Patrick Kinahan: Lots of ways to improve for BYU football

PROVO — No better remedy for a football team coming off an embarrassing loss, which grew worse one week after the fact, than to play an inferior opponent scratching to become bowl eligible with one month left in the season.

The schedule makers were indeed kind to BYU, a team that desperately needed a bounce back to regain the momentum left last week in Florida after UCF's stunning upset over the previously second-ranked Cougars. The blemish became even uglier after Baylor, which fired its coach earlier in the week, destroyed UCF by 32 points on Friday night.

Beleaguered Arizona State ventured into LaVell Edwards Stadium on Saturday at the perfect time for BYU, which fell six spots in the rankings following the UCF debacle. The Sun Devils are far removed from the upstart team that shocked the college football world by winning the Big 12 two years ago and pushing big-money Texas to overtime in the Peach Bowl.

Besides a porous defense that had yielded an average of 52 points in the three road games this season, the Sun Devils have started three different quarterbacks. The latest was first-year freshman Jake Fette, who had the dubious distinction of making his first college start on the road against a defense still licking its wounds after last week's abysmal performance.

The shine is a bit off wonderkid Kenny Dillingham, a Phoenix-area kid charged with restoring respectability to a program that former NFL coach Herm Edwards buried into the ground amid NCAA rules violations dating back to recruiting sanctions during the pandemic.

Still only age 36, Dillingham has time to rally the Sun Devils back to the time he guided them to the conference championship in 2024, especially with the several impressive freshmen.

"We were one play short," Dillingham said.

Don't be confused, it's not like BYU was dominant in winning 27-20 to set up next week's showdown with Utah at Rice-Eccles Stadium. The artistic definition of dominance is the beatdown Utah put on Cincinnati at the same time the Cougars were finding ways to stave off a monumental upset against team that stands at 4-4 and may fall short of the minimum six wins to qualify for the postseason.

Utah hammered the same Cincinnati team that upset previously top 10-ranked Texas Tech last week, prompting the hometown fans to storm the field and lead to the Red Raiders changing quarterbacks. The Utes, who led 42-6 at halftime, had the partisan crowd rushing for the exits early to start Halloween activities.

BYU looked nothing like their bitter rivals, who would love nothing more than to hand the Cougars a second conference loss next week that effectively eliminates them from Big 12 championship consideration. It's not a stretch to describe BYU's overall effort against ASU as lethargic or lackluster, neither of which will suffice against the Utes.

"We have to make more improvement week to week," said coach Kalani Sitake.

Consider that the game was tied at 17-17 early in the fourth quarter before BYU pulled away. From there, at least, the Cougars showed flashes of their early season form that included an emotional win over Notre Dame.

The offense, which went nowhere a good portion of the game, produced two drives that resulted in a field goal and then an 11-play, 95-yard drive in the final minutes. The key play to set up the touchdown was Bear Bachmeier's perfect pass to Legend Glasker for a 53-yard gain, by far BYU's most impressive offensive play of the game.

"We were not able to establish the run game," said Sitake, "and that makes it really hard for us."

After last week's subpar showing in Orlando, the defense did gain a measure of respect for keeping ASU's offense in check most of the game. Then again, at this time last year, Fette was probably attending a high school Halloween party.

Ugly or not, although it clearly was, the Cougars did enough to stay in the race with only one conference loss. But only fools would think a repeat will lead to a berth in the 12-team playoffs, which is BYU's objective.