The junior running back ran as hard as he has during any time of his career, ultimately putting forth 222 yards and two touchdowns on 32 carries while adding three receptions for another 44 yards. Overall he accounted for 266 yards of BYU’s 392 yards of total offense, but more importantly, kept Cincinnati’s typically high-octane offense off the field for good portions as the Cougars dictated the course of the game largely due to his overall play.

Perhaps Cincinnati Coach Scott Satterfield summed it up best.

“That’s their plan, and they do a great job of huddling, slowing the game down, and handing the ball to LJ [Martin], who’s an outstanding back,” Satterfield said. “..So they’re just gonna let him carry the football, and they’re just gonna fall forward three yards. I felt like we had some great initial contact, (but) they may go another two or three yards; you do that multiple times as a first down, and I thought he did an outstanding job with that. I mean, the guy had 32 carries tonight. That’s an incredible workload from a running back there. That was their plan: keep it away from our offense, and that’s what they did.”

Overall BYU possessed the ball for 38 and a half minutes, limiting Cincinnati to just 21 and roughly one half minutes of offense which ultimately played huge in the game. Fittingly, the game ended with a clock-chewing 9-play drive that chewed up 75 yards and ended with Martin galloping into the endzone from 33 yards out with just under a minute remaining.

“That was a really fun drive and I think all we called were run plays,” said BYU center Bruce Mitchell. “The four guys around me (were) performing to the best of their ability. That’s a good defense and we were able to run the ball against them. It was a fun last drive and being able to ice the game like…that’s something we haven’t been able to do so far this year.”

As for Martin, he shied away from heaping any personal praise on himself in postgame, giving his usual stunted response when asked to comment on his own play.

“I feel good and it was fun to be able to touch the ball that many times, and then to have a good outcome and get a win. It was fun,” Martin said rather abruptly.

The 6-foot-2, 220 pound combo back, who has now ran for 1,134 yards on the season, was more than happy to defer any personal light on to those blocking in front of him.

“They made it super easy,” Martin said. “They were giving me wide open creases. They did a great job getting a push upfront and…It was probably the easiest night of my life.”

Martin’s so-called ‘easy night’ couldn’t have proved more timely, given BYU’s overall deficiencies throwing the football. Hampered by the loss of top receiver Chase Roberts, who left the game early in the second quarter with a hamstring injury, Cougar quarterback Bear Bachmeier went just 15-25 through the air for a pedestrian 127 yards.

But when you have the running arsenal BYU presented throughout Saturday’s win, a paltry passing attack can absolutely be accounted for.

“We like winning a lot of different ways, so I’m proud of how the guys did it,” said BYU Coach Kalani Sitake. “…I like their response to any adversity we get, so that’s our leadership. Even though Chase didn’t finish the game, he was able to lead on the sidelines, too. So I’m really proud of the entire team.”

Things started off well enough for the Cougars in the game, with Bachmeier topping off a first quarter scoring drive with a 6-yard run into the endzone for an early 7-0 lead. Cincinnati responded midway through the second quarter with quarterback Brendan Sorsby completing a 27-yard scoring strike to Cyrus Allen before BYU kicker Will Ferrin gave his team a 10-7 lead into the half with a 31-yard field goal.

The second half saw BYU settle into a run-heavy offensive attack that largely overwhelmed Cincinnati’s defensive front with solid blocking upfront and Martin’s physical running style which saw him break several tackles on most carries while always managing to fall forward for a few extra yards.

“I know he’s not 100 percent, but when he plays with that mindset it’s hard for anybody to stop him,” Sitake observed. “…The line did a good job and it was assignment sound football for them…So I’m just really proud of everybody and what they did.”

In between all of it was the Cougars capitalizing on opportunities while the Bearcats largely missed on theirs. A big interception was made by BYU safety Tanner Wall which was followed up shortly thereafter by BYU cornerback Tayvion Beasley shedding a blocker to make a brilliant tackles on a receiver screen that was ultimately fumbled and turned over after a replay review with 11 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.

Special teams also played big, with BYU kicker Will Ferrin converting on both of his field goal attempts while Cincinnati whiffed on all three attempts, which certainly played big in the game’s final outcome.

“We always find a way to win, and that’s what it’s going to take to get us where we want to be,” Wall said. “So whatever that looks like, we’ll always take a win.”

As for the win, and what it may mean for BYU’s chances at obtaining a coveted at-large bid to the College Football Playoff, Sitake was typically evasive in his response.

“I’m not really worried about that,” Sitake said. “I’m not here to campaign. I’m just here to play football with our team and find ways to win the game. I’ll let the other experts figure that out.”

With the win BYU improves to 10-1 on the season and will finish off regular season play with a home game versus UCF this coming Saturday. Should the Cougars defeat a struggling UCF team, they’ll secure a spot in the Big 12 Championship game in what will be a rematch versus Texas Tech should the Red Raiders win their regular season finale versus West Virginia.