After BYU's historic win against Notre Dame this last Saturday, I thought about doing an article on the top 10 BYU football wins of all time and seeing where this one ranked. But I figured someone else is probably going to do that at some point. Then, I thought about a certain play during the BYU-Notre Dame game, and I got a better idea. Let's rank the top 10 worst plays that BYU opponents have made in the Kalani Sitake Era.
First, let's do some honorable mentions:
2016: Boise St not scoring after BYU's C'Mon Man moment gave them the ball inside the 5.
2017: Utah's failed handoff leading to a fumble.
2019: The officials in the Boise St game taking forever to figure out that after a touchback, the line to gain is exactly the 35, so if the ball is short of the 35, it's short of the first down. (I didn't include this one because contrary to what some may argue, the officials weren't BYU's opponent.)
2021: Washington St botching the extra point.
2022: South Florida snapping it over the punter's head for a safety.
2024: A player on the SMU punt return team accidentally touching the ball, leading to a turnover.
2025: A player on the Iowa St punt return team accidentally touching the ball, leading to a turnover.
2025: The CFP committee leaving BYU out of the playoff. (It was a bad play by a BYU opponent.)
Alright, let's kick off our official list.
10. Arizona 2016: The Unnecessary Timeout
What better way to start the list than with the first game of the Kalani Sitake Era? Late in the first quarter of a scoreless game, Arizona faced 3rd and 2 at their own 21. The playclock was running out, so they called a timeout to avoid the delay of game. That happens all the time. Except this time, when I say it was late in the first quarter, I mean there was less time on the game clock than on the play clock, meaning that they could've just let the quarter end, and they would've been fine.
This play wasn't terribly consequential, and I'm probably one of the few people who even noticed it, But I thought it was a unique and funny mistake. You probably don't have to know a whole lot of math as a football coach, but you should at least know when the number on one clock is bigger than the number on another clock.
9. San Diego St 2020: The Turf Monster
It was an icy game in Provo in the middle of December. With about 3 minutes to play and the Cougars leading the Aztecs 28-14, it was 4th and Goal at the 1 for San Diego St. The quarterback, Jordon Brookshire, took off to the left, and it appeared he had all the room he needed to take it in for the touchdown. But he forgot about BYU's twelfth defender: the turf monster. He slipped and fell, and the Aztecs turned it over on downs. It was almost like he was playing hockey, or worse, playing on that glass court from this last season's Big 12 men's and women's basketball tournaments.
8. Houston 2020: The Fairly Stupid Catch
Early in the third quarter, with Houston leading 20-14, BYU was punting on 4th and 10 from the Houston 41. Cougar punter Ryan Rehkow sent it, and another Cougar named Bryson Smith caught it at the 1 to pin Houston deep. It would've been a perfectly executed punt cover play... except Bryson Smith wasn't a BYU Cougar. He was a Houston Cougar. And it was a fair catch. He could've just let the ball bounce into the end zone for the touchback, but nope. To be fair, though, Houston did end up having a 99-yard touchdown drive, which wouldn't have been possible if they had started from the 20.
7. Arizona St 2021: The False Start Flurry
While I was thus in the act of watching the BYU-Arizona St football game where ASU had the ball 3rd and 6 at their own 9 on the ROC end of the field trailing 21-17, I saw a yellow piece of cloth. False start on Arizona St. Then, in the midst of my meditation, I suddenly discovered another yellow piece of cloth. False start on Arizona St. The Sun Devils did somehow manage to pick up the first down on 3rd and 12 with a 17-yard pass. This was followed by a 4-yard run, making it 2nd and 6 at the 24.
But what was my surprise when again, I beheld the same yellow piece of cloth. False start on Arizona St. Then, after that, the first thing I can recollect was another whistle. I looked and beheld the same yellow piece cloth. False start on Arizona St. It was as if the ROC were a black hole sucking the Sun Devils in. (Bonus points if you got all the Joseph Smith-History references. I used his unique phrasology from each of the four angel Moroni visits.)
6. SMU 2024: Wrong Button
With about 12 minutes to play, SMU had first and goal at the 13. Keep in mind that they had already thrown an interception in the red zone on their last possession and that BYU had just given it back with an interception of their own. So you would think ball security would be on their mind. Apparently not. Brashard Smith took the direct snap and ran it to the 6-yard line. Just as he was about to go down, he saw his teammate, Jordan Hudson, behind him, and he somehow decided it would be worth the risk to try to pitch it to him. It did not go as planned.
The ball made it about two feet before hitting the ground. It was so bad that from a distance, it just looked like a regular fumble. Jakob Robinson fell on it, and for the second consecutive possession, SMU had turned it over in the red zone. It was like when you're playing Madden, and you accidentally hit the wrong button and pitch the ball back to nobody. Or, if you're YoBoy Pizza, you do it on purpose for no reason because that's your trademark or something.
5. Texas Tech 2023: Handoffs are Hard
Isn't it ironic that the team that ruined BYU's season last year was one of only two Big 12 teams they beat in our first season in the Big 12? Anyway, BYU was leading 7-0 with about five minutes left in the first quarter, and Texas Tech had fourth and inches at the BYU 3. Quarterback Jake Strong handed it off to running back Tahj Brooks... or so he thought. It was one of those plays where the quarterback thinks it's a handoff and the running back thinks it's a play-action, and the ball just ends up in neither player's hands. Strong fell on it, but it was 4th down, so it was BYU football anyway.
