“Big Game Bill.”

That’s what BYU junior quarterback Jake Retzlaff called Cougar junior kicker Will Ferrin during the post-game press conference following BYU’s wild 22-21 victory over rival Utah at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on Saturday night.

As the final seconds ticked inexorably off the clock and the Cougars trailed by two, Ferrin and the BYU field goal unit trotted onto the field for the biggest kick of the season.

If you make it, the magical undefeated season continues.

Miss and it would be the Utes celebrating their biggest win of the year.

“It was time for ‘Big-Game Bill’ to go out and put it through the uprights,” Retzlaff said.

Ferrin and the Cougars lined up as Utah’s defense prepared to do whatever it could to prevent the kick from going in.

As both teams waited for the game-deciding play, a 44-yarder from BYU’s No. 44, time seemed to stand still.

It was a frozen moment, a chance to remember everything that had happened to get to that point.

Moments earlier, the Cougars had chosen to run out the clock and put the outcome of the game on Ferrin’s shoulders.

“We just felt really good running the ball, running the clock and just sitting there and kicking,” BYU head coach Kalani Sitake said. “Cougar Special Teams Coordinator Kelly Poppinga has worked on this situation so many times, so nothing was new to us. It was something these guys did over and over again.

Poppinga wanted to put the ball in the best position for Ferrin, so he approached his kicker to gain insight.

“I asked Will during the last game where he wanted the ball,” Poppinga posted on his @CoachPopp account on X (formerly Twitter). “He said with a big smile, ‘It doesn’t matter where it goes in.’ ICE IN THE VEINS! #GoCougs.”

But BYU wouldn’t have been there at all if it hadn’t gotten three consecutive first downs and gained 56 yards in the process.

A fantastic diving grab by Cougar junior wide receiver Chase Roberts on a pass from Retzlaff gained 30 yards, followed by a 13-yard pickup on a quick out to senior Darius Lassiter. Then BYU senior running back Hinckley Ropati put BYU well within Ferrin’s reach with a 13-yard run that took the ball to the Utah 25-yard line before Ropati was upended.

Throughout it all, Ferrin waited to be called upon.

“I’m very proud that we have a neutral mentality, where it doesn’t matter if we run the attack out of the end zone, or if there are ten minutes left in the game, or if we’re going to score. a game-winning field goal,” Ferrin said. “It is crucial to stay neutral and not get too high or too low in situations like kicker. For me, it’s like when they tell me to go out and kick the ball, I go out and kick the ball. It’s a pretty simple life, so I love it.”

Ute players, coaches and fans will likely say Ferrin should never have had a shot because of the sequence of events that started the ride.

Stuck on the Utah 9-yard line, the Cougars forced Retzlaff into three incompletions, resulting in a fourth-and-10 with the game on the line.

As the play developed, the Ute defenders collapsed the pocket and brought Retzlaff to the ground inside the 1-yard line. They started celebrating with the home fans, but had to regroup when a defensive holding penalty (one that was visible on multiple replays) gave BYU new life.

“We like the two-minute drill,” Retzlaff said. “When my back was in the end zone after the fall, it was not a nice feeling. When they look up and see that we have had new life, the boys feel confident in the two-minute exercise. That first first down is the catalyst, so it is crucial to achieve. Once we got it, but we got it, we started rolling. So it was fun.”

Utah’s perspective, however, was summed up by Ute athletic director Mark Harlan, who made a surprise appearance at the post-game press conference in Utah.

“This game was absolutely stolen from us,” Harlan said. “We were excited about being in the Big 12, but tonight I’m not. We won this game. Someone else stole it from us. I am very disappointed. I’ll talk to the commissioner. This was not fair to our team. I am disgusted by the professionalism of the officiating tonight.”

Looking back at plays that occurred earlier in the game would likely lead to both teams finding decisions that could have gone either way.

They helped the Utes when the home team had its best quarter in a long time, building a 21-10 halftime lead (all of Utah’s points came in the second quarter) and helped the Cougars when BYU rebounded in the second half.

But regardless of how it came to that, with less than 10 seconds left, it all came down to Cougar sophomore long snapper Dalton Riggs, sophomore holder Sam Vander Haar, the field goal protection unit and Ferrin.

“When we get into situations like this, it’s just another rush,” Ferrin said. “We can go out and execute like we’ve been doing for however long we’re here.”

On the sideline, Retzlaff and the offense had done what they could do. Now they could only watch.

“I found No. 44 running onto the field and said, ‘go get it, baby,’” Retzlaff said. “We had so much confidence in this man. I hugged Hinckley Ropati and told him we were going to make these stairs. I was there with receivers coach Fesi Sitake and really 100 people that I love and who are part of this family.

Once the frozen moment was over, it was all about the basics: clicking… holding… kicking.

“We were just willing for it to happen,” Sitake said. “Will Ferrin is a very good kicker. He has done this before and we really felt comfortable and confident in him.”

Retzlaff said that as he watched the ball move away from desperately tense Utah defenders, he knew where the ball was going.

“I think I knew it halfway through,” Retzlaff said. ‘I turned around because I knew it was inside. If it wasn’t, it would have been very awkward. It was great to see it continue. And then it was pandemonium.”

When the ball split the uprights with three seconds left and the Cougar celebration began, Ferrin and his men had the satisfaction of knowing they had done their job once again.

“It was great,” Ferrin said. ‘You always talk about the celebrations you’re going to do and things like that. I didn’t think about any of them. I think I just stood still and waited for the boys to come celebrate with me. But it’s cool to share that moment with all the guys on that field goal team.”

It wasn’t BYU’s best performance of the season by a long shot, but it proved just enough for the Cougars to move to 9-0 as one of only four undefeated teams left in college football.

And the fact that BYU was able to do this by beating the rival Utes made it even sweeter.

“The rivalry game came to an end, as we have seen so many times before,” Sitake said. “I’m glad we’re on the other side. I have seen many games where we were victorious while wearing a different colored shirt. I’m happy for our fans that we were able to get this win and that our players made it happen.”