PROVO -- It will go down as one of the most dominating games in BYU football history. The 16th-ranked Cougars systematically dismantled the UCLA Bruins on Saturday, 59-0. The win improved BYU’s nation’s best winning streak to 13 straight games, including a perfect 3-0 mark on the season.
“Today’s game was the most physical performance I have ever seen from our team,” BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall said. “I was impressed with what I saw today. We had a great week of practice and it showed. We came in prepared and started fast.”
The Cougars were led by Heisman Trophy candidate Max Hall who connected on 27-of-35 attempts for 271 yards before being relieved at the 7:43 mark of the third quarter. During the day, Hall equaled Jim McMahon and Marc Wilson’s school record seven touchdowns on the day. His six touchdowns in the first half alone set a BYU single-half record.
“We left our defense on the field too long and just couldn’t get to Hall,” UCLA head coach Rick Neuheisel said. “He was on target every pass.”
Junior receiver Austin Collie led the Cougars from the receiving end, totaling 110 yards over 10 receptions, including two touchdowns. Mackey Award candidate Dennis Pitta added five receptions for 47 yards and a pair of touchdowns, while running back Harvey Unga chipped in five receptions for 42 yards and two touchdowns. Senior receiver Michael Reed had five receptions for 90 yards and a touchdown.
BYU’s offense came to life early scoring on a 10-yard pass from Hall to Pitta in the first quarter. The Cougars poured on 35 more points in the second, marking the second-highest scoring quarter in BYU history.
The defensive performance was equally impressive as they stopped all UCLA scoring attempts and forced six turnovers while holding the Bruins to two of 10 third-down conversions, compared to BYU’s 13-of-17 showing.
After UCLA received the kickoff, the BYU defense kept the Bruins from achieving a first down and forced a punt during their first series. Hall and Collie connected on three plays, while Unga rushed for 15 yards on three carries to position the Cougars on the 10-yard-line. Hall made the 10-yard pass to Pitta to put the Cougars on the board.
UCLA drove down field for 17 yards before two incomplete passes forced the Bruins to punt during their second drive. With the ball on the BYU 18-yard line, Max Hall was unable to connect for the first time of the game, resulting in three-straight incomplete passes before the Cougars punted.
After forcing UCLA to punt during their third possession, BYU drove the ball from the 20-yard-line for 13 plays, highlighted with a 25-yard pass to Reed and spanning into the second quarter to take a 14-0 lead. Hall connected to Collie for two yards and the touchdown.
Craft passed to Cory Harkey for 13 yards for a UCLA first down, but was sacked by Ian Dulan for a loss of 11 yards during the following play. At second and 20, Jan Jorgensen sacked Craft and forced a fumble, which was recovered by Dulan at the UCLA 37.
In a single play, Hall made the 37-yard pass to Collie to put BYU up 21-0 with 12:59 remaining in the half.
UCLA dropped the ball again when Raymond Carter was tackled by Scott Johnson and Brett Denney was credited with the recovery. The Cougars made the 30-yard drive, ending with a 12-yard touchdown from Hall to Reed.
On the kickoff return UCLA fumbled and BYU recovered the ball on the 25-yard line, marking UCLA’s third-straight turnover. The Cougars took a 35-0 lead when Hall and Unga connected on a 15-yard touchdown pass.
Following the kickoff return, UCLA drove down the field by a series of three complete passes before the BYU defense forced 32-yard field goal attempt. Cougar Russell Tialavea blocked the field goal attempt and David Tafuna recovered the ball and at the BYU 48-yard-line.
The Cougars made a 13-play drive to take a 42-0 lead into the second half. Hall connected for a two-yard pass to Pitta for his record sixth touchdown of the half.
In the first drive of the second half Hall threw his only interception of the game, marking the Cougars only turnover. UCLA’s drive fell short when Craft’s fourth-and-two pass fell incomplete and the Cougars took over on the BYU 31. Led by Vakapuna’s 22-yard rush, the Cougars added to their lead with a six-yard touchdown reception by Unga.
Brenden Gaskins replaced Hall on the Cougar’s next possession. UCLA managed to hold BYU to a 25-yard field goal by Mitch Payne, giving BYU a 52-0 lead. The Cougars grabbed their first interception of the season when Matt Putnam picked off Kraft’s toss, at UCLA’s 25-yard-line, and returned the interception for seven yards.
On the scoring drive Wayne Latu was stopped after three yards on the first down, but redeemed himself on the second down, rushing for a 13-yard touchdown, giving BYU a 59-0 advantage.
UCLA looked to upset the Cougars’ hopes of a shut out victory for the second time of the game when the Bruins marched the ball down field for 62 yards. UCLA was kept off the board when its field goal attempt was just wide of the uprights, keeping BYU’s hopes of a shutout intact.
The Cougars took over the ball and, J.J. Di Luigi led the team’s drive with 20 yards in four carries, but BYU was forced to punt the ball for the second time during the contest. UCLA managed two-straight first downs before falling short of a third. BYU held on to the ball following a punt return, and ran out the clock to complete to 59-0 victory.
The Cougars will play host to Wyoming on Saturday, Sept. 20. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. (MT) at Edwards Stadium.
CLICK HERE for postgame notes.
