A question BYU football players have grown weary of hearing and tired of answering, at least with the words out of their mouths, is this: Are you for real?
Puhh-leeease.
They’d rather show what’s real with their play, knowing full well the question is loaded, loaded up with a mix of lingering uncertainty and skepticism, doubt and disbelief. It’s a kind of elongated extension from a preseason hangover that BYU was going to land somewhere between pitiable and pathetic this time around, its second sad-and-sorry bump-and-skid through the Big 12.
Well. They went ahead and added more oomph to their unspoken answer on Saturday, shoving that question not just clear out of bounds, but into a category rubbing up against the ridiculous. Are the Cougars for real? Whew. Ask the Arizona Wildcats, a quality group that joined another fine pack of Wildcats, Kansas State, in getting beat and beat up at LaVell Edwards Stadium, this time by the count of 41-19.
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Brigham Young Cougars quarterback Jake Retzlaff (12) runs the ball during the game between the Brigham Young Cougars and the Arizona Wildcats in Provo on Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024.
That performance jacked BYU’s record to 6-0, 3-0 in the Big 12, pushing other related questions away, too. Questions such as … Can the Cougars contend for a league title, one year after they won just two conference games and finished the season with five straight losses? What was once a preposterous inquiry is now a legitimate declarative statement.
They are for real, they are contenders, and they are a dangerous foe for every and any Big 12 team.
That’s not to say they are unbeatable, just unbeaten. Kalani Sitake has said, as he did after this game, that there is much room for improvement on and for his team. “You can’t keep doing some of the things we did,” he said. “We have enough talent that we should [almost always] be playing good, clean football.”
The boss is tough to satisfy. But his team’s most important sheet — the record — is clean and growing broader and broader, more and more believable with every win, including the one over Arizona.
The reasons for that begin with BYU’s defense, an outfit that held Arizona to those 19 points and 389 total yards, 114 running, 275 passing. “Our defense is doing it week in and week out,” quarterback Jake Retzlaff said. “It’s incredible to play with those guys on the other side of the ball.”
Indeed, big defensive plays were made, turnovers caused, by guys like cornerback Jakob Robinson, who leaped up and batted a pass into the air, from where he latched onto it at the Arizona 9-yard line, from where Retzlaff subsequently hit Chase Roberts for a touchdown.
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Arizona Wildcats running back Quali Conley (7) is tackled during the game between the Brigham Young Cougars and the Arizona Wildcats in Provo on Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024.
I don’t like to get into play-by-play details too much in this space, but that was a spectacular individual moment for Robinson. He called it, “crazy … a top-five play for me.” It would have been a top-five play for anyone. It transformed a one-score game at that juncture, with BYU up 14-7, into a 21-7 margin just 10 seconds into the second half. And it changed the feel of what had been a white-knuckled affair theretofore. Thereafter, the game became uneven, as lopsided as a Jelly Roll backflip, not necessarily immediately by the numbers on the board, but rather in the temperament of the players. BYU’s were energized and enthusiastic, Arizona’s were dragging and dog-faced.
In a private conversation shared back before this season began, Sitake told me that he had stars on his team, stars that were yet to fully reveal themselves and he said he was convinced they would do exactly that in due time.
The time has come.
Ask Robinson if the Cougars are for real. When he was asked if BYU becoming bowl eligible meant anything to the team, he said, “Looking into the future, it’s always to get to the national championship or to the college playoff.”
Mere bowl eligibility is for also-rans.
Sitake said of Robinson: “What an amazing player and a great leader. … He’s a soft-spoken guy, but he makes a lot of noise when he’s on the field.”
Other Cougars made their noise, too. BYU’s entire defensive front, alongside other friends, hammered Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita again and again, keeping the fleet-footed quarterback somewhat contained and confused with schemes that cleverly alternated from snap to snap. In total, that resistance caused four turnovers, three of them interceptions.
On attack, the Cougars also were effective, sustaining long drives, capitalizing on short ones. A run game that had been hampered by injury benefited from LJ Martin’s return and contributions from others. Those rushers averaged 5.4 yards per carry. But the real offensive stars were the big dudes up front who repeatedly graded road. Retzlaff passed for 218 yards and two scores, and coordinator Aaron Roderick threw in some razzle-dazzle when Retzlaff fired a backward pass to receiver Parker Kingston, who then blooped a 33-yard touchdown pass to Martin in the end zone, capping a 99-yard drive.
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Brigham Young Cougars wide receiver Chase Roberts (2) misses a pass as he is defended by Arizona Wildcats defensive back Demetrius Freeney (7) during the game between the Brigham Young Cougars and the Arizona Wildcats in Provo on Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024.
A few other big plays, among many: Tanner Wall’s interception at BYU’s 1-yard line. Retzlaff’s TD throw to Kingston. Isaiah Glasker’s pick-6 to close out the scoring at game’s end.
Sitake said he wants his guys to have their fun, which they had on Saturday, but to stay, as he’s echoed over and over, “humble and hungry.”
Retzlaff insisted the coach has no reason to worry over either part of that equation, especially the last one: “We can have fun. But we’re so good at making the main thing, the main thing.”
And the main thing is? Yeah, working to win, working to make BYU football real.
