PROVO -- Telegraphed plays gave advance warning Thursday to BYU defenders who led the Cougars to a 34-13 victory over Colorado State in the inaugural game of the Mountain West Conference.
That defense enabled BYU freshman running back Luke Staley to score three touchdowns as the Cougars built up a 31-0 lead before a crowd of 63,054 and once again in front of an ESPN TV audience. The victory put BYU's record at 2-0, while CSU fell to 2-1.
"I have to admit the quarterback gave a lot away by looking at his receivers and he threw right at me," said BYU linebacker Jeff Holtry. "Our game plan was to beat them up front with our defensive line."
Holtry's 46-yard pass interception at the end of the first quarter was negated by a blocked Owen Pochman field goal, but it was one of three picks for the Cougar defenders. Pochman later booted field goals of 38 yards in the third and 43 yards in the fourth.
When BYU defensive lineman Chris Hoke recovered a Matt Newton fumble at the end of the third quarter, it led to Staley's third TD of the night and put the score at 31-0.
"We wanted to prove to everyone that we are a tough defense," said Hoke.
Staley rushed for 65 yards and scored on a one-yard run in the first quarter, a seven-yard pass in the second and the five-yard run in the third.
"I like our freshmen running backs, but the big thing that's important is that we are one-and-oh in the league," said BYU Coach LaVell Edwards. "Defensively we were much more consistent tonight."
Rob Morris and Brian Gray, two of BYU's top defenders both received lower groin injuries.
"They had so many three and outs that it made it hard for them to deal with us, knowing the 11 men across from you are dominating," said Morris, who was injured in the third quarter. "They could have had Herschel Walker and we would have still stopped them."
The Rams were without the services of injured running back Kevin McDougal (groin sprain), but got on the scoreboard with a pair of fourth quarter TD passes from Newton.
The eight MWC mascots (BYU Photo)
"I want to give a lot of credit to BYU," said CSU Coach Sonny Lubick. "Their defense was very tough and we couldn't get much going as everyone could see. Offensively, they caused a lot of problems for everybody.
"I think Feterik is an outstanding football player. He had a lot of pressure on him in the first part of the game when he was sacked, but he came out and kept going and that's a great credit for them."
Kevin Feterik threw to 10 different BYU receivers in his 28 completions from 37 attempts for 310 yards and had no interceptions for an impressive 163.89 pass efficiency.
"They did a lot of zone blitzing against us, but our offensive line did a great job of picking it up," said Feterik, who was sacked five times. "Last year it bothered us when we got sacked, but this year it's no big deal because we know we can go out and get the yards. We could have thrown for 400 tonight."
"Kevin's confidence carries through the team," said Staley.
Once again Margin Hooks led all Cougar receivers with five catches for 72 yards.
"It's coming together better than I expected," said Hooks. "There's no selfishness out there."
Hooks remarks were echoed by defensive co-captain Byron Frisch.
"I don't know what our weakness is right now," said Frisch. "We didn't make any big mistakes."
Date: Sep 16, 1999
Site: Provo, Utah
Stadium: Cougar Stadium
Attendance: 63,054
Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Score
----------------- -- -- -- -- -----
Colorado State...... 0 0 0 13 - 13
Brigham Young....... 7 14 10 3 - 34
Scoring Summary
1st 07:00 BYU - STALEY, Luke 1 yd run (POCHMAN, Owen kick)
2nd 11:30 BYU - STALEY, Luke 7 yd pass from FETERIK, Kevin (POCHMAN, Owen kick)
01:01 BYU - DABNEY, Jaron 15 yd pass from FETERIK, Kevin (POCHMAN, Owen kick)
3rd 02:52 BYU - POCHMAN, Owen 38 yd field goal
01:40 BYU - STALEY, Luke 5 yd run (POCHMAN, Owen kick)
4th 14:55 CSU - REBSTOCK, Pete 30 yd pass from NEWTON, Matt (HURST, C.W. kick)
06:10 BYU - POCHMAN, Owen 43 yd field goal
03:19 CSU - DAVIS, Dallas 40 yd pass from NEWTON, Matt (NEWTON, Matt pass failed)
Team Statistics
CSU BYU
FIRST DOWNS................... 17 22
Rushing..................... 2 6
Passing..................... 12 14
Penalty..................... 3 2
Rushing Attempts.............. 17 41
Yards Gained Rushing.......... 52 157
Yards Lost Rushing............ 24 51
NET YARDS RUSHING............. 28 106
NET YARDS PASSING............. 289 310
Passes Attempted............ 44 37
Passes Completed............ 26 28
Had Intercepted............. 3 0
TOTAL OFFENSIVE PLAYS......... 61 78
TOTAL NET YARDS............... 317 416
Average Gain Per Play....... 5.2 5.3
Fumbles: Number-Lost.......... 1-1 2-1
Penalties: Number-Yards....... 11-99 11-90
Number of Punts-Yards......... 6-264 4-187
Average Per Punt............ 44.0 46.8
Punt Returns: Number-Yards.... 2-29 3-4
Kickoff Returns: Number-Yards. 1-17 0-0
Interceptions: Number-Yards... 0-0 3-125
Fumble Returns: Number-Yards.. 0-0 0-0
Miscellaneous Yards........... 17 0
Possession Time............... 21:14 38:46
Third-Down Conversions........ 2 of 11 6 of 15
Fourth-Down Conversions....... 0 of 1 0 of 0
Sacks By: Number-Yards........ 4-31 0-0