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FORT WORTH, Texas — Maybe there is something to BYU's "Vampire Cougars" unofficial nickname that was trending around the internet this past week.
Of course, it's much more likely a coincidence that BYU football plays better during the day than that any member of the team or coaching staff is a ravenous bloodsucker in the vein of Bram Stoker's Dracula.
But the Cougars' continuing struggles under daylight can't be ignored, either.
In the days leading up to BYU's first game against TCU since 2011, a viral Reddit post proclaimed the Cougars a "vampire team" and caught the attention of the fan base.
A few days later, BYU traveled to Fort Worth, Texas, and suffered its worst loss of the season — and worst loss under head coach Kalani Sitake since 2017 — in a 44-11 rout that kicked off at, you guessed it, 2:35 p.m. local time and ended just after 6 p.m.
Credit goes to TCU, which won its fifth-straight matchup against BYU (4-2, 1-2 Big 12) and seventh overall by the largest margin in the series that dates back to 1987. But maybe there's something to these "vampires."
"Do we make a big deal of it with our players? Absolutely not," BYU defensive coordinator Jay Hill said earlier in the week when asked about the daytime stats. "I don't put any stock in it, because the reality is, no matter when you kick off you'd better be ready to go. I know it's something people talk about, but I don't put much stock into it. I've won a lot of afternoon games, and we've won a lot of night games (at BYU), too."
The outcome seems coincidental, but the results are no less jarring: BYU is a significantly better team when it plays at night as opposed to during the day.
According to Reddit user Kruger-Dunning, BYU is 21-0 since the 2020 season in games that kick off by or after sunset. In those games, the Cougars have outscored their opponents by an average of 19 points per game.
That number drops to 12-11 in games that are played primarily, or at least partially, during the early day — a number that includes day losses to Big 12 foes Kansas and TCU. Push it back to 2019, and the Cougars are 14-14 when the sun is up.
But then "things get weirder," the Redditor added.
"During the day portion of those games, BYU was outscored 82-103 (lost this period by 3 points on average)," the post read. "During the night portion of these games, BYU outscored (its) opponents 110-82 (positive 4-point margin)."
There are other factors in play beyond time of sunset, of course. The Cougars are more likely to play later at home, due to geography and ESPN's 10:15 p.m. EDT television window. That would help explain some of BYU's "night-field advantage," but the rule also travels (not every game, but enough to be considered a rule).
There's also, of course, talent and team quality, but those aren't as fun to imagine.
"I bet if you look at that, a lot of the afternoon games are on the road and a lot of night games are at home," Hill said. "Bottom line, LaVell Edwards Stadium is a huge advantage — whether it's a day game or a night game. We love playing at home. But one of my favorite things is to go on the road, and to play on the road; if we get an opportunity to do it as a really good team, then great."
In the latest example, BYU wasn't just beaten by a TCU team that entered Saturday with a .500 record, a backup quarterback, and consecutive losses to West Virginia and Iowa State. It was thoroughly outclassed.
The Horned Frogs (4-3, 2-2 Big 12) posted 584 yards of offense, including 439 yards and four touchdowns through the arm of redshirt freshman signal caller Josh Hoover. They held the Cougars to a season-low 243 yards of offense, picked off Kedon Slovis twice, and stifled BYU's anemic run game.
The Cougars tried to change up their offense, specifically a run game that ranks among the worst in the Football Bowl Subdivision averaging 2.28 yards per carry and 62.8 yards per game. They moved the offensive line around, putting Connor Pay back at center, moving Paul Maile to left guard and bringing back Weylin Lapuaho from injury to play right guard. Brayden Keim also started at right tackle for the second-straight game for Caleb Etienne.
None of it seemed to work, though Miles Davis provide a spark for the second-straight game with 10 rushes for 47 yards.
Still, BYU averaged just 3.7 yards per play and 2.8 yards per rush, led once again by freshman LJ Martin's 58 yards on 14 carries (4.0 yards per rush).
The Cougars also hurt themselves by converting on just 2-of-14 third downs and 1-of-3 fourth downs.
The second-largest defeat in Kalani Sitake's eight-year tenure as head coach will cause plenty of introspection at BYU, coaches and players included; Sitake admitted as much. Gameday logistics? Maybe not — but plenty is on the table.
"Sometimes you have to pivot, and figure out other ways to do things," Sitake said after Saturday's game. "You can't just keep doing the same things and expect the results to change. We definitely have to pivot — but they are all within the realm of our capabilities.
"I don't think we have to reinvent the wheel, but we do have to do some things differently, to get stops on defense, to get pressure, and on offense to get points on the board. We'll figure it out. We have the players and the talent to do it. That's our job as coaches … to figure that out."
