BYU Caps Season with Gritty Pop-Tarts Bowl Comeback, as Jay Hill Eyes Michigan Move
ORLANDO - If this was Jay Hill’s final game calling the shots for BYU’s defense, he left his mark in bold. The Cougars' defensive coordinator - reportedly headed to join Kyle Whittingham’s new staff at Michigan - helped engineer a second-half turnaround that sealed a 25-21 win over No.
22 Georgia Tech in the Pop-Tarts Bowl. And for BYU fans, that finish was one to remember.
Trailing 21-10 at halftime and looking out of sorts, BYU flipped the switch in the final two quarters. The defense pitched a shutout, the offense found its rhythm, and the Cougars clawed their way back for their sixth come-from-behind win of the season - five of which came after double-digit deficits.
But the moment that sealed it? A redemption arc worthy of the big screen.
With Georgia Tech threatening to steal the game back late in the fourth, BYU cornerback Evan Johnson - who had just been burned for a 66-yard bomb by Haynes King to Eric Rivers on a fourth-and-15 - bounced back with a game-sealing interception in the end zone. One play you're on the wrong end of a highlight reel, the next you're the hero.
“Got beat. That happens at corner,” said Johnson, whose father, Ron Johnson, played in the NFL.
“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.”
That pick was the exclamation point on a second-half defensive performance that looked nothing like the first. BYU had been missing its defensive anchor - linebacker Jack Kelly - and it showed early.
Missed tackles, busted coverages, and a general lack of cohesion allowed Georgia Tech to pile up 198 yards before the break. One of their touchdowns came on a short field after a BYU fumble on a kickoff return at the 5-yard line.
It looked like the Cougars were reeling - maybe distracted by the buzz around Hill’s potential departure. But at halftime, something clicked.
“No big adjustments,” Johnson said. “We came out 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.”
Head coach Kalani Sitake echoed that message, saying the staff challenged the players to get back to fundamentals - and to dig deep.
“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.”
The defense responded with energy and execution. Freshman linebacker Nusi Taumoepeau, starting in Kelly’s place, made a splash - forcing a fumble after kicking the ball loose from a receiver’s hands.
Isaiah Glasker recovered it, and the Cougars kept the pressure on from there. Taumoepeau, Glasker, and sophomore safety Faletau Satuala each finished with six tackles, while senior safety Tanner Wall - who began his career as a walk-on wide receiver - added five in his final game.
Hill and cornerbacks coach Jernaro Gilford rotated a number of players opposite Johnson, including Jayden Dunlap, Tre Alexander, Tayvion Beasley, Mory Bamba, and Jonathan Kabeya. It wasn’t always pretty, but they found enough answers to keep Georgia Tech off the scoreboard in the second half.
Tausili Akana and Taumoepeau also turned up the heat on King after the Rivers catch, forcing hurried throws and disrupting Georgia Tech’s rhythm when it mattered most.
Sitake didn’t shy away from crediting King’s talent on the deep ball that nearly flipped the game.
“Obviously, we weren’t excited about it, but Haynes King is a really good player,” he said. “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.”
That’s been the story of BYU’s season in a nutshell - resilience. Saturday’s win marked the Cougars’ 12th straight victory when holding opponents under 24 points, and it bumped their all-time bowl record to 19-22-1. Sitake, now 6-2 in bowl games, has built a reputation for getting his team ready when it counts, with wins over Power Four opponents like SMU, Colorado, and now Georgia Tech.
And as for the intangibles? Wall, a team captain and emotional leader, summed it up best.
“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,” he 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.”
If this was Jay Hill’s final chapter in Provo, it was a fitting one. A gritty, bend-but-don’t-break finish that embodied everything his defense stood for - and a reminder that BYU, even in transition, is a program built to fight.