The following notes are from BYU’s 45-10 win vs. New Mexico State at LaVell Edwards Stadium on Saturday.
ATTENDANCE: 47,506
TEAM FLAGS: Gavin Fowler, Joshua Buhler, Sawyer Powell, Tanner Jacobson
ALUMNI FLAGS: Marc Lyons, Setema Gali, Mike Sumko, McKay Jacobson
TEAM NOTES
Bowl eligible
With the sixth win of the season, BYU is bowl eligible for the 13th time in 14 seasons. The Cougars missed out last season, ending a streak of 12 consecutive bowl games.
Touchdowns on the ground
BYU scored six touchdowns on the ground in the win against New Mexico State. It is the most rushing touchdowns the Cougars have had since the win against Toledo in 2016 when BYU had six rushing touchdowns, five from Jamaal Williams and one from Squally Canada.
Interceptions
BYU tallied two interceptions during the game. Malik Moore recorded his first career interception and Isaiah Kaufusi his second of the season.
Season Highs
The Cougars posted a season high of 317 rushing yard in the game. It is the most rushing yards since a 55-53 win against Toledo in 2016 when BYU totaled 338 rushing yards. The Cougars also recorded a season-best 510 total yards in the game, topping the season’s previous high of 474 against Hawai’i.
Senior Night
BYU honored 25 seniors before the game. Senior Matt Hadley had two touchdowns with seven carries for 55 yards. Sione Takitaki had six solo tackles, one sack and two tackles for loss. Tanner Mangum saw playing time and had a 21-yard pass. Tanner Jacobson and Rhett Sandlin both posted four tackles. Dylan Collie had one reception for 15 yards. Rhett Almond had six punts for 240 yards with a long of 50 yards. Gavin Fowler recovered a fumble.
Scoring in every quarter
The Cougar offense put points on the board during every quarter in the game against the Aggies. BYU has scored in every quarter four times this year (New Mexico State, UMass, Hawai’i and Wisconsin).
PLAYER NOTES
Lopini Katoa
Katoa recorded four rushing touchdowns in the game against the Aggies on a career-best 19 carries and 155 yards. His four rushing touchdowns are the most by a BYU freshman running back. It is also the most by a single player has had in a game since Jamaal Williams recorded five against Toledo in 2016.
Matt Hadley
Hadley scored two rushing touchdowns during the game against New Mexico State. He ran the first touchdown for one yard in the first quarter and the second one for 40 yards in the second quarter. He finished the game with seven carries for 55 yards.
NOTABLE CAREER HIGHS and FIRSTS
First interception: Malik Moore (first quarter, one yard)
First multi-touchdown game: Matt Hadley (first quarter, second quarter)
First career sack: Lorenzo Fauatea (third quarter)
Career high rushing yards: Lopini Katoa (155 yards)
Career long rush: Tyler Allgeier (44 yards), Lopini Katoa (50 yards)
BYU head coach Kalani Sitake
On tonight’s win
It feels good. It wasn’t our best start and I’m a little concerned about that, but the guys played well and we fired back after going down 7-0. We obviously made some mistakes but for the most part defensively I like the way they are playing right now. I like the points on the board from the offense. We have some things to fix but I’m just happy about the win and as you can see our guys are really excited about the win. We are ready for the rivalry game next week.
On rushing on the defense
We wanted to try a lot of different things and see how they would answer to it. New Mexico State had a week off and we wanted to see what they were going to do. They ran a lot of empty tonight which wasn’t something they had shown in the past. We really wanted to make adjustments according to what we were seeing from them. I thought that Coach Tuiaki did a good job changing schemes and calls and I am glad we practiced a lot of that. Sione was a disrupter in the pass rush. I thought our guys executed really well. I feel good about the outcome. They’ve been playing really consistently on defense and hopefully that can continue next week.
On Corbin’s injury
We knew Corbin was banged up. He got injured a few weeks ago, but he is a tough kid and kept playing through it all. He’s going to need to get surgery and we had to really think about what was the right thing for him because I think he has a future. We just had to make a decision and I trust our medical personnel. We didn’t want him to hurt his career. I thought it was a good decision to hold him off and let him get ready for the combine. I think he has a great future there and it gave Devin a chance to start and play more. We miss him but his leadership is still showing on the field.
On the offensive line
Coach Pugh has done a great job working with those linemen. We keep it simple enough for those guys to play it fast for the offense to do well. I think it’s been key for our consistency in the run game and hopefully we will continue to do that.
On looking forward to playing Utah
I like the game and I have a connection with Utah. They’ve been really great to my family and to me. It’s going to be a good game and I’m just looking forward to it. It’s the one everybody talks about and we get to talk about it this week. It’s a lot of fun and I’m just looking forward to it.
