Ladies and gentlemen, your 2021 BYU football team: Defying description since September 4.

Go ahead and define the Cougars.

I dare you.

Is the defense the group that surrendered a mind-boggling 42 points to Virginia in 21 minutes in the first half or is it the guys who gave up just 140 yards and one score in the entire second half?

Is the offense the players who came into Saturday’s game averaging just over 25 points per game, or is it the juggernaut that punished the Cavaliers and Bronco Mendenhall for 66 points, the most by a BYU team since 2001?

Beats me.

Defining the Cougars is a moving target in 2021, which is alternately fascinating and downright baffling. Just when you think you’ve got them figured out they become something else.

Mendenhall and Kalani Sitake are both former defensive coordinators, and good ones. Mendenhall was asked earlier this week if he’d rather win a shootout or a 13-7 game and he said, “I’d rather win 13-6.”

Sitake was one of the architects of Utah’s “Sack Lake City” defense while up on the Hill. At times, this year’s BYU defense has been as leaky as the 30-year old kitchen faucet I had to replace last week.

Sitake credited defensive coordinator Ilaisa Tuiaki for relying more on the “drop eight defense” in the second half. Something needed to change because Virginia’s Brennan Armstrong was looking like the second coming of Michael Vick.

BYU’s defense started off well with a three-and-out and an interception as the Cougars took a 21-0 lead. Then they were missing tackles and surrendering long scoring plays with alarming regularity.

In the second half, Virginia’s possessions went like this: Punt, TD, fumble, interception, downs.

Nobody saw that coming.

The BYU defense is missing some of its best players: Linebackers Keenan Pili and Chaz Ah You, defensive linemen Lorenzo Fauatea and Caden Haws and defensive back Isaiah Herron. Tuiaki is playing freshmen and walk-ons who aren’t quite ready for the reps they have to take.

But after the debacle of a second quarter, the Cougars someone managed to hold Armstrong and the Cavs to just seven points after halftime.

That’s got to tell you something, right?

Uriah Leiataua — who’s crushing hit on Virginia’s Wayne Taulapapa and subsequent fumble recovery might have been the play of the game in a contest that featured dozens of huge moments — said Sitake kept reminding the Cougars about energy and effort.

Playing through that mess of a second quarter and not curling up into the fetal position on the floor like most BYU fans did says something too.

Speaking of Cougar fans, the meltdown on social media in the first half was epic. They wanted Tuiaki fired before the third quarter and were calling out everybody from Sitake to the waterboy — sorry, I mean “hydration technician.”

You think that was bad? Imagine yourself a Virginia fan. You root for a Power Five team that just gave up 66 points to an INDEPENDENT.

The Cavaliers (6-3 overall, 4-2 ACC Coastal) have a bye coming up but an impossibly hard stretch of three games — No. 8 Notre Dame, at Pitt in a key ACC meeting and their rivalry matchup with Virginia Tech — to end the season.

It’s going to get tough for Mendenhall and his coaching staff in Charlottesville in November.

I wasn’t sure the BYU offense was capable of getting into a shootout with Virginia. The Cougars had shown some explosive ability this season but not the consistency needed to win such a game.

BYU ended up scoring on 11 of 15 possessions, and two of those possessions were end-of-half types. The Cougars broke 700 yards (734) with 349 passing and 385 rushing. Tyler Allgeier was a beast (29 carries, 266 yards, 5 TDs), the Nacua brothers were uncoverable (a combined 13 touches for 249 yards and two scores) and quarterback Jaren Hall was electric (3 TDs passing and 1 rushing).

Wherever you go, there you are: Let’s look at where BYU is right now.

The Cougars are 7-2 and ranked No. 17 in the Top 25. They will be heavily favored in the next two games (Idaho State is 1-7 and Georgia Southern is 2-6) and have a really good shot at 10 regular-season wins with a big road game at USC on Nov. 27.

There’s a bye week after the Idaho State game to mend some of the injuries, which is huge.

College football is a little bonkers right now: 61 AP Top 25 teams have lost this season and we’re just headed to November. Who knows what a 10-2 record could get you in the post-season?

Some Cougar fans may not like how the sausage is being made but BYU’s 2021 football season is turning out to be something pretty special.

Evan Cobb, Daily HeraldDarnell Dickson

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