BYU Defensive Starters:
RE Kaufusi
DT Taele
LE Rowley
WLB JLD
BLB Pikula
MLB Langi
SLB Warner
BC Davis
FC Hannemann
FS Nacua
Kat Wadsworth
BYU Offensive Starters:
ZR Mathews
LT R Mathews
LG K. Johnson
C Koroma
RG Lapuaho
RT Wilcox
IR Houk
XR Kurtz
QB Mangum
FB Brown
RB Hine
1st Half
10-7 BSU
BYU:
155 total yards (169 passing, -14 rushing)
Possession: 14:18
Plays Ran: 33
Boise State:
189 total yards (153 passing, 36 rushing)
Possession: 15:42
Plays Ran: 37
BYU struggled to get much going on the offensive side of the ball, outside of the 84-yd completion to Mitch Juergens on the first drive of the game there wasn’t much success in putting together a consistent offensive attack. BYU went run heavy in the first half with an attack that was atrocious, the longest run of the half went for 7 yds on a scramble by QB Tanner Mangum and the team finished with -14 yds rushing in the half. Mangum threw the ball well and finished 8/14 but had two interceptions that stalled the offense, one was in a one-on-one matchup between WR Nick Kurtz (6’5”) and CB Donte Deayon (5’9”), Kurtz didn’t get his head around on the pass and Deayon was able to position himself between the ball and Kurtz and get the pick. The other was a freshman mistake where Tanner was rolling right, threw across his body across the middle of the field and was picked off.
The defense came to play against Boise State, there were some lapses, but the front seven looked good and were able to fill up running lanes and pressure QB Ryan Finley. The BSU offense only had 36 yds rushing on 17 attempts in the first half while throwing for 153 yds on 13/20 passing. BYU was constantly losing the battle of field position with 3 of their 8 drives starting on BYU’s side of the field, and 2 more starting within 60 yds of the end zone. BYU was able to keep BSU from piecing together any long drives forcing 3 3 and outs and coming up with an INT on the 1-yd line.
2nd Half
28-14 BYU
BYU:
226 total yards (120 passing, 86 rushing)
Possession: 20:07
Plays Ran: 35
Boise State:
172 total yards (144 passing, 28 rushing)
Possession: 9:53
Plays Ran: 32
It took about a half a quarter for the effect to kick in, but it looked like Adam Hine went into the locker room at halftime and had a bowl of wheaties. In the 3rd Q he gained 44 yds on 5 carries which was capped off with a 21 yd TD run in which he broke multiple tackles, he continued to run the ball well in the 4th Q adding another 36 yds on 3 more carries. Mangum threw the ball well in the second half, going 9/14 for 140 yds capped off with another ‘Hail Mary’ TD pass with :50 left in the game.
As good as the defense looked in the first half, they looked even better in the second half. Coming up with timely stops, big plays in the backfield, and big time turnovers. Safety play was instrumental for the Cougars with Kai Nacua returning from suspension in grand fashion coming up with 3 INTs and a game sealing pick 6 with :30 remaining in the game. Michael Wadsworth got the start at KAT today and continued to show his ability to tackle in the open field and led the team with 11. Harvey Langi and Bronson Kaufusi also had nice games, creating pressure on Finley and creating confusion in the Bronco backfield. Langi finished the game with 2 sacks and 3 TFL.
