TEAM NOTES
BYU defeated UNLV 42-23 at LaVell Edwards Stadium. The Cougars are 6-4 on the season and 544-397-26 all time.
Tomasi Laulile and Skye PoVey carried the team and special teams flags, respectively. Former offensive lineman Danny Hansen (1976-79) carried the alumni flag.
Official attendance for the game was 53,622.
With the win the Cougars have qualified for a bowl game for the 10th-straight season. Carlos Padilla, executive director of the Miami Beach Bowl, extended to BYU the official invitation to compete in the inaugural Miami Beach Bowl at Marlins Park on Monday, Dec. 22 at 2 p.m. EST.
In its last eight blue zone possessions, BYU has eight touchdowns (4 of 4 against UNLV).
Under head coach Bronco Mendenhall, the Cougars have faced the Rebels seven times, scoring at least 42 points in six of those games.
Bronco Mendenhall is 15-1 in November home games (only loss was his first November home game– an overtime loss to Utah on Nov. 19, 2005).
With two freshmen starting today, BYU now has a combined 27 games started by freshmen this year. Last year BYU had four total starts by freshmen.
The Cougars’ 592 total offensive yards is the second-highest total on the season behind the 601 yards against Nevada.
BYU’s 236 rushing yards are the most on the ground since the 33-25 win against Houston when the offense accumulated 325 yards on the ground.
Ten pass breakups were recorded by the defense, surpassing a previous a season-high of nine that was set in the game against Nevada.
PLAYER NOTES
Senior quarterback Christian Stewart ended the game with 325 yards through the air on 18-of-32 passing and three touchdowns. He also ran for 38 yards on six attempts.
Junior linebacker Bronson Kaufusi registered career highs in total tackles (nine), solo tackles (eight) and tied career highs in tackles for loss (three) and sacks (two). He has at least one sack in each of the past three games.
Senior running back Paul Lasike carried the ball eight times for 70 yards with two touchdowns while also adding a career-long 26-yard touchdown reception. He recorded his longest run of the season on the Cougars’ first drive of the second half with a 39-yard burst up the field. At 5:42 left in the third, he hauled in his touchdown catch for his career-high third TD of the game. It was also a career-long reception.
Junior receiver Mitch Mathews ended the game with 120 yards on six receptions with one touchdown catch–his sixth of the season. He eclipsed the 100-yard receiving mark for the third time this season. On the second BYU scoring drive of the game, Mathews caught a 48-yard pass, the longest pass of his career.
Senior punter Scott Arellano recorded three punts inside the 20-yard line with an average of 41 yards on seven punts. He landed his 20th punt inside the 20-yard line of the season and a 38-yard punt downed at the 1-yard line.
Senior receiver Jordan Leslie scored his first career rushing touchdown on the longest rush of his career (30 yards) after Christian Stewart connected with him on a lateral pass to the right. He ended the game with five catches and 68 yards receiving.
Senior tight end Devin Mahina caught his third touchdown of the season on a 15-yard pass from Christian Stewart for the first score of the second half. His three TD catches on the season is a career high.
Redshirt freshman cornerback Jordan Preator had three pass breakups and tied a career high with five solo tackles. His third breakup came on a play that was first down and goal from the BYU 5-yard line.
Senior defensive back Robertson Daniel recorded two pass breakups, tying him with Daniel Sorensen for fifth place all-time at BYU for total breakups in a season.
Sophomore safety Kai Nacua recorded his second interception of the season in the second quarter, returning it 32 yards to the UNLV 43-yard line.
Sophomore running back Algie Brown’s career-long 25-yard run carried the Cougars into the blue zone for their eventual third touchdown of the game.
Junior defensive end Graham Rowley notched his first sack of the season in the second quarter.
Junior running back Nate Carter chipped in 55 yards rushing on seven carries with a career-long rush of 31 yards.
Quotes
BYU
Bronco Mendenhall
"I'm really pleased with the win. This has not been an easy season, and the games aren't easy, but I beleive we'll finish strong. It was a nice football game for our team. A lot of good things and certainly a lot we'll try to work on. I'm looking forward to the next two games of the regular season to improve our team and culminate it with a bowl game."
On Christian Stewart's play:
"Just look at his body of work. He's really done a nice job. His completion percentage is high. His production is strong. His leadership is good. It's just a matter of continuing to increase the play around him."
On defensive success:
"They played pretty well for the most part. The one big run play and then on third or fourth down we gave up the sideline route–those two big plays, in between those, I think we were more consistent for the number of plays."
Special teams and recovering from mistakes:
"No. 1, the number of balls we kick to different players all week long to prepare (made me think) we had that handled and I guess we didn't. It was a nice stop by our team. That's progress in that area which is good."
