Cougars Defeat Instate Rival Utah State, 38-14

Postgame Notes

PROVO -- BYU quarterback Charlie Peterson threw for a career high 324 yards and running back Luke Staley rushed for three touchdowns to lead the Cougars (3-4) over rival Utah State, 38-14, in the 74th meeting between the two teams.

Owen Pochman got the Cougars on the board midway through the first quarter with a 27-yard field goal after Michael Lafitte recovered a Utah State fumble on USU's 23-yard line. The field goal marked only the third time this season BYU has scored before its opponent. The field goal also extended BYU's NCAA-record games without being shutout to 319.

Luke Staley put the Cougars up 10-0 early in the second quarter on a three-yard touchdown run. After a BYU punt, Utah State went 29 yards on four plays and scored on an Emmet White one-yard run, to cut the lead to 10-7. The Utah State (1-4) touchdown seemed to be a wakeup call for the Cougar offense as they marched 68 yards in 1:04 to go up 17-7. A 28-yard pass to Jonathan Pittman and a 31-yarder to Margin Hooks from Peterson set up a nine-yard scamper by Staley.

BYU's defense stopped the Aggie offense and forced a USU punt with only :47 seconds remaining in the half. Peterson took the reigns and ran a no huddle offense nearly to perfection. He completed a 25-yard pass to Pittman and a 23-yarder to Hooks, followed by a 21-yard touchdown strike to Mike Rigell with 26 seconds left on the clock. The touchdown put the Cougars up 24-7 going into halftime. The 24 first-half points are the most points the Cougars have scored this season, while the 24 points allowed by USU are the most in a first half since Washington scored 39 in 1998.

"The two-minute touchdown before the first half was huge," said BYU head coach LaVell Edwards, "It seemed to set the tone for the rest of the game."

Hooks continued his streak of consecutive games with a catch to 31 with a 17-yard reception on the Cougars' first drive of the game. He also moved into third place on the BYU all-time receiving yardage list, passing Phil Odle. Hooks finished the game with 84-yards receiving and now has 2,576 for his career. He now needs 59 yards to pass Matt Bellini for second place on the all-time list.

BYU received the second-half kickoff and methodically marched 90 yards, the Cougars second longest scoring drive of the season, on 16 plays and scored on a four-yard Staley run. The drive chewed up nearly eight minutes off the clock and increased the Cougar margin to 31-7. Utah State cut the lead to 31-14 on the final play of the third quarter, when Chris Stallworth caught a 27-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jose Fuentes.

"The first possession in the third quarter was huge. It took about eight minutes off the clock," Edwards said.

The Cougars answered the Aggie touchdown with one of their own. Running back Brian McDonald scored his sixth touchdown of the season on a seven-yard run, pushing the lead to 38-14. A 26-yard pass from Peterson to Staley highlighted the 34-yard drive. The 38 points are the most BYU has scored in regulation this season. Peterson has now completed 73 straight passes without throwing an interception.

"I felt very good about the way we played. The big thing I wanted was execution and consistency. That is the thing we have lacked this year," Edwards said.

Freshman Running back Marcus Whalen led the Cougars offensive attack in the fourth quarter. He rushed for a career high 91 yards on 10 carries, including a 40-yard rush -- the longest rush of the season for any BYU player.

BYU will take a much needed weak off while Utah State travels to North Texas, Oct. 14. The Cougars next game is Oct. 21 against San Diego State.

Box Score (Final)

 

Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Score

----------------- -- -- -- -- -----

Utah State.......... 0 7 7 0 - 14 Record: (1-4)

Brigham Young....... 3 21 7 7 - 38 Record: (3-4,1-1)

Scoring Summary:

