PROVO, Utah – Jalon Daniels threw for 169 yards, Devin Neal ran for two touchdowns, and Kansas upset No. 6 BYU 17-13 on Saturday night to hand the Cougars their first loss of the season.
The Jayhawks (4-6, 3-4 Big 12) defeated ranked opponents in consecutive weeks for the first time in school history and improved to 3-0 against the Cougars. Neal surpassed 4,000 yards rushing in his career after finishing with 52 yards on the ground.
The win over BYU kept hopes alive that Kansas would qualify for a bowl game for the third consecutive season after a 1-5 start.
“I feel like our team has always done a great job staying the course,” Daniels said. “I feel like an important part of our program is trusting the process.”
Jake Retzlaff threw for 192 yards for BYU (9-1, 6-1). LJ Martin ran 76 yards for the Cougars, who were held to a field goal in the second half.
BYU totaled 354 yards but went 2-for-4 in the red zone and came away with no touchdowns on all four drives inside the 20.
“They had a really good game plan,” BYU coach Kalani Sitake said. “If we look at the statistics, we just didn’t play enough and made way too many mistakes to come out with the win.”
Trailing 13-10 entering the fourth quarter, Kansas continued on Neal’s 3-yard run.
Daniels quickly punted on fourth-and-14 when the drive stopped at the BYU 36. His kick deflected off Evan Johnson’s helmet, and when Jakob Robinson dove to secure it, the ball squirted out of his arms. Quentin Skinner jumped on the loose ball at the 3 to kick things off.
“This time we found a way,” Kansas coach Lance Leipold said.
BYU drove to the Kansas 15 but stopped on a charge after the two-minute timeout. They gained four total yards on three straight runs, and a false start penalty put them at the 16. BYU turned it over on downs with 46 seconds left when Chase Roberts was tackled three yards from a first down.
“We had all the confidence in the world in our defense to be able to go out and get a stop,” Daniels said.
Both teams scored a touchdown in the first half. Kansas took a 7-0 lead on their opening drive after Neal’s 8-yarder burst up the middle. BYU took a 10-7 lead in the second quarter on a 30-yard strike down the sideline from Retzlaff to Hinckley Ropati.
The Cougars had a chance for another green light before halftime when they drove 70 yards in a minute to the Kansas 5. Mello Dotson intercepted Retzlaff in the end zone on a fade route to prevent BYU from putting another touchdown on the board.
“We can’t score in the red zone,” Roberts said. “I feel like we struggled a little bit in the red zone this week in practice, and that continues to be the case. You’ve got to hang in there. You’ve got to be prepared when you come out and play a good team like Kansas.”
BYU opened the third quarter with a 17-play drive that covered 66 yards and took 10:26 off the clock. The drive culminated in a 35-yard field goal by Will Ferrin, which ultimately turned out to be the Cougars’ only second-half points.
“It didn’t seem like it was ever going to end,” Leipold said. “That might be one of the longest drives I’ve seen in my career, 17 games. But to hold them to that field goal was huge.”
