Why BYU coaches stayed with quarterback Jake Retzlaff after some shaky moments in 18-15 win over SMU

DALLAS — BYU starting quarterback Jake Retlzaff was struggling. Like, really, really struggling.

He had thrown two interceptions — one right to a defensive lineman and another when he should have swallowed the football and taken a sack — and fumbled the ball away after a poor mesh with running back LJ Martin in a run-pass option play.

Fans on social media, and even among the crowd of 31,172 at Gerald J. Ford Stadium — where BYU fans made their presence felt throughout — were calling for QB2 Gerry Bohanon to get a shot.

On the sidelines and in the press box, however, head coach Kalani Sitake and offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick apparently never thought about making a change.

Then Retzlaff paid them off for their trust, engineering what turned out to be a game-winning drive in the final six minutes. Kicker Will Ferrin’s 26-yard field goal with one minute, 58 seconds remaining gave BYU an 18-15 win over SMU Friday night.

Before that, with SMU leading 12-7, Retzlaff drove BYU 61 yards for a go-ahead touchdown, a 9-yard TD run by Enoch Nawahine on fourth down.

Then Retzlaff threw a two-point conversion pass to tight end Keanu Hill, who made a spectacular catch to give BYU a 14-12 lead.

“Yeah, we felt good about (Retzlaff) as our quarterback,” Sitake said when he was asked why he stayed with the junior. “He has to be able to fight through it.

“It is hard to play the game when you are just taken out of the game (when) mistakes happen. … Mistakes happen in football. We got to rally around guys and give them a chance to redeem themselves.”

That’s exactly what Retzlaff did.

He finished 15 of 28 for a touchdown, two interceptions and a fumble. But the Cougars are 2-0, and they have Retzlaff to thank for his poise down the stretch.

“Gritty. Very gritty game. I was proud of the guys for defensively getting it done all night and offensively getting it done when it needed to be done,” Retzlaff said.

Of course, the key play on the game-winning drive was a speed-option pitch to third-string running back Miles Davis that went for 37 yards and a first down and got the Cougars into field goal range.

“That play was drawn up from the beginning of the week. It was a great play call by coach A Rod. Once he called it in, I was like, ‘Oh, this is going to be good,’” Retzlaff said.

“We got them in man, zero blitz. They sent the house. We knew we could get the (running back) on the back end with a little speed option, so Miles did a great job and ran 37 yards on 4th-and-1.”

OK, a play like that has to have a name, doesn’t it?

Not really, Retzlaff said.

“There is no special, like, Tom and Jerry name, I will tell you that much. … Nothing crazy,” he said. “It is something stupid that you guys wouldn’t even care to know.”

But it will live in BYU football lore — not as much as Jim McMahon’s Hail Mary pass to Clay Brown in the 1980 Holiday Bowl win over SMU — but significant nevertheless.

“When you got guys like (Darius Lassiter) on the field you can always be confident in what the offense is going to do,” Retzlaff said.

“I think we just lean on each other. It speaks a lot to the culture of our team, that we could have a tough outing in the first half and only be down two. We felt like we played badly. Then we came back in the second half and played good enough to walk away with the win.”

Before Ferrin’s field goal, a second-down throw to Lassiter was almost caught, and perhaps could have been called defensive pass interference, but it wasn’t and Lassiter told Retzlaff that next time he will haul it in.

“I learned that Jake is a tough guy. He’s not going to get down. I told him on the sideline, ‘Hey, we got everything we want right here. We just have to settle down and play our game,’” Lassiter said.

“He did that. He executed a great drive at the end.”

And ensured there won’t be a quarterback controversy in Provo — at least not for another week.