We have to prepare. It’s just another game and we will have to not be scared about it. We are looking forward to the competition and I have a lot of respect for them. I want to win just like they do. We are going to approach it like it’s the last game of the season and give it everything we’ve got. Prepping for that game is all that matters right now. Getting rest tonight and make sure we are ready to go next week.
Senior offensive Lineman Austin Hoyt
On play on senior night
It was fun. I think we all just had a great time out there. It was a night to run the football. I think we had a good week of preparation and we are excited to go out and run the ball again. It was a fun night and meant a lot.
On what to work on
I think something we can really work on is being really excited on the first drive, trusting our assignments and trusting our teammates. I think having a high level of energy can really help.
On senior night
It didn’t hit me until ealier today in a meeting with offense where the senior shared feelings and stories. It really just excited me. I was able to have a great night. It was a special experience.
On his favorite BYU memory
I think tonight will for sure by my top moment. From the past, it would be beating Boise State with the Hail Mary.
Senior linebacker Butch Pau’u
On defense performance
Going into the game, we expecting to start fast, but we things happened where we kind of freaked out a little bit. Once we got it together we were able to score again. This defense was a very minded-defense. We are excited to move on from this game with a win on senior night and go on to play Utah.
On emotions of it being senior night and bowl eligibility
For me it didn’t hit until we walked as a senior class from the 50-yard line to the end zone. We’ve just been thinking that we have another game on our hands to win so we can get to the bowl game. It wasn’t until we took that walk that I was able to sit back and relax and enjoy my time because I’ve been really grateful and fortunate to be here.
On favorite memories
My favorite memory was when my brother scored his first touchdown last year. As an older brother, you hope to play with your brother and see success and sharing that moment was my favorite.
Freshman running back Lopini Katoa
On getting four touchdowns
It was a lot of fun to see the offense clicking like that. It was a big tribute to our O-Line and the lanes they opened. It was fun to run behind them.
On his health and what made the difference today
We started feeling better and coach told me this week he felt good about it. It was a good opportunity and it felt good that I was playing and the adrenaline blocks out the pain I guess.
On getting bowl eligible
It feels great. We’re super excited. It should help us focus more on beating Utah and focusing on that next game and not worrying about what’s to come because we know that we’re eligible. Obviously, we have a big game next week and we’re excited to start preparing for that.
Sophomore linebackers Isaiah Kaufusi
On the defensive effort
We’ve been starting out slow. That’s one thing that we’ve been trying to fix and obviously it didn’t work out as well. I thought we played great after those first couple of series we adjusted. Coach Tuiaki did a good job at adjusting and making the right calls for us as a defense. The D-Line played phenomenal like they always do. They got after their quarterback. Overall, though we did play pretty well as a defense.
On four-man rush being a game changer
That was huge. We started off playing more off a drop eight, kind of like a zone coverage. We felt pretty good about it because it’s been pretty successful all year. We ran it a lot more this game than we ever have. With a lot of their crossing routes, they found holes and they were getting completions. It was a good adjustment by Coach. Sione’s just got a knack for rushing the quarterback and I think that’s really what helped pull us away from that litte rut that we had.
On the boost that a turnover like that gives you
Turnovers are a focus on the defense to turn the game and swing the game. I think after that Matt Hadley scored the touchdown making the score 14-7 and then the game just changed. Those turnovers are huge; the the momentum and the crowd getting behind us really starts the offense rolling. When we can create turnovers we’re a dang good football team.
New Mexico State head coach Doug Martin
On solid first quarter
We got off to a good start throwing the ball. We made a couple big catches and made a couple big throws. It’s just hard to sustain against a defense that’s that good. I mean they’re really good up front.
On BYU’s second quarter scoring
We probably didn’t fit some gaps as well as we needed to. They’re going to make some plays too. They’re a big, physical team. We didn’t really help our defense in that second quarter. We needed to get some scores and get some points on the board.
On positive takeaways from Josh Adkins’ performance
Josh is a redshirt freshman, so he’s really growing and he learns more every game. His completion percentage wasn’t as high as what we needed it to be today. This is the first game he’s played against a team the caliber of BYU, and I thought he handled himself pretty well. He got a couple of turnovers we’d like to avoid, but all in all I thought he really played a pretty good game.
On playing against another independent in BYU
“We really think of BYU as a power conference team. They’ve won a national championship, they’ve had a Heisman trophy, so we need to learn how to compete against these teams better than what we have. I thought our guys played hard. The score wasn’t what we wanted it to be but we played hard and we competed hard. I felt like we matched the intensity that they had.”