3 takeaways after BYU was overwhelmed in lopsided loss at West Virginia
BYU’s chase for bowl eligibility has morphed into a pursuit of simply being competitive.
Following a blowout 37-7 loss at West Virginia on Saturday, the Cougars have been outscored by an average score of 38.6 to 8 in their last three losses, all in the past four weeks.
At one point, the Cougars went nine straight quarters without scoring a touchdown, before a late score against the Mountaineers ended that streak.
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Here are three takeaways from a defeat that dropped BYU to 5-4 overall and 2-4 in Big 12 play.
Where’s the offense?
BYU has scored just four offensive touchdowns in the last four games and extended those woes into a forgettable night in Morgantown. Aidan Robbins’ first touchdown as a Cougar late in the game was the only thing keeping BYU from getting shut out.
Junior college transfer Jake Retzlaff took over for Kedon Slovis at quarterback, and Retzlaff completed 24 of 42 passes for 210 yards and ran for 26 yards in a decent showing for the first-time starter.
The Cougars, though, never got things going offensively.
BYU ran for just 67 yards — its seventh time this season running for less than 100 yards in a game — and was just 3 of 11 on third down.
The Cougars got into West Virginia territory six times but had just one score, three turnovers on downs, a missed field goal and a fumble just before halftime on those drives.
All around, it was another frustrating effort from one of the nation’s worst offenses.
West Virginia ran all over the Cougars defense
While Mountaineers quarterback Garrett Greene had a solid night (205 passing yards, two touchdowns), West Virginia’s running backs powered an offensive effort that netted 567 yards that diced up the BYU defense all night.
All totaled, the Mountaineers ran for 336 yards, more than 125 yards over their average of 203.3 rushing yards per game heading into the contest.
Freshman Jaheim White led West Virginia with 146 rushing yards on 16 carries — good for a 9.1 per-carry average — and CJ Donaldson added 102 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries.
The Mountaineers scored on six of their first seven possessions and seven of 11 overall, with six of those scoring drives going more than 50 yards and four of them covering 75 or more yards.
Another painstakingly slow start
In what’s become a nightmarish theme this season, BYU found itself down more than two scores in the game’s early minutes.
West Virginia took the game’s opening possession 75 yards for a touchdown, as the Cougars were twice penalized for pass interference before Donaldson fought his way in for a 2-yard score.
BYU’s first drive got just past midfield before bogging down, and Robbins was dropped for a 2-yard loss on a fourth-and-2 play.
The Mountaineers struck fast, marching 52 yards before Donaldson added a second short touchdown run to make it 14-0 less than nine minutes into the game.
BONUS: Penalties galore
The Cougars ended with 10 penalties for 98 yards, and many of them were costly.
The worst was a holding penalty on the opening kickoff of the third quarter when Keelan Marion ran 91 yards untouched for what appeared to be a touchdown for BYU. The Cougars quickly went three-and-out after the costly penalty.
BYU was called for two pass interference penalties on West Virginia’s opening drive, and both Jakob Robinson and Max Tooley were called for personal fouls in the second quarter to extend drives.
Offensively, the Cougars were flagged for a delay of game before their first play of the night and a false start penalty in the fourth quarter helped push them back further on a drive that ended in a missed field goal.
What’s next?
1. BYU returns home. After playing three of its last four games on the road, BYU will host Iowa State next week. The Cyclones lost to Kansas on Saturday.
2. The Cougars are still chasing bowl eligibility. BYU has lost three of its past four games — all on the road — and now sit at 5-4 on the year, needing one more victory to become bowl eligible. That’s the same spot they’ve been in for a couple weeks.
3. Will BYU get some injured players back? Slovis missed his first game this season Saturday, leading to Retzlaff making his first career start. The Cougars also didn’t have a pair of wide receivers — Darius Lassiter and Keanu Hill — make the trip, and Kody Epps left in the second quarter after taking a big hit. BYU needs some of its offensive weapons back to have any chance against Iowa State.
