Will BYU be able to achieve bowl eligibility by defeating No. 20 Oklahoma State on Saturday?
Well, if they do, the Cougars will have to beat the Cowboys on their home field on Senior Day, in a game OSU is motivated to win with Big 12 championship game hopes still alive.
BYU will also need to beat a team that beat Kansas State, Kansas, West Virginia and Oklahoma by a combined score of 143 to 111. BYU got blown out by West Virginia and lost a 17-14 lead to Kansas in Lawrence.
The Cougars will need to beat a team that is averaging more than 400 yards of offense a game when BYU has yet to reach a 400-yard offensive game this season.
They’ll also face the nation’s No. 1 rusher in Ollie Gordon II, a runner who has gained more yards than any major college runner in the country, although he carried the ball only six times in three nonconference games.
Oh, and Kalani Sitake will need to outcoach Mike Gundy.
This is a huge challenge for the Cougars and they’ll need to perform at the highest level we have seen this season.
In other words, it will take a far better game than the Cougars showed last week at home against Oklahoma in a 31-24 loss.
BYU will go to Stillwater still tinkering with its quarterback position.
Traditionally, the Cougars are only as good as their quarterback plays. It is a historical threshold for the program that the QB position play elite in order to win big games,
It is expected transfer Jake Retzlaff will get his third start in this game. BYU offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick has not ruled out that senior Kedon Slovis could play and both could see action.
In the loss to Oklahoma, BYU rushed for a season-high 217 yards and 29 of that was from Retzlaff after subtracting 30 yards in sack yardages. Senior Aidan Robbins gained a season-high 180 yards rushing.
“That’s the tough thing about this game,” said Roderick about the loss, and Retzlaff’s performance that was marred by three turnovers against the Sooners.
“He did so many good things. We did so many good things as an offense. It was the first time this year where the offense felt like it had the last three years and opened up huge positives and put the defense in conflict.”
During BYU’s current four-game losing streak, turnovers have been a big part of the inconsistency that has forced the entire team to fight out of deep holes.
Roderick said the positives from the Oklahoma game have to be built upon and the turnovers are something everyone needs to work on and take responsibility for.
Roderick said after Retzlaff’s stunning pick-six on the goal line, it was a character-defining moment for him as he sprinted 100 yards to try and make a tackle on that play. “Then he came back on the field and drove our team all the way down for a touchdown, which he made on a great run to tie the game at 24.”
BYU’s OC said that play and Retzlaff’s competitive spirit showed that BYU is a team that is still competing and playing hard.
“We are going to show up on Saturday and compete.”
With Robbins coming on, Roderick also said LJ Martin is prepared to play if called upon in BYU’s running attack.
Gundy, a stalwart veteran Big 12 coach at OSU, likes BYU’s entry into the league, telling the media this past week, “They’re a good addition to the league, we’ve mentioned that I think from coast to coast their logo would trigger in most people’s minds a Power Five school forever.”
In other in-state games, Utah should polish off a beat-up Colorado team that has chugged to a near stop after capturing the nation’s attention with new coach Deion Sanders. Utah is too consistent, even with a beat-up defense, to allow Colorado any momentum in this game.
Utah State should also be able to beat New Mexico and become bowl eligible this weekend.
This week’s picks
- Utah 33, Colorado 9
- Arizona 42, Arizona State 17
- Washington 38, Washington State 14
- Notre Dame 31, Stanford 21
- UCLA 27, California 24
- Oklahoma 34, TCU 31
- Texas 38, Texas Tech 28
- UCF 27, Houston 24
- West Virginia 27, Baylor 21
- Kansas 34, Cincinnati 21
- Kansas State 21, Iowa State 17
- Utah State 24, New Mexico 21
- Oklahoma State 38, BYU 27
Last week 11-2; overall 109-36 (.751).
