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FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- Senior receiver Luke Ashworth had a record-setting day to help BYU drum Colorado State 49-10 Saturday at Hughes Stadium in Fort Collins, Colo.
The senior from Provo, Utah, become the first player in the history of the Provo-based school to score four touchdowns in the first half of a game while equaling the team record for the most scoring receptions in an entire game. His four touchdown grabs also tied a Mountain West Conference record and set a new Hughes Stadium mark.
Ashworth’s four TD grabs were his only receptions of the game, finishing with a career-high 113 yards. On the other end of the touchdowns was freshman quarterback Jake Heaps, who went 15-of-20 for 242 yards and a career-high four touchdowns in three quarters of play.
“Luke is doing a fantastic job," BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall said. "You can see some real chemistry starting to develop in maybe the last two weeks especially, maybe the last three. It’s good because it’s starting to give us the balance again to be able to run and throw the football.”
The Cougars opened the scoring with their longest drive of the year, highlighted by their longest play of the season. Culminating a four-play, 89-yard drive, the Cougars successfully executed a flea-flicker with Ashworth on the receiving end of a 62-yard bomb. Heaps handed off to Di Luigi on the play, who returned the ball to the freshman quarterback to deliver the long scoring strike down the right sideline.
BYU’s defense ignited the next three Cougar scores as Andrew Rich and Corby Eason forced CSU fumbles and Rich followed with his first interception of the season.
After going up 14-0 on a 7-yard pass to Ashworth, the defense put the next six points on the board without the offense taking the field as true freshman linebacker Kyle Van Noy picked up the Eason-caused fumble and returned it 44 yards to the end zone. The fumble return was the team’s first since a 34-yard return by Matt Bauman in last year’s Maaco Bowl Las Vegas win over nationally ranked Oregon State.
Following Rich’s interception, Heaps teamed with Ashworth for the third time in the first half, this time on a 36-yard throw that Ashworth leaped up to catch over the defender at the goal line. Ashworth’s third touchdown catch also put him over 100 receiving yards for the day, the first 100-yard outing by a Cougar receiver this season.
But with BYU leading 28-0 Ashworth was not done yet. After the BYU defense forced a punt, Heaps and the offense drove 82 yards to paydirt, with Heaps finding Ashworth for an 8-yard score to make the senior receiver the first Cougar since Kirk Pendleton in 1983 to equal the school record of four touchdowns catches in a game. John VanDerWouden is the only other Cougar to catch four passes for touchdowns in a game, doing so, ironically, against Colorado State in 1976.
BYU entered the half with a 35-0 lead with Heaps leading an efficient attack. The true freshman completed 8-of-11 passes for 182 yards and four touchdowns. As a team BYU totaled 299 yards in the first half while holding the Rams to 187 total yards. JJ Di Luigi averaged 8.3 yards per carry for 50 yards to lead all rushers in the first half.
In the second half senior cornerback Brian Logan recorded his second interception of the season as BYU forced four turnovers for the game, double the team’s previous high in 2010. Once again, the offense took advantage of the turnover and marched 76 yards on 16 plays, taking 7:14 off the clock, with Zed Mendenhall capping the drive with a 1-yard touchdown plunge—his first carry and first score of the year. The score put BYU ahead 42-0 as the team’s entered the final quarter.
BYU running back David Foote scored his first-career touchdown in the middle of the fourth quarter, running up the middle for 31 yards. Foote’s run was sandwiched between a 34-yard Ram field goal and a 22-yard Ram touchdown reception to tally the final score.
“Our team continues to improve and take steps forward," Mendenhall said. "We executed at a very high level and it’s a gratifying win.”
With the win, BYU (5-5, 4-2 MWC) is one victory away from becoming bowl eligible, a feat the Cougars can accomplish on Saturday, Nov. 20, at home against New Mexico.
