Second-ranked BYU Cougars fall to UCF in a bizarre and gritty game

Buckle up, because this game was theatric. Sadly, it ended with BYU football being one of several top teams in the country getting upset. 

Unlike in multiple games this season, the Cougars did not start off slow in the bounce house. UCF went three-and-out on their first drive before BYU converted an 11-play, 84-yard drive into six. Bear Bachmeier went to his man Kyler Kasper on back-to-back passes for 11 yards, then 27 yards, with the latter being for a score.

The Knights started to figure out their offense in their last possession of the first. Former BYU commit Landen Chambers and Duke Watson ran it down the Cougars throats to ultimately knot it up at seven apiece to begin the second. One of those plays was a 30-yard run by the speedy Watson, one of far too many explosive plays for the Cougars’ liking throughout the game. 

BYU’s offense stalled again, then UCF hit a field goal to take a three-point lead. That did not last long as Bachmeier and Kasper linked up for 60 more yards on the next drive to set up a Bear sneak for the touchdown. With the defense forcing a stop, it felt like momentum was finally going to build towards the Cougars with a productive offensive drive.

Instead, a rare and costly interception by Bachmeier gave the Knights another crack at scoring before the half. The ball ended up being tipped at the line and fell into the hands of UCF linebacker Tackett Curtis. What made this more of a gut punch was the fact that senior FIU Keyone Jenkins got his arm going in addition to his elusiveness. One of his throws was a 30-yard strike to the leading receiver this game Tyren Hornes. A few plays later, Jenkins found Chambers in the flats wide open, and the Knights retook the lead, 17-14. Last time the Cougars were losing at half was at home versus Arizona. At the moment, I was really hoping things would go similarly to that game. 

BYU came out of the locker room firing and got me thinking it would be like its first conference game. Running back Preston Rex jump started the drive with a 27-yard scamper. A few plays later, Bachmeier connected with Kasper again then Jojo Phillips on their way to Rex touching pay dirt. The fourth lead change of the contest brought us a 21-17 score in favor of the Cougs.

The defense started to become really disappointing from here on out. The Knights were on their own 29-yard line after a sack by Justin Kirkland seemingly on their heels a bit, but the very next play was quite the contrast. A screen pass to Hornes ended up going 56 yards due to Isaiah Glasker making a poor and uncharacteristic tackle attempt. The bounce house was indeed bouncing from that play. Jenkins topped it off with a QB sneak for a touchdown. Lead change number five led to UCF leading 24-21. Talk about a seesaw battle. 

BYU had to settle for three points to begin the fourth quarter, then it turned into a dog fight. Somehow, some way, no more points were put on the board for the rest of regulation even though the Knights should have ended it based on how much the Cougars kept shooting themselves in the foot. On UCF’s second-to-last possession, it found itself at a fourth and goal at the one. We all thought it would be a guaranteed score the way the Knights were humming. BYU’s defense clamped down and stuffed Jenkins to get the ball back. Did it do anything with it? Nope. 

One minute later, the Knights had another chance to put more on the board and potentially seal the upset. Then absolute chaos ensued. Once UCF got into field goal range with 19 seconds to go, it had time for roughly two more plays to get closer for their kicker. Jenkins took the snap from the shotgun and got brought with the ball popping out. The Cougars recovered… but there were two problems. Jenkins did make a forward pass which overturned the call to an incompletion. Plus, and even more brutally, Keanu Tanuvasa committed a boneheaded unsportsmanlike conduct penalty to give the Knights 15 more yards. Ouch.

Some weird things started to commence from here on out. Originally, the Knights brought out the field goal unit with 10 seconds left, but the officials added five more seconds based on when the previous play ended. Then, they ran a spike play first for some reason rather than trying to get more yards first before the spike. A brain fart moment, but now with 11 seconds left once again, it was time for a 46-yard field goal try with devout college football fans around the world watching.

Faletau Satuala saved the game with an Air Jordan hop and blocked the kick. Absolutely unreal. The kicker recovered it and was brought down while his helmet came off in the process with two seconds left. After a bunch of confusion and reviews, it was ultimately a 10-second runoff into extra football because the helmet was removed. There was originally a penalty marker for the helmet being taken off, but that was rescinded. If that upheld, the Knights would have had another kick.

BYU probably should have lost at this point, but here we are.

The Cougar offense, salivating at the shot of redemption, put up the first six in overtime. Freshman star Legend Glasker was contained well all game until a deep third-down throw from Bachmeier found him on a post route. The bounce house finally calmed down for a very brief moment.

UCF’s first play of extra football brought the crowd right back. Are you kidding me? Cougar nation was back to shaking its fists at the defense. Jenkins found Josh Derry inexplicably open in the end zone. The Knights got the ball first in the second overtime and corraled six more. Jenkins found Lehi, Utah native Grayson Brousseau. And of course, UCF got the two-point conversion. All of that was no thanks to an extremely questionable roughing the kicker call during that drive.

The Cougars marched down to the four-yard line and took three shots into the end zone. None of them connected. BYU’s undefeated run is over the week after one of the most incredible wins in school history. An inconsistent offense and a defense with lots of holes allowed UCF to keep hanging around and keep believing. The Cougars learned the hard way that you should never tread those kinds of waters as one of the top dogs in the nation. The hangover from the Notre Dame win was definitely a presence for a majority of the contest.

The hangover from the Notre Dame win was definitely a presence for a majority of the contest. The top of the Big 12 might get weird if Utah loses to a tough Houston team Saturday night since Texas Tech suffered a road defeat at Cincinnati. We shall see.

If the Cougars have proven anything these past three seasons, they are a great bounce-back team whenever they take a brutal loss. However, this one spoke volumes in comparison to any recent loss considering the No. 2 ranking, making it an even tougher pill to swallow.

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