For just the fifth time in school history, the BYU Cougars have started a football season with eight consecutive victories, matching teams from 2020, 2001, 1984, and 1979. The No. 11 Cougars, now 8-0 overall and 5-0 in their second season in the Big 12, controlled the ball and the game on Saturday to turn away hosts UCF by a 37-24 margin and spoil their Homecoming Game at FBC Mortgage Stadium in Orlando.
The Cougars possessed the ball for 40 minutes, 28 seconds on Saturday, it’s most time of possession since the 2015 game with UCLA (40:37). In doing so, the Cougars racked up a season-high 29 first downs and scored 34-plus points for the sixth consecutive game. The longest string since 1996. BYU, the Big 12 scoring leader, has now tallied 34-or-more points in every conference game this season.
“I want to be encouraging and challenging the leaders to take over the team and to keep finding ways to improve just a little bit,” BYU head coach Kalani Sitake said. “And if we can put that all together, then man, I think we’re gonna like the result.”
BYU rolled up 480 yards of total offense, most against a FBS opponent this season and snapped the ball for 75 plays, which is second-most this season (77 vs. SIU).
Because they were able to keep the ball for so long coupled with a strong defensive effort, the Cougars held UCF to season lows in first downs (18) total plays (56) third-down conversion percentage (2-for-10, 20 percent), and second-lowest total yards (273) this season.
“Week to week, I can say I think we’ve improved in a lot of different ways, and with the consistency that we’re seeing from the offense, I think we were able to run for a lot of yards again,” Sitake said. “So, it keeps us balanced and it keeps teams guessing. I like that, the position that we’re in with the offense, and I like that the defense is making some plays.”
It was thorough domination from the beginning. BYU scored on its first three drives for a 17-0 lead and never looked back. Quarterback Jake Retzlaff threw for two touchdowns and ran for another to pace the attack. The redshirt junior completed passes to nine different receivers and finished 16 of 24 for 228 yards.
His 62-yard touchdown pass to Chase Roberts, in the final minute of the first half, is the Cougars’ longest play of the season so far. It answered a UCF rally that cut the lead to 17-10 and allowed BYU to enjoy a 24-10 edge at halftime.
“I can’t be too picky when you get the win here and you’re on the road, and we traveled time zones to get here. So, I’m really excited about the leadership on this team,” Sitake said.
Cougars running back LJ Martin turned in his second consecutive 100-yard game, rushing for 101 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries. Running mate Hinckley Ropati carried a season-high tying 13 times for 83 yards, two yards shy of his career-best (85 vs. Stanford, 2022).
Kicker Will Ferrin booted a career-high three field goals (41, 37, 36). His second successful boot came minutes after Retzlaff tossed a 1-yard touchdown pass to Mata’ava Ta’ase, for the game’s only points of the third quarter lifting the Cougars to a 34-10 advantage, their largest of the game, heading into the final period.
“This is the result that we wanted,” Sitake said.
Quarterback Dylan Rizk came off the bench for UCF ( 3-5, 1-4) to provide a spark over the final 15 minutes, engineering a pair of touchdown drives. He closed the scoring with a 29-yard touchdown pass to Jacoby Jones.
Earlier in the quarter, Knights running back RJ Harvey scored his second touchdown of the game on a 5-yard run. Harvey first scored on a 2-yard run to get the Knights on the scoreboard initially. The fifth-year senior rushed for a game-high 127 yards, his 13th career 100-yard game.
