PROVO -- On a night when BYU introduced Brandon Doman's "Domanator" poster to Cougar fans, BYU's other offensive star stole the show.
Luke Staley had five touchdowns, 207 yards rushing and 311 all-purpose yards -- all career highs -- to lead the Cougars to a 54-34 victory over a pesky Utah State (0-5) team.
Not to be outdone, the Domanator played well just the same, throwing four touchdowns on 24-of-34 passing for 293 yards. Doman now has 13 touchdown passes on the season. The Cougars are now 5-0 for the first time since the 1984 National Championship team, while Doman improves to 7-0 as a starter, marking the first BYU quarterback to win seven straight since Robbie Boscoe in 1984.
"Football is a tough game," BYU head coach Gary Crowton said. "I don't care who you are, it's tough to go 5-0, especially against teams like Utah State."
The 20-point victory was a lot closer than the final score would indicate. The Aggies took a 27-21 lead at the half, marking the first time the Cougars trailed heading into the locker room.
With 12:41 left in the third quarter, Utah State took a 34-21 lead, BYU's largest deficit of the season, on a 14-yard touchdown pass to Chris Stallworth. The drive began when Utah State kicker Dane Kidman recovered his own kickoff to open the second half. Kidman's extra point following the Stallworth touchdown would be the Aggies' final point of the game.
Staley led the Cougar comeback by scoring a 37-yard touchdown on a fourth-and-three play on the next drive. The Cougars had two fourth-down conversions on that drive alone.
"We went on fourth down because I have confidence in my players," Crowton said.
Jernaro Gilford intercepted an errant Jose Fuentes pass and returned it 62 yards on the Aggies' next possession. Staley would score on the next two BYU possessions while the Cougar defense buckled down. Staley's five touchdowns tied the BYU record for most touchdowns and most points in a game. Ronney Jenkins had five in the 1998 San Jose State game and Eric Lane also had five against Utah State in 1979.
"Luke told me he wanted to have a big game and he wanted me to give him the ball," Crowton said. "I gave him the ball and he had a big game."
Utah State head coach Mick Dennehy felt his team played well, but in the end his team could not keep up with BYU's potent offesnsive attack.
"In a nutshell, it was just too much Doman and Staley," Dennehy said. "Neither defense showed up to play tonight and to BYU's credit, they turned the game into a scorefest."
No. 18 BYU travels to New Mexico to face the Lobos next Saturday, beginning at 1 p.m. (MST). The game will be BYU's second Mountain West Conference contest. Crowton knows the season is far from over.
"We're 5-0, but we have eight more to go," Crowton said.
Box Score (Final)
Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Score
----------------- -- -- -- -- -----
Utah State.......... 6 21 7 0 - 34 Record: (0-5)
#18 Brigham Young....... 14 7 20 13 - 54 Record: (5-0,1-0)
Scoring Summary:
1st 07:29 BYU - STALEY, Luke 1 yd run (PAYNE, Matt kick),
USU 0 - BYU 7
03:02 USU - Curtis, Kevin 13 yd pass from Fuentes, Jose (Kidman, Dane kick failed),
USU 6 - BYU 7
02:35 BYU - JOLLEY, Doug 19 yd pass from DOMAN, Brandon (PAYNE, Matt kick),
USU 6 - BYU 14
2nd 14:55 USU - Crosbie, Jeff 12 yd run (Fuentes, Jose pass failed),
USU 12 - BYU 14
12:10 BYU - STALEY, Luke 28 yd pass from DOMAN, Brandon (PAYNE, Matt kick),
USU 12 - BYU 21
10:16 USU - White, Emmett 26 yd run (Kidman, Dane kick),
USU 19 - BYU 21
05:19 USU - White, Emmett 18 yd run (White, Emmett pass),
USU 27 - BYU 21
3rd 12:41 USU - Stallworth, C. 14 yd pass from Fuentes, Jose (Kidman, Dane kick),
USU 34 - BYU 21
08:58 BYU - STALEY, Luke 37 yd run (PAYNE, Matt kick failed),
USU 34 - BYU 27
06:30 BYU - STALEY, Luke 1 yd run (EDMONDS, Aaron kick),
USU 34 - BYU 34
01:33 BYU - STALEY, Luke 5 yd run (EDMONDS, Aaron kick),
USU 34 - BYU 41
4th 13:13 BYU - RIGELL, Mike 6 yd pass from DOMAN, Brandon (EDMONDS, Aaron kick),
USU 34 - BYU 48
06:02 BYU - NEAD, Spencer 5 yd pass from DOMAN, Brandon (EDMONDS, Aaron kick blockd),
USU 34 - BYU 54
USU BYU
FIRST DOWNS................... 26 30
RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............ 33-143 42-259
PASSING YDS (NET)............. 283 304
Passes Att-Comp-Int........... 43-25-2 35-25-1
TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS..... 76-426 77-563
Fumble Returns-Yards.......... 0-0 0-0
Punt Returns-Yards............ 1-5 3-32
Kickoff Returns-Yards......... 9-272 4-116
Interception Returns-Yards.... 1-0 2-69
Punts (Number-Avg)............ 4-45.0 2-43.5
Fumbles-Lost.................. 0-0 4-0
Penalties-Yards............... 13-141 12-131
Possession Time............... 30:40 29:20
Sacks By: Number-Yards........ 1-5 3-29
RUSHING: Utah State-White, Emmett 24-144; Fernandez, R. 3-17; Crosbie, Jeff
1-12; Fiefia, David 1-0; Fuentes, Jose 4-minus 30. Brigham Young-STALEY,
Luke 23-207; McDONALD, Brian 3-25; DOMAN, Brandon 11-17; PETERSON, Paul 3-7;
STEARNS, Ned 2-3.
