Highlights, key plays and photos from BYU’s victory over Cincinnati, its first Big 12 conference win

The Deseret News is providing live coverage from Friday night’s game between BYU and Cincinnati. Check back for updates throughout the game.

Final score

BYU 35, Cincinnati 27

BYU made the most of a pair of Cincinnati turnovers Friday night to earn its first Big 12 Conference victory by beating the visiting Bearcats.

Cincinnati possessed the ball for 10 more minutes than BYU and had 498 total yards to just 295 for the Cougars, but BYU turned two Bearcats turnovers into touchdowns — a reversal of when the Cougars gave up two defensive scores to Kansas last week.

A quick touchdown drive just before halftime also helped BYU shift momentum after an extremely slow start offensively.

Fourth quarter

BYU 35, Cincinnati 27

0:26 — Cincinnati has life after Braden Smith caught a 31-yard pass from Emory Jones with just under a half minute remaining. BYU 35, Cincinnati 27.

Chase Roberts, though, recovered the onsides kick attempt to wrap this one up.

12:41 — LJ Martin scored for the second time tonight, bulling his way in for a 1-yard touchdown run on a short drive set up by a turnover. BYU 35, Cincinnati 20.

The Cougars started the possession at the Cincinnati 15 to start the fourth quarter after Bearcats punt returner Braden Smith misjudged a bounce on a BYU punt, touched the ball and the Cougars’ Austin Riggs recovered the ball.

Third quarter

BYU 28, Cincinnati 20

0:59 — Cincinnati marched down the field confidently, scoring on a 23-yard Chamon Metayer touchdown catch where he grabbed the ball falling down after it bounced off a defender’s helmet. BYU 28, Cincinnati 20.

The Bearcats have answered each BYU touchdown in the second half with a score of its own, the only different being Cincinnati kicked a field goal on its previous drive.

2:53 — Kedon Slovis showed some nice moves, evading a pass rusher before throwing for Chase Roberts on a second-and-21. Roberts made the catch in double coverage, then ran the rest of the way — nearly 40 yards — on a 59-yard touchdown that put the Cougars back up two scores. BYU 28, Cincinnati 13.

After BYU’s first four possessions of the game ended in punts, the Cougars have scored touchdowns on three straight drives.

5:24 — BYU kept Cincinnati out of the end zone on a third-and-goal, but Cincinnati added a 22-yard field goal from Carter Brown to make it a one-possession game. BYU 21, Cincinnati 13.

That was another long drive for the Bearcats, going 71 yards on 14 plays.

11:38 — BYU scored on its opening possession of the second half, as LJ Martin ran through a couple missed tackle attempts on a 29-yard touchdown run on a third-and-13 play. BYU 21, Cincinnati 10.

The Cougars defense forced a three-and-out to start the second half, and then the offense drove 73 yards on five plays. Kedon Slovis got the drive off to a good start, with back-to-back passes of 33 and 14 yards.

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First half

BYU 14, Cincinnati 10

Even though BYU’s offense was largely nonexistent until the final minute of the first half, the Cougars have the lead thanks to an early pick-six from Jakob Robinson and a quick three-play TD drive in the final minute of the half.

Cincinnati possessed the ball for nearly 22 minutes in the first half and outgained BYU 254 to 107. The Bearcats also converted 6 of 11 third downs, while BYU was 1 of 5.

And somehow, the Cougars lead after Kedon Slovis completed three straight passes and hit Darius Lassiter for the go-ahead score.

Wild.

Second quarter

BYU 14, Cincinnati 10

0:06 — BYU moved the ball quickly and scored to regain the lead on a 22-yard Darius Lassiter catch in the final seconds of the first half. BYU 14, Cincinnati 10.

After Kedon Slovis had completed just 1 of 7 passes for 2 yards prior to this drive, he completed three straight passes — combined with a Cincinnati pass interference — for 69 yards on the three-play drive.

0:44 — Cincinnati turned a short field into points, as Carter Brown nailed a 33-yard field goal. Cincinnati 10, BYU 7.

The Bearcats started the drive at their own 42 after BYU was stopped deep in its own end of the field on the previous possession.

10:59 — Cincinnati marched down the field to tie the score, going 90 yards on 17 plays to score for the first time on the night on a Chamon Metayer 27-yard touchdown catch. BYU 7, Cincinnati 7.

The Bearcats converted 2 of 3 third-down attempts and a fourth-and-1 on the drive. Cincinnati has outgained BYU 162 yards of total offense to 29 so far in the game.

First quarter

BYU 7, Cincinnati 0

8:28 — The first points come by turnover — but this time (unlike last week), BYU was the one to score. The Cougars’ Jakob Robinson picked off Cincinnati’s Emory Jones on the Bearcats’ first drive, taking the pick-six 42 yards for the touchdown. BYU 7, Cincinnati 0.

That is Robinson’s third interception of the season.

Pregame prep

Here are a few stories to get you ready for BYU’s game against Cincinnati:

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