Luck runs out on No. 6 BYU's undefeated season with 17-13 loss to Kansas

PROVO — On a cold, frigid night in the thin mountain air at home, BYU's luck finally ran out.

After Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels punted a ball off a BYU helmet that the Jayhawks recovered at the 3-yard line to set up Devin Neal's go-ahead touchdown to open the fourth quarter, the Cougars struggled to respond.

Neal ran for 52 yards and two touchdowns, and the visiting Jayhawks silenced the announced crowd of 62,704 fans at LaVell Edwards Stadium with a 17-13 win over No. 7 BYU, which was ranked sixth in the latest College Football Playoff rankings.

Not for much longer, though.

Daniels threw for 169 yards with an interception, but his biggest play may have been the quarterback punt.

"Those of you that hear me on a regular basis talk about three to five plays that determine a game, and we could all probably name the three to five in this one that were huge, that probably could have swung the game either direction," Kansas coach Lance Leipold said. "That's why I have such great, great respect for the BYU program and Kalani Sitake and the job that he's done.

"They're still right in the thick of playing for a conference championship, and I could see why they've had the year that they've had compared to where they were last year — just the improvements that they've made, holistically. I think he's got this program in a great spot."

LJ Martin ran for 76 yards on 15 carries for BYU (9-1, 6-1 Big 12), which piled up 162 yards on the ground. Jake Retzlaff threw for 192 yards and a 30-yard touchdown to Hinckley Ropati, but also tossed a costly interception on first-and-goal from the 5-yard line in the final minute of the first half of a 10-10 stalemate.

But on a team with a superstar in Daniels and a star running back in Neal, perhaps the biggest blemish was the Cougars' inability to contain Luke Grimm. The senior wide out caught four passes for 77 yards, averaging 19.3 yards per reception that helped set up both of Neal's touchdowns.

The last one came moments after Daniels did a quick kick that caromed off Evan Johnson's helmet — a kick that Jakob Robinson tried to corral, and a kick that squirted out onto the cold, wet grass before being recovered by Quentin Skinner at the 3-yard line.

"It was weird," said BYU defensive end Tyler Batty, who had a team-high eight tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss with a pass breakup and a quarterback hurry but found himself head-down between two blocks before he thought Daniels threw for an incomplete pass on fourth down.

"I saw it hit Schmev (Johnson) in the helmet," he added. "I thought, incomplete pass; we're good. I didn't see him kick it. Then everybody started scrambling and hopping on it. ... Props to them. That was a great play. Really well designed and really well executed. That's the game of football."

Sometimes the egg-shaped ball bounces like that. BYU has had plenty of fortunate bounces go its way during a 9-0 start, but lost the momentum Saturday.

That wasn't the reason the Cougars lost, though.

"It sucks," head coach Kalani Sitake said. "I think the ball is shaped like that to make things interesting, and it bit us in the butt this time."

The Cougars converted just 3-of-10 third downs, and 1-of-2 on fourth downs. The same defense that held Kansas to just 4.7 yards per play and 2.2 yards per rush was paired with an offense that averaged 4.8 yards per run and stalled three times in the red zone.

That was the punt that set up Neal's go-ahead score with 13:19 remaining to keep the Jayhawks (4-5, 3-4 Big 12) undefeated all-time against BYU, and maintain a shot at bowl eligibility with two games remaining.

The Cougars had chances to come back, including when Marque Collins picked off Daniels in the fourth quarter during a nine-play, 71-yard drive with 4:47 remaining.

BYU used up its nine lives in a 9-0 start that nobody expected, but needed a 10th and couldn't recapture the magic against a Kansas team that played eight of its last nine games to 11 points or less.

BYU committed just two penalties on the night, but a costly false start on fourth-and-6 from Kansas' 11-yard line pushed the comeback bid into the kind of long-shot territory that BYU experienced against Oklahoma State and Utah, and Retzlaff threw behind the sticks to Chase Roberts for an 8-yard gain that fell 4 yards shy of the first down.

Roberts caught five passes for 71 yards to lead BYU, and Keelan Marion added 42 yards on three catches.

Roberts believed that another miracle comeback was brewing on that final drive. But in some ways, he wishes he didn't.

"We need to stop that," the American Fork-born wide out said. "We need to start beating teams by 20 points, 30 points. That's the kind of offense we have, the kind of team we have. We should have this game.

"It was frustrating that we couldn't convert and we couldn't get points on the board in the red zone. We've got to learn from our mistakes, and make better decisions in the red zone — make better reads, run better routes as receivers."

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