PASSING: Utah State-Fuentes, Jose 25-42-2-283; Crosbie, Jeff 0-1-0-0.
Brigham Young-DOMAN, Brandon 24-34-1-293; STALEY, Luke 1-1-0-11.
RECEIVING: Utah State-Curtis, Kevin 11-129; Stallworth, C. 5-50; Coleman,
Gary 4-49; Suguturaga, J.R 2-30; Cooley, Chris 1-9; White, Emmett 1-9; Deml,
Jason 1-7. Brigham Young-MAHE, Reno 5-90; STALEY, Luke 4-44; RIGELL, Mike
4-25; ORD, Andrew 3-34; NEAD, Spencer 3-18; HALLADAY, Soren 2-64; McDONALD,
Brian 2-5; JOLLEY, Doug 1-19; CHRISTENSEN, To 1-5.
INTERCEPTIONS: Utah State-Barber, Nathan 1-0. Brigham Young-GILFORD, Jernar
1-62; MAHE, Reno 1-7.
FUMBLES: Utah State-None. Brigham Young-MAHE, Reno 1-0; McDONALD, Brian 1-0;
DOMAN, Brandon 1-0; ORD, Andrew 1-0.
Stadium: Edwards Stadium Attendance: 65396
Kickoff time: 7:05 End of Game: 10:44 Total elapsed time: 3:39
Officials: Referee: Kollen, Rich; Umpire: Burks, Steve; Linesman: Scott, Bill;
Line judge: Labenne, Paul; Back judge: Angelis, Mike; Field judge: Adams, Dave;
Side judge: Standley, Shane; Scorer: Media Relations;
Temperature: 68 Wind: 2-5, N Weather: Clear
SACKS (UA-A): Utah State-Torian, Markus 1-0. Brigham Young-KEISEL, Brett
1-1; DENNEY, Ryan 1-0; PILI, Ifo 0-1.
TACKLES (UA-A): Utah State-Glasper, Jamar 5-5; Barber, Nathan 5-3; Onaindia,
Nick 6-1; Estelle, Mark 5-1; Walker, Tony 2-3; Busta, Jesse 2-3; Jackson,
Bryan 0-4; Solosabal, J. 3-0; Newson, Tony 3-0; Dennis, Jerome 3-0; Watts,
Robert 2-1; Hunt, Scott 2-0; Tupea, Ronald 0-2; Luna, Ross 1-0; Olsen, Tyler
1-0; Tapia, Jorge 1-0; Putnam, Nate 1-0; Duncan, Ryan 1-0; White, Emmett
1-0; Cooley, Chris 1-0; Suguturaga, J.R 1-0; Candler, D. 1-0; Torian, Markus
1-0; Tate, Steve 0-1. Brigham Young-ENA, Justin 6-5; WALKENHORST, Pa 6-3;
KEISEL, Brett 4-4; GILFORD, Jernar 5-2; KELLEY, Isaac 5-2; LAFITTE, Michae
5-0; MADARIETA, Levi 1-4; DENNEY, Ryan 3-1; BURBIDGE, Jon 1-2; FRANCISCO,
Aaro 2-0; PILI, Ifo 1-1; BOCKWOLDT, Colb 1-1; WILKERSON, Rod 1-0; WRIGHT,
Bill 1-0; CARLSON, Brent 1-0; GUNDERSON, Ryan 1-0; WILSON, Derrus 1-0; WARD,
Anthony 1-0; STALEY, Dustin 1-0; PAYNE, Matt 0-1; ANDERSON, Justi 0-1; ORD,
Andrew 0-1.