Sione Moa returned to BYU's backfield against UCF and scored his first touchdown in more than a year. The third-and-goal score came in a game the Cougars ultimately lost 39-31 in double overtime, but it marked a milestone after two serious injuries.
Moa's first setback began in September 2025, when he took a hit to his quadriceps during BYU's win over East Carolina. Doctors diagnosed acute compartment syndrome, a condition that, according to The Salt Lake Tribune, can cause decreased blood flow, nerve damage, limb dysfunction, amputation or death if left untreated. An emergency fasciotomy to relieve pressure in his thigh was performed in time to save his right leg, according to Deseret News.
Why Rapid Treatment Matters
According to MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia, acute compartment syndrome requires surgery right away; a fasciotomy cuts the fascia to relieve pressure. The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons says prolonged ischemia can cause permanent muscle and nerve injury. That is general medical guidance, not a description of Moa's specific outcome.
Moa later said the pain from the injury “was the worst I've ever felt in my life.” He spent three days in the hospital, and what was originally expected to be a two-to-four-week recovery stretched into 12 weeks after complications arose, the outlet reported. The injury wiped out the rest of his regular season, though he briefly returned for one carry and one reception in BYU's 34-7 Big 12 championship loss to Texas Tech, totaling four yards, per the same report.
A Second Setback Before the Comeback
Because he played in four or fewer regular-season games in 2025, Moa was able to use that year as his redshirt season. He entered 2026 healthy enough to log 22 yards on six carries against Utah Tech in BYU's season-opening 63-7 win, but that outing ended in a new injury: torn MCL and PCL ligaments and cartilage damage in his knee, which required surgery and sidelined him for the next four games plus a bye week.
Moa was candid about how hard that second blow hit him. “Tearing my MCL and PCL, while also finding cartilage damage in my knee,” he said of the diagnosis, as reported by Yahoo Sports. He later wrote that the days following the injury were his hardest mentally, saying his happiness had been stripped away.
Medical staff cleared Moa to play in the week leading up to BYU's Oct. 17 game against Notre Dame, a 28-24 Cougars win. After testing his knee in pregame warmups, he did not play, returning to full strength a week later. Heartland College Sports cited a Facebook post by Dr. Dain Allred, who treated Moa, indicating that Moa had regained his strength and speed and was expected back that fall. A BYU staffer also confirmed before the UCF game that Moa had been cleared to play, noting he had been cleared the week before, according to Heartland College Sports.
Back on the Field Against UCF
Moa played against UCF as running back LJ Martin continued recovering from a month-long leg injury. Moa said he felt ready to carry a full load and play the full game. He finished with 13 carries for 37 yards, the second-most rushing attempts on the team and his heaviest workload since he had a career-high 15 carries against Kansas State as a freshman in 2024, according to BYU Athletics' game recap of the BYU vs. UCF matchup.
With BYU trailing UCF 17-14, Moa took a third-and-goal handoff from Bear Bachmeier and crossed the goal line behind a key block from Noah Moeaki. It was Moa's first carry since his season-opening knee injury and his first rushing touchdown since BYU's Sept. 6, 2025, loss to Stanford, a 39-31 double-overtime defeat. BYU's backs combined for 122 yards on 34 carries against UCF, but the Cougars fell by the same 39-31 score after multiple miscues.
Faith and Family Through the Setbacks
Across both injuries, Moa has pointed to his faith and family as sources of support. He has said that relying on his faith helped him focus on what he could control during recovery, even though he did not know exactly when he would return.
Moa told KSL.com the ordeal changed how he views the game itself. “I'm grateful every day just to play the sport,” he said, in comments carried by KSL.com. That gratitude traces back to a football path that began in Victorville, California, where Moa grew up, before he attended Timpview High School in Utah and rushed for 1,423 yards and 13 touchdowns as a senior in 2019, helping the Thunderbirds reach the 5A state championship game with an 11-4 record. He also served a two-year church mission in San Bernardino, California, before playing in 11 games as a true freshman for BYU in 2024, a season that included his first rushing touchdown in a 38-9 win over then-No. 13 Kansas State.
Now a redshirt sophomore, Moa has returned from two lengthy injury layoffs in little more than a year, each one serious enough to threaten his season and, in the case of the thigh injury, far more than that. Saturday's touchdown against UCF did not change the outcome of a game BYU ultimately lost, but for a player who once didn't know if he would walk normally again, crossing the goal line was its own kind of victory.
