Cougars Fall at Home

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PROVO -- In his first career start at BYU, freshman quarterback Jake Heaps went 24-for-45 for 229 yards as BYU (1-3) fell to Nevada (4-0) Saturday 27-13 at LaVell Edwards Stadium.

On the second Cougar drive of the game, Heaps combined with junior running back JJ Di Luigi for a 36-yard drive on five plays culminating in a 2-yard touchdown run by Di Luigi, his third touchdown of the season. The drive began after senior safety Andrew Rich recovered a Nevada fumble.

“His (Heaps') performance was a bright spot and a work in progress," said BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall. "The standards I’m measuring are week to week. Regardless of the measure today, he did a nice job."

After giving up 24 points in the first half, the Cougars came back to surrender only three in the second half, holding the Wolf Pack’s fourth-ranked scoring offense well below their 50.7 season average.

With 4:22 left in the game, senior defensive lineman Vic So’oto intercepted Nevada quarterback Colin Kaepernick deep in Nevada territory, but after multiple attempts at the end zone through the air, the Cougars were unable to capitalize on the opportunity to narrow the Wolf Pack’s lead to seven.

“We fought until the end,” said Mendenhall. “We’re not to the level we need to be, but I did see improvement.”

Di Luigi recorded 123 all-purpose yards, including 15 rushes for 67 yards and eight catches for 56 yards. Rich tied a career-high with 14 tackles, including nine solo takedowns in the loss.

“There was lots of improvement on both sides of the football today,” Heaps said. “I take this game as a positive and that we are heading in the right direction."

The Wolf Pack got on the board first after a nine-play, 84-yard drive was completed by quarterback Colin Kaepernick connecting with running back Courtney Randall for a six-yard touchdown pass.

With 1:39 left in the first quarter, Wolf Pack running back Vai Taua scored on a one-yard touchdown run, giving Nevada a 14-7 lead. That lead was extended when Kaepernick completed a nine-play drive with a four-yard touchdown run to put the Wolf Pack ahead 21-7 with 9:18 remaining in the second quarter.

BYU cut into the Wolf Pack lead on a 27-yard Payne field goal with 1:20 to play in the first half after an 11-play, 35-yard drive. A 20-yard Heaps completion to freshman receiver Cody Hoffman set up the field goal.

With 74 yards receiving on four catches, Hoffman recorded a career high in receiving yards while junior McKay Jacobsen added four catches for 44 yards to the Cougar passing attack.

With 7:46 left in the fourth quarter, Payne was good from 29 yards out to end a nine-play, 65-yard drive, the Cougars first points of the fourth quarter in 2010. Di Luigi rushed for 21 yards while Heaps was 4-for-6 for 29 yards during the drive.

Kaepernick was 16-for-25 through the air, adding 17 rushes for 82 yards on the ground. Taua rushed 29 times for 133 yards for the Wolf Pack.

The Cougars return to action against Utah State on October 1 in Logan at 6 p.m. MDT. The game will be broadcast on ESPN.

Nevada (4-0) vs. BYU (1-3,0-1)

Date: Sep 24, 2010 Site: Provo, Utah Stadium: LaVell Edwards

Attendance: 61471

Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Score

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

Nevada.............. 14 10 0 3 - 27 Record: (4-0)

BYU................. 7 3 0 3 - 13 Record: (1-3,0-1)

Scoring Summary:

1st 10:16 NEV - Randall, C. 6 yd pass from Kaepernick, C. (Martinez, A. kick), 9-84 4:44, NEV 7 - BY 0

07:04 BY - DI LUIGI, JJ 2 yd run (PAYNE, Mitch kick), 5-36 1:31, NEV 7 - BY 7

01:39 NEV - Taua, Vai 1 yd run (Martinez, A. kick), 12-80 5:25, NEV 14 - BY 7

2nd 09:18 NEV - Kaepernick, C. 4 yd run (Martinez, A. kick), 9-57 4:48, NEV 21 - BY 7

