BYU gets big injury updates before Kansas State game
Yesterday at 02:21 PM
After spending the previous 12 seasons as an Independent, the BYU Cougars are now in the midst of just their second season in the Big 12, and a meeting with undefeated 13th-ranked Kansas State on Saturday night represents what is undoubtedly their biggest in-conference test yet. Unfortunately for fans in Provo, the Cougars, who like K-State are a perfect 3-0 after dominant wins over Southern Illinois and Wyoming, plus a nail-biter on the road against SMU, will be doing so short-handed.
BYU has relied on a balanced rushing attack in the first three games of the 2024 season, distributing carries to 12 different players, including four who have rushed at least 16 times for 75 yards. Two of those players, LJ Martin and Hinckley Ropati, are both dealing with injuries that will likely keep them out of this pivotal early-season Big 12 showdown.
“Sources: BYU tailbacks LJ Martin and Hinckley Ropati are doubtful tonight against Kansas State,” says ESPN’s insider Pete Thamel on X. “They are BYU's two most productive tailbacks.”
Thus far, the workload out of the BYU backfield has been distributed pretty evenly between Hinckley Ropati (21 carries, 89 yards, 1 touchdown) and LJ Martin (18 carries, 87 yards, 2 total touchdowns). Martin led the Cougars in rushing yards last season as a freshman, carrying the ball 109 times for 518 yards and 4 touchdowns.
Miles Davis — not the trumpeter — is the next back in line if both Martin and Ropati end up being unable to go. The 6’2″ fifth-year senior has 16 carries for 76 yards on the season, in addition to 4 receptions for 42 yards, the most of any player out of the Cougars backfield.
With that said, it’s quarterback Jake Retzlaff is BYU’s leader in rushing attempts (24) and yards (113), while also throwing for 841 yards and 7 touchdowns. Retzlaff played two years in community college before transferring to BYU ahead of the 2023 season. In four games last year, Retzlaff produced so-so results, throwing for 648 yards, 3 touchdowns and 3 interceptions in four losses.
The last time BYU entered a home game unranked and defeated a ranked opponent was in September 2021, when Kalani Sitake’s squad upset the 21st-ranked Utah Utes in the in-state showdown known as The Holy War. Sitake, who was a starting fullback and team captain at BYU during the nineties, has accumulated a 64-41 record as the Cougars’ head coach since taking over in December 2015 for Bronco Mendenhall.
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