Turnovers can't be ignored after BYU offense wakes up against No. 14 Oklahoma

PROVO — Jake Retzlaff was making all the right reads, including many of them with his feet, as he threw for 173 yards and two touchdowns, and ran for 29 yards and another score in BYU's regular-season home finale against No. 14 Oklahoma.

Except, of course, for that one play.

You probably know the reference: In the middle of the third quarter of a 17-17 game, Retzlaff took the snap on the 2-yard line and thought he saw an opening with a run-pass option.

The former No. 1 junior college quarterback by ESPN before transferring to BYU this past spring tried to hurry his throw and find Kody Epps for a quick score that would have given the Cougars their first lead of the day over the vaunted Sooners.

Instead, Oklahoma defensive back Billy Bowman Jr. pulled off his assigned coverage at the last minute, jumped a route in a flash, and pulled down Retzlaff's pass just in front of the goal line.

Retzlaff may face plenty of brighter days in his career, but that moment won't be on the highlight reel.

Bowman's 100-yard interception return for a touchdown — the second-most all-purpose yardage by an Oklahoma player during the mid-morning kickoff — wasn't the game-winning touchdown that moved the Sooners to 9-2 and 6-2 in Big 12 play.

But the costly mistake and 21 points off three turnovers in Oklahoma's 31-24 win over BYU on senior day in front of an announced crowd of 63,714 can't be ignored — unlike the large swath of empty bleachers directly above the student section in the southeast corner of LaVell Edwards Stadium.

"The play call was an RPO, which means run first," BYU coach Kalani Sitake said. "We went fast, and you don't throw the pass unless there is nobody covering him. I don't even think the receiver thought the ball was going to him. This was just one of those moments where you've just got to hand the ball off. I believe they had two guys out on coverage, and from our read it's give the ball."

Retzlaff's performance was perhaps his best of his three-game season (so far), and he led arguably the most efficient offensive performance of the year for BYU on Saturday, averaging 6.1 yards per play for 390 yards — including 217 of them on the ground.

Retzlaff scrambled for 59 yards before sacks for the 24-point underdogs that showed why offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick has sided with dual-threat quarterbacks in his three seasons overseeing BYU's offense.

"The turnovers were such a downer," Sitake said. "I don't care if quarterbacks or players think we overemphasize it; take care of the stinking football, don't put it on the ground, and take care of the ball. That football does not belong to him, it belongs to the program."

So what went wrong on the play?

Epps, the intended target on the play, said it was "one of our get-on-the-ball plays." But Bowman came out of a pack of defenders in the middle of the field late and jumped his assignment to force a hand on the ball, he added.

"He made a really good play; and for a split second, it was over," Epps said. "It can be a little frustrating, but at the same time, you've got to move past it. The way football works is, they have to kick the ball back to us and we have to go back and play offense. Let is sting a little bit, but only to keep us motivated and move us down the field. But we've got to move past it, and that's something I think that we have."

Plenty of players tried to own their share for the miscue after the game; football is an 11-man game with shared responsibility after all. Even the coaches, like Roderick who called the play and Sitake who backed it.

But after gashing Oklahoma's run defense for three times for 58 yards through Aiden Robbins and Retzlaff, the former UNLV rusher was "a little bit" befuddled by the pass play.

"We were on our heels," Oklahoma coach Brent Venables said.

Added Robbins: "It stings a little bit, especially driving all the way down and getting to the 2-yard line, but that's football; it's adversity, it's a life lesson. When adversity hits you in the face, how are you going to respond?"

BYU definitely responded.

After racing back 100 yards to try to prevent the touchdown, Retzlaff picked himself up and immediately guided an eight-play, 75-yard drive capped off by a 10-yard rushing touchdown to tie the game again 24-24.

The Sooners' game-winner came with 7:57 remaining, when Gavin Sawchuk romped for 16 of his team-high 107 yards for a touchdown that helped Oklahoma finish off the game.

But that 3-0 turnover margin can't be ignored.

"Turnovers cost us," Sitake said. "You cannot be careless with the football, whether fumbles or interceptions, and expect to beat good teams. We lost the turnover margin, and it really cost us this one."

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