How the Cougars earned a 34-14 win over Wyoming – Deseret News

Another week, another win for BYU.

The Cougars made the most of their first trip to Wyoming in 15 years, earning a convincing 34-14 victory over the Cowboys on Saturday night at War Memorial Stadium in Laramie, extending their record to 3-0 for the second consecutive year.

Here are three keys to BYU's success Saturday against Wyoming.

Explosive offensive moves

In BYU's first two games this year against Southern Illinois and SMU, the offense recorded a total of nine plays of more than 20 yards.

On Saturday against Wyoming, however, the Cougars managed nine more such plays, and that doesn't include Keelan Marion's 100-yard kick return touchdown early in the second half.

Keanu Hill and Darius Lassiter each scored 20-yard touchdowns, Chase Roberts caught four long-range passes, and Jake Retzlaff also contributed a long quarterback scramble.

45.8% of BYU's 458 total yards of offense came from these long plays over 20 yards.

Still solid defense

Eight days after a heroic defensive performance at SMU, Jay Hill's unit had a lot to live up to in Laramie.

In three quarters against Wyoming – before BYU decided to send its substitutes onto the field – the Cougars gave up just 139 yards, an average of just 2.8 yards per game.

In addition, the Cowboys managed only 4 of 14 third downs against BYU's starters, had trouble running the football, and were forced to punt eight times that night.

25 different Cougars defenders recorded tackles, with Jack Kelly recording a sack and Evan Johnson also recording an interception.

Jake Retzlaff recovers and impresses

Yes, BYU's quarterback threw an interception in the red zone, had several other passes nearly intercepted, and was only able to convert on a third down.

But without Retzlaff, the night would not have been as great for the Cougars, as he was able to overcome his early difficulties and improve, ultimately delivering one of the better performances of his BYU career.

Retzlaff ended up throwing for 291 yards and three touchdowns, completing 61% of his passes and achieving a rating of 151.0.

With the Cougars' depleted running back corps struggling to establish the running game, the redshirt junior QB stepped in and led all runners with 62 yards on six attempts and, perhaps most importantly, no fumbles.

Retzlaff definitely wasn't perfect against Wyoming and still has some kinks to iron out in his game, but BYU fans should feel somewhat encouraged by his efforts as the Cougars head into Big 12 play next week.