BYU's offense did enough, defense did the rest to beat SMU for 2-0 start

UNIVERSITY PARK, Texas — From his laboratory next to the press area above the 32,000-seat Gerald J. Ford Stadium, BYU defensive coordinator Jay Hill concocted what felt at times like a perfect scheme.

A spritz of pass rush — eight tackles for loss and seven quarterback hurries — mixed with three sacks, an interception and 261 yards combined to lift the Cougars to an 18-15 win over SMU that kept BYU an unbeaten all-time against the Mustangs at 5-0.

It wasn't always pretty, but like Frankenstein's monster cobbled together in a laboratory, it was often effective. And the Cougars are 2-0 just a week after the defensive schemer was released from the hospital with two stents and his heart.

Hill may have to keep his spot calling plays in the booth. From the limited time he spent on the headset last week in a 41-13 win over FCS foe Southern Illinois to Friday night's 3-point win over the Mustangs in front of a visitor-friendly crowd of 31,172, the former Weber State head coach pushed all the right buttons.

"He always does," said Marque Collins, the former Wildcat cornerback who had two tackles and an interception for a BYU squad that matched SMU with three turnovers. "Even when he doesn't, we don't know any better; we'll just make 'em right. I'm grateful for coach Hill, taking a chance on me and letting me come here. Coach Kalani (Sitake) as well. But having coach Hill here … with us and engaged with us was a big help for us. It was the same thing as last week.

"We're going to play for him," he added. "I think that's the best part of our defense: we know who we are, who our coaches are, and we're going to play for all of them. I think that's what ultimately gets those hard wins."

The Cougars (2-0) set the tone early against SMU, forcing a quarterback change from Preston Stone to Kevin Jennings, who finished with 140 yards passing, an interception and a quarterback rating of 77.4 for the Mustangs (2-1).

BYU's Jake Retzlaff wasn't perfect, throwing for 202 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions with another lost fumble. But the redshirt junior signal caller finished with a 111.7 rating — in large part for the way he threw a pair of second-half picks, stalled twice more, but finished the game with a TD drive to Enoch Nawahine on fourth-and-two with 1:15 left in the third quarter and the ultimate game-winner through Will Ferrin's 26-yard field goal with 1:58 remaining.

"Jake's a tough guy. He's not going to get down," said wide receiver Darius Lassiter, who caught two passes for 62 yards including a 57-yard blitzkrieg in his season debut. "I came right to him on the sidelines, and told him, we've got everything we want right here. We've just got to settle down and play our game.

"He did that at the end. He executed a great drive to get us down there, and then ultimately made the decision to go to me on the goal line that I thought I should have made — even though it was a little contact. But I feel like I can make that play, because that's the trust I have in him."

Retzlaff made plays when he needed to, including 35 yards on 10 carries and a 16-yard TD strike to Mata'ava Ta'ase in the first quarter that put the Cougars ahead before LJ Martin was forced to exit with eight rushes, 32 yards and an apparent ankle injury.

But the offense was in a position to do what it had to do because the Cougars' defense did what it did.

Jack Kelly and Blake Mangelson each had a sack on BYU's first two defensive series, and Harrison Taggart finished with a team-high eight tackles, two pass breakups, two quarterback hurries, a forced fumble and shared a sack in the win.

There may have been too many defensive contributions in the win to deliver individual superlatives, such as Tyler Batty's five tackles and a pass breakup and Isaiah Glasker's six tackles, a sack and a pass breakup.

But a defense on a team that ended the 2023 campaign on a five-game losing skid has been greatly improved through two games of the season, not allowing a passing touchdown and just two overall — to the FCS Salukis — while shutting the Mustangs out of the end zone and off the scoreboard in every way but through Collin Rogers' five field goals.

"People were talking bad about us online, especially on our defense, (saying) we weren't ranked as high as we should be," Glasker said. "But practicing with the front seven, I felt like we really got after it and got nasty. I'm excited about our defense this year.

"Honestly, I feel like we can dominate games, especially with our defense and Jay Hill. He gets us fired up. I'm excited for the rest of the season."

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