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PROVO -- In a barrage of points and offense, Florida State defeated No. 7 BYU, 54-28, to snap the Cougars' 18-game home win streak in front of 64,209 fans at LaVell Edwards Stadium on Saturday.
"I congratulate Coach Bowden and his program for playing well, not only technically but also emotionally from beginning to end," said BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall. "It was a frustrating loss for our program."
Cougar wideout McKay Jacobson had a career day in front of the 13th-straight Edwards Stadium sellout crowd, using a career-long 80-yard touchdown catch to finish with 111 yards, the young sophomore's single-game best. His score came on the first play of a new BYU possession late in the third quarter, resulting in a scoring drive of 12 seconds.
Senior quarterback Max Hall finished the night 20-for-31 for 306 yards and two touchdowns, but was hindered by three interceptions.
In his first substantial action back from a hamstring injury, junior Harvey Unga led the Cougar ground attack, rushing for 97 yards on 10 carries for 9.7 yards per carry, including his first touchdown of the season minutes into the second quarter. Unga took a handoff up the middle, then switched directions, sweeping around the left side of the line for the 12-yard score, cutting the Florida State lead to 13-7.
After another Seminole score, Hall led the Cougar offense on an 8-play, 80-yard drive. Hall completed 5-of-6 passes for 54 yards to five different receivers, capping the scoring drive with a three-yard pass to a wide open Manase Tonga in the back of the end zone.
Hall was replaced in the fourth quarter by Riley Nelson who completed all three passes he threw for 59 yards, including a 29-yard touchdown late in the game to JJ DiLuigi.
BYU finished with 473 total yards compared to 512 for Florida State. Nine different Cougars caught a pass, with Dennis Pitta and O'Neill Chambers both catching a team-high five passes.
On defense, Brian Logan racked up a team-high 11 tackles, eight unassisted, while Brandon Bradley had 10 tackles, nine unassisted.
Florida State capitalized on five BYU turnovers, including three interceptions and two fumbles. In the first half, the Seminoles were 5-for-5 in the red zone and 7-for-7 on third-down to take a 30-14 halftime lead.
"I was very impressed with their preparation," Mendenhall said. "Florida State played more physical and with more hunger and desire than we did."
A persistent Florida State running game, which finished with 313 yards, kept the BYU offense off of the field and gave FSU a 39:51 to 20:09 majority time of possession. In the first quarter, BYU had the ball for only 2:21 while the Seminoles maintained possession for nearly 13 minutes. The Seminoles pulled away during a stretch from the middle of the second quarter to the middle of the third, scoring 24 unanswered points to take a 44-14 lead.
Seminole quarterback Christian Ponder threw for two touchdowns and 195 yards on 21-for-26 passing. Sophomore running back Ty Jones rushed 12 times for 108 yards and a touchdown while running back Lonnie Pryor converted two touchdowns and rushed for 50 yards.
"I'm more determined than ever to keep improving our program," Mendenhall said. "This game doesn't change the way I think of our program, but it certainly exposed some weaknesses."
Boxscore
Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Score
----------------- -- -- -- -- -----
Florida State....... 7 23 14 10 - 54 Record: (2-1)
BYU Cougars......... 0 14 7 7 - 28 Record: (2-1)
Scoring Summary:
