BYU learns that trick plays giveth and trick plays taketh in unsatisfying win over Liberty

PROVO — Most BYU football wins at LaVell Edwards Stadium are followed with a lot of posing and pageantry, as the Cougars slap hands with fans hanging over the railings and enthusiastically belt out the school song in front of the student section.

Even road wins, like last weekend at Utah State when the Cougars recovered the Wagon Wheel and sang Darius Rucker’s cover song about it in their over-the-top locker room partying, are celebrated long and hard because BYU usually has a lot of fans anywhere it plays.

“It feels good. Winning is obviously way better than losing. … Everyone feels good, but yeah, there is definitely some improvement we need to (do).” — BYU tight end Matt Bushman

That wasn’t the case after Saturday night’s 31-24 victory over fellow independent Liberty, which will go down as one of the most unsatisfactory wins in stadium history — at least for the fans.

Players such as Austin Lee, Khyiris Tonga, Baylor Romney, Micah Simon and Matt Bushman disagreed. They said Liberty (6-4) proved to be an outstanding team with a lot of great football players. But what else are they supposed to say? The look of relief on their faces told the true story.

“A win is a win,” Lee said. “We will take them how we can get them.”

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Said defensive tackle Tonga, whose timely sack early in the fourth quarter forced a rare Liberty three-and-out: “It was ugly, man, but we will take the wins as best as we can. … It is hard to win games in college football, so we will take it as it comes.”

Maybe the Cougars have learned something. In their puzzling losses to Toledo and South Florida earlier this season, they failed to have a killer instinct, and it ended up costing them. They didn’t step on LU’s throat when they could have in front of 54,683, but to a man the Cougars said they knew they would be in for a dogfight, and they got one from another faith-based institution eager to make a national splash.

Both teams united in prayer at midfield after the slugfest, which might have contributed to the subdued postgame antics; BYU will return the trip to Lynchburg, Virginia, in 2022.

“It feels good,” Bushman said. “Winning is obviously way better than losing. … Everyone feels good, but yeah, there is definitely some improvement we need to (do).”

But as several disgruntled fans mentioned on Twitter, including the father of fourth-string quarterback Joe Critchlow, BYU (5-4) should not have to resort to trick plays to beat Liberty. But that’s what the Cougars did. Some worked — two failed miserably.

BYU coach Kalani Sitake gave a succinct “no” when asked if BYU was going to the well too often with the trickeration, then mildly chided this reporter for “wanting us to be more aggressive” a few games ago and not being consistent.

“Everybody should be ready for anything when they defend us,” Sitake said.

Including some dramatics in the fourth quarter — aside from the USU laugher last week.

As for the fake field goal that failed miserably, Sitake defended it by saying he “thought it was there” and the Cougars “were in a bad position to punt” or attempt what would have been a 47-yarder, well within Jake Oldroyd’s range.

“I liked the aggressive call,” he said.

Had Liberty been more successful on its final possession, the fake would have lived in infamy as one of the most bone-headed calls ever. Winning masks a lot of bad plays in football, and questionable decisions.

Sitake said they’ve been practicing the fake since preseason camp. Holder Hayden Livingston caught the snap and flipped the ball to kicker Oldroyd, but the freshman who coaches have said is one of the better athletes on the team was easily caught by a Liberty defensive back. The Flames took over with 1:27 left and moved the ball to midfield. Only when star Flames receiver Antonio Golden-Gandy, one of the most prolific pass-catchers in the country, failed to catch a desperation fourth-down pass in the final 30 seconds did the 17-point favorite Cougars escape with the one-touchdown win.

“It’s fun (to run trick plays),” said Simon, who had a hand in both of BYU’s first-half touchdowns, catching a 2-yard pass from Romney and throwing a 44-yard pass to Bushman after taking a backwards pass — yes, a trick play — from Romney. He joined Byron Rex (1992 vs. Utah) and Eddie Stinnett (1983 vs. Missouri) in becoming the third Cougar to throw and catch TD passes in the same game.

“I love the aggressiveness from our coaches,” Simon said.

Sitake asked reporters to finger other trickeration that failed, perhaps forgetting about the double-reverse flea-flicker on first down that resulted in LU corner Bejour Wilson intercepting Romney. The play came immediately after the Flames tried to catch BYU off-balance with an onside kick. Isaiah Kaufusi jumped on it.

But the ensuing play gave the Flames the ball back in a one-score game, and gave the visitors newfound confidence.

“There’s a time and place for trick plays,” said Bushman, who had four catches for 86 yards and the TD on Simon’s throw. He added later that “maybe we were a little too eager” to run some and “we might need to take it easy” with the gadget plays before surmising that “coaches have done a good job most times of throwing in trick plays.”

Those same coaches made some nice adjustments, especially defensively, after being criticized for not making enough when Toledo and South Florida were dominating the ball in previous games.

Most notably, BYU’s best defender, Dayan Ghanwoloku, was moved from safety to corner to shadow Gandy-Golden, who finished with 10 catches for 162 yards and a touchdown.

Although Wilson snagged his ill-advised throw, Romney turned in another outstanding effort, completing 23 of 33 passes for 262 yards and three TDs in his second career start. Jaren Hall, who sustained a concussion in the 42-14 win over Utah State, didn’t dress for the game.

“He’s poised, he’s ready and the preparation he put in this week is the same we’ve seen from him all season,” Sitake said of the decision to go with Romney. “He’s always been ready to go and I love the way the guys work together. I love the whole group.”

Even when their celebrations aren’t the same.