Cougars Drop Opener to Defending National Champions

Florida State began their defense of the national title on Saturday night as they defeated Brigham Young University 29-3 in the annual Pigskin Classic.

The Cougars used two different quarterbacks, but neither of them could find the endzone against the tough Florida State defense. The Cougar offense had a couple of chances deep in Florida State territory, but usually came away with nothing.

"It's frustrating, because we usually do well when we get into scoring range," said BYU head coach LaVell Edwards. "And against a good football team, it makes it worse, because you don't get many chances down there."

Bret Engemann played the first and third quarters, completing 12 passes on 28 attempts for 139 yards and two interceptions while Charlie Peterson played the second and fourth quarters, completing 6 of 18 pass attempts for 88 yards and one interception. BYU's only score of the game came on the leg of Owen Pochman, who hit a 42-yard field goal late in the third quarter.

BYU started the game on offense with Engemann, but, in a preview of the evening, the Seminole defense forced the Cougars to punt without allowing a first down.

"They're incredible," said Engemann, "If they don't win the championship again this year, I'll be surprised."

With good field position, Florida State quickly put points on the board when quarterback Chris Weinke was forced out of the pocket and hit Javon Walker in the back of the endzone for the first score of the game. A missed extra point left it 6-0.

On their next possession, BYU moved the ball to the Florida State 35-yard line before being forced to punt. After both teams exchanged punts, the Seminoles scored another touchdown, making it 13-0. The next points were scored by the Florida State defense when Engemann was hit by Jamal Reynolds and the fumbled ball was recovered by BYU in the endzone.

Early in the second quarter, Weinke and the Florida State offense continued to move the ball. They converted a fourth-and-one, which kept a drive alive that would eventually result in their third touchdown of the half, putting Florida State in control at 22-0. On the offensive side, Charlie Peterson took over the reins at quarterback as expected, and completed a pass for first down on his first play of the game, but the BYU passing game continued to struggle against the experienced Florida State secondary.

A bright spot for BYU was the play of the defensive, particularly up front. In the second half, the Cougar defense held Florida State scoreless until their final possession of the game. The Cougars forced six punts and two missed field goals in eight of the Seminoles' last nine possessions, holding FSU to 57 yards on the ground.

With Engemann back at quarterback for the third quarter, the offense started to move the ball. After a roughing-the-punter penalty against Florida State that kept the drive alive, Engemann found Margin Hooks on two long pass plays. BYU was stopped short of the endzone when running back Ned Stearns fumbled on the 10-yard line after a long catch and run. But, after forcing FSU to punt, the Cougars converted two third-and-long situations in the very next offensive series to move into position for Owen Pochman to nail the 42-yard field goal and extend the Cougars' NCAA scoring record to 313 consecutive games.

BYU makes another long road trip next week, traveling to the University of Virginia for a game on Saturday.

