mean we should make excuses for the defense. How about forcing a FG after either of those fumbles in the first half? They only forced 4 punts and gave up 4 FG drives, how about forcing a few more punts? In particular, how about not giving up a 7 minute FG drive after having a halftime to rest and adjust? Or forcing a punt on the last FG drive? How about getting more than 1 sack when Nevada got 6? How about not giving up 4.2 yards per rush to a back up RB toting a bottom 10 rushing ranking and also missing several OL?

Yes the three fumbles are the biggest reason why BYU lost yesterday, but that was flukey. The defense was incapable of stepping up and carrying the team for a game, and it’s been a consistent theme of Tuiaki’s defense for his entire tenure. BYU hasn’t won a game while scoring fewer than 24 points since 2017, and that was against FCS Portland State. If you want to have a great team, once in a while you need your defense to carry you in those grind-it-out type games when the offense just doesn’t have it.