BYU’s offensive players and staff now have an additional week to:

• Take defense personnel to dinner.
• Select names of defense buddies for future naming of your offspring.
• Find lucrative NIL deals for defense attorneys.
• Clean up all defensive players’ messes in the locker room, dorms, and apartment rooms and make Door Dash deliveries to everyone.
• Do some early Christmas shopping for defensive coordinator Jay Hill.

BYU’s defense stepped up some 400 times during BYU’s 34-28 victory over Baylor on Saturday under a hot, energetic sun to lift the No. 22 Cougars to a 5-0 record and a tie through the end of September to finish in first place in the Big 12.

But none of those hundreds of lifelines were bigger than killing two Baylor drives in the final four minutes.

BYU safety Crew Wakley intercepted Baylor quarterback Sawyer Robertson with 59 seconds left in the game, capping an incredible performance by the Cougar defense.

It was BYU’s first Big 12 road win. Always.

“There was too much drama, but I’m glad we won,” BYU head coach Kalani Sitake said after the game.

Moments earlier, pressure from linebacker Jack Kelly forced Baylor into a holding penalty. Kelly also had an interception bounce out of his hands.

Previously, pressure and excellent press coverage from the Cougar secondary thwarted Baylor’s attempts to erase a six-point BYU lead.

BYU jumped out to a big lead early with lightning-fast offense and defense that appeared to be left over from the win over No. 13 K-State.

BYU had a 21-0 lead in the first quarter, which was initiated when BYU defensive tackle John Nelson tipped a Robertson pass on Baylor’s first play of the game and tackle Blake Mangelson brought him down for a pick.

But after securing that big lead, the Cougar offense melted away in the Texas sun late in the second and third quarters. It allowed Baylor to find its mojo.

Quarterback Jake Retzlaff, who had a brilliant first half, was intercepted twice, the second time when he passed a ball at the line of scrimmage in the fourth quarter. Receivers dropped passes and there were fruitless runs after gaining more than a hundred yards in the first half.

Baylor, which had lost to Colorado in a heartbreaking overtime game the week before, had its back against the wall and used a lot of emotion to fight back and push BYU.

“This is a testament to our courage,” Retzlaff said afterwards on BYUtv. “Our defense? I trust these guys so much.”

BYU seemed to have the game cooked as the defense stopped Baylor in the final two minutes. The offense got the ball and secured a second and fifth goal in their own territory with a run by Enoch Nawahine. An official called a BYU tackle for a 15-yard penalty after the play was declared dead. The penalty resulted in a second-and-20, forcing BYU to punt and essentially breathing life back into Baylor’s team.

Wakely and Co. accepted the challenge and nailed the coffin shut on his center fielder’s safety pick in front of a charging Baylor receiver.

“We played hard the whole game,” Nelson said on KSL radio afterward. “They came after us hard. It’s hard to win on the road in the Big 12.”

Sitake then described the late punishment as “nonsense”.

“I thought it was an obvious flop,” Sitake said. “A James Hardin.”

He said: “We teach our players to be smart in this situation, especially when we’re trying to run out the clock.” They marched us back 15 meters and I had to let the referees hear it. It was bullshit, but that’s okay. Civil servants are human beings, they are not perfect. Me neither. That’s why I yelled at her.”

Sitake was just as emotional in this game as he has been all season.

BYU’s offense appeared to be the best unit in the country at Baylor. The Cougars were missing starting running back LJ Martin, who did not make the trip, and then lost receiver Kody Epps and starting center Connor Pay to injuries in the first half, creating obstacles for BYU in Waco.

After BYU blew a big lead, Baylor had three chances to win the game. Those three drives ended in nine plays for 9 yards and a punt; Seven plays for 21 yards after a missed fourth down and two plays for negative 10 yards on the Bears’ final drive, which ended in an interception.

BYU’s defense, struggling midway through the game to contain Baylor’s Robertson and his chemistry with his receivers, switched from a soft zone to a man-press coverage, and that adjustment by coordinator Hill proved crucial in the disruption of Robertson’s timing.

Hill never stopped applying pressure and got additional blitz help from his corners, safeties and linebackers.

In years past, this was the type of game BYU would lose if a QB sat back and let them tear them apart.

No, that’s not possible in Hill’s world.

“Every time I wanted to make a recommendation, Jay was there,” Sitake said on KSL radio. “He remained aggressive.”

Baylor coach Dave Aranda praised BYU, particularly the coaches he worked with at Utah State University and Wisconsin (TJ Woods, Chad Kauho’ah’a), for presenting different perspectives on its offense and defense.

“I was disappointed at the start of this game,” Aranda said. “We were missing players for this game, but they were also missing.”

Sitake said BYU should be much better than they played at times Saturday and that there is still a lot of work to do. He had to calm down some players who were trying to do too much on their own and stay away from assignments, he said.

BYU’s five road losses in the Big 12 last year were marked by slow starts. But on Saturday, BYU built a 31-14 lead that forced Baylor’s offense to pass and capitalize on opportunities.

Ultimately, selecting Wakley is what cost a desperate Baylor team and Robertson.

Baylor only gave up 14 points per game in that game, but BYU doubled that in the first half with two TD passes from Retzlaff to Darrius Lassiter for 44 yards and Miles Davis for 26 yards. Retzlaff, who could and should have run more in the second half, scored on a 17-yard QB run in the first half.

Tyler Batty got his first sack of the season. Wakley and John Taumoepeau also got sacks, bringing BYU’s season total to 13, while a year ago BYU got a total of 10 sacks all year.

BYU now takes a week off before hosting Arizona at LaVell Edwards Stadium.

Given this summer’s disregard for predictions, it feels like Sitake’s team is going from under-the-radar to BOLO status – be on your guard.