PROVO, Utah – BYU rushed for 317 yards and six touchdowns to beat New Mexico State 45-10 on senior night Saturday at LaVell Edwards Stadium.
Freshman Lopini Katoa had a career night with 155 yards on 19 carries and a BYU freshman-record four rushing touchdowns. Matt Hadley added to the ground attack with 55 rushing yards and two touchdowns. Riley Burt and Tyler Allgeier contributed 61 and 46 yards, respectively.
Dallin Holker led Cougar receivers with a career-best 76 yards on four catches. Fellow tight end Matt Bushman caught three passes for 57 yards. Quarterback Zach Wilson completed 12 of 26 passes for 172 yards.
Malik Moore and Isaiah Kaufusi reeled in interceptions for the BYU defense. Sione Takitaki recorded two tackles for loss and a sack.
BYU outgained New Mexico State 510 yards to 312.
With the win, BYU is bowl eligible for the 13th time in 14 seasons.
First Quarter
Moore intercepted an Aggie pass to set up BYU’s first touchdown, a Hadley carry for one yard. The Cougars tied the game at 7-7 on Hadley’s third touchdown of the season. He capped a four-play, 15-yard drive.
· Moore’s interception was the first of his collegiate career.
· Katoa rushed for 30 yards on five carries, including two first downs.
Second Quarter
Kaufusi intercepted a pass on the Cougars’ 20-yard line to end New Mexico State’s first drive of the second quarter. On the ensuing drive, Hadley ran 40 yards on a toss play for a touchdown to put BYU up 14-7.
With just under five minutes left in the half, Katoa had a 15-yard carry for a touchdown. Three minutes later, Katoa once again rumbled into the end zone, this time from 13 yards out. BYU led 28-7 with all four touchdowns coming on the ground.
After another Aggie turnover on downs, the Cougars drove 37 yards for a 23-yard Skyler Southam field goal as time expired. BYU led 31-7 into the locker room.
· Kaufusi’s pick was the second his BYU career.
· Wilson completed passes for two consecutive first downs before Hadley’s touchdown.
· Hadley and Katoa both got to 50 yards on the ground before halftime, with a pair of touchdowns each.
· Burt carried the load on the Cougars’ final scoring drive of the half, with four carries for 32 yards.
Third Quarter
Katoa punctuated a 78-yard drive for BYU with a 14-yard touchdown run with 5:37 on the third-quarter clock.
With just over two minutes left in the quarter, New Mexico State made a 33-yard field goal to cut the Aggie deficit to 38-10.
Fourth Quarter
Katoa broke a 50-yard run on BYU’s first drive of the quarter. Two plays later, he punched in his fourth rushing touchdown of the game from two yards out.
· With his career-best 50-yard carry, Katoa eclipsed the 100-yard mark for the first time in his career.
· Tanner Mangum entered the game at quarterback to begin the quarter.
· Allgeier’s 40-yard rush was the third rush of at least 40 yards for BYU on the night.
Next Saturday BYU closes out its regular season at Utah in the Deseret First Duel. With an 8 p.m. kick, the game will be televised on FS1 with the radio broadcast on BYU Radio (Sirius XM143/89.1 FM HD2) and KSL (1160 AM/102.7 FM).