There is something about facing Utah over the last 25 years that has flustered BYU football players.

The Cougars could knock off high-profile opponents like USC, Oklahoma, Wisconsin and Texas but even when BYU was able to defeat the Utes during that time span, it felt like the Cougars did it in spite of their own costly mistakes.

Astute BYU fans watching their team beat Utah, 26-17 at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo on Saturday night, however, likely noticed a big difference.

There was no sign of game-changing turmoil or agitation from the Cougars, no matter what the Utes did.

No, BYU wasn’t perfect. There were missed opportunities and big plays by Utah.

But unlike in years past, these Cougar players stayed calm and didn’t let the pressure or the moment rattle them.

“We knew this game would be tight,” BYU head coach Kalani Sitake said in the post-game press conference. “We didn’t want it to be and it seemed like there were some moments where we could’ve folded and given in. Give a lot of credit to our coaches. Give a lot of credit to our players and the leadership, guys getting it done.”

At no position did that mean as much as it did for Cougar sophomore quarterback Jaren Hall.

He followed in the footsteps of some really good BYU QBs in the past decade who didn’t play nearly their best against the Utes — but his demeanor was the perfect rallying point in this contest whenever things got tough.

Hall, for his part, immediately spread the credit around. He believes the calm, collected persona of the team was something all the players contributed to.

“I think it’s contagious,” Hall said. “We have X amount of leaders on the team. Throughout the whole offense, you have 11 guys who are seen as leaders, guys who are experienced and influential. The energy and the confidence we had was contagious.”

In most of the matchups during the nine-game Ute winning streak, BYU had the physical talent and depth to give themselves a chance to win in the fourth quarter.

This was the first year in a long time, however, that the Cougars had the mental and physical fortitude to get the job done.

“There are a lot of lessons to be learned from football,” Sitake said. “Everyone knows that Utah is a physical, strong team. I coached there for 10 years so I know what they do there. It’s something we want to have as part of our identity, being physical and playing strong. It was a slugfest. I think that’s the best way to describe it. We just made a few more plays than they did.”

The statistical representation was in how BYU did on both sides of the ball in third and fourth-down situations as well as in the red zone.

BYU’s offense was 11-of-19 on third down, 1-of-1 on fourth down and 5-for-5 with three touchdowns in the red zone.

The Cougar defense, on the other hand, held the Utes to just 2-of-9 on third-down conversions, 0-of-2 on fourth-down attempts and 1-of-2 on red zone conversions.

“It was great defense,” Sitake said. “We talked about trying to possess the ball from last week, trying to get more plays. The fact that we had the possession and more plays than Utah was a good sign for us. A lot of that credit goes to the complimentary football we played between our three phases, offense, defense and special teams.”

Return to the rankings

With their second win to open the 2021 season, including knocking off a ranked opponent, BYU got some national recognition by returning to the national rankings.

When the polls were released on Sunday, they revealed that the Cougars were ranked No. 23 by both the Associated Press and by the USA Today/AVCA coaches poll. That means both BYU and Arizona State (No. 19/21) will be ranked for their matchup in Provo on Sept. 18.

Nacua impact

Brothers Samson and Puka Nacua were both contributors in their first full BYU game. Both recorded receptions with Puka Nacua leading all receivers with 37 yards on four catches while Samson Nacua picked up his first BYU touchdown and finished with 10 yards.

Nacua also scored a touchdown while playing for the Utes in 2018. The only other player to score touchdowns for both teams was Francis Bernard who had a touchdown pass for the Cougars in 2015 before scoring a pick-six for Utah in 2019.

Extra points

For the second straight week, BYU lost the coin toss. Neither team, however, was able to score on either the first possession of the game or the first possession of the second half. … The Cougar captains for the game were linebacker Keenan Pili, linebacker Payton Wilgar, offensive lineman James Empey and quarterback Jaren Hall. … BYU’s alumni flags were carried onto the field by Dennis Pitta (TE), Austin Collie (WR), Max Hall (QB), Reno Mahe (WR). … The game was a sellout at LaVell Edwards Stadium with 63,470 fans in attendance. … The weather for the game was varied, with it being clear for much of the first half before a rainstorm rolled in and briefly pounded the field with some heavy rain.

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