BYU’s defense was lights out, but the offense needs to get much better

It did everything but score a touchdown.

In the process, BYU’s defense kept SMU from scoring any touchdowns at all.

The Cougars were chaos. They were money. They simply willed BYU to its second win of the season.

Defensive coordinator Jay Hill might be just a little over a week removed from suffering a heart attack, but his BYU defense put on an emotional, dominating performance in an 18-15 win over SMU on Friday night in Dallas.

This win, an impressive duke out between two defenses, elevated BYU to 2-0 on the season, a key step toward achieving bowl eligibility heading into next week’s trip to Wyoming and the Big 12 conference beyond that.

BYU’s defense prevented SMU, a program that had averaged 53 points during a nine-game home win streak, from scoring a touchdown. The win extended BYU’s perfect 5-0 record over the Mustangs.

BYU held SMU to zero TDs for the first time in eight years.

Heroes? Line them up, there are plenty of them.

And as a group, BYU’s defense bailed out a mistake-prone offense whose quarterback, Jake Retzlaff, lost a fumble and threw two interceptions on ill-advised mental errors that SMU could have used to blow the game open, but did not.

“It was ugly, but it was a win,” said Ratzlaff. “The defense played great.”

Linebackers Jack Kelly (5 tackles, 3 QB hurries), Harrison Taggart (8 tackles, 2 pass breakups, 1 forced fumble), Isaiah Glasker (6 tackles, 1 sack, 1 tackle for loss), Blake Mangelson (1 sack), Marque Collins (interception), and Jakob Robinson (fumble recovery) led key stat columns, but the Cougar front with John Nelson and Tyler Batty were too much for SMU’s offense.

SMU, favored by double-digits, could not convert three BYU turnovers into any points.

SMU had five possessions start in BYU territory and managed five field goals. On one late drive, following a Retzlaff interception to an SMU nose guard, SMU had a first down at BYU’s five in the fourth quarter but got nothing after Robinson recovered a fumble on a reversed call by officials.

Weber State transfer Collins halted another SMU TD drive with a fourth-quarter pick, a toe-tapping sideline steal that killed SMU’s spirit late.

“We just found that groove,” said Collins to BYUtv. “Our offense didn’t play well, but we have their back. They’ll improve.”

On that play, Collins left the post receiver and jumped on a pass to the sideline intended for a back who was running a wheel route.  Collins had studied that route all week, and when he saw it, he set up SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings.

BYU’s offense disappeared in the second quarter for the second straight week, a head-scratching series of three-and-outs wherein Retzlaff and the play calls could not find any of the Cougars’ talented receiver weapons or tight ends.

It was as if Chase Roberts, Darius Lassiter and Keelan Marion turned invisible as the Cougars attacked the line of scrimmage without any attempts to stretch the field after running back LJ Martin limped off with a left ankle sprain.

BYU’s top-heavy and deep receiver corps has to be a featured part of the offense, but in that stretch, they were disappointingly missing in action.

This is where Hill’s defense rose up.

After BYU led 7-0, 7-6 and then lost momentum to SMU when the Mustangs took a 9-7 lead, BYU defenders never lost their edge, pressuring with three sacks, making ankle tackles, limiting SMU’s Miami transfers in the backfield to short gains and forcing field goals instead of touchdowns.

The win, sans the offense, paints a different picture of BYU’s season. Many expected after the five-win season last year that the Cougars would struggle to win five games this year.

Favored by just 14 over Southern Illinois, they won by 28.  An 11.5-point underdog to SMU, they won by three.

As disappointing as BYU’s offense was on this night with 336 total yards on 64 plays and three turnovers, Retzlaff did throw a razor TD pass of 26 yards to tight end Mata’ava Ta’ase and his fourth-quarter speed option pitch to Miles Davis for 37 yards to set up the game-winning field goal sealed the win.

But BYU’s failure on first and second downs was reminiscent of struggles a year ago. BYU’s average starting position was from its own 28, whereas SMU’s average starting drive was at its 41.

The offensive staff must zero in on where their playmakers are and design better plays to get to those weapons.

BYU did start running Retzlaff in the second half, taking advantage of SMU’s defensive ends who were playing very aggressively, but that the Cougars were not attacking SMU with Roberts and Lassiter or JoJo Phillips when the run stalled was puzzling.

Head coach Kalani Sitake said he was disappointed in the offense but nobody was pointing fingers. He told KSL Radio he counseled the offensive players and coaches not to hang their heads but figure things out.

“I want Jake to redeem himself. I think he will,” Sitake said.

Bottom line: BYU defeated an undefeated ACC team on the road after the Cougar offense gave up three turnovers.

That says volumes about Hill and his defense.