Don’t forget the offensive line’s role in No. 13 Cougars’ last-second win over plucky Oklahoma State

Quarterback Jake Retzlaff, receivers Darius Lassiter and Chase Roberts and running back LJ Martin deservedly received the lion’s share of praise for their late heroics in No. 13 BYU’s epic 38-35 come-from-behind win over Oklahoma State on Friday night at packed-to-the-gills LaVell Edwards Stadium.

All four made plays that will never be forgotten.

But game balls and postseason kudos should also go to the offensive line, particularly former Oklahoma State player Caleb Etienne.

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The transfer — who was pretty much thrown under the bus by OSU coach Mike Gundy when he left Stillwater for Provo before the 2023 season — got a little bit of revenge in front of 62,841 delirious fans.

“Yeah, he was amped up, he was juiced up. Especially us playing juco together, we got a special bond,” said Lassiter, who was teammates with Etienne at Butler (Kansas) Community College before Lassiter transferred to Eastern Michigan and Etienne moved on to OSU. “Just to see him get this win over Oklahoma State especially (felt good). We felt like we were supposed to get it last year. I am just so happy for him, for something to work out his way. He found a place here.”

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Etienne and his fellow offensive linemen — Austin Leausa, Weylin Lapuaho, Bruce Mitchell and Brayden Keim — were especially dominant on BYU’s game-winning drive, and game-winning play.

They formed a perfect pocket for Retzlaff to deliver the 35-yard touchdown pass to Lassiter that won the game.

Retzlaff was sacked just once.

The fivesome also set the tone on BYU’s first drive of the second half, after Oklahoma State kicker Logan Ward missed a 48-yard field goal. The Cougars drove 69 yards in seven plays, all running plays, to knot the score at 21 apiece.

Martin scored from the 8-yard-line, and finished with 120 rushing yards, a career-high.

The Cougars rushed for 255 yards, averaging 7.1 yards per carry.

“You saw when we came back out in the third quarter, the run game was there,” Lassiter said. “I didn’t want them to throw a single pass that drive, especially with how LJ was running and the O line was blocking.”

The big play on the drive was a 26-yard run off a Retzlaff pitch by Hinckley Ropati, the same play the Cougars used to get into game-winning field goal position against SMU. It was perfectly blocked up — again.

“Statement Seven was find a way to win. It was a good team win. I can’t sit here and say of all three phases that one was the key. But all three just stuck together and we found a way to get a win,” said head coach Kalani Sitake.

The Cougars averaged 7.4 yards per play, which is going to win you a lot of games.

While the defense has carried BYU to most of its first six wins by providing short fields and causing sudden shifts in momentum, the offense carried the freight on this particular night — aside from safety Tanner Wall’s 47-yard interception return to the OSU 1.

Sitake said offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick “has done a great job” the past few weeks, and that is mostly undisputed. His only questionable play call Friday night was having Ropati attempt a halfback pass when BYU had a 1st-and-10 at the OSU 25.

Wall bailed the offense out with his pick two plays later.

“The disruption (from cornerback Marque Collins) caused an overthrow there, and I was able to steal that ball and then was trying to get down the sideline. I think I made a couple guys miss,” Wall said. “Tyler Batty tried to tackle me into the end zone. I would say dropping a pick is way worse than not scoring, because we will give LJ the rock and let him punch it in.”

Martin enjoyed big holes on both of his touchdown plunges, thanks to the work of an O line playing the second straight game without starting center Connor Pay. Converted defensive lineman Bruce Mitchell played almost flawlessly in Pay’s place.

“Being the offensive coordinator at BYU can be tough sometimes. You can be criticized quite a bit. I know, I played here, saw the things that were said about Roger French, Norm Chow and the entire staff. Hasn’t changed,” Sitake said of Roderick’s work. “It is high expectations from our fans. We understand it. But it doesn’t hurt to score 38 points. If we can score 38 points every week, I like our chances.

“A Rod understands what is at stake here. He understands expectations and he is willing to meet them,” Sitake continued. “I don’t have a problem how he works, the way he organizes it and the way he coaches with his staff. Can’t complain about what they were able to do tonight. I thought they were able to do some things — the drive killers were the turnovers and some of the mistakes that we made.”

Another hero was Roberts, who caught the 8-yard pass from Retzlaff on 4th-and-7 to keep the game-winning drive alive.

Roberts had a quiet night, by his standards, making three catches for 25 yards. But that last one was one of the biggest of his career.

“We are so close to being really unstoppable on offense,” Sitake said.

Of course, there’s plenty of room for improvement, especially on defense as the Cougars struggled to get off the field on third down the entire night. Oklahoma State’s scoring drives covered 75, 75, 76, 79 and 76 yards. The Pokes punted just once, missed a field goal, and had the two turnovers.

That’s usually a formula for a win, but BYU’s offense prevailed in the end, and got plenty of thanks from its defense.

“Last year against (Oklahoma State) we were in a position where we were just trying to get bowl eligible. They took that from us. We had a sour taste in our mouth and we wanted this win,” said linebacker Isaiah Glasker. “Being able to come out and beat them finally, it is super beneficial.”

Offensive lineman Caleb Etienne would certainly agree.