BYU Kept Its Undefeated Season Alive Thanks to a Controversial Defensive Holding Call on a Late 4th Down

If you want to talk most brutal ways to lose a football game, what happened to Utah tonight is right up there with the worst of them. Rivalry game against an undefeated BYU team in your own building, fourth down with the game on the line and you think you get the stop to secure the win only to have a flag thrown for defensive holding and then the Cougars go all the way down the field to kick the game-winning field goal with three seconds left.

And on a 1-10 scale of how necessary it was to throw that flag, I'd give this one about a 6. It was probably a penalty, but the official leaving the flag in his pocket in that instance wouldn't have been indefensible, either.

BYU seems to have officially been anointed 2024's Team of Destiny, now owning a record of 4-0 in one-possession games. They remind me a lot of 2022 TCU in many ways. But the bottom line is they found a way to get out of Salt Lake City with their record still unblemished and they'll remain in the driver's seat to win the Big 12 and go to the College Football Playoff.