Aztecs Spoil Cougars With Last-Second FIeldgoal

PROVO -- A 36-yard field goal by San Diego State's Nate Tandberg spoiled a last-minute BYU comeback and gave the Aztecs the 16-15 victory Saturday at Cougar Stadium. The loss drops the Cougars to 3-5 overall and 1-2 in the Mountain West Conference. San Diego State improves to 2-5 overall and 2-1 in conference.

Tandberg's heroics came :41 seconds after BYU's Owen Pochman drilled a career-long 50-yard field goal with :46 seconds on the clock to give the Cougars a 15-13 lead. After Pochman's ensuing kickoff flew out the back of the endzone for a touchback, San Diego State's sophomore quarterback Lon Sheriff led a six-play, 62-yard drive that culminated in the 36-yard, game-winning field goal by Tandberg.

"Well, you have to hand it to San Diego State," BYU head coach LaVell Edwards said. "They made the plays at the end when they had to."

Perhaps the biggest play was a 39-yard pass from Sheriff to junior wide receiver Derrick Lewis that took the Aztecs to the BYU 22 yardline with :12 seconds to play.

"I told the players that this was my last opportunity to play against LaVell and a win would sure be sweet," San Diego State head coach Ted Tollner said. "They gave me the game ball after the game."

Tollner, who was an assistant coach on Edwards' staff at BYU in 1981, won his first game ever against his former boss. Tollner now has a 1-3 record against BYU.

Pochman's field goal that gave the Cougars the lead came at the end of a nine-play, 42-yard drive that started from the BYU 26-yardline with less than two minutes to go. Junior quarterback Charlie Peterson, who finished the game with 376 yards on 34-of-58 passing, drove the Cougars down the field by completing passes to five separate receivers. Peterson has completed 144 pass attempts without an interception and needs just 10 more attempts to pass Jim McMahon for the career record. The Cougars were stopped short of the endzone after an incomplete pass and a holding call made an 11-yard reception by junior tight end Doug Jolley not enough for a first down and had to settle for the 50-yard Pochman field goal.

Senior wide receiver Margin Hooks had a big day for the Cougars. He finished with nine receptions for 124 yards and BYU's only touchdown, which came with eight seconds remaining in the first half. Hooks now has 2,700 career receiving yards and has moved into second on the all-time list at BYU, passing Matt Bellini. Bellini finished his career with 2,635 yards.

Defensively, junior linebacker Justin Ena led BYU with 11 tackles and a forced fumble. Senior defensive tackle Hans Olsen also played well for the Cougars, recovering two Aztec fumbles and having two tackles for loss.

BYU will play Wyoming Thursday in Cougar Stadium at 6 p.m. (MDT). The game will be broadcast live to a national audience on ESPN.

POSTGAME NOTES

· San Diego State's 57-yard kickoff return to begin the game was the longest kickoff return allowed by the Cougars this season.

· With his first quarter reception Margin Hooks has now caught a pass in 32 consecutive games. His streak is tied for the fourth longest current streak in the nation.

· BYU's first scoring drive, a 20-play, 93-yard drive that took 8:38 and was capped by a 24-yard Owen Pochman field goal is the longest in time of possession and had the most plays for the Cougars this season. It is the second longest in yardage. BYU had a 94-yard scoring drive that was topped off by a touchdown against Air Force.

· The 93-yard drive also marks the second straight game the Cougars have had a scoring drive of 90 yards or more. It is also the second straight game that BYU has had a drive of 7:51 or longer. BYU scored on a 16-play, 90-yard drive against Utah State that took 7:51.

· The Cougars' second quarter field goal extended BYU's NCAA-leading streak to 320 games without being shutout.

· First half time of possession: BYU - 19:15, SDSU - 10:45.

· With a 15-yard reception late in the second quarter, Margin Hooks moved into second all-time at BYU in receiving yardage. He passed Matt Bellini, who finished his career with 2,635 yards. Hooks now has 2,700 yards in his career and needs 366 more to pass Eric Drage as BYU's all-time leader in receiving yardage with 3,066.

· Hooks finished the game with 124 yards. It is the first time this season that he has ended a game with 100 yards or more.

