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BYU senior cornerback Marque Collins intercepts a pass during the non-conference game against SMU at Gerald J. Ford Stadium in Dallas on Friday, Sept. 6, 2024.

Jaren Wilkey, BYU Photo

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BYU sophomore running back Enoch Nawahine celebrates after scoring a touchdown during the non-conference game against SMU at Gerald J. Ford Stadium in Dallas on Friday, Sept. 6, 2024.

Jaren Wilkey, BYU Photo

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BYU senior tight end Mata'ava Ta'ase hurdles a defender during the non-conference game against SMU at Gerald J. Ford Stadium in Dallas on Friday, Sept. 6, 2024.

Jaren Wilkey, BYU Photo

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BYU players celebrate with senior cornerback Marque Collins intercepted a pass during the non-conference game against SMU at Gerald J. Ford Stadium in Dallas on Friday, Sept. 6, 2024.

Jaren Wilkey, BYU Photo

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BYU fans cheer on their team during the non-conference game against SMU at Gerald J. Ford Stadium in Dallas on Friday, Sept. 6, 2024.

Jaren Wilkey, BYU Photo

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A college football game where neither team leads by more than seven points provides plenty of nail-biting moments for participating players and coaches.

That was certainly the case for BYU and SMU in Friday night’s battle that ended in an 18-15 Cougar win.

Imagine being BYU senior defensive back Marque Collins, for example.

Early in the fourth quarter, his Cougar defense was backed up at its 20-yard line with the Mustangs in position to score. SMU ran a play that had a result that had been foretold.

“Before anything, Coach Wesley Johnson came up to me today and said he had a dream that I got an interception on that exact play, the post with the wheel route behind it,” Collins said after the game. “Then it happened in real life. So it’s all credit to him right now.”

Collins did a great job reading the play and getting in the right position to haul down the pick, then get his feet inbounds at the 5-yard line.

“What I saw in the moment was really just something we practiced all week,” Collins said. “If I feel the post and I feel the wheel, I pass the post off to my safety. Then I’m supposed to stay calm, stay poised, and I did that. I just went to go make a play.”

But the celebration couldn’t last long because just three plays later Mustang senior defensive tackle Jared Harrison-Hunte read a situation just as well for SMU and intercepted a screen pass from BYU junior quarterback Jake Retzlaff.

One of the under-the-radar plays of the game came as Harrison-Hunte rumbled back toward the end zone. Most of the Cougar players were down the field blocking, but BYU junior offensive lineman Brayden Keim stepped up to make a TD-saving tackle at the 3-yard line.

But that meant Collins and the Cougar defense were now even more backed up against their own goal line than they had been before.

But Collins said he wasn’t frustrated by the turn of events.

“Honestly, for me, I love those situations, having to make a stop,” Collins said. “I think that’s when I play my best. That’s when I’m most focused. Us being on the field more than usual or after a big play when we come back and have to be right back on the field, it’s not a big deal. Some people might think you are tired but I love it. You’ve got to make a play.”

As they did all game, Collins’s unit got the job done, forcing a Mustang holding penalty with a big rush up the middle, then senior cornerback Jakob Robinson alertly pounced on a loose football to end the threat.

“It came down to an overall team win,” BYU head coach Kalani Sitake said. “We needed all three phases to win the game. In the past, we’ve been down or had turnovers and guys hung their heads. Now they are fighting through and not giving up.

“To get the ball back and then turn it over and then get the ball back again, that was the leadership on our defense and our staff, our coaches and the guys’ belief in each other. But you have to go through some adversity for those guys to trust each other like that.”

Sitake also had a couple of decisions on key fourth-down plays in the second half that changed the game.

On a fourth-and-2 from the SMU 9-yard line late in the third quarter, BYU elected to go for it and sophomore Enoch Nawahine made the most of it. He found an opening and scored a touchdown on the play.

Even bigger, though, was with the game tied late in the fourth quarter when the Cougars were looking at a fourth-and-1 from their own 48-yard line and Sitake chose to go for it.

“I felt good about it,” Sitake said. “I didn’t look at analytics and things like that. We even took a time out and people wanted to think about it a little bit more, but I just still felt good about it. I liked the look in the eyes of our guys. They felt like they could do it and feel confident about the call. I’m glad that the offense executed it well and we got the conversion.”

BYU ran a speed option play to the short side of the field with junior running back Miles Davis finding a lot of running room to the outside.

“That play call was drawn up at the beginning of the week and it was a great call by (offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick),” Retzlaff said. “Once he called it in, I was like, this is going to be good. We’ve got them in man with a zero blitz, basically bringing the house. We knew we could get the back to the edge. And Miles did a great job.”

Retzlaff said that in those moments the key is trusting the preparation.

“It’s obviously a high-stress moment, a high-emotion moment,” Retzlaff said. “But we practice them all week long, so we’re just ready to go out there and execute. It’s different than another play, but it’s also not different than another play. Everybody’s out there, going to execute their job. They know fourth down is important.”

Sitake said that seeing things work out in those moments feels really good.

“I got into this because I grew up with BYU fans,” Sitake said. “I think a lot of fans can understand. You guys (reporters) are supposed to scrutinize every decision but when you feel it, you just go with it. I’d rather not have to go for it all the time on fourth down but we have plays that we feel really good about. I’m just glad the guys executed.”

While those key moments went in BYU’s favor enough for the Cougars to stay unbeaten, Sitake knows his team needs to play better if it wants to keep winning.

“It was obviously not our best performance, but you have to give a lot of credit to SMU for what they did,” Sitake said. “We’ll have to find an answer and find ways to get more efficient in all three phases. There’s room for us to improve on all three phases.”