BYU football: No. 11 Cougars’ rush defense comes up big in Big 12 win over UCF

ORLANDO, Fla. — Anybody who watched Oklahoma State and reigning Doak Walker Award winner Ollie Gordon II run all over BYU’s defense last week in Provo was probably expecting more of the same from the UCF Knights on Saturday afternoon.
After all, UCF has another outstanding running back in RJ Harvey, a running quarterback in Jacurri Brown and just happens to have the third-best rushing attack in the country.
Perhaps that’s why the Knights were a slight favorite, despite their 3-4 record and four-game losing streak coming in.
But the Cougars’ defense flipped the script near the make-believe land of the Magic Kingdom, mostly shutting down UCF’s powerful run game in a 37-24 win in front of 42,144 at FBC Mortgage Stadium.
“Ollie Gordon had a good day on us, for sure,” said BYU linebacker Isaiah Glasker. “We knew we needed to stop the run, and we did.”
The Cougars (8-0, 5-0) actually out-rushed the Knights (3-5, 1-4), picking up 252 yards on the ground; UCF finished with 181 rushing yards.
Harvey, who went for 198 yards in last week’s 38-35 loss at Iowa State, finished with 127 yards and two touchdowns. He had runs of 23 and 54 yards in the first half, but was mostly quieted the rest of the way.
“It is always good seeing good running backs in the Big 12,” Glasker said. “We know every team we play is going to have some good running backs. Going against them just kinda makes our defense better.”
Glasker got his second interception of the season, while freshman safety Faletau Satuala got the first pick of his career.
Brown ran for more than 150 yards last week against the Cyclones but was so ineffective against BYU that the redshirt sophomore ended up getting benched. Brown was 8 of 17 for 96 yards and two interceptions, for a passer rating of 71.
The Miami transfer was sacked one and ran for only 9 yards, on six attempts.
“We knew he was a runner. We prepped as if we were playing an option offense. I thought we shut him down well and made some big plays on him,” said BYU defensive lineman Blake Mangelson, who had one of his best games as a Cougar.
Mangelson had four tackles, a sack and a pass breakup. Glasker and safety Crew Wakley led BYU with five tackles apiece, while Harrison Taggart and Tanner Wall also had four.
“The biggest thing the coaches emphasized this week was dominating the front, which I think the (defensive) tackles, (defensive) ends did a phenomenal job at doing,” Mangelson said. “That was the main thing, just dominate their front.”
Perhaps the most eye-popping stat was time of possession; BYU had the ball for 40 minutes, 28 seconds. The Cougars had an 18-play drive that resulted in a field goal, and picked up a whopping 29 first downs.
“The offense played well. Forty minutes of time of possession is insane,” Mangelson said. “That allows our defense to not get tired, gives us time to recover and let us perform to our highest level.”
BYU was 2 for 2 on fourth down, which included a nifty fake field goal run by kicker Will Ferrin that netted 8 yards and a first down. BYU is now 15 of 18 on fourth down this season.
UCF was just 2 of 10 on third down a week after Oklahoma State was 9 of 13. Glasker said he and the rest of the defense worked in practice all week to give Brown looks that would confuse him.
“We would bluff on plays and make it so he wasn’t really sure what defense we were in,” Glasker said. “I feel like that kinda helped us in the long run.”
BYU was also helped by approximately 10,000 Cougar fans, many of whom stayed to the end as UCF fans headed to the exits in droves.
“I wasn’t surprised, because I know how BYU fans travel,” Glasker said. “I am super grateful for them, especially being able to look up in the stands and seeing all blue. It kind of gave us motivation, too, especially when you get chants from UCF fans and then you hear BYU fans and they are loud, too.”
Added quarterback Jake Retzlaff: “We have been saying it for a long time — we got the best fanbase in the country. They showed up today.”
And so did BYU’s rush defense.