No. 14 BYU forces 4 turnovers and beats Arizona 41-19 for its best start to a season since 2020

Jake Retzlaff passed for 218 yards and two touchdowns and No. 14 BYU forced four turnovers in a 41-19 win over Arizona on Saturday.

Darius Lassiter had 86 yards on five catches and Parker Kingston caught a touchdown pass and threw for a score on a trick play for BYU. The Cougars (6-0, 3-0 Big 12) are off to their best start since 2020.

Noah Fifita threw for 275 yards and a touchdown to lead Arizona. But, he tossed three interceptions and lost a fumble. Tetairoa McMillan had 78 yards on five catches for the Wildcats.

Arizona (3-3, 1-2 Big 12) has lost four straight games in the series with BYU.

Arizona turned the ball over twice in its first three plays of the second half.

BYU’s Jakob Robinson batted the ball to himself and came down with an interception, setting up a 9-yard touchdown catch by Chase Roberts. Then Harrison Taggart recovered a fumble when Isaiah Glasker stripped Fifita on a sack. That led to a 33-yard field goal by Will Ferrin and extended BYU’s lead to 24-7 less than two minutes into the third.

LJ Martin scored on a 1-yard run and Glasker scored on a 21-yard interception return in the fourth quarter to seal it for the Cougars.

For the second consecutive week, Arizona got a fourth down stop on its opponent’s opening drive. After Retzlaff threw away a fourth down pass at the Arizona 5, the Wildcats drove 95 yards for a score. McMillan’s wide-open 39-yard catch in the flat set up a 14-yard scoring grab by Montana Lemonious-Craig that made it 7-0.

Another fourth down gamble paid off for BYU on its second drive. Martin took a pitch and raced 15 yards on fourth down to get the Cougars in the red zone. Kingston scored on a 20-yard catch one play later to even the score at 7.

BYU took a 14-7 lead midway through the second quarter when Kingston threw a 33-yard touchdown pass to Martin. Tanner Wall set the scoring drive in motion when he intercepted a pass from Fifita at the BYU 1.

THE TAKEAWAY

Arizona: After a strong opening drive, the Wildcats slowly unraveled on offense. Arizona struggled to finish drives and coughed up turnovers deep in its own territory, letting a chance at another road upset over an AP Top 25 opponent slip away.

BYU: An opportunistic defense switched momentum in the Cougars favor after the first quarter. BYU scored 24 points on four takeaways to break open a close game. The Cougars have intercepted 10 passes through six games and had at least three takeaways in a game for the third time this season.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

BYU could move up in the AP Top 25 poll after another dominant home win.

UP NEXT

Arizona: Hosts Colorado on Saturday.

BYU: Hosts Oklahoma State on Friday.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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