Analysis: BYU isn’t flawless on picture-perfect afternoon in Provo, but keeps its perfect record intact with win over Arizona

Everything seemed to be lining up perfectly for the Arizona Wildcats to pull off a mild upset of No. 14 BYU Saturday afternoon on a picture-perfect fall afternoon at sold-out LaVell Edwards Stadium.

Past legends from the 1974 BYU team and current NFL superstars such as Fred Warner and Puka Nacua lined the sidelines, Fox’s “Big Noon Kickoff” was in town and the network’s top crew was in the press box calling the action.

It just felt like the temperature was right for a possible BYU flop.

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Didn’t happen. Not even close.

After an early hiccup or two, the opportunistic and well-rested Cougars played almost perfectly after a 14-day break, cruising past turnover-prone Arizona 41-19 in front of the biggest crowd (64,420) since that 2009 game when ESPN’s GameDay visited and the Cougars were crushed by No. 8 TCU.

BYU’s sixth win, with still no defeats, means that it is bowl eligible after missing out on postseason play last year. But quarterback Jake Retzlaff, receiver Parker Kingston and cornerback Jakob Robinson — who all made great plays in the game — said they are far from satisfied.

All three talked about BYU’s ultimate goal — to make the College Football Playoff and play for the national championship. These Cougars don’t lack confidence.

And why should they?

Every time a question is put in front of them, they answer it.

“We are only (ranked) No. 14 in the country. We are better than that. We have a really good football team here,” said Retzlaff, BYU’s Jewish quarterback who absolutely shined on Yom Kippur. More on that later.

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This week, the questions BYU faced were how it would deal with two of the best players in the country — Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita and wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan — and how it would avoid coming out flat after the bye, which the Cougars did last year in a 44-11 loss at TCU.

“Everyone was worried about the bye week, coming out flat. That’s what everybody wanted to talk about,” said head coach Kalani Sitake. “… It is probably natural to think that when you have a week off to maybe not be as fresh as we’ve been, or executing at a high level. … but we kept the momentum, got the most out of the guys.”

And they got four turnovers out of the Wildcats, which in reality was the difference in the game. One resulted in linebacker Isaiah Glasker’s pick-six in garbage time, but three either stopped the U of A from scoring or set up the Cougars for easy scores.

So game ball goes to the entire defense, which let Fifita get loose a few times (seven rushes for 24 yards) and McMillan get open a little bit — five catches for 78 yards — and wasn’t exactly stingy on third down, but was mostly superb.

Arizona was 11 of 19 on third down, something the Cougars will need to clean up, and did gain 389 yards. But when BYU’s Jay Hill-coached defense needed a play, it came up with one.

Fifita was 26 of 52 for 275 yards through the air, but was responsible for all four of Arizona’s turnovers.

“I don’t know how many sacks we got (one), but I know how many we missed — a bunch,” said Sitake. “You have to give him a lot of credit for extending plays.”

Arizona ran 84 plays and kept the ball for 32:39, compared to 60 and 27:21 for BYU; Like we said, turnovers doomed the visitors.

Similar to the way it won against Kansas State, BYU controlled the last four minutes of the first half and first four minutes of the second half. That’s why it won handily.

“The team is doing great because we have great leaders and wonderful young men,” Sitake said. “I think we can play even better than we did today. … Obviously there are some things we know we can fix. We will worry about that later, really.”

The thoroughly entertaining first half featured just one punt — by BYU with 11 seconds remaining in the half — but not as many points as one might expect when hearing that statistic.

The Cougars drove to the Arizona 5 on their first possession, but on fourth-and-3 Sitake elected to keep his offense on the field and Retzlaff’s impossible throw to Keelan Marion wasn’t close.

Retzlaff had Darius Lassiter open at the goal line, but apparently didn’t see him.

“I just decided to go for it on that opening drive, on fourth down. Probably should have kicked a field goal. That was all on me. That was my decision. I have to watch the film. I think the play was there. We just didn’t make it,” Sitake said.

“Next time if we don’t feel good about it, just kick the field goal and take the three points. Good lesson for me to learn.”

When Arizona became the first opponent to score a game’s first touchdown against BYU this season — the Wildcats drove 95 yards in 11 plays — it seemed like fears of the Cougars being too rusty appeared well-founded.

McMillan’s 39-yard catch on third-and-9 was followed by a 14-yard TD pass from Fifita to Montana Lemonious-Craig. It was the longest scoring drive against BYU since 2022.

“We were down 7-0, but man, we didn’t flinch,” Retzlaff said.

The Cougars drove 75 yards in 10 plays, and after a fourth-and-3 gamble picked up 15 yards, Retzlaff found Parker Kingston for a 20-yard score. Retzlaff’s throw was on target, and Kingston beat tight coverage for the catch.

“Jake threw a perfect pass,” Kingston said.

Arizona quickly drove into BYU territory. That’s when BYU safety Tanner Wall made a clutch interception at the goal line, picking off Fifita on third-and-7 from the 28.

Their backs against the wall inside their 1-yard-line, the Cougars promptly drove 99 yards to take the lead. Offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick dialed up one of his so-called “specials” to get BYU in the end zone. Kingston took a backwards pass and then threw a 33-yard strike to LJ Martin for the tying touchdown.

BYU would not trail again.

Arizona had a chance to score before halftime, but Quali Conley’s 4th-down run was ruled short at the 23 after a replay review ruled his knee was down before he reached the line to gain.

So the Cougars took a 14-7 lead into halftime, having outgained the visitors 259-207 in the first half, with Retzlaff completing 13 of 20 passes for 142 yards and the one TD. His passer rating was 141.1.

But the play that really turned the game came on the first play of the second half, as senior Robinson blitzed from the corner and snagged the deflection in mid-air, giving BYU the ball at the Arizona 9.

Retzlaff threw a 9-yard TD strike to Chase Roberts on the next play, and the rout was on.

Glasker forced a Fifita fumble two plays later, and linebacker Harrison Taggart gobbled it up. He could have replicated Tommy Prassas’ scoop-and-score against Kansas State, because no Wildcats were around.

That mattered a bit when BYU gained no yards in three plays and had to settle for a 33-yard field goal, but with the way BYU’s defense was playing, it didn’t end up meaning anything.

After Martin’s 1-yard TD run gave the Cougars a 34-13 lead, Arizona went on a 10-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to keep a glimmer of hope. Sitake said Jay Hill was “frustrated” a bit with the third-down defense and not being able to get off the field at times.

“I am glad we were able to (hold) them to 19 points. That was good for us,” Sitake said. “I talked to Jay right after the game. … He sees some things that we can fix. We just have to rely on ourselves. We will fix it.”

Up next is a quick turnaround, as the Cougars play host to Oklahoma State (3-3, 0-3) on Friday night at LES.