BYU (5-5,4-2) vs. Colorado State (3-8,2-5)
Date: Nov 13, 2010 Site: Fort Collins, Colo. Stadium: SLF @ Hughes Stadium
Attendance: 16501
Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Score
----------------- -- -- -- -- -----
BYU................. 14 21 7 7 - 49
Colorado State...... 0 0 0 10 - 10
Scoring Summary:
1st 08:56 BY - ASHWORTH, Luke 62 yd pass from HEAPS, Jake (PAYNE, Mitch kick), 4-89 1:19, BY 7 - CS 0
03:36 BY - ASHWORTH, Luke 7 yd pass from HEAPS, Jake (PAYNE, Mitch kick), 7-44 3:42, BY 14 - CS 0
2nd 14:49 BY - VAN NOY, Kyle 44 yd fumble recovery (PAYNE, Mitch kick), , BY 21 - CS 0
07:21 BY - ASHWORTH, Luke 36 yd pass from HEAPS, Jake (PAYNE, Mitch kick), 7-74 3:16, BY 28 - CS 0
00:27 BY - ASHWORTH, Luke 8 yd pass from HEAPS, Jake (PAYNE, Mitch kick), 9-82 3:45, BY 35 - CS 0
3rd 00:17 BY - MENDENHALL, Zed 1 yd run (PAYNE, Mitch kick), 16-76 7:14, BY 42 - CS 0
4th 07:58 CS - DELINE, Ben 34 yd field goal, 15-63 7:13, BY 42 - CS 3
05:49 BY - FOOTE, David 31 yd run (PAYNE, Mitch kick), 4-59 2:03, BY 49 - CS 3
03:07 CS - CARTER, Raymond 22 yd pass from THOMAS, Pete (DELINE, Ben kick), 8-80 2:42, BY 49 - CS 10
BYU CSU
FIRST DOWNS................... 26 20
RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............ 44-284 24-83
PASSING YDS (NET)............. 242 292
Passes Att-Comp-Int........... 20-15-0 42-28-2
TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS..... 64-526 66-375
Fumble Returns-Yards.......... 1-44 0-0
Punt Returns-Yards............ 1-5 0-0
Kickoff Returns-Yards......... 2-35 4-57
Interception Returns-Yards.... 2-4 0-0
Punts (Number-Avg)............ 0-0.0 3-41.3
Fumbles-Lost.................. 3-2 3-2
Penalties-Yards............... 2-23 5-60
Possession Time............... 30:00 30:00
Third-Down Conversions........ 12 of 13 8 of 14
Fourth-Down Conversions....... 1 of 1 1 of 1
Red-Zone Scores-Chances....... 3-4 1-1
Sacks By: Number-Yards........ 2-10 0-0
RUSHING: BYU-FOLSOM, Ryan 2-74; KARIYA, Bryan 14-63; DI LUIGI, JJ 10-59;
QUEZADA, Joshua 7-43; FOOTE, David 2-32; FALSLEV, JD 1-15; LARK, James 1-4;
MENDENHALL, Zed 1-1; HEAPS, Jake 4-minus 3; TEAM 2-minus 4. Colorado
State-MASON, Leonard 11-59; LIGGETT, Tyson 1-14; CARTER, Raymond 5-10; MOSURE,
John 2-8; THOMAS, Pete 3-minus 4; GREENWOOD, Lou 2-minus 4.
PASSING: BYU-HEAPS, Jake 15-20-0-242. Colorado State-THOMAS, Pete
28-42-2-292.
RECEIVING: BYU-ASHWORTH, Luke 4-113; HOFFMAN, Cody 3-42; HAFOKA, Spencer
2-17; MUEHLMANN, Mike 1-26; JACOBSON, McKay 1-15; MENDENHALL, Zed 1-11; DI
LUIGI, JJ 1-9; MAHINA, Devin 1-5; KARIYA, Bryan 1-4. Colorado State-LIGGETT,
Tyson 5-62; GREENWOOD, Lou 5-54; CARTER, Raymond 5-30; PAUGA, Zac 4-43; STEELE,
Byron 3-56; DRAKE, Tony 2-16; PEITZ, Eric 1-17; MASON, Leonard 1-7; YEMM, Matt
1-5; BROWN, Joe 1-2.
INTERCEPTIONS: BYU-RICH, Andrew 1-3; LOGAN, Brian 1-1. Colorado
State-None.
FUMBLES: BYU-HOFFMAN, Cody 1-1; LARK, James 1-0; HEAPS, Jake 1-1.
Colorado State-MOSURE, John 1-1; MASON, Leonard 1-0; CARTER, Raymond 1-1.
SACKS (UA-A): BYU-SO'OTO, Vic 1-0; EASON, Corby 0-1; OGLETREE, Brand 0-1.
Colorado State-None.
TACKLES (UA-A): BYU-RICH, Andrew 3-6; OGLETREE, Brand 4-4; EASON, Corby
5-2; UALE, Travis 5-1; WAGNER, Jadon 1-4; JORGENSEN, Aust 3-1; FRAZIER, Jameso
2-2; LOGAN, Brian 3-0; VAN NOY, Kyle 2-1; PUTNAM, Matt 1-2; SO'OTO, Vic 1-2;
HUNTER, Shane 1-1; BRADLEY, Brando 1-0; MARSHALL, Matt 1-0; JAUSSI, Landon 1-0;
MENDENHALL, Zed 1-0; MENDENHALL, Zek 1-0; HESS, Connell 1-0; LEUNG-WAI, Aven
0-1; BUCKNER, Robbie 0-1; STOUT, Zac 0-1; PETERSON, Matt 0-1. Colorado
State-BREWER, Ricky 5-8; SISSON, Mychal 5-7; HERD, Ivory 5-5; KAWULOK, Michae
1-6; SARGENT, Broder 1-4; ORAKPO, Mike 2-2; VINSON, Dominiq 3-0; MILLER, Guy
2-1; WHITTIER, Ty 0-3; BURL, Davis 0-3; FORD, Travis 2-0; WILKINSON, Dean 1-1;
BELL, Shaq 1-1; SMITH, Elijah-B 0-2; THOMPSON, Ezra 0-2; JAMES, C.J. 1-0; SHAW,
Marcus 1-0; GILLMORE, Crock 1-0; LAW, Marquise 1-0; LATU, Nuku 0-1.