Box Score (Final)
  Score by Quarters     1  2  3  4   Score
  -----------------    -- -- -- --   -----
  Brigham Young.......  0  0  3  0  -  3       Record: (0-1)
  Florida State....... 15  7  0  7  - 29       Record: (1-0)
  Scoring Summary:
  1st 12:13 FSU - Walker 19 yd pass from Weinke (Munyon kick failed), 7 plays, 46 yards, 
                  TOP 1:37, BYU 0 - FSU 6
      03:01 FSU - Bell 3 yd pass from Weinke (Munyon kick), 12 plays, 70 yards, 
	              TOP 3:26, BYU 0 - FSU 13
      02:42 FSU - TM safety, , BYU 0 - FSU 15
  2nd 12:26 FSU - Bell 6 yd run (Munyon kick), 6 plays, 46 yards, 
                  TOP 1:02, BYU 0 - FSU 22
  3rd 02:19 BYU - POCHMAN, Owen 42 yd field goal, 13 plays, 73 yards, 
                  TOP 4:05, BYU 3 - FSU 22
  4th 01:11 FSU - Minor 5 yd run (Munyon kick), 10 plays, 62 yards, 
                  TOP 4:25, BYU 3 - FSU 29
                                      BYU      FSU
  FIRST DOWNS...................       18       25
  RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............    24--2    36-57
  PASSING YDS (NET).............      227      318
  Passes Att-Comp-Int...........  46-18-3  51-32-0
  TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS.....   70-225   87-375
  Fumble Returns-Yards..........      0-0      0-0
  Punt Returns-Yards............     3-19     3-16
  Kickoff Returns-Yards.........     5-77     1-28
  Interception Returns-Yards....      0-0     3-67
  Punts (Number-Avg)............   8-33.6   8-38.8
  Fumbles-Lost..................      3-1      0-0
  Penalties-Yards...............    10-90    11-93
  Possession Time...............    28:54    31:06
  Sacks By: Number-Yards........     4-25     5-46
  RUSHING: Brigham Young-SITAKE, Kalani 5-20; MCDONALD, Brian 3-16; WHALEN,
  Marcus 3-10; STALEY, Luke 1-minus 1; STEARNS, Ned 2-minus 1; LEE, Jared
  1-minus 1; TM 1-minus 6; PETERSON, Charl 4-minus 9; ENGEMANN, Bret 4-minus
  30. Florida State-Minor 16-37; McCray 5-25; Chaney 5-12; Bell 1-6; Ford
  1-minus 3; Gardner 1-minus 5; Weinke 7-minus 15.
  PASSING: Brigham Young-ENGEMANN, Bret 12-28-2-139; PETERSON, Charl
  6-18-1-88. Florida State-Weinke 32-50-0-318; Ford 0-1-0-0.
  RECEIVING: Brigham Young-HOOKS, Margin 4-66; OFAHENGAUE, Tev 3-75; PITTMAN,
  Jonath 3-37; STEARNS, Ned 2-24; STALEY, Luke 2-6; HORTON, Ben 1-11; SITAKE,
  Kalani 1-5; MCDONALD, Brian 1-3; RIGELL, Mike 1-0. Florida State-Minnis
  9-137; Walker 8-70; Bell 4-37; A.Boldin 4-32; Morgan 3-28; Minor 2-minus 15;
  Sprague 1-17; Gardner 1-12.
  INTERCEPTIONS: Brigham Young-None. Florida State-Gibson 1-24; C.Thomas 1-13;
  Hudson 1-30.
  Stadium: ALLTEL Stadium        Attendance: 54260
  Kickoff time: 8:07      End of Game: 11:42     Total elapsed time: 3:35
  Officials: Referee: Bill LeMonnier; Umpire: Tony Michalek;
  Linesman: Jim Mullendore; Line judge: Doug Rosenbaum; Back judge: Tom Herbert;
  Field judge: Denny Freund; Side judge: Terry Anderson; Scorer: JB;
  Temperature: 82        Wind: 3 mph sw  Weather: partly cloudly
       Brigham Young vs Florida State (Aug 26, 2000 at Jacksonville, FL)
  SACKS (UA-A): Brigham Young-ENA, Justin 1-0; DENNEY, Ryan 1-0; LOWE, Josh
  0-1; GALI, Setema 0-1; KEISEL, Brett 1-0. Florida State-Reynolds 2-0; Tatum
  1-0; A.Jackson 1-0; Dockett 1-0.
  TACKLES (UA-A): Brigham Young-ENA, Justin 5-5; DENNEY, Ryan 6-2; LEE, Jared
  3-4; KELLEY, Isaac 4-2; SMITH, Tyson 2-4; GALI, Setema 4-1; HOKE, Chris 4-0;
  KEISEL, Brett 4-0; EDWARDS, Elan 3-0; PHILLIPS, Danny 3-0; HOLTRY, Jeff 2-1;
  LOWE, Josh 1-2; WILSON, Derrus 1-2; BETHAM, Jimmy 1-0; REID, Gabriel 1-0;
  Joiner, Isiah 1-0; WATKINS, Chris 1-0; OLSEN, Hans 1-0; HOOKS, Margin 1-0;
  STALEY, Dustin 0-1. Florida State-Cody 3-3; Hope 3-3; A.Howard 2-4; Jeune
  2-3; Reynolds 2-2; C.Thomas 1-3; Tatum 2-1; Polley 2-0; Newton 1-1; Dockett
  1-1; G.Jones 1-1; Jennings 1-1; Emanuel 1-1; Allen 1-1; C.Howard 1-1; Hudson
  1-1; Pope 0-2; Brown 1-0; A.Jackson 1-0; O.J. Jackson 1-0; McCray 1-0;
  Gibson 0-1.