PROVO, Utah – Taysom Hill rushed for 259 yards and three touchdowns to lead BYU to a 40-21 victory over No. 15 Texas at LaVell Edwards Stadium Saturday night. The Cougars rushed for a school-record 550 yards in the win.
The win is the first over a ranked opponent since BYU (1-1) defeated Oregon State 44-20 in the Las Vegas Bowl in 2009 and the first over a team ranked in the top 15 since the Cougars opened up the 2009 season with a win over No. 3 Oklahoma. BYU's last home win over a ranked team was also in 2009 when the Cougars downed No. 21 Utah.
Hill’s 259 yards are a career high and are the most rushing yards by a quarterback in the nation since 2005 when Vince Young ran for 265 yards for Texas against Oklahoma State. That mark is the highest by a BYU player since 1962 when Eldon Fortie ran for 272 yards.
Cody Hoffman had two catches for 63 yards to move him into third place at BYU for career receptions with 205.
Jamaal Williams finished the game with 30 rushes for a career-high 182 yards, and Paul Lasike ran for 87 yards on 15 carries. This marks the second time that Hill and Williams have both rushed for over 100 yards in the same game.
Senior Skye PoVey finished the game with a team-high and career-high nine tackles, and Kyle Van Noy finished with eight tackles, one sack and one tackle for loss. Alani Fua led the team with two sacks and two tackles for loss.
The Cougars received the opening kickoff and engineered an 11 play, 60-yard drive that culminated in a 34-yard field goal by Justin Sorensen to take an early 3-0 lead with just over 12 minutes left in the first quarter.
After being held to a three-and-out in their first three drives of the game, the Longhorns (1-1) took a 7-3 lead on a 57-yard pass from David Ash to Mike Davis.
Hill and the Cougars responded with a big play of their own to jump back ahead 10-7 with just over 2 minutes left in the first quarter. On the read-option, Hill kept the ball, ran off the left tackle and out-sprinted the Texas defense for a 68-yard touchdown. The 68-yard run ties the school record for the longest run by a quarterback that he set last year against Hawai’i.
On the ensuing Longhorn possession, Texas drove 76 yards on nine plays before Joe Bergeron ran it in from two yards out to take a 14-10 lead.
BYU responded with three consecutive scoring drives to take a 27-14 lead into halftime.
The drive following the Texas score for the 14-10 lead, Hill scored on a 20-yard rushing touchdown to put BYU up 17-14 with just under eight minutes left in the second quarter. The Cougars’ drive was kept alive thanks to a roughing the kicker penalty on Texas. On the drive, Hill finished with three rushes for 43 yards.
Following a Longhorn punt, the Cougars put together a nine-play, 59-yard drive that culminated with a 10-yard Paul Lasike touchdown run. On the drive, Lasike carried the ball six times for a total of 45 yards.
For the last drive in the half, BYU drove 77 yards on nine plays before Sorensen nailed a 32-yard field goal with four seconds left in the half.
Hill scored his third rushing touchdown in the game on the Cougars’ first drive of the second half from 26 yards out to put BYU up 34-14 with 10 minutes left in the third quarter. The drive took 1:51 off the clock and covered 79 yards in eight plays.
Texas quarterback Ash hit Davis for a 23-yard touchdown to bring the score to 34-21 with a little more than eight minutes left in the third quarter.
Sorensen added two late field goals after the touchdown in the third quarter to end the scoring at 40-21. He nailed a 36 yarder with just under six minutes left in the quarter and a 24 yarder with a minute and a half left in the quarter.
BYU finished the game with 679 yards of total offense and Texas had 445 yards of total offense.
BYU has a bye next week before its next game against in-state rival Utah on Sept. 21 in the Deseret First Duel at LaVell Edwards Stadium. The time of the game will be announced at a later date.