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BYU head football coach Kalani Sitake talks to his team before the Big 12 game against Arizona State at Mountain America Stadium in Tempe, Arizona, on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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BYU players and administration attempt to leave the field as Arizona State fans rush the field for a second time after the final play of the Big 12 game at Mountain America Stadium in Tempe, Arizona, on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024.

Jaren Wilkey, BYU Photo

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BYU junior quarterback Jake Retzlaff gets tackled after throwing a pass during the Big 12 game against Arizona State at Mountain America Stadium in Tempe, Arizona, on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024.

Harold Mitchell, Special to the Herald

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BYU junior quarterback Jake Retzlaff throws a pass during the Big 12 game against Arizona State at Mountain America Stadium in Tempe, Arizona, on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024.

Harold Mitchell, Special to the Herald

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The insanity of BYU football’s 28-23 loss at Arizona State increased after the final whistle as a few days later the fallout of various issues is still unclear.

One of the added elements was video released on social media of someone near the Cougar locker room where the passionate speech of BYU senior defensive linemen Tyler Batty could be heard.

The fact that a private moment a locker room was made public did not sit well with Cougar players like senior offensive lineman Connor Pay.

“It made me want to run through a wall again when I heard it around 11:30 p.m. last night on my TikTok,” Pay said during Monday’s press teleconference. “Obviously it’s not appropriate to have an employee of the school you are at take a video of a private team moment like that. But at the end of the day, we don’t care that much.”

BYU head coach Kalani Sitake said that he is confident that the Big 12 will take care of all the issues.

“The Big 12 is looking into it,” Sitake said. “They are reviewing everything that happened in the game, from what happened on the field to the penalties to the incompletion or completion with Chase Roberts and the recording. They are looking into all of that stuff and they’ll deal with it.”

One of the bizarre elements from Saturday’s game at Mountain America Stadium in Tempe, Arizona, that Sitake referenced was probably only recognized by those who love looking at the statistics.

With 58 seconds left to play, the Sun Devils had the ball on BYU’s 3-yard line facing second-and-goal. At that point in the game, ASU had 437 yards of total offense compared to just 391 yards for the Cougars.

In an effort to run out the clock, the home team proceeded to lose 36 yards on its next two plays (dropping its total to 401 yards of offense).

The Arizona incomplete pass on fourth down, subsequent storming of the field by Sun Devil fans, the official review adding a second of game time and the removal of the unauthorized individuals on the field ended up giving BYU one more play.

Cougar junior quarterback Jake Retzlaff threw a deep pass that was caught by junior wide receiver Chase Roberts at the 2-yard line — or was it?

Despite the clear reception and subsequent, the official nearest the play signaled incomplete pass. It appeared likely the referee was treating a play like a two-point conversion, signaling the ball had not crossed the goal line, but when the official statistics were released, that play was judged to be incomplete.

On Monday, however, the Big 12 conference officially overturned that designation, crediting Retzlaff and Roberts with the 49-yard completion.

That means that BYU actually ended up with more the total yardage than Arizona State (440-401), meaning that the Cougars outgained their opponents in both of their losses.

Although that decision ended statistically being in BYU’s favor, Sitake said he’s not focused on those league decisions.

“I trust the Big 12 leadership and we’ll let them handle that,” Sitake said. “I’m more focused on what we can do today to make sure we perform a lot better than we did last weekend.”

Many of the Cougar players also said that the key is looking forward, not regretting what happened against the Sun Devils.

One of those is junior quarterback Jake Retzlaff, who was asked how he dealt with the frustrations of having a couple of passes go awry down the stretch at ASU.

“I definitely thought about them,” Retzlaff said. “There’s no doubt that Saturday night I had a lot of thoughts going through my head, especially after a game where it’s that tight. Of course, I think about that stuff but it’s Monday now. It’s a new week. Right now, that’s all been flushed and it’s about the new week.”

He said he’s going to take the same approach that he had after all the wins and focus on getting better.

“Staying process-oriented is the key and keeping the main thing the main thing,” Retzlaff said. “We need to stay focused and not get distracted with the Big 12 standings or whatever’s happening.”

Sitake said the only thing that matters for his team right now is finishing the 2024 regular season by beating Houston at LaVell Edwards Stadium on Saturday (8:15 p.m. MT, ESPN).

“We’ve got to move on and control the stuff that we can control, which is performing our best and making sure that we give our fans and our seniors what they want, which is to end the season on a positive note with a win,” Sitake said.