Dawg Recap: BYU Shows Sparks Of Life In Close Loss To Oklahoma

Photo Credit: McCord Mecham

Most BYU fans came into this game with very low expectations after the last three games. But BYU impressed by not only keeping it a close game but having a chance to win it in the fourth quarter.

BYU never trailed by more than seven points and was tied for a large portion of the game. BYU's offensive line played much better than they have been in recent weeks. Far fewer missed blocks. Head coach, Kalani Sitake attributed the stronger O-line play to a multitude of things including more simple blocking schemes and play calls. We saw a lot more RPO which for an offensive lineman is pretty straightforward pass blocking to one side or the other, just being careful to not get too far downfield in case a pass is made.

Photo Credit: McCord Mecham

This did unfortunately come back to bite BYU at a crucial point in the game. Early in the 3rd quarter, BYU had just stopped Oklahoma on a three-and-out and got good field position after their punt. BYU marched 58 yards in three plays on the backs of their RB Kalani Sitake who had two 20+ yard runs on that drive and QB Jake Retzlaff with an 11-yard run. BYU was on the two-yard line and ran the RPO again. This time, Retzlaff decided to try to hit WR Kody Epps with a quick pass. That pass was intercepted by DB Billy Bowman Jr and returned 100 yards for a pick-six. This potential 14-point swing proved to be too big to overcome for BYU who stayed close but was unable to come back from that.

Oklahoma QB, Dillon Gabriel, left the game at halftime after suffering an 'upper body' injury. True freshman, Jackson Arnold relied mostly on him and his RB core's legs to close this game out in the second half, rushing eight times for 24 yards himself and 34 times for 144 yards for Oklahoma as a whole.

Oklahoma, who averaged over 500 yards of offense per game coming into this matchup was held to only 368 and was outgained by BYU who had 390 yards of total offense. BYU came into this game averaging less than 300 yards of offense per game.

BYU has Oklahoma State next week in Stillwater. BYU still searching for their sixth win after starting the season 5-2 to get bowl-eligible. If BYU doesn't go to a bowl game, it will be the first time since 2017 and only the second time in the last 19 years that BYU isn't bowling at the end of the season.

Let's hope that BYU can play well again next week to pull something out against OSU and get to go to a bowl game this season!

Go Cougs!