Arizona @ BYU, 2024 Recap

Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, and another BYU football game at home has gone. How will BYU do during the day?

Questions

Will BYU show up today?

Will the offense make points?

Will the defense stop the short pass game?

All valid questions

TV/Media

The game was on Fox, and the Big Noon kickoff was at Lavell Edward Stadium. This is like ESPN Game Day, but Fox brought it to Provo, Utah. Cosmo, the cougar mascot, was a major part of it.

I would go to that to see what it was all about. But being up all night talking with the throne didn’t help. I had a lot planned for that Big Noon Kickoff. I also didn’t go to the game as well.

The game was at 4 PM EST, 2 PM MST. It’s a prime-time day game.

Game

Since the game is during the day, will BYU play well? They have had some hard times playing day games in the past few years. Let’s find out.

1st Quarter

BYU got the ball and drove down the field. On 4th and 4 on the Arizona 5, they couldn’t convert and turned it over on downs.

Arizona got the ball and went down and scored. Making it

Arizona 7

BYU 0

And that is how the 1st quarter will end.

2nd Quarter

BYU took the ball down the field, and Ratzaf threw it deep to Kingston for a Touchdown.

Arizona 7

BYU 7

Arizona was driving down the field, and Fifita threw an interception at the BYU 1-yard line.

BYU drove down the field and scored a touchdown. This touchdown came from Kingston throwing to L. Martin. That was a sweet play.

Arizona 7

BYU 14

That was it for the rest of the quarter—just punts and turnovers on downs.

Arizona 7

BYU 14

This is how the quarter is needed.

3rd Quarter

Arizona would start with the ball. Yet, on the first play, Fifita threw another interception. BYU returned it to the Arizona 9. One play later, Ratzaf threw to Roberts for a TD.

Arizona 7

BYU 21

Eight seconds into the 2nd half, BYU scored and pushed the lead to 14 points.

The next score game was when BYU kicked an FG to put them up

Arizona 7

BYU 24

It would go back and forth until Arizona kicked a FG

Arizona 10

BYU 24

But BYU would answer that FG with one of their own.

Arizona 10

BYU 27

4th quarter

Arizona kicked an FG at the 9:04 mark in the 4th. Putting the score at

Arizona 13

BYU 27

BYU answered back with a touchdown by L. Martian from 1 yard out.

Arizona 13

BYU 34

Arizona answered that touchdown with one of their own. Conley rushed for 2 yards for the score.

Arizona 19

BYU 34

Arizona kicked an onside kick, but BYU recovered it. All BYU had to do was hold on to the ball. But

BYU fumbled the ball. Arizona recovered it. Nevertheless, BYU held them. They turned it over on downs.

BYU just had to get a first down, and the game should have been over. They didn’t get one. The Arizona defense really held strong. BYU punted it, and BYU downed it on the 1-yard line.

Arizona was the backup for the whole field.

BYU almost got a safety.

Then, on 4th down and 10, Fifita threw his third interception. That interception was for a pick 6.

Arizona 19

BYU 41

That is how the game ended.

Statics

Arizona	Stat	BYU
389	Total Yards	398
275	Passing Yards	251
114	Rushing Yards	147
4.6	Yards per play	6.6
25	First Downs	22
11/19	3rd Down efficiency	4/11
1/4	4th Down efficiently	1/2
84	Total Plays	60
1	Punts	3
8 (51)	Penalties (Yards)	3 (39)
1	Fumbles lost	1
3	Interceptions Thrown	0
32:39	Time of Possession	27:21

Day games

There is this thing going around that they say is the BYU cruse or the Vampire Cougs. Where BYU plays very well after the sun goes down. When they play day games, they have issues. Here is the YouTube Video of that

/youtube

Nonetheless, they went into Baylor two weeks ago and ended up winning, and that was a 10 AM start time.

Is the cruse lifted?

Thoughts

Arizona is a good team. They went in and beat the Utes at home. You know, they are the favorites to win the Big 12 and go on to the Playoffs. BYU came in 5-0, and they wanted to make sure that they went on to 6-0.

During the first quarter, I was thinking that BYU was going to screw up and lose the game. When they couldn’t convert on that first drive. Then Arizona went down and scored.

BYU came out strong. They showed the former PAC 12 team what it’s like to be in the BIG 12. The team is now a new BIG 12 member.

BYU has had four games so far, with 2+ turnovers.

So here are those questions I asked earlier,

Will BYU show up today?

Yes, they did show up and play. It took a while, but they did show up.

Will the offense make points?

Yes, the offense made some points and had some great drives. They seemed to do very well.

Will the defense stop the short pass game?

They are still struggling in this area. Arizona managed the short-game pass plays and a few long passes. Arizona did have 275 yards in passing. BYU will still have to work on that. But BYU also intercepted it three times.