What BYU learned about itself in toughest game of the season

BYU found out a lot about itself in the toughest game played it’s played this year.

The double-overtime 33-27 win over Arizona in Tucson forced BYU to jump over a mile of hurdles Saturday night in the desert, including a lightning delay of more than an hour after racing out to a 14-0 lead.

It was made-for-TV entertainment.

It gave 6-0 BYU bowl eligibility, a chance to climb in the polls, and the first-ever back-to-back 6-0 starts in school history.

But folks, this was a heart-stopper.

It was dead and then alive for the Cougars.

BYU learned it has a gamer in its freshman QB.

Everything went wrong after BYU led 14-0 in quarter one. Arizona raced ahead 24-14 with less than a dozen minutes to play.

Then, just as Arizona was about to close the book, BYU rose its head from the grave and zombied the Wildcats out of their own stadium.

The factors against BYU were monumental. So was the comeback.

With 11:14 left in the game, BYU trailed Arizona by 10 points at 24-14 without star defensive tackle Keanu Tanuvasa (ejected), starting safety Raider Damuni (early injury), and its best defensive player, Jack Kelly (did not play).

That’s not a good look.

In fact, it looked like a recipe for disaster.

Arizona got hot as a sunbaked horned toad. Wildcat fans were in a frenzy. Arizona kept making plays and hitting doubles.

BYU spent two quarters in the middle of the game sputtering. It was wild. It was a low-desert drama.

It was a classic Big 12 fistfight.

After Arizona scored 24 unanswered points on the Cougars, it appeared the No. 18 were cooked. They were just done.

The No. 10-ranked Arizona defense picked off freshman BYU Bear Bachmeier twice. BYU failed to make distance on a second-quarter fake punt run by the Cougars on a fourth-and-9. A missed Will Ferrin field goal was poison. These plays robbed the Cougars of four possessions they desperately needed to mount a comeback.

But there was nothing for Kalani Sitake’s team to do but fight.

And it started with Sitake himself.

When officials flagged BYU linebacker Isaiah Glasker for roughing the passer and tried to tack on a targeting infraction on the same play, Sitake had seen enough. Glasker hit Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita as he was trying to pass and the hit knocked the ball out of his hands before it hit the top of his arc motion. It looked like a legit hit.

“How do you rough the passer when he still has the ball?” Sitake said afterward.

Fifita is all of 5-foot-9 and Glasker is 6-foot-6. He made a football play while Fifita was in the act of passing, knocking the ball out of his hands when he’d made a forward pass move.

Sitake made his objection known to officials. He’d already watched Tanuvasa get ejected for targeting in the first half. Penalties amounting to more than 20 yards on this Arizona drive kept the Wildcats alive and eating up the third-quarter clock. Passionately and vocally, Sitake protested. The normally stoic coach went nuts.

And it inspired his team.

Glasker ended that drive with an interception of Fifita near the goal line.

Replacing Kelly, Siale Esera had a career high 16 tackles and led BYU in defensive points.

Learn much? This team has guts.

After Arizona scored 24-straight points, BYU scored 19 after being shut out in the second and third quarters, outscoring Arizona 19-10 through the last 11 minutes of regulation and two overtimes.

The game ended with Bachmeier plowing through Arizona’s defense for first downs and keeping drives alive, scoring a pair of touchdowns, one to tie the game, another producing the winning points in the second extra period.

Before this game, Bachmeier had faced substandard defenses. Only East Carolina, Stanford and a little bit of Colorado showed any resistance and none were as good as Arizona.

Bachmeier (22 carries for 89 yards, 2 TDs) and running back LJ Martin (25 for 162, 1 TD) carried the Cougars on their backs.

Parker Kingston’s 31-yard punt return late in the fourth was kind of a miracle and led to the game-tying TD.

Not to mention how, in the nasty scrum, BYU offensive lineman Kyle Sfarcioc came up with a Bachmeier fumble in a massive pile of sweaty bodies inside Arizona’s 5-yard line to set up the freshman’s touchdown, tying Arizona 24-24 with 19 seconds left in regulation.

This was just silly.

BYU disappeared for two quarters and then laid the mustard on Arizona in the final 11 minutes like a thoroughbred hitting the final stretch.

In the end, with Fifita attacking BYU’s secondary in the end zone in the second overtime, corners Mory Bamba and Evan Johnson played textbook man coverage, and made huge plays to close out Arizona.

Was all this just too much emotion for BYU heading into a big rivalry game?

It just might be.

This one was an emotional rollercoaster for Sitake’s team.

The Cougars created their own mulligans in Tucson. Over and over again.

And they won a game it looked like they’d allowed to slip away.

Well, it does set up a great stage for BYU hosting the Utes.