01:20 BY - PAYNE, Mitch 27 yd field goal, 11-35 2:58, NEV 21 - BY 10

00:00 NEV - Drake, Ricky 38 yd field goal, 9-55 1:14, NEV 24 - BY 10

4th 11:27 NEV - Martinez, A. 29 yd field goal, 21-75 8:53, NEV 27 - BY 10

07:46 BY - PAYNE, Mitch 29 yd field goal, 9-65 3:36, NEV 27 - BY 13

NEV BY

FIRST DOWNS................... 23 21

RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............ 53-239 25-91

PASSING YDS (NET)............. 196 229

Passes Att-Comp-Int........... 26-16-1 45-24-0

TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS..... 79-435 70-320

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

Punt Returns-Yards............ 1-0 1-8

Kickoff Returns-Yards......... 2-32 3-103

Interception Returns-Yards.... 0-0 1-14

Punts (Number-Avg)............ 2-56.0 3-31.3

Fumbles-Lost.................. 3-1 0-0

Penalties-Yards............... 6-65 1-5

Possession Time............... 36:17 23:43

Third-Down Conversions........ 9 of 17 5 of 15

Fourth-Down Conversions....... 3 of 4 1 of 4

Red-Zone Scores-Chances....... 4-4 3-5

Sacks By: Number-Yards........ 1-10 0-0

RUSHING: Nevada-Taua, Vai 29-133; Kaepernick, C. 17-82; Randall, C. 4-10;

Shepherd, M. 1-7; Mark, Lampford 1-4; Green, Virgil 1-3. BYU-DI LUIGI, JJ 15-67;

QUEZADA, Joshua 3-15; KARIYA, Bryan 4-11; HEAPS, Jake 3-minus 2.

PASSING: Nevada-Kaepernick, C. 16-25-1-196; TEAM 0-1-0-0. BYU-HEAPS, Jake

24-45-0-229.

RECEIVING: Nevada-Matthews, R. 4-41; Session, Tray 3-38; Wimberly, B. 2-59; Randall, C. 2-12; Shepherd, M. 1-20; Green, Virgil 1-11; Sudfeld, Zach

1-8; Wellington, C. 1-6; Taua, Vai 1-1. BYU-DI LUIGI, JJ 8-56; HOFFMAN, Cody

4-74; JACOBSON, McKay 4-44; ASHWORTH, Luke 2-15; QUEZADA, Joshua 2-12; KARIYA,

Bryan 2-5; MATHEWS, Marcus 1-18; PETERSON, BJ 1-5.

INTERCEPTIONS: Nevada-None. BYU-SO'OTO, Vic 1-14.

FUMBLES: Nevada-Kaepernick, C. 2-0; Taua, Vai 1-1. BYU-None.

SACKS (UA-A): Nevada-Roy, Brett 1-0. BYU-None.

TACKLES (UA-A): Nevada-Johnson, J.M. 7-3; Johnson, Marlon 6-3; Grimes,

Kevin 5-1; Moch, Dontay 5-0; Frey, Isaiah 3-0; Marshall, B. 3-0; Miller, Doyle

3-0; Burnett, Kaelin 1-2; Madonick, Zack 2-0; Roy, Brett 2-0; Coulson, Ryan 1-1;

Jefferson, S. 1-0; Drake, Ricky 1-0; Williams, Duke 1-0; Brown, Thaddeus 1-0;

Faddis, Dean 1-0; Matthews, R. 1-0; Boughton, D. 1-0. BYU-RICH, Andrew 9-5;

HUNTER, Shane 3-4; JORGENSEN, Aust 2-5; LOGAN, Brian 6-0; STOUT, Zac 3-3;

PENDLETON, Jord 3-3; MANUMALEUNA, Ea 0-6; UALE, Travis 2-3; EASON, Corby 4-0;

BRADLEY, Brando 3-1; SO'OTO, Vic 2-2; FUGA, Romney 2-1; FRAZIER, Jameso 1-2;

RICHARDSON, Jor 0-3; MENDENHALL, Zek 1-1; PUTNAM, Matt 0-2; GALEA'I, Jray 1-0;

STEELE, Tom 1-0; MARSHALL, Matt 0-1; LEUNG-WAI, Aven 0-1; MEES, Carter 0-1.