The BYU Cougar defense had pitched a shutout in the second half of its rivalry game last Saturday, but with 1:56 remaining and the team trailing by two at 21-19, all the group could really do was watch to see if the offense could go from its own 9-yard line and at least get in field goal range.
On Tuesday night, a video was posted on the BYU Football X account that showed snippets of defensive coordinator Jay Hill and members of his staff watching the final drive from the booth where they orchestrate games from.
“Come on, boys. Keep the magic,” Hill is shown saying as the drive began (all coaches can hear headset communication, as Hill explained Monday on this week’s episode of Coordinators’ Corner with Cougars play-by-play announcer Greg Wrubell).
The first few unsuccessful plays are shown on the video, which lasts 4:05. As the fourth down play — which has become controversial for the holding penalty called on Utah’s Zemaiah Vaughn — began (before the call), Hill said, “Alright, here we go. That’s good. Convert. Here we go. We’re good.”
As the controversial play is shown, a BYU defensive staffer says, “There’s a flag down there. There’s a flag. It’s gonna be defensive holding.”
The video then shows Wrubell saying, “BYU has life. BYU given hope.”
After BYU reached midfield, quarterback Jake Retzlaff connected with receiver Darius Lassiter for a 12-yard gain, and Hill was shown saying, “You gotta go. You gotta go.”
As the Cougars were bringing the field goal team on for Will Ferrin’s 44-yard game-winning attempt, Hill is shown saying, “OK, you gotta hunker down now,” and linebackers coach Justin Ena, who was seated next to Hill, says, “Come on, Will” and another staffer says, “I can’t watch.”
The video then shows Ferrin’s kick, with Wrubell’s call of “Where there’s a Will, there is a way.” It then goes back to the defensive coaches watching the kick, with Ena saying “I love it” as the play is formulating.
Ena then appears to get ready to say something else but pauses as the kick is in the air, and then pandemonium ensued as Hill took his headset off right in time to get mobbed, pump his fist and bang his hand on the table he was working at.
The video ends showing Wrubell saying, “And the Cougs’ perfect season is alive. The final score is 22 to 21 in the most improbably of fashions, but improbable is this rivalry’s middle name” as Hill, offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick (who had been sitting on the opposite end of the booth from Hill) and consultant Gary Andersen (all three were on Utah’s staff from 2005-2008) embraced in a hug.
“In the box, when we kicked that field goal at the end of the game, that’s probably the most I’ve celebrated in the box, especially since the heart attack,” Hill said, referring to his medical episode in August. “That was (a) pretty exciting moment.”