How BYU Kept Undefeated Season Alive With ‘Spiritual’ Drive Over Oklahoma St.
Oct 19, 2024, 2:56 AM | Updated: Oct 21, 2024, 1:55 pm
PROVO, Utah – BYU football had 73 seconds. Score a touchdown, or the undefeated dream was over.
No. 13 BYU trailed Oklahoma State 35-31 with 1:13 remaining after Pokes QB Alan Bowman connected with Brennan Presley on a six-yard touchdown to cap off a 17-play drive.
This moment will be remembered in #BYU football history for a long time.#BYUFootball
pic.twitter.com/V9SpObofky— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) October 19, 2024
At that moment, it appeared BYU’s magical run was ending in front of a sold-out Friday night crowd.
However, like everything with the 2024 edition of BYU football, the players and coaches had different plans than what everyone else was thinking.
Breaking down BYU’s game-winning touchdown drive over Oklahoma State
BYU put together a game-winning drive that finished with QB Jake Retzlaff finding WR Darius Lassiter for a touchdown to give BYU a 38-35 victory.
That drive highlighted the wild twists and turns of the game but also the resilience of the now 7-0 Cougars.
“Everybody believed it,” Jake Retzlaff said. “I love two-minute [drill]. … The best situation I love is two-minute drill.”
BYU’s offense, led by Retzlaff, who was having an up-and-down night with two interceptions in the first half, took the field and started the drive on their own 25.
Big night for Dairus Lassiter. 🤙 pic.twitter.com/AcyVArS065
— KSL Sports (@kslsports) October 19, 2024
LaVell Edwards Stadium, which had another sold-out crowd, was quiet.
Retzlaff tried to thread the needle to Lassiter on play number one for the offense, but it was incomplete.
Second down provided some momentum to the offense, as Retzlaff connected with Lassiter for three yards. But more importantly, the graduate senior was able to get out of bounds.
BYU football moves the sticks on fourth down
After an incomplete pass intended for Keelan Marion, BYU faced a 4th & 7 from their 28-yard line.
Retzlaff, a former baseball pitcher growing up, tossed a strike over the middle to Chase Roberts for a first-down pickup.
The crowd started getting slightly more optimistic, but there were still 64 yards to go.
“I think the big play was the fourth down conversion to Chase Roberts. That was huge,” said BYU head coach Kalani Sitake.
Some of the momentum started to shift back to Oklahoma State after Retzlaff completed a short pass to Keanu Hill for a gain of two yards. Hill tried to get out of bounds, but the Pokes defenders kept him on the field.
BYU had to burn a timeout.
Jake Retzlaff takes off on the ground
Then Jake Retzlaff turned to his feet. BYU’s leading rusher entering the game popped off a 27-yard run to get down to the Oklahoma State 35-yard line.
BYU was knocking on the door of pulling this off.
“I remember seeing a lot of space in front of me and then I saw the linebacker trying to cut me up before I got up to the sideline, and there was just nobody behind him,” Retzlaff said. “It was like the safety was way back there, and I was like, ‘OK, he’s gonna give me the inside. I’ll just take the yards.'”
The rest of BYU’s offense caught up with the dual-threat Retzlaff, who finished 81 rushing yards on nine carries, to clock the ball.
BYU was now in 2nd & 10 from the OK State 35.
Retzlaff connected with Darius Lassiter for the game-winning touchdown.
LaVell Edwards Stadium erupted as BYU’s winning ways at night shined through again.
Darius Lassiter breaks down the final play
Interestingly, Lassiter revealed the play wasn’t initially for him.
“Originally, it was a play to get Jojo [Phillips] open. It was two scenes from the inside and a dig from the outside, just to get us in closer field position and things like that,” Lassiter said.
Darius Lassiter said he has never had a game-winner. He ranks it as the No. 1 play in his football career.#BYU #BYUFootball
— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) October 19, 2024
He continued, “But once I ran my seam, I looked back and nobody was in my spot, I just seen Jake looking this way. I didn’t see Jojo at the moment, but once I ran back to ballside screen him. Then I was like, I don’t know who he’s throwing this to, I was going to go make a play.
“I made the first guy miss and then after that, made one miss going into the endzone. It was a great feeling–especially doing it in front of The ROC.”
Lassiter said that was the first game-winner of his career.
BYU football delivered a “Spiritual experience”
The highlight-grabbing receiver has been revising his best plays at BYU list quite often since he arrived in the spring of 2023, but this one has to go to the top.
When Retzlaff took the podium to speak with the media in the wee hours of Saturday morning, he called it a “spiritual experience.”
“It’s magical, spiritual,” Retzlaff said. “How can you not be romantic about this game?”
Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and hosts the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (12–3 p.m.) on KSL Newsradio. Follow Mitch’s coverage of BYU in the Big 12 Conference on X: @Mitch_Harper.
