BYU football: Cougars painted a defensive masterpiece in second half of 25-21 Pop-Tarts Bowl win

ORLANDO, Fla. — Barring a last-minute change of heart, it appears that BYU defensive coordinator Jay Hill will join former Utah coach Kyle Whittingham’s new staff at Michigan after three years of building the Cougars’ defense into one of the best in the Big 12.

If those reports are true — and there’s no reason to believe they aren’t — BYU fans will always have the memory of what Hill’s defense was able to do in the second half of Saturday’s 25-21 win over No. 22 Georgia Tech in the Pop-Tarts Bowl.

Bolstered by 20,000 or so BYU fans in attendance at Camping World Stadium (overall announced attendance was just over 34,000), the Cougars pitched a shutout in the second half after trailing 21-10 at the break.

As a finishing touch that seemingly came right out of a movie script, BYU cornerback Evan Johnson picked off a pass in the end zone to seal the win after having given up a 66-yard bomb to Tech’s Eric Rivers — by way of all-ACC quarterback Haynes King — four plays earlier.

“Got beat. That happens at corner,” said the son of former NFL receiver Ron Johnson. “But I was really just thinking about the next play after that. … I got my opportunity to go make a play. Had a play like that at Texas Tech that I didn’t go get. So my only thought in my mind at that moment was to go get that ball, and that is what I did.”

Both plays that will go down in BYU bowl lore — Rivers’ catch came on fourth-and-15 from the Tech 17-yard line — were on fourth down. How did head coach Kalani Sitake view the bomb that almost ruined BYU’s bid to get to 12 wins for the first time since 2001?

“Obviously, we weren’t excited about it, but Haynes King is a really good player,” Sitake said of the 66-yarder. “I felt like, OK, tough spot, but Evan made the tackle (to stop Rivers from scoring). It is hard to run away from this kid. He made the tackle, and we still had a chance.”

With BYU playing without the heart and soul of its defense — linebacker Jack Kelly — the Cougars looked a bit lost in the first half, and it appeared as if news of Hill’s pending departure was somehow distracting the Cougars. They just didn’t look like themselves, with missed tackles and blown coverages galore.

Hill and cornerbacks coach Jernaro Gilford tried Jayden Dunlap, Tre Alexander, Tayvion Beasley, Mory Bamba and Jonathan Kabeya at the corner opposite Johnson, or at nickel, with limited success.

Georgia Tech had 198 yards in the first half, and was gifted a touchdown on another possession when BYU coughed up a kickoff return at the 5. Johnson says the group never lost hope.

“Really, no adjustments were made,” he said. “We came out (of halftime) with a lot more physicality, a lot more just want-to. We knew our offense was hot, too, so just getting them the ball was our plan, and we made that happen.”

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Sitake said the call went out to be more physical, but to also be more fundamentally sound. He said guys were trying to do too much.

“We said it is going to hurt a little bit and it is going to require you guys getting to the point of exhaustion,” Sitake said. “You guys saw (Bear Bachmeier) limping in there. It wasn’t like he was playing 100 percent. … I was really proud of the way these guys played and the way that Bear led the offense. It was really fun to watch.”

Freshman linebacker Nusi Taumoepeau got his first start, in Kelly’s spot, and forced a fumble, inadvertently kicking the ball out of a receiver’s hands after a catch. Isaiah Glasker recovered it.

Taumoepeau, Glasker and sophomore safety Faletau Satuala led the Cougars with six tackles apiece, and senior safety Tanner Wall added five in the final game of a remarkable career that began as a walk-on receiver. Taumoepeau and Tausili Akana put a lot of pressure on King to force the veteran QB to hurry his throws after Rivers’ big catch.

“I just liked the reaction we had to the game overall,” Sitake said. “We weren’t hanging our heads when we went down two scores.”

It was BYU’s 12th straight win when allowing 24 points or fewer, and improved the program’s bowl record to 19-22-1. Sitake is now 6-2 in bowl games, with close losses to Hawaii and UAB in that stretch and wins over Power Four teams SMU, Colorado and Georgia Tech.

It was also BYU’s sixth come-from-behind win of the season. Five of those — Colorado, Arizona, Iowa State, UCF and Georgia Tech — came after BYU trailed by double digits.

“We’ve got a lot of love for each other, got a lot of love for our coaches and for our fans, and for our program,” Wall said. “There are a lot of things that can’t be measured in statistics, the kind of intangible things that just make us who we are, and it shows in the way that we find ways to win games all the time.”