· BYU quarterback Charlie Peterson has now thrown 144 consecutive passes without an interception. He was last intercepted against Mississippi State on Sept. 14.

· BYU head coach LaVell Edwards now has a career record of 254-100-3.

· Ryan Denney's blocked field goal in the third quarter marks the second time this season BYU has blocked an opponent's field goal attempt. Paul Walkenhorst blocked a field goal against UNLV Sept. 23.

· Defensive lineman Hans Olsen recovered two fumbles against the Aztecs in Saturday's game. Last season he recovered a fumble and returned it 24 yards for a touchdown against San Diego State.

· Charlie Peterson finished the game with 376 yards on 34 of 58 passing. It is the second consecutive game he has passed for 300 or more yards. He ended with 324 yards against Utah State on Oct. 6.

· Owen Pochman's 50-yard field goal with :46 seconds to play in the game was a career-long.

* San Diego State improved to 2-5 (2-1 MWC) with today's 13-12 win over Brigham Young.

* Today's Aztec victory was just the second ever for SDSU in Provo and the first since Marshall Faulk led San Diego State to a 45-38 win in 1992. SDSU is now 2-11 all-time versus BYU in Cougar Stadium, 4-18-1 overall.

* The win was also SDSU head coach Ted Tollner's first ever versus his former boss, LaVell Edwards.

* The victory improved SDSU to 4-1 in its last five Mountain West Conference games dating to last year's 37-7 victory at UNLV. The Aztec defense has yielded just 9.4 points per game during that span.

* Including today's win, the Aztecs have now won three straight MWC road games and four of their last five.

* Lon Sheriff's 46-yard completion to Derrick Lewis during San Diego State's second quarter scoring drive was the Aztecs' longest play this season.

* With 59 yards on 19 carries SDSU running back Larry Ned became just the ninth Aztec to rush for over 2000 yards in a career. He finished the game ranked ninth on SDSU's career rushing chart with 2013 yards. He also ranks sixth on the Aztecs' all-time carries list with 454.

* Ned's 19-yard second quarter touchdown was his fifth TD this season and 19th of his career. It was also the longest scoring run of the season for the Aztecs and the longest by Ned since he galloped 35 yards to paydirt in last year's season finale versus Wyoming.

* Ned's third quarter touchdown run was the 20th of his career. Coupled with his second quarter scoring run, Ned has now notched two multiple TD games this season - Wyoming was the other - and six during his Aztec career.

* When the Aztecs held BYU to field goals on the Cougars' first two scoring drives of the game it was just the second and third time this season that SDSU has limited an opponent to a field goal this season in the redzone. Entering today's game, opponents had scored on 14-of-22 redzone opportunities, 13 of which were touchdowns.

* Derrick Lewis' four receptions for 134 yards was the most for the junior since he hauled in four balls for 134 yards last year at Kansas. His game-opening 54-yard kickoff return was a career best.

