Marci Harris, Special to the Herald
BYU players celebrated with freshman defensive back Tommy Prassus after he returned a fumble for a touchdown during the Big 12 game against Kansas State at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024.
In front of a boisterous crowd of more than 64,000 fans, BYU football introduced this generation of Kansas State football players to LaVell Edwards Stadium.
Their ears may still be ringing long after the Wildcats return to Manhattan, Kansas.
It certainly wasn’t the trip No. 13-ranked Kansas State expected.
The Cougars blitzed the visiting Wildcats, scoring 31 points in a span of less than six-and-a-half minutes of game time. That turned a 6-0 deficit into a 31-6 lead for BYU, eventually resulting in the shockingly easy 38-9 Cougar victory.
“That stretch was an absolute whirlwind,” BYU senior defensive lineman Tyler Batty said. “That was a ton of fun. It was guys building off of each other’s momentum, guys not getting down on themselves. We were down 6-0 and guys were saying that we were going to fight, that we were going to slug this thing out. We weren’t giving in. We were going to wait for those opportunities and when they happened, we were going to capitalize.”
That was precisely what the Cougars did, although the start of the game-changing stretch wasn’t ideal for the home team.
BYU had a promising offensive drive backed up by a big sack and the Cougars had to settle for a 31-yard field goal by junior kicker Will Ferrin with 2:10 left in the first half, which cut KSU’s lead in half.
But BYU was just getting started.
On the ensuing Wildcat possession, Kansas State junior running back DJ Giddens took a handoff on a third-and-2 from the KSU 33-yard line. He tried to spin up field to get the necessary yardage, only to have Cougar junior linebacker Jack Kelly knock the ball free.
BYU quickly converged and Batty could see that Cougar freshman defensive back Tommy Prassus had a huge opportunity.
“I was right there scraping over to the ball just to see it pop out right and start rolling,” Batty said. “I’m running behind Tommy as fast as I can and I’m yelling at him, ‘Pick it up! Pick it up!’ Typically when a ball comes out, you dive on it, but we had enough space and I had enough vision behind him.”
Batty, however, realized that his efforts to communicate the situation to Prassus likely weren’t effective.
“I don’t even think he heard me because the stadium was going crazy,” Batty said. “But he scooped it and we got the right blocks and got down the sideline. I was super excited for Tommy again. He stepped up when his number was called.”
Prassus had a convoy as he carried the ball down the sideline toward the end zone that included Kelly and sophomore linebacker Harrison Taggart as the BYU crowd went wild.
“You couldn’t even hear,” Taggart said. “I was running down the field with Jack (Kelly) to the end zone and we were like six inches apart. We couldn’t even hear each other talk. Momentum is a huge part of the game and the BYU ROC kept that momentum going.”
Prasses’s 30-yard scoop-and-score TD gave the Cougars their first lead with 1:08 left in the second quarter, but BYU had two more big plays to make before halftime.
The first came two plays later when Batty made a diving interception on an overthrown screen pass, the first of his career.
“I was just dropping into coverage and I saw that it was a screen pass,” Batty said. “We were bringing a little bit of pressure and it got there. The QB didn’t throw a very accurate pass and it ended up right in my lap.”
BYU once again had the ball deep in Kansas State territory and two plays later, Cougar junior quarterback Jake Retzlaff hit junior receiver Chase Roberts in the corner of the end zone for a 23-yard score and give the home team the shocking 17-6 lead at the break.
The Wildcats looked to change things around when they got the ball to start the second half, but the BYU onslaught continued when Taggart got into the passing lane and snagged another Cougar pick.
“I dropped over my guy, who was running the bender,” Taggart said. “I saw (KSU quarterback Avery Johnson) get flushed from the pocket and throw it. I finally made the catch and went right back down the sideline.”
His 15-yard return gave the BYU offense the ball at the Wildcat 27-yard line and the Cougars capitalized.
BYU freshman running back Sione I. Moa broke free around the right side for a 24-yard gain, setting up Retzlaff’s 3-yard strike to senior wide receiver Darius Lassiter to extend the lead.
The home team, however, had one more dazzling play to cap the surge — and it was both the luckiest and the most exciting of the bunch.
The Cougars forced Kansas State to punt for the only time in the game, only to see BYU sophomore returner Parker Kingston misjudge the catch.
It appeared to brush his hand and bounce toward the Cougar goal line, and the Wildcat coverage team raced in pursuit as it sensed a chance to swing the momentum back the other direction.
But Kingston was able to scoop it up at the 10-yard line, step through a couple of diving tackles as he retreated to the 3-yard line, then break free as he raced toward the far sideline.
BYU had kept the defense on the field to prevent a fake attempt, but the Cougar players managed to run enough interference for Kingston to have a lane all the way to the end zone for a highlight-reel 90-yard punt return touchdown.
“I was thinking that he was going to fair catch it, but I turned around and I saw it hit the ground,” Glasker said. “I was just trying to find the first guy that I could block. Then we saw an open lane and he came up the sideline. From there it was basically just celebrating the end zone.”
The clock read 10:45 in the third quarter, meaning all 31 BYU points had come in a span of 6:25 of game time.
But BYU head coach Kalani Sitake said the team wasn’t surprised to put together that type of dominating stretch.
“That’s kind of what we plan on happening,” Sitake said. “This defense with Jay hill and the defensive staff, they can create some chaos. And I’m glad that it showed up tonight against a ranked team that was heavily favored against us even though we were at home.
“We can just keep pushing along and grind it out, and good things will happen for us. I was really happy with the way it worked out, but that’s what they’re supposed to do, to create momentum and help us win the game.”
The visitors did get one more field goal but BYU answered with a powerful 21-yard touchdown run from Moa to cap the scoring and keep Kansas State from dreaming of a comeback.
The Cougars all said that the home crowd deserved plenty of credit for disrupting the Wildcats and keeping BYU rolling.
“They were huge,” Glasker said. “I love playing in front of our home crowd, just because we get that 12th man. It’s always a fun time having that big crowd.”
It was Kansas State’s fourth trip to Provo and its fourth loss. It was also the fourth time that the Wildcats failed to reach double digits when facing BYU on the road, having lost 21-3 in 1965, 32-9 in 1972 and 39-0 in 1977.