No. 15 BYU Comes Away With Close Victory Over Upset-Minded UTSA

PROVO, Utah – BYU football entered Saturday’s game against UTSA as a five-touchdown favorite and one of the country’s hottest teams. But that team everyone saw the past month didn’t show up against the Roadrunners.

BYU/UTSA Final Score: 27-20

No. 15 BYU defeated UTSA, as everyone expected, but the score was much closer than the wise guys predicted. BYU earned a hard-fought win against a UTSA team that never quit by a score of 27-20.

FINAL

No. 15 @BYUfootball – 27@UTSAFTBL – 20#BYU moves to 4-0 for the first time since 2014.#BYUFootball #GoCougs pic.twitter.com/TKqZMC2lKZ

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) October 10, 2020

The victory moves BYU to 4-0 for the first time since 2014.

Saturday’s game started for BYU like the previous three this season, with the Cougars moving down the field at will on UTSA’s defense. Then wide receiver Neil Pau’u fumbled the football resulting in only the Cougars third turnover this season. That moment gave an upset-minded UTSA squad hope and belief that they could hang around with a BYU team that entered Saturday’s game No. 1 in both total offense and total defense.

BYU’s defense responded with a takeaway of their own on UTSA’s first possession, where Roadrunner QB Frank Harris passed high into the air that looked more like a punt to BYU DB Troy Warner, who had his second INT in as many weeks.

The Juice Squad resides on the UTSA sideline right now. Stark difference in emotion between the two teams after #BYU goes three-and-out. #UTSAvsBYU #BYUFootball @kslsports

— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) October 10, 2020

The Cougar offense couldn’t find the same rhythm and efficiency it displayed in previous games. UTSA’s defensive line, which was a strength coming in, wasn’t fazed by the bigger and more physical BYU offensive line.

It wasn’t until the second quarter when BYU got on the board where wide receiver Neil Pau’u hauled in an impressive grab from Zach Wilson on fourth down to give BYU a 7-3 lead.

Wilson had another solid afternoon going 22-of-30 for 292 yards to go with two touchdowns and zero interceptions with a QB rating of 177.1.

BYU held a 14-3 lead heading into halftime, but the Cougars couldn’t pull away completely to turn it into the blowout everyone forecasted.

UTSA’s backup QB caused problems for BYU

The biggest reason for that was a switch made at QB by UTSA. Harris was benched in favor of former LSU QB Lowell Narcisse who injected life into a Roadrunner passing attack that had little to no success with Harris. Narcisse led the Roadrunners on their opening drive to a field goal, cutting BYU’s deficit to eight.

BYU then scored on a Zach Wilson touchdown run a couple of drives later to put the Cougars back up 21-6.

In the fourth quarter, Narcisse found Zakhari Franklin on 3rd & 9 to put UTSA back in the game. UTSA was hovering around the entire game but never felt like they were going to take over. BYU’s offense then pieced together an 80-yard drive capped off by a Tyler Allgeier touchdown run.

That onside kick was close. #BYU recovers. pic.twitter.com/PYhE8PjQbY

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) October 10, 2020

With a two-touchdown lead, Narcisse then led a quick-strike drive to get UTSA back into it at 27-20 with an onside kick opportunity to get the ball back. BYU recovered the onside kick with a chance to put away the game.

BYU had to punt the ball back to UTSA, but the Roadrunners roughed punter Ryan Rehkow, leading to BYU closing the game out with another victory.

Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for KSLsports.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12–3 p.m., KSL Newsradio). Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.