On balanced running attack without Jamaal Williams:
"It's what we're going to have to have. They're all a little bit different styles."
On injuries:
"I don't know. I really wish I could answer that. I'm kind of numb to the injuries now, and it doesn't do me any good to talk about. The next guy comes in and we just keep going. I'm really sad for those guys who are injured, but I've got to help our team win and that's just what I've got to do."
On 10-straight bowl games:
"It's hard. I don't know if enough is made out of that. Consistency is hard and expecations are difficult to manage. I'm proud of this team for doing that. I'm really anxious to help them finish strong and to help them play in a postseason game they deserve and they've earned. There hasn't been anything easy about this year. I don't expect the finish to be easy, and I do want them to be rewarded for their efforts."​
Mitch Matthews
"One of the things we pride ourselves in is starting fast. We do that a lot in practice, but sometimes it doesn't happen. It's just one of those things."
"Christian gave us some opportunities to make plays. That's the type of guy he is. Even if there's a little window, he's throwing it."
"Bronco Mendenhall gets the credit for getting us to a bowl game. All the credit can be made to him. It's special for him – to finally see him smile. We're grateful for the win and looking forward to the bowl game."
Paul Lasike
"It's really humbling to get a career-high three touchdowns. I didn't really do much. They were kind of walk in touchdowns. Most of the credit goes to the offensive line. I didn't really do much."
"They were kind of what I expected – really physical up front. They came out really strong, shutting us down with a three-and-out for the first few possessions. They were what we expected. We weren't going to look past them. They were physical, they were good."
"It was good to get a win at Middle Tennessee. Really the future is up to us. We have control over how we want to finish the season. I want to finish strong and I'm pretty sure the rest of the team wants to finish strong."
"We got the win, but there's a lot of things we need to work on. They scored more than we would have liked even though we held them to our pillar."
"I feel like the pass defense is coming along a lot better. Coach (Nick) Howell has put in a few new calls for us. The biggest thing is just that Coach Howell is working with us a lot in practice."
"I was just happy for the opportunity to play. I love this game and I love my teammates. Whatever it takes to help my team, I'll do it. I guess there were just times tonight when I was in the right place at the right time."
"Touchdowns are never good. Whenever you can hold a team when they're down on the goal line, it's always a win for the team."
"It's always a good feeling to get to a bowl game. I've been around college football for a long time. Since I was 6 years old, I knew what getting six wins meant. That's always a good feeling to know that you've won six games."
"The temperature wasn't that bad once the adrenaline kicked in. Our crew does a good job. We have coats on the sideline, heaters, chicken broth. So, we stay pretty warm for the most part."
"It's a dream come true to get to six wins. This is one of our biggest goals. It's something that Coach Mendenhall talks about a lot. It's BYU's tradition. I'm really proud of our guys. We fought hard. It wasn't an easy win by any means. We were able to come out with a win, and we're going bowling, so we're pretty excited."
"We felt like some different things they were doing we could exploit by taking shots down the field. They didn't really have much safety help down the field. We weren't connecting and winning by default, so we kind of steered away from it in the second half."
"It was actually pretty fun to play against my hometown team. A lot of the guys were texting or Snapchatting me smack talk. They were saying that they were going to win. It was good to talk to them after the game."
"The pick was pretty good too. It kind of hit me off the head and then I just ran with it."
UNLV
Head Coach Bobby Hauck:
On BYU:
"BYU played a nice game tonight. Bronco (Mendenhall) and the staff had them ready to go. They came out of the bye week, and they were ready to play. They did some good things, and they gave us a couple of wrinkles that we hadn't seen that were good for them."
On Christian Stewart:
"Their quarterback, Stewart, did a really nice job. We had him sacked four times tonight where we had a hold of him, but he got away and made plays. Those are drive killers and those are huge yardage steals."
On UNLV's team effort:
"I was really proud of our guys. I thought we fought our tails off, and our guys play really hard and they fire me up. It was fun being out there with them tonight. We're warm weather guys, and I don't think the elements affected us one bit. I thought our guys were tough and physical."​
WR Devonte Boyd
On settling for three field goals:
"That's really difficult, especially when we're deep in the red zone. When our defense does a good job and gets off the field, we know we need touchdowns. Against those guys, we wanted to get seven and take the lead early. We just couldn't."
LB Matt Lea
"He's a good player. It's difficult when the DBs are doing their job and he scrambles and finds a hole and makes a play."
On BYU converting on third downs:
"We get them in the situation we want, and we just have to finish. When we don't, it kills us. That's what happened tonight."
On BYU's program compared to UNLV's:
"They're a good program. We work just as hard. We're not far away from that. We'll keep working and also become something special."