SALT LAKE CITY — BYU lost its sixth-straight rivalry game 20-19 at Rice-Eccles Stadium on Saturday night, which won’t sit well in Provo and fan circles around the country.

But it wasn’t all bad, either. The Cougars (1-1) gambled on a two-point conversion that would’ve won the game in the final 10 seconds, failed to earn the try, and ultimately dropped a game that featured nine turnovers and even more sloppy play.

Here’s how the Cougars graded out in their sixth-straight loss in the historic rivalry series.

Offense: C+

Death, taxes, and Utah with a game-opening interception.

Hill’s first pass attempt of the game was intercepted by Sunia Tauteoli and returned 44 yards for a touchdown, putting the Cougars in a hole before most of the offensive players got on the field.

Utah’s defensive line dictated the tempo and flow of the game when BYU touched the ball.

But BYU’s early struggles woke up a sleeping Taysom Hill in the second quarter, and the fifth-year senior escaped a block by Jonah Trinnaman for a 39-yard TD run to take a 13-6 lead with 4:06 left in the half.

Hill threw three interceptions in the final rivalry game of his career, and no receiver had more than 40 yards — essentially eliminating the passing game from the evening.

On the final drive of the game, Hill looked like a man possessed. He used a broken play to plunge 7 yards into the end zone for a touchdown, but elected to go for two on the final play.

In the end, Hill finished with 176 yards passing and three interceptions, but also ran the ball for 87 yards and two scores — being his most dangerous as a dual-threat quarterback. No BYU receiver passed the 50-yard mark until Mitchell Juergens hauled in his eighth catch for 52 yards on the final drive.

Defense: B+

Francis Bernard forced away the Utes’ first offensive snap, continuing his scintillating start to his defensive career. Kai Nacua recovered the first fumble of his career just 29 yards from goal as the Cougars forced the first turnover in the rivalry series since 2011. Dayan Lake then jumped on Harvey Langi’s forced fumble on the Utes’ next offensive series, even as the BYU offense couldn’t take advantage.

Nacua also had two interceptions in the first half, but the secondary also could’ve done better to defend Tim Patrick from hauling in a 21-yard TD pass with just 17 seconds on the clock.

When Nacua and Austin McChesney were ejected for back-to-back (controversial) targeting penalties in the third quarter, the game changed.

Butch Pau’u led all BYU tacklers with nine drops, and he combined on a tackle for loss.

“I think our defense played well, but not as well as we played last week,” Pau’u said. “The last drive, they ran two plays and we couldn’t stop it. We were running assignment sound in the second half, but we can only improve from here. Our defense is going to get better.”

Special teams: B+

Mitchell Juergens finished off a fake punt to Corbin Kaufusi on the Cougars’ first deep drive, but the Cougars still settled for a 43-yard field goal from Jake Oldroyd to open their scoring account. Oldroyd accounted for all of BYU’s scoring in the first quarter, adding a 42-yard field goal as well.

Just when things were looking off the rails for BYU’s offense and defense, Boobie Hobbs muffed a punt and Michael Davis jumped on it at the 49-yard line to give BYU possession entering the final period.

Jonny Linehan averaged 38.6 yards per punt — a dropoff from a week ago. But Oldroyd continued his hot start to the season with two field goals from more than 40 yards away.

Coaching: B-

Ty Detmer isn’t a fan of trick plays (he’ll only run them if he needs to). But Ed Lamb apparently is after the special teams pulled out the first fake field goal of the game on Juergens' pass to Kaufusi, his first career reception.

After Hill pulled the Cougars within one, 20-19 with 18 seconds left, the coaches drew up a draw play on the two-point conversion. Utah stuffed the attempt, and held on for another classic finish in rivalry history — but a sixth-straight loss. Sitake said the play also had a pass option, but Hill had so many Utah rushers in his face upon the snap that it seems hard to imagine he would’ve had time to find any open receiver.

Sitake defended the two-point conversion call after the game. It proved more difficult to defend the play, though.

“We had a called draw, they blitzed, and they made a good defensive play,” Hill said. “I thought it was a good call. They were playing in empty sets, we felt like we had it, and they ended up blitzing it for a tough play.”

Overall: B-

It wasn’t a perfect game, but BYU showed improvements in all facets of the game from its season-opener against Arizona. Sitake gambled on a two-point conversion and lost, and the Cougars couldn’t come up with an on-side kick, either.

“I’m really proud of our players and the way they played. It’s just a tough battle,” Sitake said. “But it was a lot of fun. I’m really proud of our guys at the end of the game.

“We’ll keep working, and I think we’ll build on this. This will make us a better team.”

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