BYU Football Questions Answered In Loss Against Texas
Oct 28, 2023, 5:32 PM
BYU football playing at Darrel K Royal Texas Memorial Stadium (Courtesy of BYU Photo)
(Courtesy of BYU Photo)
AUSTIN, Texas – The BYU football team couldn’t make enough offensive plays in a 35-6 loss to the Texas Longhorns.
Texas added 14 points in the fourth quarter to put the Cougars away.
Let’s answer some questions from the first and only trip the Cougars made to Austin, Texas to play Texas as a conference opponent.
Who was the MVP for BYU football?
Crew Wakley had himself a nice game against Texas. He recorded his first career interception in the first half.
Sadly, Wakley left the game injured midway through the fourth quarter but returned on the next drive.
He led the team in tackles with nine.
The entire defense deserves to be recognized for a second consecutive week.
Another goal line stand from the #BYU defense.
Can the BYU offense make Texas pay for their decisions?
Great effort today from Jay Hill's defense.#BYUFootball
— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) October 28, 2023
If you include two massive goal-line stands where Texas turned the ball over on downs, the Cougar defense forced four turnovers.
It’s clear the defense under Jay Hill is much improved from last season.
What was the most impactful play of the game?
Texas has a lot of NFL talent. Offensively, they have multiple receivers that will be playing on Sundays.
Xavier Worthy, one of several talented Longhorn receivers, made an impressive play early in the first quarter that changed the game.
After the BYU defense forced a punt, the Cougar offense couldn’t get anything going and had to punt it away after three plays.
Enter Worthy.
Xavier Worthy is something else.
What a punt return TD for the Texas WR. #BYU early deficit after the offense went three-and-out. @kslsports #BYUFOOTBALL
— Matthew Baiamonte (@baiamontematt) October 28, 2023
He displayed great speed and impressive agility on a 74-yard punt return for the first score of the game.
BYU’s special teams have been solid most of the season, but allowing the punt return touchdown made things difficult from the get-go.
What was the most interesting stat from the game?
Coming into the game against the Longhorns, BYU was ranked 124th in the country in third-down offensive conversion rate.
Unfortunately, that number is going to decrease after what happened in Texas.
BYU only converted two of their 13 attempts on third down.
It’s hard to sustain drives when you can’t keep the chains moving.
The Cougars struggled on first down for much of the game as well, which put the BYU offense in long third-down situations.
Regardless, BYU has to find a way to move the football.
When was the game lost for BYU football?
Texas quarterback Maalik Murphy was making his first career start against BYU.
On the second Texas offensive drive of the game, Murphy made a bad decision and threw a pass that was easily intercepted by Crew Wakley.
Wakley returned the interception deep into Texas territory, but a block in the back penalty negated a long return.
Four plays later, Slovis had his third down pass deflected at the line of scrimmage.
It became an easy interception for Texas defender Terrance Brooks.
The Longhorns scored six plays later on a Jonathon Brooks touchdown run.
Up next, a tough road trip to Morgantown, West Virginia with another chance to become bowl eligible.
You can hear Matt Baiamonte every Saturday on KSL Newsradio for Cougar Sports Saturday from 12:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. or you can find him on Twitter here.
