powered by Google  
  Track your favorite teams and players.
Free membership, Register Now
Already a member, Log In
 

Hall's arm (303 yards passing) pushes No. 8 Cougars to win - NCAA Football Sports News
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  Home   Fantasy     NFL  |  MLB  |  NBA  |  NHL  |  College FB  |  College BK  |  Golf  |  More CBS College | MaxPreps | Mobile | Shop  
College Football Home | Scoreboard | Standings | Schedules | Stats | Teams | Players | Polls | Video | SEC Live | Recruiting
 
 

Utah State vs. Brigham Young


 
 
 
Hall's arm (303 yards passing) pushes No. 8 Cougars to win
 
 
CBSSports.com wire reports

LOGAN, Utah -- While No. 8 BYU's string of shutouts is over, the nation's longest winning streak continues.

The Cougars remained unbeaten with a 34-14 victory over Utah State on Friday night, extending their winning streak to 15 in a game that got closer than BYU has been used to.

Utah State became the first team to score on BYU in nearly three full games and the Aggies frustrated the Cougars into repeated mistakes and penalties.

"We played well at times, but there were some glimpses of just an average offense," said Austin Collie, who caught two touchdown passes from Max Hall. "It was a battle out there for the last three quarters."

The Cougars (5-0) converted three turnovers into 17 points while pulling ahead 24-0 in the first quarter, then held on for their ninth straight victory over the Aggies (1-4) despite some sloppy moments.

Hall threw for 303 yards and two touchdowns, but was intercepted twice and committed one of several personal fouls by the Cougars, who had 12 penalties for 123 yards.

"I think it started getting a little chippy there at the end. The score was kind of out of hand, but they felt like they could still push us a little bit. Then we pushed back," said BYU linebacker David Nixon, who had an interception. "We can't give up those stupid penalties like that."

Advertisement  
 

Utah State scored twice in the fourth quarter, but the Aggies were down 34-0 at the end of the third quarter. That didn't discourage Utah State fans from chanting "over-rated!" and celebrating every mistake the Cougars made.

The Aggies pushed the Cougars harder than anyone has in a while.

"If we come out in the first half like we did in the second half, we would have had an opportunity to win this game," said Robert Turbin, who scored the Aggies' first touchdown on a 40-yard run in the fourth quarter. "I don't want to say we came out tentative, but we came out in a way that we were trying to feel our way through."

Hall was sacked for the first time this season when the Aggies brought him down with 4:02 left in the game. The Cougars also had a field goal blocked and got a break when what had appeared to be a fumble was overturned by the officials.

Although the outcome was never in question, Utah State fans stayed until the very end to get every last taunt in at BYU, which hadn't visited Logan since 2002.

"It was a battle," Hall said. "They did some things on defense to confuse us."

Turbin's touchdown with 13:47 to play ended the shutout streak that spanned two games and more than three full quarters. It started when BYU blocked an extra point attempt by Washington to preserve a 28-27 win on Sept. 6, followed by shutouts of UCLA (59-0) and Wyoming (44-0).

BYU didn't allow a point for a span of 166 minutes, 15 seconds before Turbin's run.

"We were more focused on winning the game than keeping the shutout," defensive end Jan Jorgensen said.

Harvey Unga ran for 89 yards and a touchdown for the Cougars, who had 406 total yards. Brandon Bradley returned a fumble 38 yards for a touchdown for the Cougars.

BYU was off last week and the offense barely got a workout in the first quarter Friday. The Cougars scored on their third play and another drive later in the period took just one play.

"Those turnovers were a huge factor. They capitalized on all those like a Top Ten team will do to you," Utah state coach Brent Guy said.

The Aggies punted on the opening possession, then just a few plays later were down 7-0. On third-and-6, Hall passed to Collie on a short pattern and the receiver broke it for a 76-yard touchdown, knocking down Utah State's Caleb Taylor with a stiffarm inside the 20.

The Aggies committed the first of three costly turnovers on the next drive. Shawn Doman caused Diondre Borel to fumble and the ball squirted out of a pile of players. Bradley scooped it up and ran 38 yards for a touchdown with 8:09 left in the first quarter.

Coleby Clawson forced another fumble while sacking Borel and BYU added a 45-yard field goal by Mitch Payne to go up 17-0 with 1:46 left. The Cougars got the ball back seven seconds later on Nixon's interception of a tipped pass.

A penalty for a late hit gave the Cougars the ball at the 11 and Unga ran it up the middle from there, dragging several Aggies across the goal line as BYU went up 24-0.

 
Copyright 2009 by STATS LLC and The Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and The Associated Press is strictly prohibited.
 
 
 
This Cougars win isn't all offense. Brandon Bradley returns a fumble 38 yards for a touchdown. (AP)
This Cougars win isn't all offense. Brandon Bradley returns a fumble 38 yards for a touchdown. (AP)

 
 
 
 
SCORING SUMMARY
BYUAUSTIN COLLIE 76 YD PASS FROM MAX HALL (MITCH PAYNE KICK)
BYUBRANDON BRADLEY 38 YD FUMBLE RETURN (MITCH PAYNE KICK)
BYUMITCH PAYNE 45 YD FG
BYUHARVEY UNGA 11 YD RUN (MITCH PAYNE KICK)
BYUMITCH PAYNE 21 YD FG
BYUAUSTIN COLLIE 12 YD PASS FROM MAX HALL (JUSTIN SORENSEN KICK)
UTSTROBERT TURBIN 40 YD RUN (PETER CALDWELL KICK)
UTSTTARREN LLOYD 5 YD PASS FROM DIONDRE BOREL (PETER CALDWELL KICK)
 
Team Stats
 BYUUTST
First Downs1923
Third Down Efficiency9-175-12
Fourth Down Efficiency1-10-0
Plays-Net Yards67-40670-322
Rushes-Yds30-10343-129
Passing Yds303193
Kick Return Yds5472
Punt Return Yds90
Passes23-37-216-27-1
Punts2-854-182
Fumbles-Lost1-03-3
Penalties-Yds12-1238-72
Time of Poss.29:5730:3
 
Individual Stats
RUSHING
BYU: Harvey Unga 22-89, Fui Vakapuna 3-7, Wayne Latu 1-6, Max Hall 4-1
UTST: Robert Turbin 8-74, Diondre Borel 19-40, Curtis Marsh 7-13, Ronald Scott 2-5, Marquis Butler 1-2, Sean Setzer 6--5
PASSING
BYU: Max Hall 23-37-303-2
UTST: Diondre Borel 10-15-114-1, Sean Setzer 6-12-79-0
RECEIVING
BYU: Austin Collie 8-132, Dennis Pitta 6-70, Fui Vakapuna 3-17, Harvey Unga 3-15, Luke Ashworth 1-31, O'Neill Chambers 1-19, Tyler Kozlowski 1-19
UTST: Otis Nelson 6-72, Robert Turbin 3-35, Nnamdi Gwacham 2-34, Omar Sawyer 2-15, Stanley Morrison 1-26, Curtis Marsh 1-6, Tarren Lloyd 1-5
 
STANDINGS
TeamStandingsConferenceOverall
Brigham Young3rd Mountain West 6-210-3
Utah State7th Western Athletic 3-53-9
 
 
 
 
College Fantasy Football