The aspirations of earning a spot in the Big 12 Championship Game will be at stake in Saturday’s Top 25 matchup in Tempe, as the Sun Devils meet a Cougars team that had, up until last week, a perfect conference record. What are the strengths and weaknesses we can expect? Let’s examine ASU's upcoming opponent.

BYU Offense

In college football, it’s not uncommon for a nationally prominent team to be guided by a quarterback who may not be the prototypical pro prospect but is every bit of the proverbial “gamer” who simply finds ways to will his team to wins.

BYU has such a player under center in Jake Retzlaff. His numbers may not leap off the page, but his impact cannot be denied on the Cougars’ 9-1 record through 10 games.

The team’s QB1 in all ten games this year, Retzlaff averages 228.3 passing yards per game and has 19 touchdown throws with eight interceptions, along with 312 net rushing yards with four scores.

His season-high passing yards came in the season opener against FCS Southern Illinois, when he tossed for 348 yards on the day. In conference play, however, Retzlaff’s single-game high is 228 passing yards, and he weirdly had exactly 218 passing yards in three consecutive games at one point. He has three multi-interception games on the year but also has three games with three touchdown throws. On the ground, Retzlaff has three games with at least 50 net rushing yards, including a season-high of 81 against Oklahoma State.

If BYU needed to use a backup quarterback, a very familiar family name could see action. Treyson Bourguet, the brother of ASU’s Trenton and Coben, joined the Cougar roster this past offseason as a transfer from Western Michigan. However, he has not seen game action yet this season for Brigham Young.

For what feels like the first time since the non-conference slate, ASU does not face a nationally elite running back when BYU comes to town. Multiple Cougar runners have seen meaningful game time this season, with LJ Martin leading the way.

Martin has team-highs of 90 carries for 501 yards with five scores despite missing three games. He had 100-yard performances in back-to-back games against Oklahoma State and UCF and, most recently, had 15 carries for 76 yards against Kansas. Martin currently ranks 15th in the Big 12 in total rushing yards, but he does have a more than respectable 5.6 yards per carry average.

Second behind Martin is Hinckley Ropati, who, like Martin, has missed three games this year but has 65 carries for 357 yards with a touchdown. Ropati has four games with at least 45 rushing yards as a reserve, including a season-high 13 carries (twice) and 83 rushing yards versus UCF.

Chase Roberts and Darius Lassiter have been the two clear-cut pass-catchers for the Cougars this season, as the duo has combined for 80 of the team’s 174 total receptions (46.0%) and 1,235 of the team’s 2,343 total receiving yards (52.7%) along with eight of BYU’s 20 total touchdown receptions.

Roberts leads the way with 42 receptions for 659 yards (15.7 avg.) with four scores. He had a pair of 100-yard games earlier in the season in non-conference action and has had a very solid recent stretch as he averages 77.7 receiving yards per game across his past three outings.

Lassiter, a former Eastern Michigan transfer and the son of late Arizona Cardinal Kwamie Lassiter has 38 catches for 576 yards (15.2 avg.) with four touchdowns in nine games. He had two games with at least 120 receiving yards earlier in the season and caught at least four passes per game across a five-game stretch.

Former UConn transfer Keelan Marion ranks third on the team with 16 catches for 262 yards with one touchdown, while Parker Kingston has ten catches for 145 yards with a score.

Though he has only seven receptions this year, tight end Mata’ava Ta’ase, a graduate of Mesa’s Mountain View High School and a former Southern Utah Transfer, has made them count. Three have gone for touchdowns, and he has 76 total receiving yards.

BYU has not released weekly game notes or a depth chart yet for this game, but the offensive line has seen left tackle Caleb Etienne and left guard Weylin Lapuaho, while center Connor Pay has seven starts, with Bruce Mitchell having started the other three at center, along with a fourth start earlier in the season at right guard. Brayden Keim started the first nine games at right tackle, with Isaiah Jatta starting last week. Austin Leausa has five starts at right guard, while Sonny Makasini has four.

BYU Offense Summary

Statistically on a national scale, BYU ranks 32nd in red zone offense (.895), ties for 37th in sacks allowed (1.40 per game), ties for 38th in scoring offense (31.6), ties for 49th in tackles for loss per game (5.00 per game), ties for 54th in turnovers lost (13), is 57th in total offense (397.3), 59th in passing offense (234.3), and ties for 62nd in rushing offense (163.0).

BYU has notable struggles in its third down conversions, as the Cougars rank 121st nationally (.319).

Though the BYU offense doesn’t jump off the page, Retzlaff has found ways to win and he has capable backs and receivers to work with.

BYU Defense

To reiterate, BYU has not released game notes this week despite having done so for all ten previous games this year—odd—so we’ll use last week’s notes to try to make sense of what the starting defensive lineup might look like.

A week ago, Tyler Batty started on the line along with Blake Mangelson, John Nelson, and Isaiah Bagnah.

