BYU's Offense Falls Flat in 35-6 Loss to Texas

On Saturday afternoon, BYU lost to no. 7 Texas 35-6. The game started out in catastrophic fashion - again. After the first BYU drive stalled, BYU punted the ball to Xavier Worthy who returned the punt 74 yards for the score. That play set the tone for the rest of the game and forced BYU to play from behind. Allowing big plays early in the game has become an unfortunate calling card for this BYU team. In three losses this season, BYU has allowed four non-defensive touchdowns. Three of the four have occurred in the first five minutes of the game.

BYU looked to the offense to respond. Instead, the offense went three-and-out and punted the ball back to Texas.

The BYU defense, like they have so many times this season, took the ball away from Texas when Crew Wakley intercepted Maalik Murphy. A costly blindside block penalty on Max Tooley negated a long return that would have put BYU inside the Texas 10 yard-line.

Once again, BYU looked to the offense to respond and tie the game. Instead, Kedon Slovis was intercepted and Texas returned the interception back to the BYU 26. The Longhorns took advantage of the short field and took a 14-0 lead. After that point, it was at least a two-score margin for the rest of the game.

At the start of the second quarter, the BYU offense showed signs of life with a 16 play, 64-yard drive that resulted in a field goal and took 9:57 off the clock. That cut the lead to 11 and made the score 14-3.

Before the end of the half, Texas marched down the field and scored a back-breaking touchdown to take the 21-3 lead into the halftime locker room.

BYU got the ball to start the second half. The Cougars gained only two yards on three plays and were forced to punt the ball back to Texas. At that point in the game, BYU had seven total drives on offense. Six of the seven ended after only three plays.

The defense played well enough to keep BYU in the game for a few more drives. BYU logged three consecutive stops on defense including two goal-line stands. BYU kicked another field goal to make it 21-6. That was the last time BYU would score.

After that field goal, things went from bad to worse for the offense. BYU got the ball five more times. Those drives resulted in:

Punt
Interception
Fumble - sack
Turnover on downs
End of regulation

The BYU offense simply did not play well play enough to give BYU a chance to win this game. The Cougars are left searching for answers on offense after blowout loss to Texas. Next week, BYU travels to West Virginia to take on the Mountaineers. West Virginia has one of the better defenses in the conference. The BYU offense will have to be better in all areas to give BYU a chance to win that game.

Facebook - @CougsDaily

Twitter - @Cougs_Daily and Casey Lundquist at @casey_lundquist

Instagram - @cougs_daily

Add us as a preferred source on Google