A 17-13 loss to Kansas ended BYU's undefeated season at No. 6

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

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

Neal ran for 52 yards and two touchdowns and the visiting Jayhawks silenced an announced crowd of 62,704 fans at LaVell Edwards Stadium.

Not for long, though.

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

“Those of you who listen to me regularly talk about three to five plays that decide a game, and we can all probably name three to five plays that were huge, that might have swung the game either way.” Kansas coach Lance Leipold said. “That's why I have so much respect for the BYU program and Kalani Sitake and the work he's done.

“They're still in the thick of playing for a conference championship and I can see why they had the year they had last year — the improvements they've made, all-around. I think he's taken the program to a great place.”

LJ Martin rushed 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, but threw a costly interception on first-and-goal from the 5-yard line in the final minute of the first half in a 10-10 tie.

But on a team with a superstar in Daniels and a star running back in Neal, perhaps the biggest flaw 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.

Daniels hit Evan Johnson's helmet moments after snapping a quick kick — a kick that Jacob Robinson tried to deflect and a kick that hit the cold, wet grass before being recovered by Quentin Skinner for 3-yards. the line

“It was weird,” said BYU defensive end Tyler Baty, who had a team-high eight tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss along with a pass breakup and a quarterback hurry but was down between two blocks before Daniels could think to throw. Incomplete pass on fourth down.

“I saw Schmev (Johnson) hit in the helmet,” he added. “I thought, Incomplete pass; we're good. I didn't see him kick. Then everybody started scrambling on him. … Props to them. That was a great play. It's a really well-designed and really well-executed football game. .”

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

That wasn't the reason the Cougars lost.

“It's bad,” head coach Kalani Sitake said. “I think the shape of the ball is to make things interesting and this time it bit us in the butt.”

The Cougars converted just 3-of-10 third downs, and 1-of-2 fourth downs. A similar defense held Kansas to just 4.7 yards per play and 2.2 yards per rush against an offense that averaged 4.8 yards per rush and was stopped three times in the red zone.

It was Neal's go-ahead punt with 13:19 left that set up the Jayhawks (4-5, 3-4 Big 12) to remain undefeated all-time against BYU and retain bowl eligibility with two games remaining. .

The Cougars had a chance to come back, with Mark Collins picking off Daniels with 4:47 left in the fourth quarter during a nine-play, 71-yard drive.

BYU used its nine lives in a 9-0 start that no one expected, but needed a 10th and couldn't recapture the magic against a Kansas team that had 11 or fewer in eight of its last nine games.

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 long-shot territory experienced by BYU against Oklahoma State and Utah and Retzlaff. Chase threw the sticks back to Roberts for an 8-yard gain that fell 4 yards short of a 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 miraculous comeback was on the cards for that final campaign. But in some ways, he wishes he hadn't.

“We need to stop it,” the American Forks-born wide out said. “We need to beat teams by 20 points, 30 points. The type of offense we have, our team. We need to own this game.

“It was disappointing 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, better runs. Routes as a receiver.”