PROVO — After BYU fell to UMass 16-10 in the regular-season home finale Saturday afternoon in Provo, the Cougars guaranteed the third nine-loss season in program history and the first since 1955.

Freshman quarterback Joe Critchlow threw for 257 yards with one touchdown and four interceptions, and KJ Hall added 37 yards on the ground and 33 yards receiving to lead BYU (3-8), which ends the season at 3-8 Hawaii next Saturday.

“I think we are good enough to beat this team,” BYU coach Kalani Sitake said. “Players played hard, but we’ve got to do a better job. This is a better team than what we are playing like.”

How much worse can it get? The Cougars have never had a 10-loss season in the modern era, but face a similarly paced Hawaii team in the islands in a week.

Here are three thoughts on the Cougars’ mid-afternoon home finale.

It was bound to happen

After well-received reviews in his debut at quarterback during a win at UNLV, Critchlow backslid in his first start at home.

True freshmen will have inconsistent games in most cases, but Critchlow’s game was particularly worrisome. Along with the four picks, the red-haired signal caller also took seven sacks for a loss of 46 yards, with several unfavorable circumstances when rolling out of the pocket.

“This is the lowest point I’ve been (in the season),” Sitake quipped. “It is for all of us. We’ve got to rally back and find a way to perform this last week.

“We can’t get down on ourselves. We’ve got one more game to play … This is definitely a disappointing season, but we’ve got to find a way to push through that. We’ve got one more to help springboard us to next season.”

Critchlow didn’t get as much help from his run game as he did against the Rebels, either. The 25-carry machine that was Squally Canada ran for just 51 yards on 11 carries against UMass, including large vacant spells in the middle two quarters.

“I’m not entirely sure on why we ran the ball less this time,” Critchlow said. “I think that the way that the game played itself out and the adjustments let us pass the ball more. I felt like there were a lot more throws this time than last, and I could have taken responsibilities, better reads and better throws. But I failed to do so.”

At least there’s the punter

Senior punter Jonny Linehan provided the highlight of the Cougars’ first half, averaging 43.5 yards per punt with a long of 52 and two punts downed inside the 20-yard line.

Linehan’s play should be commended, but he had plenty of opportunities. The Cougars punted on six of their first seven drives, with the lone exception being an interception.

Overall, BYU’s special teams unit came to show up—the lone bright spot on an abysmal weekend afternoon.

“I would’ve taken 16 points before the game,” Sitake said. “Considering some of the short fields we put them in, the defense battled.”

Michael Shelton averaged 17 yards on five punt returns, including a 39-yard return in the second half.

But more often than not, BYU’s offense couldn’t convert the favorable field position into points.

“We had a few opportunities and just weren’t able to capitalize on the opportunities. That hurts us," Sitake said. "Jonny punted the ball well and our kickoff cover was good. Mike Shelton gave us a chance at a short field, and then we had a string of holding penalties and stupid mistakes that cost us on that drive.

“It just seemed like a lot of things went wrong when we needed them to go right.”

Students forget to show up

Saturday’s game was the final home game for a list of 18 seniors that included standouts like linebacker Fred Warner, center Tejan Koroma, guard Tuni Kanuch and defensive back Micah Hannemann.

It’s common for a home crowd to get behind a team as they end the regular season at home, an event called “Senior Night” or “Senior Day" around the country.

But in Provo, BYU students could hardly be bothered to show up. It wasn’t the end of a semester, and midterms have been finished for over a week. Rather, Saturday’s 40-degree kickoff under sunny skies barely drew a half-filled student section.

The recently dubbed “Roar of Cougars” by school officials was confined to a whimper for much of Saturday afternoon.

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