3 takeaways from the Utes’ perspective in Utah’s loss to BYU

The latest BYU-Utah game lived up to the chaotic, unpredictable nature of the rivalry.

This time, the No. 15 Cougars beat the No. 23 Utes 24-21 at LaVell Edwards Stadium on Saturday in only the fourth meeting between the two rivals when both schools were ranked in the top 25.

It was far from a crisp game for the Utes, an excruciating fact given that Utah never trailed by two scores until late.

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Here are three takeaways from the game that dropped the Utes to 5-2 overall and 2-2 in Big 12 play.

Turnovers were costly

As is often the case in football, the team that wins the turnover battle wins the game.

That certainly was the case Saturday night, as Utah turned it over twice and BYU never gave it away.

The Cougars turned those two takeaways into 10 points, including a second-quarter field goal (off a muffed punt) and a fourth-quarter touchdown (off a Devon Dampier interception).

In a 7-7 game late in the first half and with BYU pinned deep in its end, Mana Carvalho muffed a punt that the Cougars’ Talan Alfrey recovered at the Utah 40.

It took a fourth-down conversion, but BYU turned that into points — a 26-yard Will Ferrin field goal with three seconds until halftime, the only field goal in a three-point game.

Then in the fourth quarter, BYU had rallied to retake the lead at 17-14 just minutes after Utah went up for the first time on a 49-yard Daniel Bray touchdown run in the final period’s opening minute.

On the ensuing possession, the Utes were facing a second-and-13 at their own 36 when Dampier was trying to go long to Bray.

BYU safety Tanner Wall, though, outleapt Bray for the ball, giving the Cougars a big turnover.

“I’m a risk taker. It was third down,” Dampier said of the interception. “I thought (I was) giving our receiver a chance to go get the ball. (Wall) made a better play.”

That led to a critical score, when with 4:22 to play, BYU quarterback Bear Bachmeier bowled his way for a 22-yard touchdown run. That gave the Cougars a 24-14 lead.

“We’ve been in this situation before. We lost a football game before, and we bounced back just fine,” Dampier said. “I’ve got full trust in my team still. This game doesn’t change that.”

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Utah left points on the field

Perhaps the most painful Utah number in the statbook is 1 of 5.

The Utes ended up converting just one of their five fourth-down attempts, and in a matchup wherein it was a one-score game most of the night, Utah’s two failed fourth downs in the red zone will hover like a storm cloud over this loss.

Utah took its first drive down the field almost effortlessly until it reached the red zone.

Then, facing a fourth-and-1 at the BYU 13, Bray tried to speed his way around the end, only to be dropped by BYU cornerback Mory Bamba for a 1-yard loss.

In the third quarter, Utah again had another promising drive go inside the 20. After a third-down completion left the Utes with a fourth-and-3 from the 8, Utah opted to again go for the first down.

BYU’s defense came up with the stop, as Keanu Tanuvasa and John Taumoepeau halted Dampier for a 2-yard again.

Another potential scoring drive in the second quarter ended with a Utah misfire on fourth down.

With Utah facing a fourth-and-7 at the BYU 28, Dampier threw incomplete trying to connect with Tobias Merriweather near the sideline to give the ball back to the Cougars, who had a 7-0 lead at the time.

Initially, the Utes had lined up for a 48-yard field goal from Dillon Curtis, but BYU coach Kalani Sitake called a timeout just before the snap. Curtis went ahead and kicked the ball and it sailed wide right.

When the teams lined back up, Utah chose to bring the offense on the field and this time, it was Dampier’s incomplete pass that ended another drive.

Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said the analytics supported going for both fourth-down attempts in the red zone.

“I’ve got no problem with the play calling,” he said.

Utah was stung by sloppy play

Though the Utes outgained the Cougars 470 to 368 in total offensive yards, Utah was far from its efficient self.

The Utes went 5 of 12 on third down, and more concerningly, finished with 12 penalties for 77 yards.

Utah had six penalties for 29 yards in the first half, while BYU didn’t have any penalties in the first 30 minutes. The Cougars ended with five penalties for 42 yards.

One of Utah’s most costly penalties came in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter on a play when it lost star linebacker Lander Barton.

Bachmeier eluded what looked like it would be a sure sack after BYU had driven inside the 30, but he escaped and threw a short pass toward the sideline to try to avoid a sack and a potential grounding penalty.

Barton hit Bachmeier just after he released the ball, making helmet-to-helmet contact in the process. After review, officials upheld the targeting call and Utah was forced to play without its senior linebacker the remainder of the game.

On the next play, Parker Kingston scored on a 12-yard run, giving BYU a 17-14 lead, and the Cougars never trailed again.

“We’ve been good, really good penalty-wise, except for two football games,” Whittingham said, referencing both Saturday’s game and his team’s loss to Texas Tech.

“And other than that, we have been, I think we’re the (among the) least penalized, fourth or fifth, team in the league. It’s just been a couple games where it seems to snowball on us, and tonight was one of those two games.”