BYU 38-35 Oklahoma State (Oct. 18, 2024) Game Recap

PROVO, Utah – Jake Retzlaff threw a 35-yard touchdown pass to Darius Lassiter with 10 seconds left and No. 13 BYU remained undefeated, beating Oklahoma State 38-35 on Friday night.

Retzlaff kept the drive alive with an 8-yard pass to Chase Roberts on fourth-and-7 and set up the game-winning play with a 27-yard run up the middle. Lassiter evaded two tacklers, giving the Cougars (7-0, 4-0 Big 12) the go-ahead goal.

“It's magical. It’s spiritual,” Retzlaff said. “How can you not be romantic in this game?”

Retzlaff threw for 218 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran for 81 yards and a score.

Lassiter had a career-high 129 yards on six catches, surpassing 100 receiving yards for the second time in three games. LJ Martin rushed for 120 yards and two touchdowns, the most of his career.

They all helped BYU average 7.4 yards per play. The Cougars scored on all four drives of the second half.

“These games don’t happen by chance,” Retzlaff said. “We did that on our tour this morning. We ran through those plays, and we ran through almost every play in those situations, and the guys did really well.”

Oklahoma State (3-4, 0-4) lost its fourth straight game despite gaining 421 yards and averaging 6.4 yards per play.

The Cowboys took the lead on Alan Bowman's 6-yard pass to Brennan Presley with 1:13 left. That was the culmination of a 17-game drive that lasted nearly 8 1/2 minutes.

“It was out of character for what you see from our defense,” BYU coach Kalani Sitake said. “I thought we'd do a bit of freelance work to get our big break.”

Bowman also caught a crucial pass in the second half. Ollie Gordon II ran for 107 yards and two touchdowns and caught a TD pass for Oklahoma State.

The Cowboys' starting quarterback, Garret Rangel, left just before halftime with an injury.

BYU trailed at halftime for just the second time this season before scoring back-to-back goals in the third quarter to take a 28-21 lead.

The Cougars ran seven straight plays, culminating in Martin's 8-yard rush to tie the score. Then, after Tommy Prassas caught a diving interception at the Oklahoma State 44, BYU took the lead on Keelan Marion's 34-yard touchdown catch.

The Cowboys tied the game at 28 when Bowman caught a 16-yard pass on a trick play to open the fourth quarter.

BYU took a 14-7 lead a minute into the second quarter when Tanner Wall returned an interception 51 yards and set up a 1-yard run by Martin one play later.

Gordon had consecutive touchdowns to give Oklahoma State the lead. He made it with a 17-yard catch, running over a defender on the way to the end zone. Then Gordon ran for the go-ahead 2-yard kick with 32 seconds left before halftime.

“If you speed the ball up a little bit, it opens up, spreads out the defense and gives you the opportunity to do other things,” Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy said. “Our concepts were excellent, the plan we had was good, it worked and the players implemented it.”

THE TAKEAWAY

Oklahoma State: The Cowboys rediscovered their dormant running attack, gaining 269 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. The inability to consistently stop BYU's offense negated these successes.

BYU: An uncharacteristic series of turnovers and sloppy run tackling put the Cougars in tough situations for most of four quarters. It nearly undermined BYU with 473 total yards of offense.

IMPLICATIONS ON THE SURVEY

A dramatic win will likely allow the Cougars to move up in the AP Top 25 poll on Sunday.

NEXT

Oklahoma State: At Baylor next Saturday.

BYU: Next Saturday at UCF.

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