BYU comes up short at Boise State 21-16

BOISE, Idaho – BYU football came up short on final play from two yards out, falling to Boise State 21-16 Saturday night at Albertsons Stadium.

Postgame Notes & Quotes
Box Score
Photo Gallery

BYU got the ball back with just over two minutes to play from its own 17-yard line. On the first play from scrimmage Zach Wilson dumped a screen pass over the middle to Matt Hadley who took it 59 yards to put the Cougars in business at the Boise State 24-yard line.

Two plays later, BYU was at the five yards from the end zone with 58 seconds remaining. The Cougars had four tries but came up short, with Wilson getting sacked to end the game. 

For the second week in a row, BYU outgunned the opponent in total yards but not in the points column. The Cougars posted 388 total yards to Boise State’s 327. The Broncos forced three turnovers while BYU nabbed two takeaways. 

Hadley had 39 yards rushing to go along with his 59-yard catch and run. Talon Shumway led the team with 62 receiving yards with a long of 42 yards. Wilson scored the only touchdown of the night for the Cougars while going 18 of 27 for 252 yards. He also picked up 36 rushing yards.

Skyler Southam kicked three field goals, connecting from 43, 41 and 26 yards in the game. 

Sione Takitaki led BYU with 11 total tackles including four solo stops. Corbin Kaufusi and Trajan Pili both tallied sacks while Michael Shelton recorded his first interception of the season.

First Quarter Review
Bosie State scored the first points of the game on their first drive. The BYU defense held the Bronco’s offense to the one-yard line for two plays with tackles from Merril Taliauli and Sione Takitaki. However, a rush from Alex Mattison on fourth down put the Bronco’s on the board 7-0 with 9:27 left in the first quarter.  On BSU’s next drive, AJ Richardson caught a seven-yard pass from quarterback Brett Rypien to put the Broncos up 14-0 to close out of the first quarter.

Second Quarter Review
At the beginning of the second quarter, BYU put its first points on the board as Skyler Southam kicked a 26-yard field goal, making the score 14-3 with 9:08 left on the clock.

On the next Boise State series, Rypien threw an interception to Michael Shelton who returned the ball 31 yards putting Cougars in great field position. A nine-yard reception from Dylan Collie put BYU on the five-yard line but back-to-back sacks pushed the Cougars back 20 yards.

Southam connected on a 43-yard field goal to make the score 14-6 going into halftime.

• Michael Shelton recorded his first interception of the season and third of his career which he returned for a career high of 31 yards

Third Quarter Review
Only two minutes into the third quarter, Rhett Sandlin fell on a fumble giving the momentum back to the BYU offense. A 42-yard reception by Shumway put BYU on the Boise State 10-yard line setting the Cougars up to get into the end zone. Two plays later, Wilson ran it in from four yards out to bring the score within one point at 14-13 at the 11:46 time mark.

Boise State answered back with an eight-minute drive that ended with a touchdown. Mattison rushed for three yards on the score, tallying his second touchdown of the game putting the score at 21-13 with just under two minutes left in the third quarter.

• Rhett Sandlin grabbed his first career fumble recovery which ultimately set up the Cougars to score a touchdown
• After Corbin Kaufusi’s sack in the third quarter he now totals 7.5 on the season and 16 in his career

Fourth Quarter Review
A penalty and another sack forced the Cougars to kick another field goal as Southam connected on a 41-yarder putting the Cougars down by five with 6:32 left in the game.

BYU had one more drive to get into the end zone for the win. Hadley started out the drive with a 59-yard catch from Wilson to bring the Cougars to the Broncos' 24-yard line. With seven second left on the clock, Wilson attempted to run for the end zone but was ultimately sacked on the 3-yard as the clock ran out and BYU fell 21-16. 

• Matt Hadley tallies a career long reception of 59 yards, going for Wilson's longest pass of his career as well 

The Cougars hit the road again to take on UMass on Saturday Nov. 10. Kickoff is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. EST with a live broadcast available on  BYUtv, Eleven Sports and NESN. A live stream is available on UMass All-Access with radio coverage on BYU Radio Sirius XM 143/89.1 FM HD2, BYU Sports Network and KSL 1160 AM/102.7 FM.