There’s a lot of excitement about the BYU football program as the Cougars are ranked No. 22in the nation and are 4-0 after a blowout win over then-No. 13 Kansas State at LaVell Edwards Stadium last week.
Next up is a trip to Waco, Texas this week as the Cougars take on Baylor and look to get their first-ever win inside McLane Stadium.
With the undefeated start, the Cougars are getting a lot of national attention as they’ve surpassed expectations and sit atop the Big 12 standing with rival Utah.
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Jake Retzlaff Interview
Among the buzz is BYU starting quarterback Jake Retzlaff who was a guest on the “All Facts No Brakes” show with NFL legend Keyshawn Johnson to discuss his historic journey as the first-ever Jewish starting QB at BYU.
The interview goes over a number of topics, including the unique dynamic of leading a team where a number of his teammates are already married, and how he’s handling the pressure of guiding the Cougars to a 4-0 start. Jake shares insights into his personal faith, overcoming challenges, and the significance of playing QB at BYU.
Keyshawn Johnson: You’re the guy at BYU. You got your opportunity to be the starting QB. What is it like playing and being in Provo?
Jake Retzlaff: Provo is a destination stadium. If you haven’t been, you got to go. The way that place was rockin last Saturday night against Kansas State was second to none. I challenge any other stadium atmosphere with ours in the country. It’s different and then you get to look up at the mountains and the scenery is second to none. Being the quarterback here is a dream.
Keyshawn Johnson: How did they (coaches) convince you to come to BYU? What did they say to get you to take a visit?
Jake Retzlaff: Put yourself in my shoes. You are a quarterback with aspirations to play at this level, play at a high-level, do great things in college football and then go to the NFL. And then you look and they got Zach Wilson who was drafted No. 2 overall and then Jaren Hall who got drafted a year later… and who was about to get drafted when they were recruiting me. And then you throw it back to Steve Young, Jim McMahon, Ty Detmer. Quarterbacks here have a lot of success and that is tradition at BYU. So how can you look at that and be like yeah, I know that’s not a great opportunity for me to go there and just be super successful.
That’s what did it for me. Both the tradition the old history with all the greats and all the recent history. I know that Coach Aaron Roderick as the OC and Kalani can develop next-level quarterbacks. Going to the Big 12 too. … With that much opportunity, how can you say no to something like that.
Keyshawn Johnson Jr.: You guys might be the biggest surprise of the season so far. 4-0 and ranked No. 22 in the nation. The Big 12 media had you ranked No. 13 in that conference. Compared to the first 4 games now and the last 4 games of last season, how much do you think you have improved?
Jake Retzlaff: A bunch for sure. Definitely understanding and comfortability within the offense and the guys around me is a big thing. This offense is pretty in-depth and so being a first-year quarterback in it is tough, but being a second-year quarterback is really fun and making a lot of big plays. I think the whole team has taken so many steps up in so many ways and it’s been super fun just to be part of it. And the guys have a different attention to detail this year. It’s been a surprise to all the media and stuff like that in the country, but it hasn’t been a surprise to the guys in the locker room. We knew we had some special here, and we also know that we aren’t done. We also know that we that will beat a top 13 team in the country at home. In a big way. We put it to them. And we’re still only No. 22 in the country. You’d think beating a Top 13 team we might be Top 20. But no, there’s still is not enough respect. And that’s why we play with that chip on our shoulder. We were picked to win 4 1/2 games and we’ve won 4 already. After this week we can already suppress that win total with 7 more games to go. It’s not surprising for us. It’s fun to shut everyone up. And to hear all the hate. It’s fun.
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Keyshawn Johnson: How much pressure do you feel if any at all? Do you feel there is pressure to continue to succeed, or are you like, whatever comes we’ll deal with it?
Jake Retzlaff: I mean, there’s always pressure any level of sport. And like I said, because we were picked to do nothing, it’s just so fun to be able to go out there and prove everyone wrong, week after week. This past week I was surprised against Kansas State that we weren’t double digit underdogs like we were against SMU earlier in the season.
Even this week going into Baylor we’re still underdogs. So people still haven’t respected us. We are taking everything as it comes. We don’t feel pressure because we believe in ourselves. We don’t feel nervous because we know what we got in our locker room. The guys around us can do it in so many ways. We’ve been able to score in so many facets of the game. Our defense is playing unbelievable. Our defense is Top 15 and Top 5 in a lot of defensive categories. It’s been fun to win all these games and it’s going to be fun to win a lot more games like we are. We know what we got in our locker room so we don’t feel pressure based on outside expectations, we just feel confident in what we got.
See above for the full video interview as Jake Retzlaff talks about his experience at BYU. The interview starts at 15:42.
Retzlaff looks to lead No. 22 BYU to its first 5-0 start since 2021 when the Cougars went 10-3 and finished No. 19 in the final AP poll.
Playing on the road with an early start hasn’t been kind for the Cougars — winless in their last 10 morning/day games — and Retzlaff and team look to finally end that streak. Here’s your BYU-Baylor preview.
