Stats aside, BYU is 5-2. Can Cougars clear bowl eligibility in inaugural Big 12 season?

PROVO — Very little about the postgame box score made sense.

In Texas Tech's first-ever trip to LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo, the Red Raiders poured in 389 yards of offense, held host BYU to 277, converted on 50% of third downs (9-of-18), and averaged 4.9 yards per play in a game that totaled just 10 second-half points — but lost to BYU. The Cougars' 27-14 win puts them on the cusp of a postseason bowl berth in their first year in the Big 12, a bid that would silence plenty of doubters.

OK, maybe not; it's impossible to silence all the doubters. But it might at least frustrate some.

"The expectation is to win every game, so not to say it's expected to be here, but it is definitely a blessing to be where we are at," said safety Ethan Slade, the walk-on pressed into the starting lineup who had his first career interception Saturday night. "We worked really hard to be here, and it's paying off."

The most notable stat that went in favor of BYU was the scoreboard. But there were a few other things that paved the way to the Cougars' fifth win of the season, a notable number as it puts the Big 12 newcomers one win away from a postseason bowl bid in their first season of Power Five football.

Led by a trio of interceptions from Eddie Heckard, Jakob Robinson and Slade and five turnovers — the most by a BYU football team since a 42-14 win over Utah State in 2019 — the Cougars' defense was on a mission. While BYU quarterback Kedon Slovis did just enough to win with 127 yards on 15-of-27 passing with two touchdowns, including highlight-reel catches by Darius Lassiter and Chase Roberts, the most important thing he did was what he didn't do.

That is, give the ball away.

"Looking at the stats, I know there are a lot of things we need to do better, especially third down on offense and defense," BYU coach Kalani Sitake. "We did enough to win the game tonight, but we need to do more with the opportunities we are given. We forced five turnovers tonight, and i think we left too many plays on the field. Still a lot of room for improvement in all three phases of the game, but we'll build on the win tonight and look forward to playing our best next week in Texas."

Offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick likes to say that his West Coast offense relies on limiting turnovers and keeping drives alive. Slovis, then, has been perfect for that philosophy in wins over Sam Houston, Southern Utah, Arkansas, Cincinnati and Texas Tech.

In those wins, Slovis has thrown just one interception, while in losses to Kansas and TCU, he's had three. Against the Red Raiders, the fifth-year senior led scoring drives on three of his first five attempts in the first half, before the offense punted on six of seven second-half possessions (perhaps honorable mention should go to Ryan Rehkow, who averaged 45.5 yards on eight punts with three 50-yarders, the third 70-yard punt of his career, and his first-ever fumble recovery).

If BYU's winning formula were boiled down to an oversimplified equation (we know it's more like calculus), it might look something like this: limited turnovers + opportunistic defense = profit.

That's been the case in leading the Cougars to a 5-2 start, including a 2-2 mark in conference play, currently tied for sixth in the league. The other newcomers of Houston, UCF and Cincinnati are a combined 1-11 in league play.

"We realistically want to be 7-0, but we can't get those games back," Lassiter said. "We've just got to keep moving forward. We love being 5-2. Our goal last week when we were 4-2 was to be 5-2, so we got that."

The Cougars may have also figured something out in the run game. LJ Martin had a career-long 55-yard run en route to a career-high 93 yards on the ground, and Aidan Robbins made his first appearance since Sept. 9 and finished with 49 yards on 16 carries. The duo helped inch BYU forward one spot to No. 128 nationally in rushing offense at 2.78 yards per carry and 79.3 yards per game, for what it's worth.

Can BYU do it again and earn a bowl-busting victory to clinch a sixth-straight postseason berth and 18th in the last 19 years?

That becomes the objective starting Saturday at No. 7 Texas (1:30 p.m. MDT, ABC), or every ensuing week against West Virginia, Iowa State, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State until win No. 6 is in the bag.

Of course, two of those games against the Cyclones and the Sooners are at home. So don't count this team out just yet.

"It's truly crazy. I've played in some big stadiums, but I've never played in a stadium like this, with this type of fans," Robbins said. "There's a difference between having people just filling up the seats and having people fill up the seats and making noise. People are into the game, and everybody is out there sober, too. I love it. They're just out there yelling."

Related topics