The BYU Cougars continue to roll after a big win over the University of Arizona on Saturday.
The Cougars started conference play a bit earlier this year as they hosted the Wildcats in front of yet another sold-out crowd at LaVell Edwards Stadium.
One of the bigger headlines heading into the game was BYU’s injury report, which featured starting safety Raider Damuni and RB2 Sione Moa, who are both out after experiencing injuries in Week One.
But that didn’t stop BYU from dominating, especially on the defensive end.
After a slow start in the first half, allowing Arizona to enter halftime leading every statistical category, the defense kicked it into gear and shut out the Wildcats in the second half and held their run game to negative two yards.
“I credit the adjustments we made. That defense really paid off, and it shows,” said linebacker Cade Uluave. “Negative two yards in the second half, that’s pretty good, so credit to those guys on the D-line that played their butts off and were getting to the quarterback.”
The offense had their fair share of success on Saturday as well. But the biggest story goes to transfer wide receiver Kyler Kasper. Kasper brought in two touchdowns for the Cougars on Saturday. They were the first two touchdowns of his career.
“It was amazing, man,” Kasper said. “Obviously the atmosphere was electric. It was everything I ever dreamed of in the stadium, and it was an awesome experience.”
BYU only controlled the ball for just over eight minutes in the first half, and penalties cut drives short.
“In the first half, I feel like we just had a lot of penalties that were just on us and just killed ourselves and backed us up,” said running back LJ Martin. “They held the ball a lot that first half, so it was kind of hard for us to get going. The second half, we started with the ball, so we were kind of ready. The second half was just a lot better because we had the ball a lot more.”
The Cougars started off the game slow and entered halftime down 17 to 14. While it’s never a scenario you don’t hope for, head coach Kalani Sitake said it wasn’t the worst-case scenario for BYU.
“We faced some adversity and went down one score,” Sitake said. “What’s actually nice is that we didn’t have to go down two scores to try to fight back.”
Sitake said this was a big game for the Cougars, praising Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita and the Wildcats as a whole.
“That was a great game and we knew it’d be a tough one,” Sitake said. “Arizona is a really good team; one of the best teams in the country. I think they’re definitely a team that should be ranked.”
With the big win on Saturday, BYU jumped four spots in the AP Top 25 poll and are now the 11th-ranked team in the country.
The Cougars head to Fort Collins this weekend to take on the Colorado State Rams.