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DALLAS, Texas -- BYU had a chance to prove themselves as a legitimate team and get revenge against a TCU team that has easily handled the Cougars the last three years. But bad decisions, big penalties and mental errors cost the Cougars a needed win.
BYU started off ugly as Brandon Ogletree got a personal foul penalty that moved the ball 15 yards and then he blew coverage on the next play giving TCU a 35-yard TD.
BYU then had some struggles, but the offense started finding some momentum.
"Impressive drive by BYU," tweeted Kevin Graham of 1280. "Nelson finding some success over the middle. Maybe we'll have a decent BYU-TCU game after all."
But then Riley Nelson let his intensity get in the way.
"Riley's competitiveness gets him in trouble. He keeps the play alive and then throws a pick. Should have thrown it away earlier," tweeted Patrick Kinahan of KFAN.
"I love Riley Nelson's toughness but QB is not his primary position," tweeted Eric Olsen.
Special teams really made it a long night for the Cougars. Punter Riley Stepehnson couldn't handle two different snaps and gave TCU excellent field position. The Horned Frogs took advantage and easily scored. Stephenson also had some short punts that gave TCU great position leading to easy scores.
Then, another special teams/coaching miscue was at the end of the half when they decided last minute to send out the field goal crew to try for a score with only seconds on the clock.
"Because BYU rushes the kick, Sorensen misses the FG. That's embarrassing and bad coaching right there," tweeted ksl.com's Josh Furlong.
Despite all the miscues and mental mistakes, the special teams did have a real bright spot that put some fight back into the Cougars. J.D. Falslev returned a punt over 60-yards for a 4th quarter TD.
"Oops I was cussing JD for not fair catching that ball!!" tweeted DevinDD3.
Riley Nelson continued to play aggressive, but was often too aggressive and refused to take a sack and turned the ball over three times.
"Riley Nelsen = good athlete, not good QB," tweeted Justin McKissick.
"I'm starting think Riley Nelson just isn't very bright," tweeted 1280's Kevin Graham. "Honestly he needs to be benched for that. Maybe he'll learn his lesson."
BYU continued to fight, but a bad penalty kept a TCU drive alive and ran time off the clock. BYU managed to score once more and Riley Nelson ran hard and lowered his head to get the two-point conversion to bring the game within 10. The Cougars couldn't get the onside kick, but after the conversion Nelson did give the ref a high-five. And @KSLSports tweeted it was the best play of the night and many agreed.
"So true-we replayed it several times!!" tweeted Jennifer Garn.
"Agreed. We needed that laugh," tweeted everydayjess.
After a game like that where BYU seemed to beat themselves and BYU fans did need a laugh.
"Once again, it will appear that an opponent is significantly better than BYU based on the score," tweeted ESPN 700's Jason Shepherd. "They aren't. Cougars are making it too easy."
