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PROVO — Football is determined by all 11 players working in tandem — on offense, defense and special teams. But the quarterback always gets a lot of credit for successes and an overt share of blame for failures.
Such was the case for first-time BYU starter Jake Retzlaff.
The junior college transfer showed off his arm and running ability in his debut for the Cougars, throwing for 210 yards and running for 26 more to account for 236 of BYU's 277 yards on the road at West Virginia.
But, ultimately, the 6-foot-2, 200-pound former JUCO standout will be judged on wins and losses, as he was in Saturday night's 37-7 loss to the Mountaineers (6-3, 4-2 Big 12).
Retzlaff's first career start was hardly what he envisioned or hoped for when he first signed with BYU out of Riverside Community College. But that's hardly the fault of the former No. 1-ranked JUCO quarterback by ESPN who threw for 4,596 yards and 44 touchdowns with a pass efficiency rating of 165.4 and ran for 515 yards and six scores en route a California Community College state championship and a 12-1 record.
Retzlaff is, above all else, a competitor, and competitors like to win.
"It was 37-7 at the end of the day," he said. "I'll have to go back and watch the tape to figure out what we need to do, how we need to be better, and how I need to be better. I don't know the numbers or anything, but we've got to play better as a unit and put some points on the board. We didn't do that this week."
The Cougars (5-4, 2-4 Big 12) knew all week Retzlaff would be the starter after Kedon Slovis suffered an injury to his throwing arm against Texas, according to several sources close to the quarterback. BYU coach Kalani Sitake called the injury "day-to-day, week-to-week," and did not specify a timeline or return for the fifth-year senior quarterback from Arizona via USC and Pitt.
He'll take his share of the blame on himself, but Retzlaff wasn't responsible for a West Virginia team that put up 567 yards of offense, including 336 on the ground with a pair of 100-yard rushers in Jaheim White and CJ Donaldson.
Retzlaff and the offense only accounted for one turnover — a forced fumble after Parker Kingston caught a pass on a seam and put the ball on the turf. But he also took three sacks from four quarterback hurries.
"We lost the game in all three phases," Sitake said.
Then there was the issue of the offensive line, which gave up three sacks and allowed four quarterback hurries with eight tackles for loss.
"I'll have to watch the film, but I felt like there were too many whiffs — and by that, I mean, unblocked guys," Sitake said. "Whether it was the run game or pass pro, it wasn't good enough. Jake battled; I don't know if you guys agree with me or not, but he battled, he played hard, he threw the ball with great velocity and accuracy.
"It was his first game starting, and I thought he made a couple of mistakes, but the energy and the effort was there; I liked what he did in the game. We just couldn't piece momentum together."
Retzlaff's first career start yielded some fresh results from the BYU quarterback position, and he brings certain traits to the table that even the Cougars' QB1, Slovis, hasn't all year.
In addition to completing 24-of-42 passes, the dual-threat signal caller also ran 10 times for 26 yards — easily surpassing Slovis' season-best of 8 net rushing yards set in a 35-6 loss to Texas.
It's unfair to compare the two directly — both Slovis and Retzlaff admit they are different types of quarterbacks — but the added dimension and athletic capabilities bring something to the Cougars that the team doesn't have with Slovis.
"It's been awesome getting to know Jake this year," BYU linebacker Max Tooley told BYU radio. "All of us had confidence in him. We knew he was going to come out and make thing happen. It was good to see him using this feet, picking up first downs and chunk plays."
With his debut aside, Retzlaff could potentially put himself in play to face Iowa State Saturday at home in a game that could easily determine the Cougars' postseason. It may be a must-win game after losing three of the last four, with the prospects of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State to end the season.
He also can play in all four games to end the regular season for BYU football, under new NCAA redshirt requirements.
But whether he returns to the starting lineup or a support role, Retzlaff has a simple message: "I'm going to go out there and play my heart out and play my hardest every week. Whatever that comes to, I'll live with that."
