LOGAN -- Junior wide receiver Austin Collie recorded his third-straight game with more than 100 receiving yards as No. 7 BYU improved to 5-0 on the season with a 34-14 victory at Utah State (1-4) Friday night. The Cougars extended the nation’s top winning streak to 15 games.
Collie hauled in eight catches for 132 yards and two touchdowns against the Aggies, moving into eighth place all-time in career receiving yards (2,235) at BYU. Heisman Trophy candidate Max Hall threw for 303 yards and connected with seven different receivers while going 23-for-37. Running back Harvey Unga led the Cougar ground attack with 92 yards on 22 carries to help BYU total 406 yards of total offense.
The Cougars extended their streak of shutout quarters to 11 before Utah State running back Robert Turbin scored with 13:47 to go in the fourth quarter. Turbin broke a tackle attempt by BYU safety David Tafuna and raced 40 yards to the end zone. The Cougars had not given up a score since the fourth quarter at Washington on Sept. 6. BYU went on to score 137 straight points against UCLA, Wyoming and Utah State before the Aggies finally broke through with a score.
"Any time you win a football game, it's satisfying," said BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall. "Certainly, it's satisfying to have another win on the road and by a convincing margin. And yet we can play better football than we did. I give Utah State credit. They showed a lot of grit and determination in the second half."
The Cougars got off to a quick start Friday night at Romney Stadium. After the BYU defense forced an Aggie punt on the first possession of the game, the Cougars took only 60 seconds to get on the scoreboard.
Facing a third-and-six at the 26-yard line, Hall and Collie connected for the remaining 76 yards for the opening score of the game. On the play, Hall found Collie on a curl route at the 35 but the junior wideout wasn’t done as he broke away from the Aggie defense and raced down the sideline for the touchdown and BYU’s longest reception of the year.
The points started coming fast for BYU thanks to the Cougar defense. On Utah State’s next possession, cornerback Brandon Bradley picked up a fumble caused by linebacker Shawn Doman and raced 38 yards for the touchdown. It was the third touchdown scored by the BYU defense in the last two games.
On the Aggies next possession, USU quarterback Diondre Borel fumbled after a jarring sack by junior linebacker Coleby Clawson. Fellow linebacker Matt Bauman pounced on the ball at the Utah State 46, setting up an eventual 45-yard field goal by Mitch Payne for a 17-0 BYU lead with 1:46 to go in the first quarter.
BYU scored again before the end of the quarter thanks to its defense. Linebacker David Nixon intercepted Borel on the next Aggie play from scrimmage, returning the ball to the USU 23-yard line. A USU penalty after the play put the Cougars on the 11 — which was all Harvey Unga needed as he completed a one-play, seven-second scoring drive with a run up the middle to paydirt. With Payne’s third PAT of the quarter, BYU finished the first 15 minutes of play with a 24-0 lead.
The Cougars 24-point first quarter is the team’s second highest single-quarter output this year behind its 35-point second quarter during a 59-0 thrashing of UCLA at LaVell Edwards Stadium on Sept. 13. BYU totaled 120 yards of total offense in the quarter compared to 71 by the Aggies.
The Aggies got their first attempt at points in the second quarter with 5:39 to play, but a 46-yard field goal attempt by kicker Peter Caldwell was wide left.
Tight end Dennis Pitta caught six Hall passes in the first half to lead BYU while Unga carried the ball nine time for 46 yards to pace the Cougar ground attack. Hall went 11-for-18 for 171 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
Payne made his second field goal of the game on the first possession of the second half, this time connecting from 21 yards to increase the Cougar advantage to 27-0.
BYU scored its final points of the game with 1:26 to play in the third quarter when Hall connected with Collie on a 12-yard fade to the corner of the end zone. Collie’s second scoring reception of the game brought his team-best total to seven and gives him two touchdown catches in each of the last three games. Freshman Justin Sorensen converted the PAT in the first such attempt of his career to give BYU the 34-0 lead.
Utah State scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter. After Turbin’s touchdown run, Borel connected with tight end Tarren Lloyd for a 5-yard touchdown to complete a seven-play 63-yard drive with just over nine minutes remaining. With the win, BYU improves to 42-33-3 all-time against Utah State.
BYU faces New Mexico in its next game, hosting the Lobos on Oct. 11 in a 4 p.m. kick televised on The Mtn.
