Next up
BYU (4-0) at Houston (1-0).
Friday, Oct. 16.
Kickoff: 7:30 p.m. MT.
TV: ESPN.
Radio: BYU Radio, KSL Radio.
They didnt.
” I think the veterans were able to lead the group since in the past weve seen games where weve played groups we mustve beaten. We understood that it remained in the back of our head,” said Dax Milne, who had a game-high 7 catches for 102 backyards. “We just didnt wish to make that occur once again. Everyone had the ability to lean on the veterans and focus up and make plays.
Me personally, I dislike losing more than I like winning. We had the ability to be mature with this game and a wins a win.”
It wasnt all bad, either.
The Cougars held a UTSA team that balanced 209.2 backyards per video game to just 72 backyards on the ground. Leading rusher Sincere McCormick, who balanced 131.75 lawns through the very first 4 video games, had simply 41 lawns on 11 carries.
Stopping the run was a clear objective of the BYU defense. For all their foibles in other areas, the objective was accomplished in that one, even if UTSA backup quarterback Lowell Narcisse completed 17-of-20 passes for 229 yards and two scores.
” We certainly did a great job and when Frank (Harris) headed out and Lowell came in they certainly discovered something there,” Kaufusi said. “They changed really well coming out of halftime. I dont believe that we played our best in the 2nd half.
” We did stop the run and that was among our objectives. We needed to stop the pass.”
The Cougars will hit the movie room Monday, when each charge, bad read and misrun path will be dissected and analyzed.
Until then, theyll enjoy the taste of Saturdays triumph– as sour as that taste may be.
” If there is any silver lining to this, its that we had the ability to be uneasy a little bit,” Sitake said. “I informed the team that we d been in this position before and lost these kind of video games. It felt great to get this win.
” It feels good to be 4-0 and gain from this. I believe well perform a lot much better next time.”
PROVO– South Florida. Northern Illinois.
BYU has actually revealed some cars during the previous 3 years, when the preferred Cougars walked into a smaller sized venue than LaVell Edwards Stadium or onto their home grass versus what many thought about a lower opponent, and quite merely, laid an egg.
The quick history of head coach Kalani Sitake is packed with a BYU football team sleepwalking by a challenger, and taking an “L” in the process.
And the Cougars threatened to add Texas-San Antonio to that list Saturday afternoon.
However then an amusing thing took place: BYU won. Sure, the Cougars didnt look like the No. 15 group in the Associated Press Top 25 and Zach Wilson didnt appear like the first-round NFL Draft choice that some anticipated him to potentially be. In many ways, Saturdays win was a car.
The Cougars won that car.
So when BYU linebacker Isaiah Kaufusi says the Cougars didnt seem like celebrating a 27-20 win over UTSA instantly following the video game, it can be understandable why Sitake made them all stand and dosey-do in a line dance.
” After a game like this,” Kaufusi stated, “we just began thinking of how we might have done better and played to the very best of our capabilities.”
Winning college football video games is hard– and no one knows that more than the Cougars. So even when your high-powered offense misfires, you dont cover the spread, and the over-under is more “under” than even “push,” its important to celebrate the win.
From the outdoors, much of BYUs victory over the Roadrunner was a failure: a season-low 470 backyards, a season-high 7 penalties for 55 backyards, and the first-ever scoreless quarter of the 2020 season.
Zach Wilson seeks to pass versus UTSA, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2020 in Provo. (Photo: BYU Photo) But the first goal of every game is to win. Style points are a far-off afterthought, even when youre ranked in the AP Top 25 at the acme since 2009.
” Obviously, there are some things that we need to repair and I wish we could have performed a little much better in a lot of different locations,” Sitake stated. “But you cant disrespect this video game and not celebrate the wins. I was happy of the team for completing.”
Just three years gotten rid of from a disastrous 4-9 season, and coming off back-to-back 7-6 campaigns, the Cougars know much better than to take any win for approved.
Heck, they understand better than to take any video game for given in 2020, stated Wilson, who threw for 292 yards and two goals and ran for another score, going beyond 5,000 profession lawns in his three-year BYU profession.
Simply ask next weeks challenger: Houston had 5 video games canceled before they finally began Thursday, retreating for a 49-31 win over Tulane. Absolutely nothing is guaranteed this season, when not even eligibility counts for most of college football players that are attempting to restore a season in the middle of weird standards created to alleviate the spread of COVID-19.
You cant take these games for granted. They fly by and the ones that you anticipate to win conveniently in some cases do not happen.
” BYU, for sure, knows that over the past. Weve had games in the past that didnt exercise that way. So we simply require to take it one game at a time.”
Part of why the Cougars felt so down in what couldve been a jubilant locker space just at winning a football video game is due to the fact that theyve been in those difficult positions before. Theyve lost those games they shouldnt have lost.
Saturday was on the brink of being among those losses. BYU must have won that game, and big, according to the 34.5-point predicted margin of victory by several clever people in the Southern Nevada desert.
Sean Walker.
(Photo: BYU Photo) But the very first objective of every video game is to win. “But you cant disrespect this video game and not celebrate the wins. We simply require to take it one video game at a time.”
” I think the veterans were able to lead the team because in the past weve seen games where weve played groups we ought tove beaten. “I informed the group that we d been in this position before and lost these type of video games.
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