ORLANDO, Fla. – No. 11 BYU is unbeaten but not taking anything for granted.
The reality of college football is that one loss can derail championship aspirations, and the Cougars know there’s little room for error in their bid to win the Big 12 championship and secure a spot in the expanded College Football Playoff.
BYU (7-0, 4-0) visits reeling UCF on Saturday and finds itself 2 1/2-point underdogs, according to BetMGM Sportsbook. That’s even though the Cougars are unbeaten and the Knights (3-4, 1-3) have lost four in a row.
Quarterback Jake Retzlaff sounds unfazed that some observers remain skeptical of how good BYU might be.
“Our team has done a good job of keeping the main thing the main thing and that is going out there and winning games,” Retzlaff said. “We know whether it’s being hyped up or being the underdog, the only people who knew what we were going to do this season is us. Regardless of what it is, we still have the mentality to prove people wrong.”
BYU survived a close call last week, with Retzlaff throwing a 35-yard touchdown pass to Darius Lassiter with 10 seconds remaining to come from behind and beat Oklahoma State 38-35. The Cougars began the winning drive with 1:13 left and drove 75 yards in eight plays to keep pace with 10th-ranked Iowa State (7-0, 4-0) atop the tight Big 12 standings.
Four other teams, including Colorado and No. 16 Kansas State, have one loss in conference play.
BYU coach Kalani Sitake expects every opponent remaining on the schedule to test the team’s mettle down the stretch.
“We’re in a spot we thought we could be in,” Sitake said. “It doesn’t really matter if people believed us or not. We can control what we can control and get after it every week.”
New QB settling in
UCF made a surprising move to bench senior transfer quarterback KJ Jefferson and turn to freshman EJ Colson and sophomore transfer Jacurri Brown. Brown wound up playing his way into the starting job and will keep it against BYU after the Knights nearly upset Iowa State on the road last week.
“I’m real excited about him,” UCF coach Gus Malzahn said. “His potential is really off the charts. He’s got as good an arm as anyone in college football. I like the way he has handled himself. He ran physical, he ran hard. The moment wasn’t too big. A lot of really good things to build upon with him.”
Running back RJ Harvey had a big game against Iowa State, rushing for 154 yards and two TDs in UCF’s 38-35 loss. Brown was 8 of 20 passing for just 62 yards.
Malzahn said the Knights will strive for more balance against BYU.
Running wild
When BYU faced Oklahoma State last week, the Cougars anticipated getting a heavy dose of star running back Ollie Gordon. What they weren’t expecting was quarterback Garrett Rangel to run wild, too.
Gordon rushed for 107 yards and two touchdowns, getting 50 of those yards on one play. Rangel gained 77 on the ground as the Cowboys nearly pulled off the road upset. Oklahoma State finished with 269 yards rushing, the second most that BYU has yielded this season.
The Cougars’ run defense figures to be tested again Saturday. UCF leads the Big 12 in rushing at 280.3 yards per game. Harvey is averaging just over 127 yards per game.
“They have so much offense,” Sitake said. “It’s difficult to prepare for everything. That’s what we have to do. That’s the challenge. I think they keep a variety of ways to hurt you. It’s all stuff that we’ve seen. But they’re a very dangerous team. We have to tackle well and be assignment sound.”
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