BYU’s path forward is still there, but it starts with a cleaner, sharper stretch over the next three games.
If the Cougars can finish 10-2, they could put themselves in the mix for a College Football Playoff berth. That’s not a promise and it’s not a guarantee, but it would at least keep BYU in the conversation after the loss at No.
2 Utah. The defeat to unranked UCF in overtime hurt even more, but the door hasn’t slammed shut.
As Ben Criddle laid out, BYU still has two ways to the playoff: win the Big 12 or finish 10-2 and make the case for an at-large bid. Either route begins with beating Baylor, Kansas and Cincinnati.
His message was simple: “Get LJ Martin healthy, take control early and put these games away. A healthy BYU team is dangerous.
The…”
That health piece keeps coming up, and for good reason. Jay Drew pointed to the absence of a steady rushing attack since LJ Martin suffered a high-ankle sprain in the first quarter against TCU as the biggest reason the offense has sputtered. With Martin limited, quarterback Bear Bachmeier has been put in spots where he has had to carry too much and do things that don’t fit his comfort zone.
That has shown up late in second quarters, too. BYU has left scoring chances on the table before halftime against UCF, Arizona State and Utah, missing opportunities that could have put those games in a much better place.
The third quarter has become its own problem. Against Utah, BYU opened the half with a false start, then bounced back when Kyler Kasper made a spectacular catch on third-and-3. But on first-and-10 at the Utah 41, Aaron Roderick went to the pass instead of leaning on Martin, and Utah defensive end Lance Holtzclaw dropped into coverage and picked it off.
Drew’s fix is straightforward: get the run game rolling again. He also said BYU has missed starting right tackle Andrew Gentry and the leadership he brings on the field more than expected. Baylor won’t make that any easier, either, with one of the best defenses in college football coming to town.
Dick Harmon sees the same third-quarter dip, noting that BYU’s scoring in that period since the Iowa State game has fallen off sharply: seven against the Cyclones, zero against Notre Dame, seven at UCF, then zero against Arizona State and Utah. He said some of that could be the natural letdown after a fast start, but he agreed the bigger issue is the run game.
“If you can’t run the football effectively in a physical game that is actually an organized fight, it creates an attitude of playing with finesse instead of that bully mode,” Harmon wrote.
He also said BYU misses LJ Martin as “a hammer tool” and believes Sione Moa is starting to look more like himself again in Aaron Roderick’s offense. Harmon added that Moa has become a stronger pass blocker, while Preston Rex’s option pitch threat has been absent the past several weeks and could have mattered against Utah.
Defense has played a role in the late-game issues, too. Harmon pointed out that BYU has not been a high-level tackling team, even with 11 tackles for loss against Utah, and said missed tackles and sacks on key third downs hurt the Cougars in losses at UCF and Utah.
His bottom line was blunt: BYU’s highs and lows in execution have been too wide. Clean that up, and he believes the Cougars would be undefeated.
Both Drew and Harmon picked BYU to beat Baylor, 31-28.
After the Utah loss, Kalani Sitake also addressed what he thinks about the expanded playoff picture and what his team needs to focus on now. Meanwhile, BYU fans are still tracking the numbers around the program, including Legend Glasker’s 703 receiving yards through nine games, leaving him 69 shy of passing Austin Collie for the most receiving yards in a season by a true freshman at BYU.
And there’s still plenty of belief around the program that the Big 12 race can open up. One fan noted that chaos across the conference could help BYU, with several teams tied in the standings and Texas Tech still vulnerable.
The same thought ran through the broader discussion: beat Baylor, keep the field in front of you, and the picture gets a lot more interesting. Lose, and the playoff talk ends quickly.
In Other News...
Bachmeiers Holy War Slide Just Raised A Bigger BYU Question
Week 10 offered another reminder that quarterback play is driving the Big 12 conversation, and BYU is right in the middle of it as the league turns to Week 11. The latest review of conference passers put a spotlight on several familiar names, from Noah Fifita and Thomas Castellanos to Michael Hawkins Jr., while also setting up a fresh round of quarterback matchups that could reshape the pecking order heading into the stretch run.
For BYU, the bigger question is less about the rankings themselves and more about where its own quarterback situation fits in a league that keeps demanding answers every week. With the top eight Big 12 quarterbacks being sorted by recent form and the next slate of challenges already in view, the Cougars are watching closely to see whether their position in that conversation holds or slips as the competition tightens. [Read more 🡒]
BYUs Defense Has Become A Real Concern At The Worst Time
Missed tackles have become one of the most glaring issues for BYU at exactly the wrong moment, with the Cougars ranking near the bottom of the Football Bowl Subdivision in tackle success rate during recent games. Its a concern the defense has not tried to brush aside, and players and coaches have acknowledged that the standard simply has not been good enough.
The response has been to get back to basics in practice, with more emphasis on tackling fundamentals and drills as BYU prepares for a critical matchup against Baylor. For a defense trying to steady itself late in the season, the challenge is no longer just about effort or alignment, but about cleaning up the kind of mistakes that can turn a solid series into a long gain in a hurry. [Read more 🡒]
BYU Is Suddenly At The Center Of A Big 12 Playoff Push
The Big 12s playoff picture has started to look a lot different, and BYU is right in the middle of the conversation. Josh Pate and Joel Klatt spent time this week breaking down the leagues College Football Playoff prospects, pointing to BYU, Utah and Texas Tech as teams with legitimate paths to the bracket as the season takes shape.
What makes the discussion especially interesting from BYUs side is the broader shift in how the league is being viewed. The argument now is less about brand names and more about resumes, with the Big 12 suddenly looking capable of stacking up well against the Big Ten and even making a case for as many as three playoff bids. For BYU, that means every week carries more weight in a conference race that could end up shaping the national field. [Read more 🡒]