Box Score (Final)
  Score by Quarters     1  2  3  4   Score
  -----------------    -- -- -- --   -----
  San Diego State.....  0  7  6  3  - 16       Record: (2-5,2-2)
  Brigham Young.......  0 12  0  3  - 15       Record: (3-5,1-2)
  Scoring Summary:
  2nd 14:14 BYU - POCHMAN, Owen 24 yd field goal, 
                  20 plays, 93 yards, TOP 8:38, SD 0 - BYU 3
      07:13 BYU - POCHMAN, Owen 28 yd field goal, 
                  15 plays, 49 yards, TOP 5:54, SD 0 - BYU 6
      03:46 SDS - NED, Larry 19 yd run (TANDBERG, Nate kick), 
                  9 plays, 89 yards, TOP 3:27, SD 7 - BYU 6
      00:08 BYU - HOOKS, Margin 2 yd pass from PETERSON, Charl (PETERSON pass failed), 
                  10 plays, 78 yards, TOP 3:38, SD 7 - BYU 12
  3rd 07:53 SDS - NED, Larry 2 yd run (SHERIFF, Lon pass failed), 
                  5 plays, 62 yards, TOP 1:53, SD 13 - BYU 12
  4th 00:46 BYU - POCHMAN, Owen 50 yd field goal, 
                  9 plays, 42 yards, TOP 1:08, SD 13 - BYU 15
      00:01 SDS - TANDBERG, Nate 36 yd field goal, 
                  6 plays, 62 yards, TOP 0:45, SD 16 - BYU 15
                                       SD      BYU
  FIRST DOWNS...................       16       27
  RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............    28-70    34-63
  PASSING YDS (NET).............      239      376
  Passes Att-Comp-Int...........  30-14-0  58-34-0
  TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS.....   58-309   92-439
  Fumble Returns-Yards..........      0-0      0-0
  Punt Returns-Yards............     1-12     4-25
  Kickoff Returns-Yards.........     3-67     4-69
  Interception Returns-Yards....      0-0      0-0
  Punts (Number-Avg)............   6-43.5   4-48.0
  Fumbles-Lost..................      2-2      1-1
  Penalties-Yards...............     4-50   11-159
  Possession Time...............    22:48    37:12
  Sacks By: Number-Yards........     3-31      1-4
  RUSHING: San Diego State-NED, Larry 19-59; TRUVILLION, Jam 7-14; SHERIFF,
  Lon 2-minus 3. Brigham Young-MCDONALD, Brian 15-43; STALEY, Luke 11-29;
  WHALEN, Marcus 1-1; PETERSON, Charl 7-minus 10.
  PASSING: San Diego State-SHERIFF, Lon 14-30-0-239. Brigham Young-PETERSON,
  Charl 34-58-0-376.
  RECEIVING: San Diego State-TOLVER, J.R. 6-77; LEWIS, Derrick 4-129; PIERCE,
  Sean 2-20; HOWARD, Thomas 1-9; GELT, Brian 1-4. Brigham Young-HOOKS, Margin
  9-124; HORTON, Ben 5-57; MCDONALD, Brian 4-24; STALEY, Luke 3-48; SNOWDEN,
  Will 3-24; SITAKE, Kalani 3-21; JOLLEY, Doug 2-28; PITTMAN, Jonath 2-18;
  OFAHENGAUE, Tev 2-16; RIGELL, Mike 1-16.
  INTERCEPTIONS: San Diego State-None. Brigham Young-None.
  Stadium: Cougar Stadium        Attendance: 61194
  Kickoff time: 1:05      End of Game: 4:49      Total elapsed time: 3:44
  Officials: Referee: Ken Flaherty; Umpire: Wes White; Linesman: Tom Keeling;
  Line judge: Bob Bahne; Back judge: Gordon Birk; Field judge: Bill Agopian;
  Side judge: Bill Vinovich; Scorer: Media Relations;
  Temperature: 48        Wind: S-10      Weather: Overcast, Light Rain
  SACKS (UA-A): San Diego State-PAVELKO, Garret 1-1; HAYWOOD, Jerome 0-1;
  BUTLER, Jomar 1-0. Brigham Young-OLSEN, Hans 0-1; KELLEY, Isaac 0-1.
  TACKLES (UA-A): San Diego State-BUTLER, Jomar 12-3; DEMPS, Will 7-3;
  RUSSELL, Brian 8-1; KENT, John 5-2; SHARPE, Ricky 4-3; ROBLES, Dylan 3-4;
  BERG, Brian 3-3; MARCHBANKS, Ros 4-1; HAYWOOD, Jerome 2-3; PAVELKO, Garret
  3-1; HOWARD, Thomas 2-1; FOLI, Anthony 1-1; BRIGHAM, Andrew 1-1; IATA, Ryan
  1-0; KOS, Jay 0-1. Brigham Young-ENA, Justin 4-7; HOKE, Chris 3-3; SMITH,
  Tyson 2-3; DENNEY, Ryan 3-1; OLSEN, Hans 1-3; JOINER, Isiah 3-0; PHILLIPS,
  Danny 2-1; WILSON, Derrus 1-1; FARRIS, Alex 1-1; KEISEL, Brett 1-1; GALI,
  Setema 0-2; KELLEY, Isaac 0-2; WALKENHORST, Pa 1-0; CARLSON, Brent 1-0;
  STEARNS, Ned 0-1; POCHMAN, Owen 0-1; LEE, Jared 0-1.