Box Score (Final)
UCLA vs No. 16 BYU (Sep 13, 2008 at Provo, Utah)
Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Score
----------------- -- -- -- -- -----
UCLA................ 0 0 0 0 - 0 Record: (1-1)
No. 16 BYU.......... 7 35 17 0 - 59 Record: (3-0)
Scoring Summary:
1st 08:09 BY - PITTA, Dennis 10 yd pass from HALL, Max (PAYNE, Mitch kick), 11-75 4:50, UCLA 0 - BY 7
2nd 14:30 BY - COLLIE, Austin 2 yd pass from HALL, Max (PAYNE, Mitch kick), 13-80 4:46, UCLA 0 - BY 14
12:59 BY - COLLIE, Austin 37 yd pass from HALL, Max (PAYNE, Mitch kick), 1-37 0:06, UCLA 0 - BY 21
10:07 BY - REED, Michael 12 yd pass from HALL, Max (PAYNE, Mitch kick), 5-30 2:31, UCLA 0 - BY 28
09:42 BY - UNGA, Harvey 15 yd pass from HALL, Max (PAYNE, Mitch kick), 3-25 0:17, UCLA 0 - BY 35
00:14 BY - PITTA, Dennis 2 yd pass from HALL, Max (PAYNE, Mitch kick), 13-48 6:43, UCLA 0 - BY 42
3rd 07:43 BY - UNGA, Harvey 6 yd pass from HALL, Max (PAYNE, Mitch kick), 7-69 3:33, UCLA 0 - BY 49
03:08 BY - PAYNE, Mitch 24 yd field goal, 6-36 3:25, UCLA 0 - BY 52
00:39 BY - LATU, Wayne 13 yd run (PAYNE, Mitch kick), 2-16 0:35, UCLA 0 - BY 59
UCLA BY
FIRST DOWNS................... 13 30
RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............ 16-9 45-184
PASSING YDS (NET)............. 230 337
Passes Att-Comp-Int........... 39-23-1 40-31-1
TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS..... 55-239 85-521
Fumble Returns-Yards.......... 0-0 0-0
Punt Returns-Yards............ 1-8 3-36
Kickoff Returns-Yards......... 5-151 1-31
Interception Returns-Yards.... 1-5 1-9
Punts (Number-Avg)............ 4-49.0 2-50.5
Fumbles-Lost.................. 4-3 2-0
Penalties-Yards............... 4-35 8-71
Possession Time............... 22:24 37:36
Third-Down Conversions........ 2 of 10 13 of 17
Fourth-Down Conversions....... 0 of 2 0 of 0
Red-Zone Scores-Chances....... 0-2 8-8
Sacks By: Number-Yards........ 0-0 2-16
RUSHING: UCLA-Moline,Chane 7-12; Carter,Raymond 2-7; Dean,Aundre 1-0;
Craft,Kevin 6-minus 10. No. 16 BYU-UNGA, Harvey 17-71; VAKAPUNA, Fui 9-34;
DILUIGI, JJ 7-34; LATU, Wayne 5-24; HALL, Max 3-12; COLLIE, Austin 1-6; KARIYA,
Bryan 1-5; TEAM 2-minus 2.
PASSING: UCLA-Craft,Kevin 23-39-1-230. No. 16 BYU-HALL, Max 27-35-1-271;
GASKINS, Brende 4-5-0-66.
RECEIVING: UCLA-Austin,Terrence 8-88; Johnson, Domini 7-61; Moya,Ryan
3-26; Ketchum,Gavin 2-20; Harkey,Cory 2-17; Embree,Taylor 1-18. No. 16
BYU-COLLIE, Austin 10-110; REED, Michael 5-90; PITTA, Dennis 5-47; UNGA, Harvey
5-42; GEORGE, Andrew 2-15; VAKAPUNA, Fui 1-11; WHITE, Reed 1-10; KOZLOWSKI, Tyle 1-9; PRITCHARD, Iona 1-3.
INTERCEPTIONS: UCLA-Moore, Rahim 1-5. No. 16 BYU-PUTNAM, Matt 1-9.
FUMBLES: UCLA-Ketchum,Gavin 1-0; Craft,Kevin 1-1; Carter,Raymond 1-1;
Austin,Terrence 1-1. No. 16 BYU-UNGA, Harvey 1-0; COLLIE, Austin 1-0.
SACKS (UA-A): UCLA-None. No. 16 BYU-DULAN, Ian 1-0; JORGENSEN, Jan 1-0.
TACKLES (UA-A): UCLA-Carter,Reggie 4-16; Verner,Alterra 9-4; Hale,John
3-6; Moore, Rahim 4-4; Lockett,Bret 3-5; Harwell, Brigha 2-6; Westgate,Sean 1-7;Ayers,Akeem 1-4; Blake,Tom 1-4; Bosworth,Kyle 3-1; Bosworth,Korey 0-4;
Ware,Aaron 1-2; Norris,Michael 1-1; Stokes,Reggie 0-2; Anyanwu,Chinons 0-2;
Craft,Kevin 1-0; Dye,Tony 1-0; Yount,Christian 0-1; Edwards,Joshua 0-1;
Viney,Courtney 0-1; Chandler,Nate 0-1; Moline,Chase 0-1. No. 16 BYU-BAUMAN, Matt2-4; FOWLER, Kellen 2-3; JOHNSON, Scott 1-4; BRADLEY, Brando 4-0; PUTNAM, Matt 3-0; JORGENSEN, Jan 2-1; HADLEY, Spencer 2-1; HOWARD, Brandon 1-2; ALISA,
Michael 1-1; PRITCHARD, Iona 1-1; DULAN, Ian 1-1; MORGAN, Blake 1-1; AH YOU,
Matt 1-1; SORENSEN, Danie 1-1; NIXON, David 0-2; SORENSEN, Justi 1-0; ASHWORTH,
Luke 1-0; FOKETI, Mosese 1-0; DENNEY, Brett 1-0; BRIGHT, Travis 1-0; TAFUNA,
David 1-0; TIALAVEA, Russe 0-1; RICH, Andrew 0-1; RICHARDSON, Bro 0-1; CLAWSON,
Coleby 0-1; DOMAN, Shawn 0-1.