Cougars Dominate Wolf Pack

PROVO -- It wasn't 70, but the Cougars certainly didn't have trouble putting up the points again.

BYU's high-octane offense was too much for Nevada to handle, defeating the Wolf Pack 52-7.

"We've got two wins and we're right on schedule," head coach Gary Crowton said. "I thought we'd score a lot and we did."

With 6:02 left in the third quarter, Charlie Peterson kept the ball and ran for a touchdown, capping BYU's scoring at 52. BYU emptied its bench after Peterson's score and only crossed the fifty-yard line once the remainder of the game.

The 122 points in the first two games by the Cougars is the most points ever for the first two games of a season. In 1977, BYU had 104 points in the first two games, but the Cougars had already topped that mark by halftime.

"They really took it to us tonight," Nevada head coach Chris Tormey said. "The game was over at the half. They took us out of our running game and we couldn't execute the passing game."

Nevada came into the game planning for an air attack against the Cougars, but BYU was prepared defensively.

"We knew they weren't going to run much, so we nickel and dimed them and were able to make the stops," Crowton said.

While Nevada's offense found little success moving the ball against BYU's defense, the Cougars had their way offensively.

Peterson, Brandon Doman and Todd Mortensen all took snaps for the Cougars. Doman left the game for a series in the first half because of a minor shoulder injury, but returned for the rest of the half. He turned over the quarterback duties to Peterson and Mortensen for the second half.

Luke Staley and Brian McDonald-Ashford each had two rushing touchdowns, with Staley rushing for 124 yards and McDonald-Ashford gaining 35 on the ground.

Doman managed to pass for 222 yards and one touchdown on 11-21 passing, and rushed for 16 yards. Peterson was 11-13 with a touchdown and passed for 149 yards backing up Doman.

12 different receivers caught passes for the Cougars and BYU did not throw an interception for the second straight game.

"I'm happy with the progress we're making," Crowton said. "We were supposed to beat them and we did."

Nevada managed only 127 yards passing and 160 yards rushing, with most of the rushing yardage coming from Chance Kretschmer in the fourth quarter with the game well out of reach.

"We really thought we were going to move the ball on them by throwing the football and mixing it up and we were disappointed and shocked we could not move the ball better tonight," Tormey said.

GAME NOTES

ANOTHER QUICK START

With a touchdown at the 11:59 mark of the first quarter, BYU scored 13 seconds faster than the Tulane game. This time though, the Cougars were the first team to strike in the game, taking a 7-0 lead after Matt Payne took care of the PAT.

THE STREAK KEEPS ON GOING

With Luke Staley's touchdown at the 11:59 mark, BYU extended its NCAA streak of consecutive games without being shut out to 326. Texas is second in the nation with 240 straight games.

FIRST SACK

Doman was sacked for the first time this year at the 10:37 mark of the first quarter.

EDMONDS SEES PLAYING TIME A LOT EARLIER, STILL EFFECTIVE

Aaron Edmonds was forced to punt at 8:43 of the first quarter, far earlier than the Tulane game. Two of Edmonds' punts in this game landed inside the 20-yard line. BYU didn't face a fourth down until the third quarter in the BCA Classic, and didn't punt until the :27 mark of the third quarter.

STALEY

- Has now scored in 14 of 21 games played

- Has multiple touchdowns in eight games now

- This season, Staley averages 13.3 yards per carry

- On his career, he has 25 touchdowns, with 22 coming on the ground

- With his 25 career touchdowns, Staley is 15 short of the all-time BYU record of 40 by Jamal Willis

DOMAN

With 238 yards of total offense in less than a half, Brandon Doman now has an average of 340.5 yards of total offense per game started.

PAYNE

By connecting on all 8 of his PATs, Matt Payne still hasn't missed a PAT in his career. He made all 10 of his attempts in the Tulane game. At the 2:00 mark of the first quarter, Payne connected on a 27-yard field goal, the first field goal of his collegiate career. He missed a 44-yard attempt in the second quarter, and a 50-yard attempt in the Tulane game.

FIFTY POINTS

With 52 points in the Nevada game following the 70 point effort in the Tulane game, BYU scored 50 or more points in consecutive games to start the season for the first time ever. The last time BYU scored 50 or more points in a game more than once in a season was 1996, when the Cougars scored 58 against Arkansas St., 63 against UNLV and 55 against Tulsa.

FOREVER IN BLUE JEANS

Levi Madarieta got his first interception of his Cougar career. He transferred here form Washington.

