Kansas' punt smacked BYU on the head. But here’s the real reason the Cougars' first loss hurt so bad.

Provo• A loss like this was bound to happen.

It had to be when, week after week, BYU kept testing its fate to the extreme. Against Oklahoma State, BYU needed a 75-yard drive in 53 seconds to pull off a win. And against Utah, the Cougars relied on a 44-yard field goal to pierce the uprights to stay undefeated.

Eventually, if BYU insisted on daring destiny, the universe would strike back.

And on Saturday, it did.

This time, BYU’s defense came up with the fourth-quarter stop to take control of the game. It forced Kansas into a 4th and 14. Quarterback Jalon Daniels stayed on the field and surprised the Cougars with a punt. Only when he pooched it off his foot, the ball hit BYU cornerback Evan Johnson squarely in the head. As BYU safety Jakob Robinson tried to recover it, the ball slipped from his grasp and landed with Kansas at the 3-yard line.

On the next play, the Jayhawks punched in a touchdown and went from down three to up four in a 17-13 BYU loss.

“It was a couple of unlucky bounces,” head coach Kalani Sitake called it. “Sucks. I think it happens. I think that is why the ball is shaped that way. It just bit us in the butt this time.”

And Sitake was right. It was unlucky. It was worthy of a joke.

But there’s also a more difficult truth behind this loss than simply luck: BYU should have never been in that situation in the first place. Unlike OSU and even Utah, this time the Cougars didn’t need to be in a one-score game where something otherworldly could swing the pendulum.

It outgained the Jayhawks by 112 yards. It had the ball for over 31 minutes. BYU’s defense held Kansas, a team that went for over 500 yards last week, to just 73 yards rushing.

Yet BYU’s own mistakes — its head-scratching struggles in the red zone — were what left it 9-1 rather than dancing in the Big 12 title game. Everyone can say it was fate, but this night was squarely in the Cougars’ control this time.

“We need to stop [being in close games]. We need to start beating teams by 20, 30 points,” wide receiver Chase Roberts said. “That is the kind of offense we have. We should have [done it] this game. It was frustrating.”

For the entire night, it looked like the offense was intent on self-destruction. It would drive down the field, set up a game-breaker, and then settle for a field goal or some other disaster.

The examples were plentiful.

In the first quarter, BYU maneuvered inside the 10. But then two runs went nowhere, an incomplete pass fell flat and BYU only got three points.

Or at the end of the first half, the game tied at 10, and quarterback Jake Retzlaff had the Cougars at the 5-yard line. There were 39 seconds left and two timeouts. BYU could’ve easily run the ball — where it was gashing the Jayhawks. Only offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick opted for a fade and Retzlaff did the one thing he absolutely couldn’t: throw an interception.

“The run game was working pretty nicely. The turnover at the end of the half cost us,” Sitake said. “Settling for field goals isn’t going to work either. Not good enough.”

It crescendoed with the two most painful red zone trips, the ones that will stick with BYU long past Saturday.

The first came on the opening series of the second half, when BYU was nursing a 10-minute drive. The sequence stalled when Retzlaff ran to the 17-yard line. A touchdown could have changed the outcome. Instead, BYU got a field goal.

The Cougars had a final crack at the 11-yard line with under two minutes to go. It had a 3rd-and-6. But Retzlaff audibled to a speed option that didn’t gain a yard. A false start pushed the Cougars back to a 4th and 11. Retzlaff’s final heave to Roberts didn’t even make it to the sticks.

“I think he audibled out of the play on third,” Sitake said. “Still, get the ball in the end zone. We can’t let it go down the wire on the fourth down. Then the false start. We had a really good play on that one and then it became 4th and 10 and too far.”

Game over. BYU had so many chances. Instead, it came away from all its red zone trips without a single touchdown.

“Way too many mistakes for us to come up with the victory. We played with fire in some ways,” Sitake said.

There are play calls that will be questioned. Why would BYU throw a fade route to its tight end Mata’ava Ta’ase instead of handing it off? Why would it run a speed option to the boundary on 3rd and 6 that went nowhere?

But for Roberts, the concerning part was the aggregate not the minutiae.

“We can’t score in the red zone. We are just not executing,” he said. “We knew what Kansas was going to do. We had a great game plan. And they did what we thought they were going to do. We just need to execute the plays.”

It sums up why this loss is so painful for the Cougars. Because BYU had Kansas’ number. It held the Jayhawks to under 20 points for the first time since September. It was gashing a defense between the 20s. It had its 10th win — that would have all but clinched its spot in the title game — until it just couldn’t execute the small details.

“You look at the stats, we had some long drives. But the red zone offense did not work for us. We have to be better,” Sitake said. “You think with how the defense played we would be able to get enough points on the board.”

Now, BYU’s last two weeks just became treacherous. It will have a must-win game in Tempe against red-hot Arizona State. A home game against Houston looks difficult too.

If BYU had just beaten Kansas, instead of tempting fate, it would be cruising until Dec. 7 in Arlington.

But the luck ran out. Only this time, it should not have needed luck to be on its side.

Editor’s note • This story is available to Salt Lake Tribune subscribers only. Thank you for supporting local journalism.