Gordon Monson: BYU played half of a good game, and Kalani Sitake was entirely too happy about it

In what might have been the weirdest game of a weird season for BYU — it most definitely was the single game carrying the most meaning — the Cougars were all set near the end to do what they’ve done multiple times before.

Namely, to win the un-winnable.

The Cougars had no real business having any chance to snatch victory away from Arizona State on Saturday, but … yeah, there they were clutching that chance, running with that chance, passing with it, once more.

Twice more, actually.

You saw what happened, but it’s strangely worth another run-through and review, remaining equally compelling, even now. We watched it unfold, and, still, unlike so many routine games, it vigorously stirs the imagination. And also calls for some postgame conclusions, in a minute.

After playing a first half, plus, that was the worst stretch of football the Cougars have put up all season; turning the ball over; failing to sustain drives; looking like an offense that had forgotten how to score; committing costly penalties; allowing 96 rushing yards to a single Arizona State running back; yielding all kinds of territory through the air; having an onside kick ricochet off them and into the hands of the Sun Devils, leading to a third ASU first-half touchdown and making BYU appear as though it were part of some kind of clown show; trailing by a 21-3 count at the break; falling behind, 28-9, later; the Cougars stormed back, teeing up those last two improbable shots with a rush of sudden, outstanding play that made any objective observers — subjective ones, too — wonder where the hell that newfound, new-energized team had been theretofore.

Whew. If you’re a Cougar fan and you made it through both the game and that last sentence, you deserve a victory that never came. But hold on, we’re not quite there yet.

“A really good game,” Kalani Sitake said. “It just didn’t work out in our favor. … You can’t deny that it was a really good game.”

Still not there yet.

Down just five points, with 2:34 left in the fourth quarter, after BYU’s defense achieved what it did far too little of over the first quarters, stopping the Sun Devils’ attack on a fourth-and-1 at the Cougars’ 11-yard line, placing the Titleist on the tee for Jake Retzlaff and his accomplices to drive for glory, it seemed as though a year that had been a season of destiny, again and again, would be one, again.

The resuscitated BYU offense soared down the field, Retzlaff hitting Darius Lassiter, then Chase Roberts a couple of times. Next, a defensive holding penalty on the Devils advanced the ball to the Arizona State 39-yard line. Plenty of time remained on the clock. Retzlaff then overthrew an open JoJo Phillips at the goal line, a pass that, had it been accurate, may have won the game. The quarterback then blooped an interception that was returned to BYU’s 7-yard line. Chance No. 1 was extinguished.

Then, on account of some whacky Arizona State strategy, instead of attempting to score a touchdown, Devils quarterback Sam Leavitt reversed field, attempting to run clock. A subsequent pass was fired a mile out of bounds, landing in the stands with one second left. ASU fans thought the game was over, piling onto the field, bending over goalposts, and such.

Once the play was reviewed and everyone was cleared off the playing surface — it took upwards of 15, 20 minutes to get all that handled — Retzlaff had one absolute final chance to pull off a miracle, lobbing a bomb from midfield into the waiting arms of Roberts, which was all fine and good, except for the fact that he caught the ball in front of the goal line, just a couple of yards short of the win. Instead, BYU suffered its 28-23 heartbreak.

Why is that worth one more recap?

Here’s why: On account of the oddity and improbability of it all.

Language purists can argue over whether the phrase “right the ship” is a metaphor or an idiom or a cliche or all three. Whatever it is, BYU, after a home loss last week, turned that saying, that intention, into a joke in the first half. It was worse than the description above.

Initially, everyone was laughing not with the Cougars, but at them.

The listing boat to which BYU aimed to add ballast and balance and, as it turned out, repairs, ran aground, its keel cracking open, its main mast snapping, its sails ripping and its rudder breaking. The Cougars went dead in the water and then sank, along with their best odds to qualify for the Big 12 Championship game. The Cougars can still find themselves playing the big game in Arlington next month, but now they’ll need help from somebody else to get there.

As all that happened, the question came to mind: How seaworthy was BYU to begin with? Close, lucky outcomes in the past and now … this. Uh-huh, it got that bad.

“They just took it to us,” Sitake said. “… When you put yourself in a hole too much, it’s going to be really hard to crawl out of it.”

With so much on the line for BYU, as it turned out, a shot to make certain its spot in that league title game, the Cougars were getting beat every which way a team can get beat — on both sides of the ball and on special teams. Its players were outplayed, its coaches were out-coached, its execution was out-executed, its punch was out-punched, its motivation was out-motivated.

What else is there?

The whole thing was a mess. BYU did everything but put on oversized shoes and a Bozo nose.

Thereafter, there were some hiccups and burps, but the Cougars came on strong, Retzlaff getting hot and moving his offense for a touchdown. Even after a failed two-point try, and a subsequent Arizona State TD, the QB spun a subsequent touchdown pass to Phillips, and a two-pointer to Darius Lassiter, cutting the deficit to 11 points.

When BYU scored another touchdown, another two-point try being unsuccessful, all that preceded the drama near and at game’s end.

What’s to establish and conclude, then, from this game? See if you agree.

• First, Sitake is known to have a proper perspective about football and life and all, but he was a little too upbeat after the loss, considering what was on the line. He even seemed in a good mood. He praised the Sun Devils, he praised the fans, he praised the atmosphere, he praised his team’s leadership, he repeatedly said how proud of his team he was, even calling the game “fun … it just happens that we lost it.” Not even LaVell Edwards was ever this chipper after a significant defeat. On Retzlaff’s key interception, Sitake said with a shrug, “It was unfortunate, but that’s the game of football.” He added: “I’m happy we were able to play this game. Now, I’m looking forward to learning from it.”

• Second, BYU is now tied with a traffic jam of other teams atop the Big 12. How it will all play out for championship slots depends on what happens next week.

• Third, BYU is what we saw it to be for most of the season — a really good football team, much better than expected, until expectations soared too high with the Cougars’ initial nine wins, and then they fell short.

• Fourth, BYU is not a great football team. Great football teams do not goof up in last week’s home loss to Kansas, although Colorado found out a little something about the Jayhawks in Lawrence on Saturday. And, in huge games with huge consequences, great teams don’t come out and rush for a total of 94 yards, just a fraction of that early, they don’t play the way the Cougars did in the initial half on Saturday, even as they shook loose and came alive some toward the end, before a couple of key mistakes doomed them. Outscoring ASU 20-7 in the second half sounds fine, except that ASU outscored BYU, 21-3 in the first.

• Fifth, based on what’s been on display over the past two weeks, and maybe the week before, even if it were to get into the Big 12 title game, BYU doesn’t belong in the College Football Playoff. The Big 12 is something of a dogpile, and other leagues aren’t exactly exquisite, either. But if the Cougars were matched up against a truly elite team in a now-or-never setting, with the mistakes they make, the struggles the offense has, the notable lapses evident on defense, not all the time, but enough of it, makes an unbiased set of eyes figure that it’s been a nice year for BYU, a surprising year, an exciting year, a cool year.

But not a stellar season, not a superlative season, not a season of destiny.

Just a really good one, and maybe one that’s good enough for who it’s for.

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