West Virginia slaps BYU around with execution and purpose in rout

BYU took its longest road trip of the year to West Virginia and got blown up by black powder that was primed and fired.

West Virginia toppled BYU 37-7.

It was a spanking.

And at night, when BYU was supposed to be almost perfect.

The two teams came to an alley fight. WV brought grenades; BYU brought cream pies.

New Cougar quarterback Jake Retzlaff?

The kid showed up and played. The mystery remains what kind of game he could have had if he’d been adequately protected, had a run game to lean on and receivers weren’t dropping balls. His mobility proved to be a weapon for the future.

The Mountaineer defense had been giving up nearly 200 yards a game rushing to opponents this season, but BYU couldn’t find a push to free Aidan Robbins or even protect Retzlaff, who found himself running for his life most of the game.

Led by Robbins’ 10 carries for 37 yards and Retzlaff’s 10 for 26, BYU rushed for 61 yards on 21 attempts. Freshman rushing leader LJ Martin did not play.

For the eighth time this season, BYU couldn’t gain 300 yards. WV gained nearly 600.

West Virginia manhandled BYU’s offensive line. The Cougars were slapped around, pushed back and sideways, and pancaked. At times Darrell Funk’s guys looked like they’d been wound up in circles until they stumbled into each other, dizzy as drunks.

Time and time again on both run and pass plays, WV had a defensive lineman completely unblocked by one of five BYU O-linemen.

BYU’s defensive line was equally chewed up. Where the Cougar front had multiple fourth-down goal-line stops against top-ranked and league-leader Texas a week ago, West Virginia’s blocking schemes, quick-fire run attack, pulling guards and power run blocking schemes left Cougar defenders looking inept, out of sync, late, getting hooked, pushed and turned around.

West Virginia made BYU look like one of those pretender Division I New Mexico teams of the ’80s and ’90s.

The Mountaineers completely dominated BYU in the trenches. Men among boys. Confident believers versus second-guessers and doubters. WV was into making plays. BYU was into getting penalties, dropping passes, and missing blocks and tackles.

This was an embarrassing loss for BYU, Cougar players and the staff of Kalani Sitake, more so than the punch in the mouth at TCU a few weeks ago.

For the first time this season, BYU has lost two games in a row — both road games.

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If anything, Sitake and his staff have now taken a deep sip of Big 12 football — what it means, what it takes, the costs and the investment that need to be made.

One must credit West Virginia. Sniffing bowl eligibility at home, the Mountaineers were geared up.

When officials played a part in the opening WV scoring drive with a pair of weak pass interference calls, you could sense momentum created and energy gained.

Didn’t we talk earlier in the week about how Big 12 officiating allowed physical play?

Officiating didn’t not win or lose this game, but it was quirky, no question, and it did impact momentum.

Back-to-back helmet-to-helmet hits on BYU receivers Chase Roberts and Kody Epps in the first half that sent both stars out of the game did not gain any kind of attention by the officials, yet two hits on late-sliding WV quarterback Garrett Greene on a scoring drive were immediate if not expected and the personal fouls moved the chains 30 yards for the Mountaineers.

BYU’s Keelan Marion returned the opening kickoff of the second half to the house in an exciting effort out of the locker room, but a holding call flag on a BYU’s Isaiah Bagnah, some 15 yards behind the play, nullified the touchdown.

It was that kind of a night.

BYU killed itself on penalties, as evidenced by a veteran linebacker earning a face mask penalty to extend another WV drive in the Mountaineers’ big 27-0 first half.

Easy sauce when frustrations lead to gifts, and BYU provided many to WV.

BYU’s offensive coaches know they’ve got some work to do.

• Worst offense in decades.

• A backup QB and all kinds of injury issues heading into next week.

• No run game.

• Bad blocking up front and stinky third-down percentages on both sides of the line.

A great teaching aid would be to show film of how WV offensive linemen got off blocks, got to the second and third level, and were headhunting BYU safeties as WV running backs ran with reckless abandon.

It would have been nice to see more run-pass-option with Retzlaff, like the impressive Robbins touchdown run late in the fourth when the game was all but over.

Just for fun.

Retzlaff finished his BYU debut 24 for 42 passing for 210 yards.

This was a poor showing by the Cougars. There’s blame to go around to everyone, from coaches to players. They did not play with urgency with bowl eligibility and respect on the line.

Offensively, yeah, we get it.

Defensively, yes, there were plenty of struggles, but this was not the same kind of defense these guys played at Texas. Maybe WV had a lot to do with that.

WV won this game on momentum, execution and purpose.

BYU lost on all of those points.