Down 35-31 to Oklahoma State with 1:21 left to play, Brigham Younger had simply sufficient magic left on Friday night time to not solely pull out a victory, but in addition hold its hopes for a Large 12 title and School Soccer Playoff berth very a lot alive.
Undefeated and ranked thirteenth within the newest Related Press faculty soccer ballot, BYU stormed 75 yards in eight performs to cap the last-minute comeback, with Jake Retzlaff’s 35-yard go to Darius Lassiter placing the Cougars within the lead for good with simply 10 seconds left on its strategy to a 38-35 win.
The successful drive not solely put an finish to a wild Friday night time in Provo (OSU and BYU traded scores on the ultimate 5 possessions of the sport) but in addition saved the Cougars undefeated in convention play, becoming a member of Iowa State and Texas Tech as the one Large 12 groups with out a blemish in convention play heading into Saturday’s matchups.
In response to odds at BetMGM on Oct. 19, BYU is now at +325 to win the Large 12, with solely Iowa State (+150) extra of a favourite. Iowa State and BYU will not be scheduled to fulfill within the common season, which means the 2 may solely sq. off within the 2024 Dr. Pepper Large 12 Soccer Championship Recreation on Dec. 7 in Arlington, Texas.
Iowa State and Texas Tech (now at +1000 to win the Large 12), in the meantime, will meet in Ames on Nov. 2 in what might be a pivotal matchup for the standings.
As a reminder, the CFP is set up for the 4 highest-ranked energy convention champions to be seeded one via 4 and obtain a bye within the CFP’s first spherical, so successful the Large 12 might be an enormous profit for whichever crew comes out on high.
Wanting forward at BYU’s schedule, the Cougars have three highway convention video games left (at Central Florida, Utah and Arizona State), plus two dwelling matchups in opposition to Kansas and Houston. Of these 5 groups, solely Arizona State entered Saturday’s motion with a successful document in convention play.
BYU has proven it could actually win in an offensive shootout because it did on Friday night time or when its protection and particular groups take over (as they did in a 38-9 blistering of then-No. 13 Kansas State). That is excellent news for a crew that has improved drastically on each side of the ball since final season’s 2-7 displaying in Large 12 play because it missed out on a bowl recreation.
Picked to complete thirteenth within the convention in the preseason poll, Friday’s victory confirmed one thing particular is brewing this season in Provo.
