WACO, Texas — BYU exorcized all kinds of demons on a hot and humid but gorgeous late-September day on the banks of the Brazos River here Saturday, picking up its first-ever Big 12 road win with a 34-28 victory over snakebit Baylor in front of 39,583 fans at McLane Stadium.
The scariness can wait until late October, apparently, but the drama was evident throughout, even in daylight hours, during which BYU had lost its last 10 games that kicked off before 6 p.m. local time.
That is until Saturday afternoon, the sun shining brightly overhead and BYU’s defense shining brightly on the field — again.
The so-called Vampire Cougs got it done when they had to, and became the eighth BYU team to improve to 5-0 in a season and third in the Kalani Sitake era. Baylor dropped to 2-3 overall, 0-2 in Big 12 play, but not after throwing a Halloween-like scare into the visitors.
In short, this was a game that the BYU team picked to finish 13th in the league — but now ranked No. 22 and likely climbing in the polls — probably would have lost last year. Credit the Cougars’ defense for standing tall after the offense sputtered mightily in the second half.
“I was proud of the team, proud of their response to adversity during the game and their willingness to stick together,” Sitake said. “That was something special. It speaks to the leadership on our team and the coaches on our team that get these guys ready.”
Game ball has to go to the defensive staff, which pieced together a lineup that saw BYU use five different cornerbacks, overcome the loss of starting linebacker Harrison Taggart and come away with two huge turnovers.
Redshirt junior safety Crew Wakley, a walk-on who wasn’t on the depth chart when the season began, sealed the deal with the second forced turnover, picking off Baylor quarterback Sawyer Robertson with 49 seconds remaining.
Wakley, a former quarterback at Jordan High, said he knew the pick was his “when it was in the air.”
He also ranked it No. 1 on the list of plays he’s made in his football career.
“Like, fly ball, I gotta get this,” were his thoughts. “The ball is in the air and I gotta go get it.”
Noted defensive end Tyler Batty, who had drawn a holding call while rushing the passer on the previous play: “We call him Hitman Crew for a reason.”
That this game would come down to BYU needing a defensive stop when the Bears took over at their 39 with 1:24 remaining on the clock would have seemed incredible after the Cougars jumped out to a quick 21-0 lead.
Junior quarterback Jake Retzlaff’s 17-yard touchdown run with 3:39 left in the first quarter spotted the Cougars the big advantage, and on that particular play a couple of Baylor defensive backs seemed unwilling to create some contact, coasting to the play as Retzlaff crossed the goal line.
It certainly looked like the Bears were toast. Obviously, they weren’t.
“A little dramatic at the end there. I would like to see us finish business, but you have to give credit to Baylor and coach (Dave) Aranda, getting their team to respond,” Sitake said.
“We knew that would happen. I would like to see us play a little different in the second half and finish what we started, but you just can’t wish that on the game. This is the Big 12 Conference, so guys aren’t going to quit.”
BYU’s offense played its best half of the season in the first half, scoring 31 points and punting just once. The second half was one of its worst.
The Cougars were 3 of 5 on third down in the first half and piled up 286 yards. They led 31-14 at the break and Retzlaff was playing like Robert Griffin III, the former Baylor QB who won a Heisman Trophy playing here on John Eddie Williams Field.
“That was a great start,” Sitake said. “We are capable of doing all those things. Just gotta keep the momentum going. We don’t have to be perfect, but we have to be efficient as an offense, and the defense, when we start playing together, good things happen.”
It was fitting that BYU’s defense began the game, and ended it, by forcing a turnover. Defensive lineman John Nelson tipped Robertson’s pass on Baylor’s first play from scrimmage, and Blake Mangelson corralled it to give BYU the ball at the Baylor 20 and set up the Cougars’ second touchdown, a 2-yard “rush” by Chase Roberts in which the receiver caught a backwards pass and found the end zone.
“The offense was executing to start the game. It was great,” said Retzlaff, who blamed the second half struggles on “just the lack of execution” and some adjustments Baylor made with its defensive front.
BYU also got a bit conservative in the second half, with play-caller Aaron Roderick perhaps taking his foot off the gas pedal a bit too quickly. Retzlaff was picked off twice in the second half — one was tipped at the line of scrimmage and snagged by a defensive lineman — and had a few passes dropped, including a potential big-gainer after a beautiful toss to Darius Lassiter over the middle.
Whatever magic Retzlaff had in the first half, for some reason, disappeared in the second, and his final numbers were pedestrian: 17 of 31 passing for 216 yards and two TDs, with the two interceptions, for a passer rating of 121.8.
“We need to make sure that the halves combined this week and last week (in the 38-9 win over Kansas State) are a full game, and that is what we want our offense to do,” Retzlaff said.
“We need to come out and start fast, and then finish even stronger.”
BYU’s defense wasn’t the only unit hampered by injuries. Starting center Connor Pay left with a left foot injury and receiver Kody Epps was sidelined by an undisclosed injury. Neither returned. Starting left guard Weylin Lapuaho was out for a while, but returned. Sonny Makasini played center when Pay left the game.
“I think the (artificial) turf is always a problem, but that is everywhere. That’s not just here. Turf games are hard,” Sitake said. “I think they are hard on your body, so we got guys banged up.”
Last year, BYU’s first in the Big 12, those injuries would have taxed the team’s depth to the point it could barely function. Not this year. Credit Sitake and defensive coordinator Jay Hill for preparing backups in the blowouts of Wyoming and Kansas State to be ready to play in crunch time.
“A lot of guys that were playing at the end of the game (were the same guys) that we had to rely on the last drive against Wyoming, and it didn’t work their way,” Sitake said.
“We put them in against Kansas State and they got a stop, and those guys got a stop here, so it makes me happy that we actually practice these tight situations, like two minute. We will continue to work on those situations for next week.”
The Cougars started to unravel a bit in the second quarter, particularly on defense.
The Bears sandwiched 80- and 57-yard drives around a punt, and cut the deficit to 28-14 on a 1-yard TD toss from Robertson to Josh Cameron.
Cameron had seven catches for 125 yards and two TDs for Baylor, offsetting Lassiter’s big day. Lassiter had eight catches for 120 yards and a TD (44 yards), but wasn’t entirely happy with his effort due to two drops in the second half.
Retzlaff was simply sensational for BYU in the first half, going 13 of 17 for 180 yards and two touchdowns. Lassiter caught six passes for 101 yards and a touchdown in the first half, and the Cougars averaged 7.5 yards per play.
Will Ferrin booted a career-high 54-yard field goal with 35 seconds remaining to give BYU the 31-14 halftime lead. It tied for the second-longest field goal in BYU history.
It was the most points BYU has scored in a first half since 2022, when it opened the season with 38 first-half points against USF.
The second half? A totally different story, but a win is a win, as they say, and the Cougars weren’t about to give it back. Not after doing a lot of that a year ago.