AISSAC AIONO

Made his first catch of his collegiate career in the first half.

RENO

At the 3:55 mark of the second quarter, Reno Mahe caught a pass for his first touchdown since the 1998 Liberty Bowl. In that game, Mahe had the final tally for the Cougars with three-yard rushing TD.

MCDONALD-ASHFORD

Another multiple touchdown game for Brian McDonald-Ashford, who joins Luke Staley with five touchdowns on the season.

SHUTTING OUT BYU'S SHUTOUT HOPES

By not allowing Nevada a score in the first half, the Cougars provided their first first-half shutout since the New Mexico game last year. With Zack Threadgill's touchdown run with 6:52 left in the game, Nevada avoided a shutout, which would have been BYU's first since the 1999 UNLV game. Nevada has not been shut out since the 1980 Weber State game.

HIGHEST TWO-GAME AVERAGE

With 52 points, BYU set a new record for best points per game average after two games of a season. The Cougars average 61 points per game for the 2001 season. The previous high was 52 points in the first two games of the 1977 season.

TOTAL YARDS NUMBERS

With 432 yards in the first half, the Cougars again racked up high numbers with the ball.

WILKERSON GOIN' DEEP

At 12:48 of the third quarter, Charlie Peterson connected with Rod Wilkerson for a 53-yard touchdown strike. It was Wilkerson's first collegiate touchdown and also the longest TD pass by Peterson of his Cougar career.

NEVADA GAME NOTES

Harvey Dahl was the lone true freshman to start for Nevada. Two other true freshman, Chris Hines and Matt White, also saw action in the game. This is the worst loss for the Wolf Pack wince 1999's loss to Oregon, 72-10.

