BYU upset by UCF for first loss of the season, hosts ASU next

Playing with their highest ranking since 1984, the No. 2 BYU Cougars lost 39-31 in two overtimes to UCF on Saturday, and the list of unbeaten teams thinned to Miami, UCLA and Utah.

UCF was among four unranked teams to knock off ranked opponents. No. 8 Texas Tech lost to Cincinnati, No. 11 Tennessee to South Carolina and No. 15 Iowa to Minnesota.

The Cougars will host Arizona State next week, as freshman quarterback Jake Fette is expected to get the start for the Sun Devils.

The Big 12 had five ranked teams coming into the weekend. Two of its three top 10 teams have lost, with No. 14 Houston and No. 10 Utah facing off Saturday night. No. 25 Arizona, whose lone loss is to BYU, took care of business against Iowa State.

BYU made the cross-country trip to Orlando, Florida, a week after it beat then-No. 2 Notre Dame at home, and there was talk all week about how this could be a trap game.

UCF’s Keyone Jenkins passed for 293 yards and three touchdowns in a game that had five lead changes in regulation. The final seconds of regulation were a mess. A fumble was overturned and ruled an incomplete pass. UCF had what would have been a tie-breaking field goal on third down blocked and was denied a second try even though it recovered the ball. The player who came up with the ball, the kicker, had his helmet knocked off with 2 seconds left. The helmet incident required a 10-second runoff, which sent the game to overtime.

When UCF held BYU out of the end zone in the second overtime, fans stormed the field and the Golden Knights had their first-ever win over a top-five opponent.

“This will be humbling for us, and we have to learn from it. Kind of frustrated by the outcome but am impressed with UCF,” BYU coach Kalani Sitake said. “We’ve got some things to think about and things to correct so we can be in a better position next week. There’s still a lot of football ahead of us, and there’s a lot more games to play, so we can’t let one loss define us.”

This was the third straight week in which a team ranked No. 1 or 2 lost to an unranked team. Texas was No. 1 when it lost to Oklahoma two weeks ago, and Georgia was No. 1 when it was beaten by Auburn last week. The last time top-2 teams lost three times to unranked opponents was 2007, when it happened eight times.

Cincinnati upsets Texas Tech

Cincinnati’s 37-24 win over Texas Tech was the Bearcats’ first victory over a top-10 opponent in five years. The Red Raiders had trouble controlling Cole Tabb, who rushed 16 times for a career-high 173 yards. His 58-yard burst for a touchdown put the Bearcats up by 19 points with 6 minutes left.

The Red Raiders were coming off a 28-point win over ASU last week.

The late show is Houston at No. 10 Utah, with the Utes as 6.5-point favorites in the Big 12’s showcase game this week.

Utah is coming off a three-point win at Colorado, and none of its opponents so far this season are better than .500.

Related

Jake Fette expected to be ASU’s starting quarterback going forward amid youth movementCardae Mack’s 4 touchdowns lead ASU in win over Kansas StateASU’s Jake Fette makes FBS debut, replaces Cutter Boley after Mikey Keene injuredCincinnati upsets No. 8 Texas Tech, earns significant Big 12 winMikey Keene comes out firing in first ASU start, leaves injured before halftimeSam Leavitt gets rejected by the rim as touchdown celebration goes awry vs. Auburn