BYU secures the Big 12’s first bowl win of the season by beating Georgia Tech

The BYU Cougars are the first Big 12 team to play a bowl game this season. And as it turns out, the BYU Cougars are the first Big 12 team to win a bowl game this season. 

Even though BYU wasn’t able to take a trip to the College Football Playoff, the Cougars did get a pretty eventful postseason destination by getting a chance to compete in the Pop-Tarts Bowl against a fascinating Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets team.

The Yellow Jackets happened to turn this game into an absolutely fascinating matchup. This is a game that went back-and-forth and featured an abundance of twists and turns. It’s also a game that was incredibly evenly matched. 

The BYU Cougars are the first Big 12 team to play in and win a bowl game this season as they beat the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

After BYU got the scoring started with a 7-0 lead early on, the Yellow Jackets responded by marching down and scoring a touchdown of their own near the end of the first quarter to tie things up at 7-7. BYU turned around and kicked a field goal and then Georgia Tech tacked on two more touchdowns, setting the score at 21-10 at halftime.

The Cougars did surge back and scored 15 points in the fourth quarter to secure their win, but it was a bit nerve wracking all along the way for BYU (and also the Big 12).

In case you need an illustration of how close this matchup was for the Big 12’s second best team, BYU had 425 total yards of offense gained. Meanwhile, the Yellow Jackets gained 401 total yards of offense. Both teams had two turnovers and both teams had 49 penalty yards. 

This matchup was probably a good bit closer than it should have been for a team that was trying to advocate for itself to be in the College Football Playoff, but BYU did just get the Big 12’s first bowl win of the season and that’s ultimately what matters here.