EDWARDS’ STADIUM STREAK NOW SPANS THREE SEASONS—TIES BYU RECORD
With BYU’s 42-35 win over UNLV, the Cougars have not lost in Edwards Stadium since November 19, 2005. BYU has won 17 straight home games, dating back to September 9, 2006—tying a BYU record. The last time the Cougars won 17 consecutive home games was 16 seasons ago from Oct. 7, 1989 to Nov. 23, 1991. Over that span, the Cougars have beaten their opponents by an average of 27.5 points per game and have allowed just 11.2 points per game. The Cougars have allowed seven points or less in nine of the last 17 home games.
FLAG BEARER
BYU has a tradition of selecting a player before each game to run the team flag onto the field. In 2008, the team implemented a new tradition—an alumni flag. The team selects a former Cougar to carry out the alumni flag, along with the chosen current player who runs out with the current team flag. Both flags are white with a blue “Y” logo. The team flag is signed by current players, while the alumni flag is signed by former BYU players. Their signatures reflect their commitment to uphold the tradition, spirit and honor of the BYU football program and to be a flag bearer of the University. Carrying the team flag was junior lineback Coleby Clawson, with former Cougar linebacker, and current Green Bay Packer, Brady Poppinga carrying the alumni flag.
COIN TOSS
For the third time this season, BYU lost the opening coin toss, with UNLV electing to defer to the second half. BYU is now 2-1 when losing the opening coin toss.
SCORING HALL PASSES
Quarterback Max Hall recorded four touchdown passes this afternoon. He has thrown a scoring pass in every game this season except for the Cougars’ loss to TCU last Thursday. Hall has now thrown a touchdown pass in 19-of-21 career games.
COLLIE HITS CENTURY MARK, AGAIN—SETS MWC RECORD
Junior Austin Collie broke the 100-yard receiving mark for the sixth straight game with 113 yards on seven catches against the Rebels. Collie’s six-consecutive games sets a MWC record previously held by SDSU’s J.R. Tolver (2002) with five.
CLIMBING UP THE BYU RECORD CHARTS
With his 113 yards receiving against UNLV, Austin Collie now has 2,619 career-receiving yards, surpassing Phil Odle as No. 4 on BYU’s all-time receiving list. The junior needs only 16 more yards to pass Matt Bellini (2,635 yards) and claim the No. 3 spot.
Collie now has 12 career 100-yard receiving games, which ties a BYU record with Eric Drage. He is also tied for second on the MWC record list with SDSU’s Jeff Webb, both behind the 13 games of SDSU’s J.R. Tolver.
PAPER OR PLASTIC
Freshman linebacker Matt Putnam’s 12-yard sack with less than 10 seconds remaining in the game helped save the win for BYU today. Through eight games this season the Cougar defense has recorded 18 sacks.
HE WHO SCORES FIRST...
Andrew George’s touchdown with 12:25 remaining in the first quarter gave BYU the early 7-0 lead. BYU has scored first in six games this season, marking the 28th time in the last 33 games. The Cougars are 26-2 in those 28 games. BYU has also scored an opening drive touchdown in 14 of its last 19 games. Prior to today, the Cougars had gone two consecutive games without scoring first, giving up a TCU’s 25-yard touchdown with 12:10 remaining in the first quarter last week and a 27-yard New Mexico field goal in the second quarter the week prior.
EVEN AT THE HALF
Today’s 21-21 score marked the second time this season the Cougars ended the first half tied with their opponents. The last time BYU was tied at the half was at Washington on Sept. 6, 2008 with a score of 14-14.
“FAN”TASTIC FANS
The 64,081 fans in attendance for the Cougars’ 42-35 win over UNLV marked the 11th consecutive sell-out at Edwards Stadium. The current streak marks the longest streak of consecutive sellouts since the 1991-92 seasons. Over 320,000 (320,506) fans have attended the first five home games at Edwards Stadium this season, averaging 64,101 fans per game. The last time the stadium was not sold out was against New Mexico on Nov. 18, 2006 when 63,814 fans were in attendance—231 short of a sellout.
SEASON-LONG KICK RETURN
Austin Collie’s 75-yard kickoff return on BYU’s opening drive marked a season-long for the Cougars. The team high was previously help by O’Neill Chamber’s 51-yard return against Northern Iowa. The last time BYU had a kickoff return for more that 75 yards was Nate Meikle’s 84-yard return against Wyoming on Nov. 9, 2006.
SCORING EARLY
Max Hall’s touchdown pass to Andrew George with 12:25 remaining in the first quarter was BYU’s earliest score this season. The Cougars scored at the 11:51 mark against Utah State, but haven’t scored as early as they did today since Oct. 20, 2007 when defensive back Corby Hodgkiss returned a 39-yard interception for a touchdown with 13:34 remaining in the opening quarter.
HALL’S ON THE RUN
With a previous career-long run of 20 yards, quarterback Max Hall surpassed that mark with his 31-yard rush against the Rebels during the second quarter. His longest run this season coming into today was seven yards.
CAREER FIRSTS
True freshman receiver O’Neill Chambers recorded the first touchdown reception of this career with 1:34 remaining in the first quarter, giving the Cougars a 14-7 lead. The catch marked only his third reception on the year.
BLOCK PARTY
Freshman running back Bryan Kariya blocked a UNLV punt midway through the second quarter, which was caught by Brandon Bradley. The Cougars were able to quickly translate good field position into points as Harvey Unga ran for a two-yard touchdown two plays later.
As a team, BYU has blocked four kicks this season, already surpassing the three blocks recorded during the 2007 season. Along with Kariya’s, Jan Jorgensen blocked a potentially game-tying PAT attempt at Washington, Russell Tialavea blocked a UCLA field goal attempt and Michael Alisa blocked a kick against New Mexico. The last time BYU recorded four blocked kicks in a season was back in 2000.
GOING FOR TWO
Today the Cougars were successful on their first 2-point conversion attempt of the season. Harvey Unga caught a pass from Max Hall in the endzone following a Dennis Pitta touchdown, putting BYU up 42-35 with 1:46 remaining in the game.
CONSECUTIVE STARTS
The UNLV game marked senior offensive lineman Dallas Reynolds’ 46th straight career start. During that streak, Reynolds has started at every position on the offensive line, including tackle, guard and center. Reynolds’ younger brother Matt started at left tackle in the 2008 season opener. His father, Lance, is the associate head coach for the Cougars. Reynolds is currently tied at second for the most consecutive starts by an active Football Bowl Subdivision (Division I-A) player. Reynolds has started in every game of his BYU career, beginning with the Cougars’ 20-3 loss to Boston College on Sep. 3, 2005.
THIRD-DOWN CONVERSIONS
BYU converted 7-of-11 third-down attempts this afternoon, 63.6-percent. The Cougars are currently ranked No. 2 in the country in third-down conversions (62.5) behind Tulsa.