Now, you might be thinking, "But Spencer, why did you include this one but not the Utah one in 2017 where they did the same thing?" For one thing, don't you dare mention that cursed four-digit number ever again, and for another thing, there's more. On the very next snap Jake Strong took, which was on 1st and 10 from the Texas Tech 10, the exact same thing happened again on a hand-off between the same two players. This time, the ball pinballed around, and BYU recovered it in the endzone for a touchdown. Those were just two of Texas Tech's five turnovers in that game. Yeah, I'd much rather be a Red Raider fan now than three years ago.
4. Utah 2024: The Temper Tantrum
Unfortunately, I couldn't include the 2012 debacle with Ute fans rushing the field prematurely and almost costing their team the game because that wasn't in the Kalani Sitake Era, but the sequel to this was. In 2024, during the final play, when BYU was up 22-21, and Utah was doing the desperate laterals thing, Utah athletic director Mark Harlan, who apparently hadn't learned his lesson from the game 12 years ago, ran onto the field while the play was still live. Why? So he could complain to the officials about that totally correct holding call from BYU's final drive.
This didn't end up changing the outcome of the game because Utah was unable to score on this final play. But imagine if they had somehow scored, and the only reason it didn't count was because of the penalty on Harlan. He would've cost his team the game by complaining about how the officials had cost his team the game. If that had been the case, this play would be number 1. Still, Harlan's whole temper tantrum gave BYU fans a lot to make fun of.
3. Wyoming 2016: Where's the Ball?
Late in a scorless first quarter on a wet winter day in San Diego, Wyoming was punting on 4th and 7 from their own 22. The snap to Ethan Wood was perfect, and yet it slipped through his hands. As he was looking around trying to figure out where the ball was, it hit him on the top of the helmet not once but twice. You could literally say, "You wouldn't know football if it hit you in the head... twice."
His teammate, Dalton Fields, recovered it at the 4-yard-line to mitigate the damage, but it still set BYU up for an easy touchdown two plays later. I don't know what was uglier. That play, or Wyoming's muddy brown and "gold" jerseys.
2. Arizona St 2024: Worst Clock Managemet Ever
After an interception, a big return by Javan Robinson, and a touchdown saving tackle by Jake Retzlaff (who was unfortunately not Tyler Allgeier) Arizona St had 1st and Goal at the BYU 7 with 1:04 to play. BYU had two timeouts. ASU wasn't quite in a spot where they could take knees and end the game, but at the very least, they could've run four plays and either scored the touchdown or given BYU a 90+ yard field with only a few seconds. But Kenny Dillingham had other plans.
On first down, running back Cam Skattebo ran outside to the right for four yards to the 3. He almost went out of bounds, which would've been an absolutely game-changing mistake, but thankfully for ASU, he was smart enough to go down in bounds. BYU called their first of two timeouts with 58 seconds left.
On second down, quarterback Sam Leavitt ran backwards for a loss of 26 yards to 29. On purpose. The idea was to kill clock, but they only killed 6 seconds, which was the same amount they killed on first down by running the ball forward. BYU called their final timeout with 52 seconds left.
On third down, Leavitt once again ran backwards, this time for a loss of 10 yards to the 39, and this time, it only took three seconds. Literally, the whole idea of running backwards was to kill the clock, but I've seen teams who are trying to hurry take longer than this. They then ran the clock down to 7 seconds and took the delay of game, puttng the ball at the 44. Then, they took another delay of game for no reason, putting the ball at the 49. It had been at the 3. Now it was in hail mary range.
On 4th down, Leavitt backed up to his own 40, and with 5 seconds left, he launched the ball, hoping it would stay in the air for 5 seconds. At first, everybody assumed that it had, and the fans rushed the field. But the officials reviewed the play and determined there was one second left on the clock. It took 15 minutes for them to clear the field, because apparently, that's how long it takes for some people to walk off a football field, and then they gave BYU one play from their own 49 even though it should've been at the ASU 40 because it should've been intentional grounding.
Jake Retzlaff chucked the ball down the field, and Chase Roberts caught it, but he was stopped at the 2-yard line. That's how close ASU was to fumbling this game away with their terrible clock management. Who knows how that play would've gone if the intentional grounding penalty had been called. At the very least, Retzlaff would've been able to reach the end zone. If that had happened, this play (or series of plays) would be number one. However, I think you all know what the number 1 play is.
1. Notre Dame 2026: The Worst Spike Ever
I probably don't even need to walk you through this play because you all remember what happened, but let's happily relive it again anyway. With less than ten seconds left in the first half, with BYU leading 21-10, Notre Dame had just picked up a first down at the BYU 5, and they lined up to run one of the simplest plays in football: the spike. CJ Carr, who is a Heisman candidate, who had made several amazing throws in this game, prepared to make the easiest throw of the game.
He took the snap and reached arm back to spike he ball, but as he did so, he lost control of the ball, and it fell to the ground. One of the only people who noticed was BYU's Tayven Williams, who, out of the 22 players on the field, may have been the furthest away from the ball. He raced over and fell on it. At first, not many people knew why he was acting like it was BYU football. But then, after replay showed what happened, Kalani called a timeout and begged the officials to review it, which they did, and it was ruled a fumble.
I have watched a lot of football, and I don't think I had ever seen anything like this happen. I also like to listen to Gregg Wrubell's entire broadcast of the game after the game, and in the four season that Hans Olsen has been his partner, I have never heard Hans laugh so hard. After everything Notre Dame has done in the last couple decades suggesting that they see BYU as beneath them, seeing them fail in such a hilarious, humiliating way against BYU was so satisfying.
I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did. As I always say at the end of every article, remember to be kind to the officials.
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