Is No. 11 BYU the best team in the Big 12? Cougars will get a chance to prove it

PROVO — The Big 12 standings were shaken up Saturday with the result of a nationally televised game on FOX.

But before BYU's 24-21 rivalry win over Utah, the network aired perhaps an even stronger argument for — or indictment against, depending on which spin zone you're watching — when Sam Leavitt out-dueled Will Hammond and Arizona State handed then-No. 7 Texas Tech its first loss, 26-22 in the desert at Mountain America Stadium in Tempe, Arizona.

A few hours later on the same network ... well, you already know what happened.

With the Red Raiders' loss, the Cougars (7-0, 4-0 Big 12) are the highest ranked team from the Big 12 in the latest Associated Press Top 25 at No. 11. BYU also stands atop the Big 12 standings, a 4-0 start to conference play matched only by Cincinnati (6-1, 4-0 Big 12).

Bear Bachmeier and his band of Cougs will have a chance to settle the difference with both of those teams, starting after Saturday's trip to Iowa State. No. 14 Texas Tech — which plummeted seven spots with the loss — hosts Oklahoma State and travels to Kansas State before a top-25 showdown Nov. 8 against BYU in Lubbock.

But for now, BYU has to be considered a team to beat in a conference where holding such a title has often been volatile.

"These guys played their butts off, and the fans were amazing tonight in the stadium," BYU coach Kalani Sitake said after most of the 64,794 fans invaded the field and hoisted school president C. Shane Reese on their shoulders. "You guys could feel the energy, and I'm glad that we were able to make the plays. We knew that it would take all three phases, and we knew that it would be a fight to the end — and I give Utah a lot of credit for the performance."

BYU lost the yardage battle, 470-368 after Bear Bachmeier capped his 166-yard passing, 64-yard rushing, two-touchdown night in victory formation. But the Cougars were more disciplined than the Utes, with just five penalties to their rivals' 12 and Utah turned the ball over on downs three times on BYU's side of the field.

Utah was more effective on third down, converting five. But both teams gambled — and lost regularly — on fourth down, with an aggregate of 2-of-8 conversions in the aggressive rivalry tilt.

But once again, turnovers were arguably the most crucial point in the 97th (or 103rd, take your pick) edition of the in-state's premier college football series. BYU forced two of them, including an interception by Tanner Wall as part of a 14-0 run after the Utes took a 14-10 lead on Daniel Bray's 49-yard touchdown to open the fourth quarter.

"I mean, being in the Holy War, it's gotta be No. 1," Wall said when asked where the pick ranks among his five career interceptions. "I was talking to the guys back at the hotel before the game, and I told the guys that those that make plays in this game go down as legends forever in BYU fandom. So I'm grateful to have made that play tonight, one that shifted the momentum for us to go down and score to put the game away."

Sitake didn't spend much time looking ahead to the Cyclones or recounting the impact of more than 100 years of what many believe to be the most underrated rivalry in the country. He's been a part of too many of them — on both sides — to do that.

Instead, after his team had given him flowers that hung around his neck in a lei, he opened his postgame remarks giving Utah's Kyle Whittingham flowers of his own. He praised the Utes' head coach of the past two decades who was his boss for 10 years, eventually as defensive coordinator, on the Hill.

"He's one of the best coaches I've ever known, and I appreciate him," Sitake said. "I told him during pregame that regardless of the result, he knows how much I appreciate him. I hope our people and our fans understand that he's extremely competitive, and he's a great man."

But Sitake also knows this isn't the end of the season. Starting 7-0 is nice, but the final five games of the regular season will give the Cougars a chance to show if they are the best team in the Big 12.

After Iowa State and Texas Tech, BYU hosts former Mountain West rival TCU before traveling to No. 21 Cincinnati and wrapping up the regular season at home against UCF.

The road doesn't get any easier for the Cougars.

"Last year, we won the game and then we lost the next one. And (the Utes) lost their next one," Sitake told his players in the postgame locker room. "That means we've got to work hard after this is done. We've got to play hard and have fun, too.

"Stay humble, stay hungry."

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