1st 10:05 FS - Jones, T 4 yd run (Hopkins, D kick), 11-80 4:55, FS 7 - BY 0
2nd 14:25 FS - Pryor, L 1 yd run (Hopkins, D kick failed), 17-86 8:19, FS 13 - BY 0
09:39 BY - UNGA, Harvey 12 yd run (PAYNE, Mitch kick), 11-80 4:46, FS 13 - BY 7
08:25 FS - Pryor, L 9 yd run (Hopkins, D kick), 3-60 1:07, FS 20 - BY 7
05:11 BY - TONGA, Manase 3 yd pass from HALL, Max (PAYNE, Mitch kick), 8-80 3:14, FS 20 - BY 14
00:24 FS - Piurowski, C 5 yd pass from Ponder, C (Hopkins, D kick), 12-82 4:49, FS 27 - BY 14
00:00 FS - Hopkins, D 33 yd field goal, 2-15 0:17, FS 30 - BY 14
3rd 12:52 FS - Reid, G 63 yd interception return (Hopkins, D kick), , FS 37 - BY 14
05:11 FS - Ponder, C 6 yd run (Hopkins, D kick), 10-70 5:09, FS 44 - BY 14
04:59 BY - JACOBSON, McKay 80 yd pass from HALL, Max (PAYNE, Mitch kick), 1-80 0:12, FS 44 - BY 21
4th 10:21 FS - Hopkins, D 35 yd field goal, 8-21 4:13, FS 47 - BY 21
07:32 FS - Fortson, J 16 yd pass from Ponder, C (Hopkins, D kick), 3-13 2:05, FS 54 - BY 21
03:13 BY - DI LUIGI, JJ 29 yd pass from NELSON, Riley (PAYNE, Mitch kick), 4-76 1:38, FS 54 - BY 28
FS BY
FIRST DOWNS................... 27 20
RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............ 49-313 19-108
PASSING YDS (NET)............. 199 367
Passes Att-Comp-Int........... 28-22-0 34-23-3
TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS..... 77-512 53-475
Fumble Returns-Yards.......... 0-0 0-0
Punt Returns-Yards............ 0-0 0-0
Kickoff Returns-Yards......... 3-71 2-23
Interception Returns-Yards.... 3-97 0-0
Punts (Number-Avg)............ 1-38.0 1-43.0
Fumbles-Lost.................. 1-0 2-2
Penalties-Yards............... 9-73 3-25
Possession Time............... 39:51 20:09
Third-Down Conversions........ 12 of 15 3 of 6
Fourth-Down Conversions....... 0 of 0 0 of 1
Red-Zone Scores-Chances....... 8-8 2-3
Sacks By: Number-Yards........ 1-5 0-0
RUSHING: Florida State-Jones, T 12-108; Ponder, C 11-77; Pryor, L 7-50;
Pressley, T 7-25; Thomas, J 6-23; Givens, L 1-11; Manuel, EJ 1-8; Thompson, C
1-5; Fortson, J 1-4; Owens, R 1-3; Reed, B 1-minus 1. BYU Cougars-UNGA, Harvey
10-97; KARIYA, Bryan 4-12; DI LUIGI, JJ 1-2; TONGA, Manase 2-2; HALL, Max
2-minus 5.
PASSING: Florida State-Ponder, C 21-26-0-195; Manuel, EJ 1-2-0-4. BYU
Cougars-HALL, Max 20-31-3-306; NELSON, Riley 3-3-0-61.
RECEIVING: Florida State-Fortson, J 6-62; Piurowski, C 5-38; Owens, R
3-35; Reed, B 3-34; Goodman, R 1-20; Reliford, B 1-6; Little, J 1-4; Givens, L
1-1; Jones, T 1-minus 1. BYU Cougars-PITTA, Dennis 5-60; CHAMBERS, O'Nei 5-34;
TONGA, Manase 4-39; JACOBSON, McKay 2-111; DI LUIGI, JJ 2-32; GEORGE, Andrew
2-22; KARIYA, Bryan 1-41; ASHWORTH, Luke 1-20; HAFOKA, Spencer 1-8.
INTERCEPTIONS: Florida State-Reid, G 1-63; Alexander, AJ 1-21; Bradham, N
1-13. BYU Cougars-None.
FUMBLES: Florida State-Piurowski, C 1-0. BYU Cougars-CHAMBERS, O'Nei 1-1;
JORGENSEN, Jan 1-1.
SACKS (UA-A): Florida State-Alexander, M 1-0. BYU Cougars-None.
TACKLES (UA-A): Florida State-Robinson, J 5-2; Smith, K 4-0; Watson, D
3-0; Robinson, P 2-1; Thacker, B 2-0; Harris, M 2-0; McDaniel, J 1-2; Mangum, K
1-2; Bradham, N 1-2; Jackson, J 1-1; Reid, G 1-1; Parks, T 1-1; Allen, D 1-1;
Jenije, O 1-1; Alexander, M 1-0; Dawkins, E 1-0; Harley, J 1-0; White, M 1-0;
Carr, N 1-0; Moody, N 1-0; Wright, R 0-1; McNeil, K 0-1. BYU Cougars-BRADLEY,
Brando 9-1; LOGAN, Brian 8-3; HOOKS, Terrance 5-3; RICH, Andrew 5-2; PENDLETON,
Jord 4-2; CLAWSON, Coleby 4-2; DOMAN, Shawn 2-4; BILLS, Craig 2-4; OGLETREE,
Brand 2-3; JORGENSEN, Jan 1-3; BAUMAN, Matt 1-2; MORGAN, Blake 1-1; DENNEY,
Brett 1-1; SO'OTO, Vic 1-1; FUGA, Romney 0-3; TONGA, Manase 1-0; NELSON, Grant
0-1.