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Box Score (Final)
#8 BYU vs Utah State (Oct 03, 2008 at Logan, Utah)
Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Score
----------------- -- -- -- -- -----
BYU................. 24 0 10 0 - 34 Record: (5-0)
Utah State.......... 0 0 0 14 - 14 Record: (1-4)
Scoring Summary:
1st 11:51 BY - COLLIE, Austin 76 yd pass from HALL, Max (PAYNE, Mitch kick), 3-80 1:00, BY 7 - USU 0
08:09 BY - BRADLEY, Brando 38 yd fumble recovery (PAYNE, Mitch kick), , BY 14 - USU 0
01:46 BY - PAYNE, Mitch 45 yd field goal, 7-19 2:11, BY 17 - USU 0
01:23 BY - UNGA, Harvey 11 yd run (PAYNE, Mitch kick), 1-11 0:07, BY 24 - USU 0
3rd 11:21 BY - PAYNE, Mitch 21 yd field goal, 8-63 3:42, BY 27 - USU 0
01:26 BY - COLLIE, Austin 12 yd pass from HALL, Max (SORENSEN, Justi kick), 13-76 6:23, BY 34 - USU 0
4th 13:47 USU - Turbin, Robert 40 yd run (Caldwell, Peter kick), 7-80 2:39, BY 34 - USU 7
09:22 USU - Lloyd, Tarren 5 yd pass from Borel, Diondre (Caldwell, Peter kick), 7-63 2:50, BY 34 - USU 14
BY USU
FIRST DOWNS................... 19 23
RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............ 30-103 43-129
PASSING YDS (NET)............. 303 193
Passes Att-Comp-Int........... 37-23-2 27-16-1
TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS..... 67-406 70-322
Fumble Returns-Yards.......... 1-38 0-0
Punt Returns-Yards............ 2-9 1-0
Kickoff Returns-Yards......... 2-54 4-72
Interception Returns-Yards.... 1-2 2-40
Punts (Number-Avg)............ 2-42.5 4-45.5
Fumbles-Lost.................. 1-0 3-3
Penalties-Yards............... 12-123 8-72
Possession Time............... 29:57 30:03
Third-Down Conversions........ 9 of 17 5 of 12
Fourth-Down Conversions....... 1 of 1 0 of 0
Red-Zone Scores-Chances....... 3-6 1-2
Sacks By: Number-Yards........ 5-29 1-4
RUSHING: BYU-UNGA, Harvey 22-89; VAKAPUNA, Fui 3-7; LATU, Wayne 1-6;
HALL, Max 4-1. Utah State-Turbin, Robert 8-74; Borel, Diondre 19-40; Marsh,
Curtis 7-13; Scott, Ronald 2-5; Butler, Marquis 1-2; Setzer, Sean 6-minus 5.
PASSING: BYU-HALL, Max 23-37-2-303. Utah State-Borel, Diondre
10-15-1-114; Setzer, Sean 6-12-0-79.
RECEIVING: BYU-COLLIE, Austin 8-132; PITTA, Dennis 6-70; VAKAPUNA, Fui
3-17; UNGA, Harvey 3-15; ASHWORTH, Luke 1-31; CHAMBERS, O'Nei 1-19; KOZLOWSKI,
Tyle 1-19. Utah State-Nelson, Otis 6-72; Turbin, Robert 3-35; Gwacham, Nnamdi
2-34; Sawyer, Omar 2-15; Morrison, S. 1-26; Marsh, Curtis 1-6; Lloyd, Tarren
1-5.
INTERCEPTIONS: BYU-NIXON, David 1-2. Utah State-Murphy, Kejon 1-40;
Hurst, Roy 1-0.
FUMBLES: BYU-HALL, Max 1-0. Utah State-Borel, Diondre 2-2; Marsh, Curtis
1-1.
SACKS (UA-A): BYU-BAUMAN, Matt 1-0; CLAWSON, Coleby 1-0; PUTNAM, Matt
1-0; SORENSEN, Danie 1-0; DENNEY, Brett 1-0. Utah State-Calderwood, Ben 1-0.
TACKLES (UA-A): BYU-BAUMAN, Matt 6-1; NIXON, David 4-3; DENNEY, Brett
6-0; TAFUNA, David 4-2; FOWLER, Kellen 3-3; DOMAN, Shawn 2-3; AH YOU, Matt 2-3;
JORGENSEN, Jan 2-3; PUTNAM, Matt 4-0; SORENSEN, Danie 3-0; JOHNSON, Scott 3-0;
CLAWSON, Coleby 3-0; PRITCHARD, Iona 2-0; BRADLEY, Brando 1-1; HOWARD, Brandon
1-1; COLLIE, Austin 1-0; ALISA, Michael 1-0; SORENSEN, Justi 1-0; KOZLOWSKI,
Tyle 1-0; UNGA, Harvey 1-0; ALLETTO, Nick 1-0; HADLEY, Spencer 1-0; TE'O,
Shiloah 1-0. Utah State-Hutton, Jake 6-4; Hall, De'von 5-5; Taylor, Caleb 1-6;
Fields, Daryl 0-7; Randle, Chris 3-2; Wagner, Bobby 2-3; Igboeli, Paul 2-3;
Brindley, James 1-3; Keiaho, Junior 2-1; Davis, Casey 1-2; Taylor, Joshua 2-0;
Calderwood, Ben 2-0; Murphy, Kejon 1-1; Golden, Darby 1-1; May, Antonio 0-2;
Nelson, Otis 1-0; Koskan, Levi 1-0; Royster, Nathan 1-0; Hurst, Roy 0-1; Garner,
Quinn 0-1.