Pochman's record-setting kicking leads BYU to Win Over UNLV

LAS VEGAS -- Owen Pochman's five field goals led league co-leader BYU, ranked No. 19, to a 29-0 shutout Saturday over UNLV.

BYU improved to 6-1 overall and remained undefeated in the Mountain West Conference at 3-0, identical records to Utah. UNLV fell to 3-4 overall and 1-2 in the MWC.

Pochman's 17 points was a new kick scoring record for a game, surpassing Joe Liljenquist and Pochman's brother Ethan (against Arkansas State in 1996), who each had 16 points. The junior's fifth field goal of the night was his eighth consecutive and tied Liljenquist's 1969 school record against Colorado State.

With BYU Rob Morris returning to his middle linebacker spot for the first time since he was injured in game number two this season and national attention focused on the Tyson-Norris boxing match in Las Vegas, the Cougar defense took the fight out of UNLV. The Rebels were two of 14 in third down conversions and netted 24 yards rushing.

"People talk about their offense, but their defense is so stifling and overwhelming," said UNLV Coach John Robinson. "We could not effectively move the ball against them. Their defense is as good as I've seen in some time and they have a chance to be a top 10 team."

Before that defense got a chance, BYU's offense scored a first quarter touchdown at 11:14 when Kevin Feterik connected on a 12-yard pass to tight end Doug Jolley. That pass was the 12th consecutive game in which Feterik had thrown a TD pass.

"I was in the right place at the right time," said Jolley. "I saw it was zone coverage, so I tried to find an open spot over the middle."

The only other TD of the night came with 13:48 in the fourth quarter when Luke Staley scored his ninth rushing touchdown of the season to cap a 98 yard drive. The freshman has scored a TD in each of the six games he has played this season.

Following Jolley's initial score, Jaron Dabney recovered his fumbled punt return, but the Cougars fumbled several plays later, and gave up a pass interception on their third possession in the first quarter. However, the BYU defense forced three Rebel punts and the Cougar offense battled back from a punt return which started on the 11-yard-line to set up Pochman's first field goal.

That field goal was set up by back-to-back runs of 17 and 18 yards by Staley as the second quarter started. The 47-yard field goal, tied Pochman's previous bests the past two seasons.

UNLV then penetrated BYU's redzone to the 19-yard-line before the Cougar defense and penalties pushed the Rebel's back to the 45-yard-line. Cougar safety Tyson Smith then had a 52-yard pass interception to set up Pochman's 26-yard field goal. Pochman then added a 28-yard field goal before the half ended.

Feterik threw his second interception of the night on BYU's first possession in the third quarter, but Pochman came back with a 31-yard field goal on the next series. When the defense held again, the Rebels had BYU pinned on the two-yard-line. On the first play, Feterik fired a 48 yard pass, his longest of the season, to Margin Hooks off a play action fake. That play set up Staley's fourth quarter score.

The Cougars' final score came when Andrew Fales recovered a high UNLV snap to its punter on the 10-yard-line. That set up Pochman's fifth field goal, a 30-yarder with 9:21 left in the game.

Linebacker Justin Ena blocked UNLV's punt on the next series.

"Ena is one of the best linebacker's I've seen," said Robinson.

Defensively, Morris led all Cougars with five unassisted tackles, two assisted tackles and one tackle for an eight-yard loss. BYU forced 11 tackles for a minus 66 yards. Hooks led the Cougar receivers with six catches for 108 yards, while Fahu Tahi netted 89 yards rushing.

