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Landover, Md. • BYU's defense had been the strength of its team this season, putting up strong efforts against Arizona, Utah and UCLA, outperforming the Cougar offense at nearly every turn.
That changed on Saturday at FedEx Field against West Virginia, a team that found enough of its own offense to punish the BYU D, and beat the Cougars 35-32.
The Mountaineers especially hurt BYU through the air. Quarterback Skyler Howard completed 31 of 40 passes for 332 yards. He repeatedly hit flares to running backs and went deep on a few occasions, plays that, if they didn't surprise the Cougars, looked as though they did.
"I think West Virginia took some chances," BYU coach Kalani Sitake said. "They threw the ball up in the air, tried to challenge our corners and they came out with some big plays and some big catches."
None of which the Cougars seemed prepared or able to stop.
"They shouldn't have scored four touchdowns," linebacker Francis Bernard said. "They were dumping it and … we weren't expecting that."
All told, BYU gave up 481 yards, while its offense got 521.
"We need to get sacks," Sitake said. "We need to do a better job of getting to the quarterback. Otherwise, you have to come up with different ways to get to the quarterback, which usually means blitzing and pressuring, and that kind of puts you in a bad spot."
The Cougars garnered one sack for a minus-1 yard.
"I liked the way the guys were working," Sitake said. "We just gotta make more plays."
A quorum of West Virginia receivers were effective: Shelton Gibson caught four passes for 144 yards. Jovon Durante, Daikiel Shorts and Ka'Raun White combined for 15 catches for another 93 yards. Shorts caught a touchdown pass.
"I thought their receivers made some great catches," Sitake said. "They made bigger plays than we did."