PROVO, Utah, Sept. 21, 2024 (Gephardt Daily) — BYU scored touchdowns on offense, defense and special teams on its way to an improbable but resounding 38-9 victory over No. 13 Kansas State late Saturday night.
The Cougars shook off a sluggish start and a 6-0 deficit to outscore the visiting Wildcats 38-3 the rest of the way — including touchdowns on a fumble recovery and a wild punt return — to treat the sellout crowd of 64,201 at LaVell Edwards Stadium to the Big 12 Conference upset.
BYU (4-0, 1-0 Big 12) forced three turnovers in the game — interceptions from sophomore linebacker Harrison Taggart and senior defensive end Tyler Batty, and a scoop-and-score fumble recovery from freshman safety Tommy Prassas.
Junior quarterback Jake Retzlaff completed 15 of 21 passes for 149 and two touchdowns, and freshman running back Sione I. Moa carried the ball 15 times for 76 yards — including a 21-yard fourth-quarter touchdown to close out the scoring.
The Wildcats (3-1, 0-1) finished with 363 total yards (139 passing and 224 rushing) compared to BYU’s 241 yards (149 passing, 92 rushing) but they turned the ball over three times, leading to 21 points.
BYU took its first lead with a little more than a minute left in the first half when Kansas State running back DJ Giddens fumbled and Prassas returned it 30 yards for a touchdown.
Batty then intercepted Kansas State quarterback Avery Johnson at the Wildcats’ 29-yard line, setting up a 23-yard touchdown pass from Retzlaff to Chase Roberts to send BYU into the locker room with a 17-6 lead at halftime.
Taggart then intercepted Johnson on the opening possession of the second half to set up 3-yard TD toss from Retzlaff to Darius Lassiter to extend the lead to 24-6.
The Cougars forced the Wildcats to punt after three plays on their next possession, and after letting the ball bounce and roll to the 10-yard line, sophomore returner Parker Kingston scooped it up and raced 90 yards to the end zone to give BYU a 31-6 lead with 10:45 remaining in the third quarter.
Kansas State added a field goal with about five minutes to play in the third quarter to cut the lead to 31-9 but did not score again.