Date: Oct 23, 1999
Site: Las Vegas, NV
Stadium: Sam Boyd Stadium
Attendance: 30,599
Score by Quarters     1  2  3  4   Score
-----------------    -- -- -- --   -----
Brigham Young.......  7  9  3 10  - 29
UNLV................  0  0  0  0  -  0
    Scoring Summary:
1st 11:14 BYU - JOLLEY, Doug 12 yd pass from FETERIK, Kevin (POCHMAN, Owen kick)
2nd 08:13 BYU - POCHMAN, Owen 47 yd field goal
    03:09 BYU - POCHMAN, Owen 26 yd field goal
    00:53 BYU - POCHMAN, Owen 28 yd field goal
3rd 04:55 BYU - POCHMAN, Owen 31 yd field goal
4th 13:48 BYU - STALEY, Luke 4 yd run (POCHMAN, Owen kick)
    09:21 BYU - POCHMAN, Owen 30 yd field goal
             Team Statistics
                                    BYU     UNLV
FIRST DOWNS...................       24       10
  Rushing.....................       13        2
  Passing.....................       10        5
  Penalty.....................        1        3
Rushing Attempts..............       35       37
Yards Gained Rushing..........      170      118
Yards Lost Rushing............       27       94
NET YARDS RUSHING.............      143       24
NET YARDS PASSING.............      256       94
  Passes Attempted............       43       19
  Passes Completed............       23       10
  Had Intercepted.............        2        1
TOTAL OFFENSIVE PLAYS.........       78       56
TOTAL NET YARDS...............      399      118
  Average Gain Per Play.......      5.1      2.1
Fumbles: Number-Lost..........      2-1      0-0
Penalties: Number-Yards.......     7-66     9-74
Number of Punts-Yards.........    3-125   10-424
  Average Per Punt............     41.7     42.4
Punt Returns: Number-Yards....     7-55      0-0
Kickoff Returns: Number-Yards.     1-41    7-141
Interceptions: Number-Yards...     1-52     2-10
Fumble Returns: Number-Yards..      0-0      0-0
Miscellaneous Yards...........        0        0
Possession Time...............    29:29    30:31
Third-Down Conversions........  7 of 16  2 of 14
Fourth-Down Conversions.......   0 of 0   0 of 1
Sacks By: Number-Yards........     5-41     3-19
                               Individual Statistics
Brigham Young                                    UNLV
Rushing         No Gain Loss  Net TD Lg  Avg     Rushing         No Gain Loss  Net TD Lg  Avg
--------------------------------------------     --------------------------------------------
TAHI, Fahu      16   94    5   89  0 24  5.6     HARO, Joe        4   59    0   59  0 38 14.8
STALEY, Luke     7   54    0   54  1 16  7.7     RUDOLPH, Jeremi  4   13    0   13  0  7  3.2
DABNEY, Jaron    5   13    2   11  0  6  2.2     WOFFORD, James   2   12    0   12  0  7  6.0
DOMAN, Brandon   1    6    0    6  0  6  6.0     FOOTMAN, Dahrin  6   11    6    5  0  7  0.8
SITAKE, Kalani   3    3    1    2  0  2  0.7     HANKINS, Coury  14   23   19    4  0 11  0.3
FETERIK, Kevin   3    0   19  -19  0  0 -6.3     TEAM             1    0   27  -27  0  0 -27.0
Totals...       35  170   27  143  1 24  4.1     VAUGHAN, Jason   6    0   42  -42  0  0 -7.0
                                                 Totals...       37  118   94   24  0 38  0.6
Passing         Att-Cmp-Int Yds TD Long Sck      Passing         Att-Cmp-Int Yds TD Long Sck
-------------------------------------------      -------------------------------------------
FETERIK, Kevin    42-22-2   257  1   48   3      VAUGHAN, Jason    18-10-1    94  0   17   5
ENGEMANN, Bret     1-1-0     -1  0    0   0      HAYWARD, Chris     1-0-0      0  0    0   0
Totals...         43-23-2   256  1   48   3      Totals...         19-10-1    94  0   17   5
Receiving        No.  Yds   TD Long              Receiving        No.  Yds   TD Long
-----------------------------------              -----------------------------------
HOOKS, Margin      6  108    0   48              TURNER, Nate       4   44    0   17
HORTON, Ben        4   47    0   22              CURTIS, Jermain    2   22    0   11
SITAKE, Kalani     3   19    0    8              JAMES, Duane       2   17    0   11
PITTMAN, Jonath    2   30    0   23              TRAMONTANAS, Pe    1    8    0    8
STALEY, Luke       1   13    0   13              EDWARDS, BJ        1    3    0    3
JOLLEY, Doug       1   12    1   12              Totals...         10   94    0   17
HALE, Chris        1   10    0   10
DOMAN, Brandon     1    9    0    9
DOMAN, Cliff       1    6    0    6
TAHI, Fahu         1    4    0    4
DABNEY, Jaron      1   -1    0    0
OFAHENGAUE, Tev    1   -1    0    0
Totals...         23  256    1   48
Punting          No.  Yds   Avg Long In20        Punting          No.  Yds   Avg Long In20
-----------------------------------------        -----------------------------------------
SOWARDS, Jesse     3  125  41.7   56    1        TEAM               1   17  17.0   17    0
Totals...          3  125  41.7   56    1        CHEETANY, Ray      9  407  45.2   67    3
                                                 Totals...         10  424  42.4   67    3
                  Punts   Kickoffs  Intercept                      Punts   Kickoffs  Intercept
All Returns     No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg    All Returns     No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg
---------------------------------------------    ---------------------------------------------
DOMAN, Cliff     1   7  7  0   0  0  0   0  0    JAMES, Duane     0   0  0  3  56 26  0   0  0
DABNEY, Jaron    6  48 17  1  41 41  0   0  0    THOMAS, Kevin    0   0  0  0   0  0  1   9  9
SMITH, Tyson     0   0  0  0   0  0  1  52 52    PIERUCCI, Jerra  0   0  0  0   0  0  1   1  1
Totals...        7  55 17  1  41 41  1  52 52    MASON, Troy      0   0  0  4  85 25  0   0  0
                                                 Totals...        0   0  0  7 141 26  2  10  9
Field goal attempts                              Field goal attempts
----------------------------------------         ----------------------------------------
POCHMAN, Owen   2nd 08:13  47 yds - Good
POCHMAN, Owen   2nd 03:09  26 yds - Good
POCHMAN, Owen   2nd 00:53  28 yds - Good
POCHMAN, Owen   3rd 04:55  31 yds - Good
POCHMAN, Owen   4th 09:21  30 yds - Good