ATTENDANCE: 42,213
FLAG BEARERS: ALUMNI: John Beck (QB, 2003-06) TEAM: Butch Pau’u (Fr., LB)
GAME CAPTAINS: Bronson Kaufusi (Sr., DL), Mitch Mathews (Sr., WR), Remington Peck (Sr., DL/TE) and Michael Wadsworth (Sr., DB)
TEAM NOTES
Final Record. BYU finished 9-4 in 2015 for the best finish since 2011 when the Cougars went 10-3.
Coaching Record. Bronco Mendenhall finishes with a 99-43 overall record as BYU’s head coach, second all-time at BYU.
Total Yards. BYU outgained Utah 386 to 197 in total yards. The Cougars also outgained the Utes 189 to 77 in total yards in the first half with a 100-7 advantage in the second quarter.
Cougar Defense. BYU allowed its second-lowest total yards (197) and passing yards (71) of the season. The defense recorded three sacks and eight tackles for loss as BYU dropped to 49-3 since 2005 when registering at least three sacks.
Season Passing. 3,854 yards passing are the most in a season for BYU since 2008 when the Cougars had 4,035.
Season Scoring. The offense scored the second-most points per game since 2009 with 33.7. In 2014, BYU scored 37.1 per game.
Wide Receivers. BYU finished the season with five receivers who each had more than 450 yards with three over 575 (Mathews-737, Blackmon-669, Kurtz-578, Juergens-471, Houk-490).
PLAYER NOTES
Remington Peck
Scored his first career touchdown on BYU’s first score of the game with 36 seconds left in the first half. It is the first score by a Cougar tight end since Nov. 15, 2014, when Devin Mahina had a TD reception against UNLV.
Francis Bernard
Scored his seventh rushing TD of the season for the opening score of the second half. Carried the ball seven times for 58 yards. He had the most touchdowns for a BYU freshman since Jamaal Williams’ 12 in 2012.
Bronson Kaufusi
Recorded nine total tackles with seven solo stops, three tackles for loss and one pass breakup. Passed David Nixon’s for No. 3 in BYU history for career tackles for loss with 44.
Tomasi Laulile
Had his first career game with multiple sacks. Ended the game with five total tackles, two sacks and two tackles for loss.
Devon Blackmon
Hauled in three receptions for 97 yards, including a game-long 45-yarder.
Tanner Mangum
Threw 25 of 56 for 315 yards and two touchdowns with three interceptions. He surpassed his previous career-high attempt total and ended the season with seven multi-touchdown games and five games with 300+ passing yards. His second rushing touchdown of the year cut the deficit to the eventual final tally, 35-28.
CAREER HIGHS (The following players recorded notable career highs)
Kickoff Return Yards – Riley Burt, 111 yards on five returns
FIRSTS (The following players recorded their first in a respective category)
Career Firsts
Receiving TD—Remington Peck
Sack — Micah Hannemann
BYU QUOTES
Bronco Mendenhall, Head Coach:
I'm not sure I've ever been more proud of my team. They stayed together and unified and battled back and made it a great football game.
Our team tried really, really hard all the way to the very end, maybe if we make one more stop it gets interesting.
I wasn't able to help our team quite enough to overcome the early setbacks, but I am certainly proud of how hard they played and how they battled in returning to make it as close as it was and giving us a chance to win.
The setting of playing this game in Vegas, at a neutral site is really intriguing, and I thought it was a really cool setting to play in and a great one for our players and a great environment and we just came up a little bit short.
There was certainly nothing else that can happen, when it goes to seven and then to 14 then to 21 then to 28 then to 35, at some point that's got to be enough. I think there was just finally a set point of 'are we going to play clean and execute and consistently' and we thought if we did it would be an evenly matched game and that's how it played out.
The credit goes to the players, they're the ones that chose to keep playing hard. They were positive on the sideline, which is an amazing thing. It was 35-0 and I don't even know how much time had expired. It could've easily gone to 70 if they hadn't of responded the way they did.
On Tanner Mangum:
Tanner is an optimist and that's a great quality to have at quarterback. He thinks he can make any throw and who are we to tell him any different. And even after 35-0, we weren't going to score points just by running it. Our M.O. has been dropping back and throwing it, and having our receivers go up and make catches and that kind of played out.
To Utah's credit, the defensive front, they were on him very fast and harrassed him maybe more than he's used to. Nobody was down on him, we were frustrated, but our guys believed in Tanner.
Bronson Kaufusi, Defensive End:
This team, since January, that's something we definitely practiced and worked on. No matter what happens or how much we get down by in anything, this team will fight back no matter what. And that's something I'm so proud about, is that no matter what happened in that game, everyone had the mentality that we were going to get ourselves back into it.
Tanner's not a freshman to any one in the locker room; Tanner's one of us. He's mature. You can tell how he bounced back. I think the game was a little big for him at the beginning, but man he turned around and played a great game and ultimately gave us a chance to have the ball at the end.
Remington Peck, Tight End:
I think a lot of credit goes to the way we're coached and the group of guys, because quitting or giving up has never been an option. Even our wins, in many of the games this season, we trailed. There was no question that the team was going to keep fighting.
I think it was key to get some points on the board right before half and I think it helped the attitude in the locker room a little bit. I was just grateful to help to be honest, I didn't care if it was me. I'm glad that it helped us a little bit and there was no doubt in the locker room that we were going to come out and fight, and battle in the second half.
UTAH QUOTES
Kyle Whittingham, Utah Head Coach:
It was a good win for our program. We started off and played real well the first quarter, very average in the second quarter, then pathetic in the third quarter and half of the fourth quarter, then finished off pretty average. So, you add it all up and evaluate it as a whole, the entire body of work wasn’t bad.
You are not going to lose a lot of games when you are +5 in turnover margin. Even though our offensive numbers were not good at all, we took care of the football.
You have to credit (BYU) for hanging in there and fighting back. They have a lot of resiliency and heart and we saw that today.
I am very proud of our guys, of our seniors. We send them off with a 10-win season and a guaranteed Top-20 ranking. A lot of good things for our seniors coming out of this game and I am really proud of them.
In some ways it is (hard to play with a 35-0 lead). But, it is our job to make sure we do not get complacent. We did that. We got complacent, and that’s on me.
Tevin Carter, Utah Strong Safety:
I had a hard time at times catching the ball this year. But today on the first one (interception returned for a touchdown), Reggie Porter made a great play on the ball and I was just there to make it (pull down tip for the interception). On the second (interception), Jason Fanaika made another tip and I was just there again to make a play. So, all credit goes to my teammates.
Joe Williams, Utah Running Back:
(On 3rd and 1 option play that led to first down late in fourth quarter) The main focus of the play was just to get a first down. We practice that situation every week. I knew from running it the two previous times that the linebacker would take Travis (Wilson, Utah QB). So I knew I would get the ball and just have to get that one yard.
(On getting second first down on final drive) We huddled up and talked about it as an offense. Two more first downs and then one more first down and this game is ours.