photo by: AP Photo/Rick Egan

Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels throws a pass during the first half of an NCAA college football game against BYU, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Provo, Utah.

Provo, Utah — The best play of the year for the Kansas football team was a punt.

Faced with an unenviable fourth-and-14 on BYU’s 36-yard line, down 13-10 with quarterback Jalon Daniels having just taken a sack to push the Jayhawks out of field-goal range, KU lined up as though it was going to try for an extremely unlikely conversion.

Instead, Daniels took the snap and punted. The ball improbably bounced off the head of BYU’s Evan Johnson, teammate Jakob Robinson failed to recover, and wide receiver Quentin Skinner dove on it to set up a go-ahead touchdown by Devin Neal.

Marvin Grant stopped BYU’s Chase Roberts just short of the first-down marker on a key fourth-and-11 near the goal line in the final minute, and the Jayhawks held on to end No. 6 BYU’s unbeaten season with a 17-13 victory on Saturday night at LaVell Edwards Stadium.

KU’s offense was inconsistent, but Neal ran for a pair of scores to add to his school-record total. Luke Grimm caught four passes for 77 yards on an on-and-off night for Daniels. With the victory, KU moves to 4-6 and could still reach the postseason by winning its final two games.

Kansas’ opening drive got a big boost when Daniels fielded a snap off the bounce and threw a jump ball to Skinner for 29 yards, a play that stood despite both the objections of BYU fans who wanted offensive pass interference and a review by the referees to ensure Skinner got a foot inbounds. That was the most significant play on a 10-play, 84-yard drive that ended, like so many, with a rushing touchdown by Neal.

The teams traded punts before BYU, despite missing a potential deep-shot touchdown on the opening play of its drive, got into scoring range on a series of hard runs by LJ Martin.

After the start of the second quarter, though, O.J. Burroughs dragged quarterback Jake Retzlaff out of bounds on a quarterback keeper and then was in coverage on an incompletion by Retzlaff as BYU settled for a short field goal by Will Ferrin.

The Jayhawks went three-and-out for a second straight drive, and Martin took the Cougars into KU territory again. Mello Dotson missed an opportunity to tackle Parker Kingston in the backfield on a third-down jet sweep, and instead, on the very next play Retzlaff threw a 30-yard touchdown pass to Hinckley Ropati.

KU finally got some momentum on offense thanks to an option keeper by Daniels for a first down, followed by 23- and 27-yard receptions by Luke Grimm, the latter on fourth-and-6. But after a delay-of-game penalty pushed the Jayhawks from third-and-goal at the 2-yard line back to the 7, Daniels threw incomplete and the Jayhawks tied the game with a field goal by Tabor Allen.

In response, the Cougars’ two-minute offense only needed two plays to cross midfield and made it to KU’s 5-yard line with 50 seconds to go. Retzlaff threw a no-hesitation fade-route to tight end Mata’ava Ta’ase that got easily intercepted by Dotson, and the Jayhawks took a knee to head into halftime tied 10-10.

BYU relied heavily on its ground game out of the break, to the point that it ran an option on third-and-9 from midfield. Taylor Davis knocked Martin out a yard short of the marker, but Martin ended up converting the fourth down anyway.

After spending nearly 10 minutes on the field, the Jayhawks finally earned a third-down stop by holding Retzlaff to three yards on a third-and-6 quarterback keeper. The Cougars initially considered another fourth-down try but instead Ferrin kicked another field goal to put BYU ahead.

Following its lengthy absence from the field, the KU offense showed some promise and got out of a second-and-long situation on a swing pass from Daniels to Grimm. The Jayhawks faced third-and-8 on BYU’s 46-yard line, but Daniels stood in against the blitz and found Jared Casey for a conversion on the final play of the third quarter.

From there, the drive got significantly worse for KU. After a short gain by Neal, Daniels nearly threw an interception, then took a sack while trying to escape an army of BYU defenders to push the Jayhawks back to fourth-and-14 at the Cougars’ 36-yard line.

That’s when Daniels’ special-teams wizardry changed the game and helped KU take the lead.

BYU punted, and with a chance to run the clock, Daniels forced a ball into coverage and got intercepted by Marque Collins — only for the Cougars to punt again.

The Jayhawks again couldn’t get particularly far down the field, allowing the Cougars a chance at another go-ahead drive with five minutes to go.

This time, BYU capitalized. Retzlaff found Roberts for 12- and 24-yard gains, and Ropati took the Cougars down to KU’s 15-yard line at the two-minute warning. That’s when the Jayhawks made their final stand to keep BYU out of the end zone, doing what they could not do in several losses earlier in the season.

The Jayhawks will host another ranked team, Colorado, at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium for their final home game of the year on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.

How they scored

First quarter

9:07 — Devin Neal 8-yard run. Tabor Allen PAT good. Ten plays, 84 yards, 5:49 TOP. KU 7, BYU 0.

Second quarter

14:11 — Will Ferrin 33-yard field goal. Eleven plays, 42 yards, 5:30 TOP. KU 7, BYU 3.

8:48 — Hinckley Ropati 30-yard pass from Jake Retzlaff. Eight plays, 69 yards, 4:31 TOP. BYU 10, KU 7.

1:46 — Allen 25-yard field goal. Eleven plays, 68 yards, 7:02 TOP. BYU 10, KU 10.

Third quarter

4:30 — Ferrin 35-yard field goal. Seventeen plays, 66 yards, 10:26 TOP. BYU 13, KU 10.

Fourth quarter

13:19 — Neal 3-yard run. Allen PAT good. One play, three yards, 0:04 TOP. KU 17, BYU 13.

Box score