BYU’s defense produces highlights in tough loss to No. 7 Texas

BYU football suffered a hard loss against No.7 Texas with the final score 35-6, but looking at the game itself, and not the scoreboard, the Cougar defense put up some impressive stops.

The Longhorns performed well against BYU.  They flew down the field nearly with ease almost every drive. You could say that the game was just a blowout, but with two fourth-down stops against Texas were some good things to highlight in a 29-point game.

“If you just look at the score, and you didn’t watch the game, it looks like we got our butts kicked more than we did, I feel like,” BYU safety Crew Walkey said. 

The first quarter was more than tough for BYU.  Texas ran a punt return 74 yards to the end zone, scoring their first touchdown of the game within minutes. At the end of the first, Texas had outscored BYU 14-0. 

Although left with no points to account for, Walkey intercepted the ball, giving BYU an extra chance.  Against a power school, Walkey succeeded in recording his first career interception against the Longhorns, making Texas give up their drive.

In the second quarter, BYU sacked Texas quarterback Maalik Murphy for a loss of 18 yards, then he fumbled the ball, with the Cougars recovering it.  What is that? Another extra chance for BYU to drive and score. 

In the third quarter, the defense came out to play even more.  Texas marched to BYU’s 40-yard line, then to the five-yard line.  However, BYU didn’t let the Longhorns gain yards easily.  First down, then second down, then third down went by and the Longhorns decided to go for the fourth.  Chaos and pressure filled the stadium, but BYU stopped Texas from completing 10 yards to the end zone at the one yard line. 

“That’s our mentality. We’ve just got to be tough. They tried to line up and convert on fourth down. We need to make sure they don’t,” BYU linebacker AJ Vongphachanh said. 

The Cougar defense came up with two fourth-down stops inside the five-yard line. Texas clearly had the confidence in gaining the yards they needed to score, but BYU showed that it wasn’t going to let Texas score in those situations. 

“Those guys played hard until the end. That long run at the end (for a touchdown) left a little sour taste in our mouths,” BYU coach Kalani Sitake said. “We were able to create some turnovers. Against really good teams, you can’t shoot yourself in the foot.”

There are still mistakes that were made by the Cougar defense and aspects that could be improved on. So what’s next for the defense?

“Do our assignments. When they had big plays on us that was when we were missing a gap,” Wakely said. “Most of the game we were solid. We played with them. That’s a really good offense. That’s something you take away. We need to do our jobs the way we’re taught.”

BYU was up for the fight and played the game well. Texas had five chances in the red zone to score, but only succeeded converting those chances twice. 

​​”They played great. We go after them every day in practice. I love that they’re our defense and that they’re on our team,” quarterback Kedon Slovis said. “They do a good job of standing tall and being tough in the short-yard situations. They’ve been really good down the stretch throughout the year. They kept us in the game and gave us a chance. As an offense, we’ve got to go make the most of it.”