Box Score (3rd quarter)
  Score by Quarters     1  2  3  4   Score
  -----------------    -- -- -- --   -----
  Nevada..............  0  0  0  7  -  7       Record: ( 0-1)
  Brigham Young....... 10 28 14  0  - 52       Record: (2-0)
  Scoring Summary:
  1st 11:59 BYU - STALEY, Luke 8 yd run (PAYNE, Matt kick),
                  4-75 1:24, NEV 0 - BYU 7
      02:00 BYU - PAYNE, Matt 27 yd field goal,
	              11-36 4:45, NEV 0 - BYU 10
  2nd 13:09 BYU - STALEY, Luke 44 yd run (PAYNE, Matt kick),
                  5-80 1:39, NEV 0 - BYU 17
      10:59 BYU - McDONALD, Brian 5 yd run (PAYNE, Matt kick),
	              5-40 1:05, NEV 0 - BYU 24
      03:55 BYU - MAHE, Reno 12 yd pass from DOMAN, Brandon (PAYNE, Matt kick),
	              5-67 1:58, NEV 0 - BYU 31
      00:39 BYU - McDONALD, Brian 1 yd run (PAYNE, Matt kick),
	              6-40 1:52, NEV 0 - BYU 38
  3rd 12:48 BYU - WILKERSON, Rod 53 yd pass from PETERSON, Charl (PAYNE, Matt kick),
                  4-72 2:12, NEV 0 - BYU 45
      06:02 BYU - PETERSON, Charl 2 yd run (PAYNE, Matt kick),
	              10-49 4:58, NEV 0 - BYU 52
  4th 06:52 NEV - THREADGILL, Zac 10 yd run (FINE, Damon kick),
                  6-58 2:56, NEV 7 - BYU 52
                                      NEV      BYU
  FIRST DOWNS...................       17       26
  RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............   36-160   38-209
  PASSING YDS (NET).............      127      389
  Passes Att-Comp-Int...........  28-15-1  40-25-0
  TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS.....   64-287   78-598
  Fumble Returns-Yards..........      0-0      0-0
  Punt Returns-Yards............     1-24     6-80
  Kickoff Returns-Yards.........     3-54     2-42
  Interception Returns-Yards....      0-0      1-0
  Punts (Number-Avg)............  10-37.7   3-43.3
  Fumbles-Lost..................      1-0      1-0
  Penalties-Yards...............     7-45     5-30
  Possession Time...............    29:21    30:39
  Sacks By: Number-Yards........     1-10     3-28
  RUSHING: Nevada-KRETSCHMER, Cha 14-94; STARKS, Marquis 5-37; DUGAS, Adrien
  8-21; THREADGILL, Zac 2-5; NEILL, David 6-2; GRIFFIN, Josh 1-1. Brigham
  Young-STALEY, Luke 10-124; McDONALD, Brian 11-35; PETERSON, Paul 7-32;
  DOMAN, Brandon 3-16; PETERSON, Charl 3-6; SKINNER, Ryan 1-0; STEARNS, Ned
  2-0; MAHE, Reno 1-minus 4.
  PASSING: Nevada-NEILL, David 11-22-1-88; THREADGILL, Zac 4-6-0-39. Brigham
  Young-DOMAN, Brandon 11-21-0-222; PETERSON, Charl 11-13-0-149; MORTENSEN,
  Todd 3-6-0-18.
  RECEIVING: Nevada-BURLESON, Nate 6-56; JONES, Mo 4-35; FLEMING, Tim 2-14;
  BROWN, Jermaine 1-14; DUGAS, Adrien 1-4; KRETSCHMER, Cha 1-4. Brigham
  Young-MAHE, Reno 6-103; RIGELL, Mike 3-73; WILKERSON, Rod 3-59; McDONALD,
  Brian 3-36; JOLLEY, Doug 2-35; ANDERSON, Justi 2-20; AIONO, Aissac 1-23;
  ORD, Andrew 1-13; HALLADAY, Soren 1-9; KAONOHI, Ammon 1-7; HOLDER, Curtis
  1-6; HALVERSON, Trev 1-5.
  INTERCEPTIONS: Nevada-None. Brigham Young-MADARIETA, Levi 1-0.
  FUMBLES: Nevada-DUGAS, Adrien 1-0. Brigham Young-PETERSON, Charl 1-0.
  Stadium: Edwards Stadium       Attendance: 56286
  Kickoff time: 7:06      End of Game: 10:15     Total elapsed time: 3:09
  Officials: Referee: Gausman, Clair; Umpire: Crum, Gary; Linesman: Matthew, Brian;
  Line judge: Campbell, Randy; Back judge: Leyden, Terry; Field judge: Sisk,Charles;
  Side judge: Lucido, Ken; Scorer: Media Relations;
  SACKS (UA-A): Nevada-LEYVA, Horacio 1-0. Brigham Young-AH YOU, C.J. 1-0;
  WILKERSON, Rod 1-0; ENA, Justin 1-0.
  TACKLES (UA-A): Nevada-LAGRONE, Carl 6-2; WHITE, Matt 4-3; TOWNS, Daryl 2-4;
  JOLLEY, Paul 1-5; RACKLEY, Tyrone 3-2; CORDOVA, Jorge 2-3; MCLAUGHLIN, Mar
  3-1; AGWUENU, Ekene 1-3; LEWIS, Leondre 0-4; HARDIMAN, Ronni 2-1; CRUZ,
  Domonic 2-1; EDWARDS, Jordan 2-1; KENNARD, Derek 1-2; LEYVA, Horacio 1-2;
  HOLMES, Johnnie 2-0; LUCA, Mike 2-0; THOMAS, Johnny 2-0; SUIAUNOA, Leni 1-1;
  KRETSCHMER, Cha 1-0; GRIFFIN, Josh 1-0; WILSON, Ryan 1-0; DEAN, Aaron 1-0;
  ADARME, Jesse 1-0; BARRY, Chris 0-1; HINES, Chris 0-1; CARNEY, Todd 0-1.
  Brigham Young-AH YOU, C.J. 4-2; DENNEY, Ryan 2-3; ENA, Justin 3-1; GILFORD,
  Jernar 3-1; MADARIETA, Levi 2-2; WRIGHT, Bill 2-2; WALKENHORST, Pa 2-2;
  COWART, Jeff 2-1; BOCKWOLDT, Colb 2-1; FARRIS, Alex 1-2; KEISEL, Brett 1-2;
  MAUGA, Ammon 2-0; BURBIDGE, Jon 1-1; HEANEY, Brandon 1-1; STEARNS, Ned 1-1;
  MARQUARDT, Mich 1-1; MEIBOS, Jared 1-1; KELLEY, Isaac 1-1; SUMKO, Mike 0-2;
  PILI, Ifo 0-2; WILKERSON, Rod 1-0; TANNER, Mike 1-0; LAFITTE, Michae 1-0;
  FRANCISCO, Aaro 1-0; POPPINGA, Brady 0-1; ROBERTS, Jim 0-1; BARKER, Todd
  0-1; GUNDERSON, Ryan 0-1; DENNEY, John 0-1.