During Utah’s nine-game winning streak in its rivalry against BYU, which dated all the way back to 2010, the Utes consistently executed their game plan against the Cougars.
It was the same story over and and over over again. In those wins, Utah controlled the lines of scrimmage, forced turnovers and stopped the run.
But none of those things really happened Saturday in the 2021 edition of the rivalry game at LaVell Edwards Stadium. As a result, the Cougars snapped the streak with a 26-17 victory over the Utes, and when it ended, a flood of blue-clad BYU fans rushed the field, ending 11 long years of frustration.
“They beat us at the line of scrimmage, which I would have bet my house going in that we would not lose the line of scrimmage. My house isn’t worth that much so it’s not that big of a deal, but I never would have seen that coming where we didn’t control the line of scrimmage.” — Utah coach Kyle Whittingham
Utah coach Kyle Whittingham was surprised by the way the loss happened — the Utes didn’t create any takeaways and they generated zero sacks.
“They beat us at the line of scrimmage, which I would have bet my house going in that we would not lose the line of scrimmage. My house isn’t worth that much so it’s not that big of a deal,” he said, “but I never would have seen that coming where we didn’t control the line of scrimmage.
“That’s our M.O. That’s what we do best. We surrendered 250 yards rushing, Couldn’t get a sack. We had zero sacks, zero takeaways on defense, which is not a good recipe for success.”
BYU kind of beat Utah at its own game.
Cougar quarterback Jaren Hall completed 18 of 30 passes for 149 yards and three touchdowns and he rushed eight times for 92 yards. Running back Tyler Allgeier gained 97 yards on 27 carries.
As a team, BYU rushed for 219 yards.
“On our defensive line, we were getting pushed. It was evident by the running backs,” Whittingham said. “After contact, they were getting four or five extra yards because of the surge of the offensive line. Their runners ran hard and did a really nice job. We couldn’t hold up. We didn’t hold up. That’s my fault. I’ve got to find a way to get them better.”
BYU converted 11 of 19 third downs and had a big advantage in time of possession — 35:26 to 24:34.
“We’ve got to get stops. We didn’t,” said Utah linebacker Devin Lloyd. “Too many third-down conversions. That’s as simple as it gets. We gave them too many third-down conversions.”
