There is a symbiotic relationship that comes from both the pass rush and coverage units working together. BYU put together six sacks yesterday, a season high for a single game and some of them were coverage sacks as Arizona State Jake Fette couldn’t find open receivers.

BYU also showed good depth having to go without Evan Johnson, one of the best cornerbacks in the country.

Arizona has good talent at the wide receiver position in receivers Derek Eusebio and Omarian Miller. Both had seven and four catches respectively but for the most part they were contained. Their longest reception BYU gave up was 20 yards which did happen to be a touchdown.

But stepping up big in Johnson’s absence for the Cougars was Jayven Williams. He recorded three passes defended but also registered seven tackles, six solo. It would be understandable with the steady Tre Alexander on the other side of the field that the Sun Devils would try to target Williams, but he was up to the challenge. 

Marcia Harris, Special to the Herald

Safety Faletau Satuala is turning heads with his sparkling play. He led BYU in tackles Saturday with nine, five solo including one tackle for loss. Satuala has great natural instincts and is adept at making havoc in both the passing and running game.

Safeties Raider Damuni and Tommy Prassas both had three tackles and Damuni had a pass defended. Cornerback Kevin Doe got playing time and made contributions both on defense and special teams with two tackles. 

Six different Cougars registered sacks in Bodie Schoonover, Isaiah Glasker, Cade Uluave, Nusi Taumoepeau, Ace Kaufusi, and Miles Hall. For linebacker Hall, it was his first sack of his BYU career and Taumoepeau’s strip sack of Fette with Glasker recovering the fumble set up BYU’s first touchdown of the game.

Running game concerns: Missing Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year LJ Martin is definitely hindering the Cougar running attack. Then key backup Preston Rex also didn’t play Saturday.

BYU only had 47 yards rushing. The longest run all day was just seven yards, those coming from Legend Glasker on jet sweeps. BYU averaged a miniscule 1.6 yards per running attempt. The bright spots were Sione Moa scoring twice, once where he alertly found the ball in a scrum at the goal line and then going around the right side for a score. And Bear Bachmeier got just enough yardage on a key fourth down conversion on BYU’s final touchdown drive of the contest. But Bachmeier, who has definitely shown great ability to run the ball, was limited to 15 yards on 16 carries. 

Besides not having Martin and Rex for this game, there have been some key losses on the offensive line. Trevin Ostler was injured in the UCF game and not available and Andrew Gentry was lost several games ago for the entire season. The Cougar offensive line is definitely not dominating the line of scrimmage like they were the first half of the season.

Then there is the other side of the ball, BYU struggled stopping the run as Arizona State;s Cardae Mack ran for 123 yards on 23 carries. BYU got six sacks which reduced the Sun Devil total rushing to 113 yards but Mack showed the ability to move the pile and get chunk yardage. It definitely helped BYU’s cause when the Sun Devil offensive coaches went away from Mack to throw more though Mack also caught five balls for 47 yards. The game could have had a completely different tenor if Mack would have gotten more touches as he was the most effective offensive player for the Sun Devils on Saturday.

Improving both running the ball and stopping the run will be of paramount importance as BYU travels to Salt Lake to take on the undefeated Utes. 

Dillingham impressed with BYU atmosphere: Chalk up Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham as another visiting head coach impressed with the atmosphere surrounding BYU football.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Dillingham said. “Literally two hours before kickoff their student body and their fans are in there practicing chants. It was unbelievable to experience and you have to give them a lot of credit.”

Similar ending to 2024 game: The ending sequence of BYU’s victory over Arizona State resembled the ending of the 2024 game won by Arizona State. But there were also some critical differences. 

In the 2024 game Arizona State was trying to run out the clock. Sun Devil quarterback Sam Leavitt was trying to run around as long as he could to take off time. Then on fourth down he threw the ball away but it was ruled there was one second left on the clock. BYU got a chance to do one final hail mary from midfield which was actually completed but two yards short of the end zone giving the Sun Devils a dramatic 28-23 win. 

In this game BYU was trying to salt away a 27-20 win and was able to run the clock down to four seconds with fourth down remaining. This required Bachmeier to run around and then he, like Leavitt, threw the ball out-of-bounds. It appeared in this case that time was clearly out but the officials still conferred and then came to the conclusion the game was over denying Arizona State any chance for a last second miracle.

Extra points: BYU’s 95-yard drive in the final stanza that led to a critical touchdown putting the Cougars up two scores was the longest of the season. … Kyler Kasper scored his fifth touchdown of the season hauling in a 13-yard pass from Bachmeier. It was Bachmeier’s 12th touchdown of the season and 27th of his short BYU career. … Captains for the coin toss were safety Raider Damuni, safety Faletau Satula, quarterback Treyson Bourget, and defensive end Hunter Clegg. … The team flags were carried out by long snapper Ty Smith (USA), quarterback Enoch Watson (State of Utah) and defensive end Siosefa Brown (Team). Alumni flags were carried out by Alex Kuresa (wide receiver 2011-12), Keanu Saleapaga (offensive lineman 2017-2020) and Tyson Smith (defensive back 1999-2000). … BYU Director of Bands Fred McInnis lit the Y before the game. He has served as the Director of the Bands since 2008 and has molded BYU’s marching band into one of the best in the country. … BYU won the coin toss and elected to defer their choice to the second half. … All things considered, the weather could have been worse. Temperatures for a Halloween contest were in the 50s with some intermittent rain. … Attendance was announced at 63,332.