Batty leads all Cougar defensive linemen with 38 tackles, including 4.5 for loss with 1.5 sacks, along with six quarterback hurries, two pass breakups, and one interception. Mangelson isn’t far behind as he has posted 35 tackles, including 5.5 for loss with 2.0 sacks, along with two quarterback hurries, one pass breakup, and one interception.

Bagnah has 19 tackles, including 2.0 for loss with 1.0 sacks, along with two pass breakups and two quarterback hurries, while Nelson has 19 tackles, including 2.0 for loss with 1.0 sacks, as well as three pass breakups and two quarterback hurries.

Harrison Taggart, Isaiah Glasker and Jack Kelly all started at linebacker last week and have formed a very solid trio this season.

Taggart, a former Oregon transfer, leads the team with 63 tackles and also has 1.5 tackles for loss, four quarterback hurries, three pass breakups, one interception, one forced fumble, and one fumble recovery.

Glasker ranks second on the team with 49 tackles, including a team-high 10.5 for loss, while ranking second on the team in sacks (2.5), interceptions (two), and pass breakups (four). He also has a pair of quarterback hurries and one forced fumble on the year.

Kelly, a former Weber State transfer, leads BYU with 4.0 sacks on the year as part of his 39 total tackles. He also leads the team with nine quarterback hurries and ranks second on the squad with 7.0 tackles for loss. Kelly also has one pass breakup, one forced fumble, and one fumble recovery.

In the secondary, star cornerback Jakob Robinson started along with Marque Collins, with Crew Wakley and Tanner Wall at safety.

Wakley, a former Utah State transfer, ranks third on the team and leads all Cougar defensive backs with 42 tackles with one sack and a pass breakup, along with two interceptions to tie for second on the team.

Robinson began his career at Utah State but has become a key defender for the Cougars. He was a Thorpe Award semifinalist last season and is in the top 10 among active FBS players in career interceptions. This season, he has 32 tackles, including 5.0 for loss, with a team-best three interceptions, four pass breakups, two quarterback hurries, one forced fumble, and one fumble recovery.

Collins, formerly a Weber State transfer, leads the team with eight pass breakups and has 19 tackles including one for loss with two interceptions and one quarterback hurry, while Wall has collected 32 tackles with a pair of interceptions on the year.

BYU Defense Summary

The Cougars have some very impressive national defensive statistic rankings. BYU ties for sixth in turnovers gained (22), ranks 16th in pass defense (176.1), 20th in total defense (315.3), and 23rd in scoring defense (19.50), while it also ranks 58th in rush defense (139.2).

The BYU defense has been opportunistic at times, as 13 different Cougar defenders have registered either an interception or a fumble recovery this season.

However, there are defensive categories in which BYU has relatively to significant struggles as the Cougars tie for 77th nationally in third-down defense (.404), tie for 98th in team tackles for loss (4.8 per game), tie for 110th in red zone defense (.900) and tie for 115th in team sacks (1.40 per game).

BYU Special Teams

Overall, BYU boasts excellent special teams both in terms of kicking and returns, beginning with placekicker Will Ferrin.

Ferrin has connected on 19-of-22 field goal attempts on the year, while punter Sam Vander Haar averages 42.9 yards on his 28 punts.

The return game for the Cougars has been spectacular with three total touchdown returns on the year.

Parker Kingston averages 11.6 yards on 11 punt returns, including a 90-yard touchdown, while Keelan Marion averages 28.6 yards on 14 kickoff returns with two touchdowns, including a 100-yarder.

Overall Summary

Wow. How did we get here? Two teams with losing records in 2023, both picked in the bottom quarter of the Big-12 in the league’s preseason poll – BYU 13th and ASU dead last at 16th – in what many are rightfully calling the most important home regular season game for Arizona State since the Devils defeated Notre Dame in 2014, a clash of two top-25 teams this Saturday that will be shown in front of a national audience and not only carries major implications on the Big-12 championship game but also the College Football Playoff.

Needless to say, anyone who projected this scenario in the preseason would immediately have been forced into a drug test.

This will be the 29th all-time matchup between the two programs, though ASU has lost the last three and has not beaten the Cougars since a 29-21 victory in Tempe on Oct. 14, 1995. The last time these two teams clashed was on Sept. 18, 2021, in Provo, when the Cougars won 27-17. The very first meeting between Arizona State and Brigham Young was a 13-0 BYU victory in Tempe on Nov. 23, 1935.

As is well known by now, BYU won its first nine games and climbed as high as sixth in the College Football Playoff poll before a shocking loss to Kansas last weekend.

Prior to that defeat, BYU had played with some fire. Four of the Cougars’ nine wins came by one score—three of which were by three points or fewer.

The scene will surely be set in Tempe—Sparky on the helmets, a sold-out Mountain America stadium, and a list of high-profile recruits on the sidelines.

The keys of destiny are squarely in the hands of the Sun Devils on Saturday afternoon – will they hit the gas and accelerate past BYU into a possible spot in the Big-12 championship game, or will this magical run stall just short of a conference title appearance?

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