It started like it might get ugly early. Utah went up 14-3 in the 1st quarter, and BYU's thin secondary looked like the problem the preview warned it would be. Then the Cougars scored 17 in the 2nd quarter and went to the locker room up 20-14. Braden Pegan was the reason BYU's passing game looked functional for a while, finishing with 6 catches and a touchdown. Kickoff was 48 degrees and clear with almost no wind, so nobody gets to blame the weather.
BYU's 2nd half was 0 points across 2 quarters. Utah scored a touchdown in the 3rd to go back in front and another in the 4th to make it 2 scores, and BYU never got any of it back. A team that led a top-3 opponent on the road at halftime finished the 2nd half on 0, and the 4 interceptions are most of the explanation.
LJ Martin's status was the big question of the week, and the box score we have doesn't answer it. What the scoreboard does show is that BYU didn't get enough from the run game to take pressure off Bachmeier once it fell behind. Utah's defense, which the preview said wins games by creating takeaways, did exactly that again. Last week it was Rabbit Evans returning a fumble at Cincinnati. This week it was 4 interceptions.
So this is another Utah win that was closer than it had to be. Like the games at Colorado and against Houston, the Utes spent a stretch looking beatable, here a 17-point 2nd quarter, and then closed it out anyway. They're 9-0, 6-0 in the Big 12, and have won 5 straight. BYU falls to 7-2 and 4-2 in conference. The Cougars are still alive in the race, but after 2 losses they'll need other teams to beat Utah.
BYU has one positive to take from this: for a full quarter it went toe-to-toe with the best team in the league, in Utah's building, with a banged-up secondary. The rest of the tape is less encouraging. Utah's quarterback beat BYU's quarterback, and Dampier was good enough that Utah didn't need its defense to pitch a shutout. It got a 2nd-half one anyway.
