DALLAS — BYU starting quarterback Jake Retlzaff was struggling. Like, really, really struggling.

He had thrown two interceptions – one straight to a defensive lineman and another when he should have swallowed the football and taken a sack – and he lost the ball after a bad collision with running back LJ Martin on a run-pass option play.

Fans on social media and even in the crowd of 31,172 at Gerald J. Ford Stadium – where BYU fans made their presence felt throughout – were demanding that QB2 Gerry Bohanon get a chance.

On the sidelines and in the press box, however, head coach Kalani Sitake and offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick apparently never considered making a change.

Then Retzlaff rewarded them for their faith by initiating a game-winning drive in the final six minutes. Kicker Will Ferrin’s 26-yard field goal with a minute and 58 seconds left gave BYU an 18-15 victory over SMU on Friday night.

Before that, SMU led 12-7, and Retzlaff drove BYU 61 yards for a decisive touchdown, a 9-yard TD run by Enoch Nawahine on fourth down.

Retzlaff then threw a two-point conversion pass to tight end Keanu Hill, who made a spectacular catch and gave BYU a 14-12 lead.

“Yeah, we had a good feeling about (Retzlaff) as our quarterback,” Sitake said when asked why he stuck with the junior. “He has to be able to fight through.”

“It’s hard to play the game when you’re just taken out of the game when mistakes happen. … Mistakes happen in football. We have to keep the guys together and give them a chance to redeem themselves.”

That is exactly what Retzlaff did.

He completed 15 of 28 passes and had one touchdown, two interceptions and one fumble. But the Cougars lead 2-0 and they have Retzlaff to thank for staying composed down the stretch.

“Fight. A very combative game. I was proud of the boys for holding out all evening on defense and on offense when it mattered,” said Retzlaff.

The key to the game-winning drive was, of course, a speed option pitch to third-string running back Miles Davis, who scored 37 yards and a first down and brought the Cougars within field goal range.

“This play was planned from the beginning of the week. It was a great play by Coach A Rod. When he called it, I thought, ‘Oh, this is going to be good,'” Retzlaff said.

“We caught them man-for-man, no blitz. They sent the house. We knew we could catch the (running back) with a little speed option behind him, so Miles did a great job running for 37 yards on 4th-and-1.”

OK, a piece like this has to have a name, right?

Not really, said Retzlaff.

“There’s no special name like Tom and Jerry, I can tell you that. … Nothing crazy,” he said. “It’s something stupid that you don’t even want to know.”

Yet this pass will live on in BYU football history—not as much as Jim McMahon’s Hail Mary pass to Clay Brown in the 1980 Holiday Bowl win over SMU—but it is significant nonetheless.

“When you have guys like (Darius Lassiter) on the field, you can always be sure what the offense is going to do,” Retzlaff said.

“I think we just support each other. It says a lot about the culture of our team that we played a tough game in the first half and still only came up two points behind. We felt like we played poorly. Then we came back in the second half and played well enough to come away with the win.”

Before Ferrin’s field goal, a throw to Lassiter was nearly caught on second attempt, which might have been called defensive pass interference, but it wasn’t, and Lassiter told Retzlaff he would get the ball back next time.

“I learned that Jake is a tough guy. He doesn’t let anything get him down. I told him on the sidelines, ‘Hey, we have everything we want here. We just need to calm down and play our game,'” Lassiter said.

“He did that. He had a great drive at the end.”

And he made sure there will be no quarterback controversy in Provo – at least not next week.