1st 08:06 BYU - POCHMAN, Owen 28 yd field goal,

USU 0 - BYU 3

2nd 14:16 BYU - STALEY, Luke 3 yd run (POCHMAN, Owen kick),

USU 0 - BYU 10

03:13 USU - WHITE, Emmett 1 yd run (BOHN, Brad kick),

USU 7 - BYU 10

01:59 BYU - STALEY, Luke 9 yd run (POCHMAN, Owen kick),

USU 7 - BYU 17

00:26 BYU - RIGELL, Mike 21 yd pass from PETERSON, Charl (POCHMAN, Owen kick),

USU 7 - BYU 24

3rd 07:09 BYU - STALEY, Luke 4 yd run (POCHMAN, Owen kick),

USU 7 - BYU 31

00:00 USU - STALLWORTH, C. 27 yd pass from FUENTES, Jose (BOHN, Brad kick),

USU 14 - BYU 31

4th 10:59 BYU - MCDONALD, Brian 7 yd run (POCHMAN, Owen kick),

USU 14 - BYU 38

USU BYU

FIRST DOWNS................... 16 29

RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............ 25-11 38-198

PASSING YDS (NET)............. 204 335

Passes Att-Comp-Int........... 38-23-0 39-25-0

TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS..... 63-215 77-533

Fumble Returns-Yards.......... 0-0 0-0

Punt Returns-Yards............ 3-52 2-12

Kickoff Returns-Yards......... 4-124 3-51

Interception Returns-Yards.... 0-0 0-0

Punts (Number-Avg)............ 7-41.7 4-42.5

Fumbles-Lost.................. 5-1 1-0

Penalties-Yards............... 3-35 4-45

Possession Time............... 27:47 32:13

Sacks By: Number-Yards........ 1-11 3-28

RUSHING: Utah State-WHITE, Emmett 19-61; BENZA, Brian 1-0; BRIGNAC, M.

1-minus 2; TM 1-minus 20; FUENTES, Jose 3-minus 28. Brigham Young-WHALEN,

Marcus 10-91; STALEY, Luke 16-75; MCDONALD, Brian 7-27; DOMAN, Brandon 1-7;

PETERSON, Charl 4-minus 2.

PASSING: Utah State-FUENTES, Jose 22-37-0-185; MULLINS, Steve 1-1-0-19.

Brigham Young-PETERSON, Charl 24-37-0-324; DOMAN, Brandon 1-2-0-11.

RECEIVING: Utah State-WHITE, Emmett 6-36; JONES, Aaron 5-42; STALLWORTH, C.

4-49; FIEFIA, David 4-49; SMITH, Cade 1-19; POPPINGA, Casey 1-6; ODAY, Ky

1-2; SUGUTURAGA, JR 1-1. Brigham Young-PITTMAN, Jonath 7-105; HOOKS, Margin

5-84; HORTON, Ben 4-57; MCDONALD, Brian 3-4; RIGELL, Mike 2-28; STALEY, Luke

1-26; SNOWDEN, Will 1-11; REID, Gabriel 1-11; OFAHENGAUE, Tev 1-9.

INTERCEPTIONS: Utah State-None. Brigham Young-None.

Stadium: Cougar Stadium Attendance: 0

Kickoff time: 7:07 pm End of Game: 10:08 Total elapsed time: 3:03

Officials: Referee: Glenn McKuin; Umpire: Kevin Matthews; Linesman: Gary Jayroe;

Line judge: J.E. Wells; Back judge: Kim Nelson; Field judge: Bill Jodan;

Side judge: Al Cory; Scorer: Media Relations;

Temperature: 66 Wind: W-10 Weather: Clear

SACKS (UA-A): Utah State-SMITH, Cade 1-0. Brigham Young-HOKE, Chris 2-0;

KEISEL, Brett 1-0.

TACKLES (UA-A): Utah State-BUSTA, Jesse 7-3; SMITH, Cade 6-2; WALKER, Tony

7-0; GOSS, Scott 4-3; CARAWAY, M. 4-1; JIMOH, Adebola 4-0; SHANK, Derrek

4-0; TAPIA, Jorge 3-1; PUTNAM, Nate 2-1; EAGAL, Blake 2-1; DUNCAN, Ryan 1-2;

PASSEY, Brent 1-2; SIEVER, Kyle 1-0; HUNT, Scott 1-0; 19 1-0; WATSON,

Desmond 1-0; JONES, Aaron 1-0; MOORE, Jason 1-0; FANO, Jaron 0-1; GLASPER,

Jamar 0-1; SOLOSABAL, J. 0-1; OLSEN, Tyler 0-1. Brigham Young-LEE, Jared

5-3; ENA, Justin 5-3; WALKENHORST, Pa 5-2; HOKE, Chris 3-2; ORD, Andy 3-0;

LAFITTE, Michae 2-1; STALEY, Dustin 2-1; KEISEL, Brett 2-1; BOCKWOLDT, Colb

2-1; DENNEY, Ryan 2-1; GALI, Setema 1-2; WILSON, Derrus 2-0; CARLSON, Brent

1-1; EDWARDS, Elan 1-1; PHILLIPS, Danny 0-2; RAMAGE, Corey 1-0; POCHMAN,

Owen 1-0; SMITH, Tyson 0-1; 53 0-1; OLSEN, Hans 0-1.