239.6 yards per game, and they gave up 384 yards, 145.6 yards above that average.

The Cougars’ 11th-best passing defense allowed only 147.4 yards per game, but gave up 219 to Arizona, which was 71.6 yards more than their average. Their 23rd-ranked rushing defense, which had been allowing only 92.2 yards per game, gave up 165 rushing yards, 72.8 yards more than usual. They were 13th in the nation, averaging a plus-one turnover margin every game, and were minus one in this game.

Their 15th-best 4th-down defense had allowed only three fourth downs on nine attempts, but Arizona converted four of six against BYU. BYU’s defense did do well on third down, holding Arizona to 4 of 17, improving their 18th-best third-down hold rate that had already limited opposing defenses to a 29.7 percent conversion rate.  

BYU brought a highly ranked defense in almost every major category to Tucson, and Arizona beat them in all of them. The Cougars' defense was sloppy, with Keanu Tanuvasa missing a huge chunk of the game for a roughing the passer and targeting call he earned. Arizona kept a scoring drive alive with the help of a roughing the passer call on Isaiah Glasker that was as wrong as the correct one on Tanuvasa, which was the correct call. Star safety Raider Damuni and star linebacker Jack Kelly were both out with injuries and sorely missed.

That didn’t stop the Cougars, though. Through all of that, they stayed in the game and did not panic. Safety Faletau Satuala and linebacker Siale Esera stepped in, thrived, and announced themselves to BYU Nation and maybe the college football world. Satuala had 11 tackles, and Esera had 16. The BYU secondary deflected five passes. Still, almost nothing went right. What did go right was the most important thing, the biggest statistic, and that was on the scoreboard. BYU’s defense played a great game because it ended it in double overtime with a fourth-down stop and held Arizona to fewer points than BYU scored. And that is all that matters.