The BYU football team lost 40-6 to No. 10 Wisconsin on Saturday at LaVell Edwards Stadium.
“We were overwhelmed in so many different areas,” said BYU coach Kalani Sitake. “We really couldn’t get anything going and relied heavily on defense.”
The Cougars’ offense was led by quarterback Beau Hoge, who started the game in place of Tanner Mangum, who was injured on the final play of the Utah game.
BYU’s offense and defense both struggled as the Badgers controlled the game. The Cougars had less than 20 minutes of playing time and only 111 passing yards in the entire game.
BYU started to gain momentum in the first quarter despite Hoge throwing an interception three plays into the game.
After a Wisconsin field goal, BYU drove down to the Wisconsin 4-yard line before taking a field goal after a holding penalty stalled the drive.
“It got to the point where we started to play well but then they made some adjustments and started to get plays,” said BYU linebacker Butch Pau’u. “What we need to do is just make sure we get every single down. We know that we have the talent to do it.”
Something surprising from Wisconsin was that even though they had a significant lead they never took a knee. Coach Sitake, however, praised Wisconsin saying that “we should never be given a pass.”
He also said he was not happy with the turnovers.
“We didn’t even get any momentum going,” Sitake said. “It just wasn’t how I pictured our offensive playing today.”
Matt Bushman was optimistic on Hoge’s first start.
“There are glimpses of him doing great things,” Bushman said. “He made plays when we needed to make them, and he played against a great team for his first collegiate start.”
This coming week, BYU has a bye week and it couldn’t come at a better time.
BYU will play Utah State on Friday, Sept. 29, with kickoff scheduled for 6:00 p.m. MDT.
