BYU defense knocks the spit out of Texas Tech

Defensive coordinator Jay Hill got a turnaround day out of his defense in BYU’s 27-14 win over Texas Tech in LaVell Edwards Stadium on Saturday night.

It was nothing to spit at.

Hill declared this past week that all of BYU’s defensive woes in the previous outing could be corrected with better technique, getting players in better position, playing with correct angles, and better leverage.

All that is technical shop talk, but you saw it in action Saturday night as BYU’s defense allowed just 14 points to a Big 12 competitor. 

And then there were Texas Tech’s turnovers. Over and over again, some self-inflicted, others forced by Hill’s crew.

The Cougars now head to Texas with a 5-2 record, one game away from bowl eligibility.

The thing is, BYU has yet to play its best football game this season. With five turnovers, BYU should have won this game 40-14, at the least.

“Looking at the stats, there are a lot of things we could do better but I do love the turnovers. Third downs on offense and defense need to be better,” said BYU head coach Kalani Sitake.

“I keep thinking of plays we left on the field. We should have a few more interceptions and when we get those we need to make something of them.”

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The win over Texas Tech was an absolute necessity for BYU after backsliding in an embarrassing road loss to TCU last week in Fort Worth.  

A bounce-back indeed.

And the game ball should go to BYU’s defense and Hill, who got diced up a week ago but held Texas Tech to more than half of its season point average. 

Hill’s men held Texas Tech’s star running back, Tahj Brooks, to just 3.4 yards per carry. Although he gained 105 on 31 carries, he’d been averaging more than 6 yards per play and ranked among the top half-dozen backs in the nation.  

In this game, we saw the Cougar offense outgained 389 to 277 total yards and kind of slog its way to the finish line by managing six punts and a field goal in the second half. 

Darius Lassiter had a “SportsCenter” Top 10 worthy catch and UNLV transfer Aidan Robbins made his first extensive appearance in a game, delivering physical runs and a key first down run as the Cougars tried to run out the clock to end the game.

But despite running just 57 plays to Texas Tech’s 80 — kind of a theme of BYU’s offense this season — the defense took advantage of Texas Tech’s inexperienced QB in his first start. Ultimately the turnovers gained by the defense delivered the Cougars’ first win against an original member of the Big 12.

Safety Crew Wakley led the Cougars with a career-high 11 tackles and had a key tip of a pass that killed an early Red Raider fourth down try. Jakob Robinson tied his career-high with 10 tackles.

Defensive end Tyler Batty produced a passionate effort with nine tackles despite being spit on during the game. After the game, Batty told reporters he was spat on a second time after the game.

Batty’s hit to force a fumble on a second-half punt return proved huge. Eddie Heckard had an interception and fumble recovery for a touchdown and safety Ethan Slade had a late-game interception. Wakley could have had two other interceptions, both were in his hands.

The game also featured former Timpview star freshman Siale Esera with extended playing time. His presence was impressive with physical play and a display of his lateral quickness alongside senior transfer AJ Vongphachanh at the middle linebacker spot. Esera spelled off Harrison Taggart who replaced starter Ben Bywater, lost for the season with a shoulder injury.

Hill’s guys played with intensity and passion and the entire team fed off of it all game long. Despite giving up a 72-yard touchdown on broken coverage, I don’t know if he could have gotten more out of his injury-riddled squad.

It was impressive.

“We’ll take the win and build on it,” said Sitake.

“I’m happy about the turnovers we got, so is Jay. We have guys getting used to the system,  We were set up to make more. The guys were active and caused Texas Tech to hold us a few times. I’m glad they called those holding penalties because you want it to pay off when your guys work hard. I’m happy with the win but I know we can play better than this.”

Next week in Austin will be a different story.

Hill will need BYU’s offense to play twice as effectively as it did against Texas Tech to have a chance. Gaining 58 yards in the second half won’t cut it in Austin.

Correction: A previous version of this column had the wrong number of a Texas Tech player that Tyler Batty accused of spitting on him. Batty cited No. 76, not No. 78.