The following notes are from BYU's 45-20 loss to Utah State on Friday at LaVell Edwards Stadium.
ATTENDANCE: 58,087
TEAM FLAGS: Riggs Powell, D’Angelo Mandell, Malik Moore
ALUMNI FLAG BEARERS: Uona Kaveinga, Brandon Bradley
TEAM NOTES
Collie Family
With Dylan Collie’s 9-yard reception in the third quarter for a touchdown, the Collie family now has 39 receiving touchdowns, the most by an immediate family at BYU. The Collie’s pass the Bellini brothers (Mark, 23, and Matt, 15) who had 38. Austin Collie recorded the most at 30 receiving touchdowns, followed by Scott and Zac and four apiece and Dylan at one.
Spreading it around
BYU had eleven different receivers record at least one catch with seven having multiple catches.
PLAYER NOTES
Tanner Mangum
In the second quarter, Mangum threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Lopini Katoa to total for over 6,000 career passing yards. He is the 12th BYU quarterback to reach this mark. He also recorded a season high in passing yards at 270 as well as a season long throw to Talon Shumway for 46 yards.
Talon Shumway
Shumway recorded a his first 100-yard receiving game with 110 yards on five catches. Both set new career highs. He also caught a career long 46-yard long pass from Tanner Mangum in the third quarter that set the Cougars up to score.
NOTABLE CAREER HIGHS and FIRSTS
First receiving touchdown: Lopini Katoa (5 yards, second quarter), Gunner Romney (18 yards, fourth quarter), Dylan Collie (9 yards, third quarter)
Career high receiving yards: Talon Shumway (110)
Career long reception: Talon Shumway (46 yards, third quarter)
First career touchdown pass: Zach Wilson (18 yards, fourth quarter)
BYU head coach Kalani Sitake
This was a different outcome than we expected and it was a rough game for us. I don’t want to diminish what Utah State has done. The Aggies have done a great job of preparing their team and they played a great game.
On when the game got away from BYU
I’ll probably have to go and research all of it. I’m just disappointed in it from the start. We’ll evaluate the whole game and see what we can do differently. It’s mid-season right now. We’ll try and find a way to give us a better chance next week against Hawai’i.
On Utah State stopping the run game
Utah State had a good plan, a good scheme. They’re a good team. They do good things up front. We didn’t help ourselves up front in the run game. The truth is they stuffed us. It felt like in three games we had an identity of running the ball, but we need to re-evaluate everything and find out what we’re all about.
On playing against Utah State’s offense
Looking at the fundamentals of things, if I were to look at it right now without seeing the film – we missed a lot of tackles. That’s not going to help you when you’re missing tackles in your defensive scheme. We didn’t minimize gains. Utah State did a good job of getting their guys in space against our guys and that how things go. We didn’t tackle them consistently, and it allowed drives to keep going. Their quarterback is a great quarterback. I was really impressed with him. He’s poised and just ran the offense really well. That caused us to struggle a bit on defense. They like to run a triple option with a spread scheme. He’s just on top of it. We didn’t help ourselves with the mistakes that we made as a team. Defensively, I’m going to look at the missed tackles first. That’s what we can correct right now. We’ll look at the film and then we’ll go through everything: on defense, on offense and on special teams. Then, I’ll be able to answer more questions.
BYU wide receiver Talon Shumway
On losing as a team
You love going out and playing with your brothers and then you hurt together after. There’s nobody that I’d rather be out there with. We’re all here for each other, that’s why we play.
On how turnovers changed momentum
That’s how a game goes, momentum is going to ebb and flow the whole time. I wouldn’t say that was a huge focal point in losing momentum, but there are things we need to do better. That’s what we’re going to do. We are going to watch film and then prepare for the next game.
Tight end Matt Bushman
On going down early after pick-six
It was definitely a momentum shift, because it was a hole that we had to dig ourselves out of. We have to start out fast and execute. With every game you come in with a game plan, but things change. When you go down 21-0 you have starting throwing the ball and take some shots. You have to make changes. We couldn’t run it as much because we were trailing.
On difference between the teams
They came out more excited than we did. We had chances to make plays and there was just one missed assignment, one missed block. We have talented players, we have talented coaches, but we’re just not getting it done.
Senior linebacker Sione Takitaki
On tackling
We need to tackle better. Sometimes we let things slip and that comes with preparation and fundamentals. We’ll get back to the film room and look at everything.
On playing USU
They’re coming out more prepared. They came out and executed their assignments. We’re in the right places to make plays, we’re just not making the plays – whether that’s getting the pick or making tackles and sacks. Utah State just executed a lot of their plays very well. They got up early and we just couldn’t get back.
On Utah State’s run game
They were running zone structures. They had all types of runs. Like I said, they did it really well. First time we stopped them, they found the hole. We need better preparation from our players. Our schemes there, we just need to make the tackles.
Senior linebacker Zayne Anderson
On lack of energy after pick-six
Obviously as a team, that’s frustrating to see. We need to have the mindset that we’re going to get one too. I don’t feel like we had that. I feel like we lost energy. As a team we need to keep that energy and mindset.
On stopping runs
Stopping their runs is our pride and joy. That’s what BYU defense is. It comes down to executing and tackling. We’re not doing the right fundamentals right now. It starts with preparation from each individual. I feel like our coaches put us in a good spot, but we can prep more as individuals.
On BYU’s identity
Last week wasn’t us and this week wasn’t us. Those first three games we built our identity as a tough, smart team and I feel like we’re falling away from that. We just need to gather together and get back to what we do.
USU head coach Matt Wells
On tonight’s win
Awful proud of our guys: just coming off bye week, their preparation, everything they did all week and their investment level. Tremendous job by our coaches. That’s a team win. It wasn’t perfect in either phase and I guess all three phases. We overcame adversity, but I’m going to tell you what, we did a great job in our front seven stopping the run. Any time you hold any team under 50 yards of rushing that’s a tremendous job so hats off to the entire defensive staff and the defense. There is a lot of pride for us at Utah State in a game like this. I’m really proud of our assistant coaches and players. I couldn’t be more proud of them.
On the back-to-back wins over BYU
It has everything to do with a lot of pride for all of the guys that have played at Utah State before us, before me. It was a big win for us four years ago when we came down her in 2014. That was 38 years since Utah State had won in Provo and 44 years since winning back-to-back. I promise our players knew that. That was a big deal, but it doesn’t win us a bowl game or put us in Mountain West Championship in November so we will keep it in perspective. There is a lot to correct.
Offensive lineman Quin Ficklin
Overall thoughts on the game
I thought we played really well collectively. We kept Jordan Love clean most of the night. We ran the ball really well. We had a good scheme. The coaches had us ready to roll. It was a great night for us as an offense, a lot of fun.
On winning against his old team
It’s surreal. It was awesome to come back down and dominate, frankly. It was a great way to come off a bye week and play together as a team. It felt great.
Quarterback Jordan Love
Overall thoughts on the game
It was a great night on both sides of the ball. On offense we were able to move the ball how we wanted. The defense had a tremendous game. I think they only had something like 14 rushing yards. That’s all I have to say about that. Great game.
Senior safety Jontravell Rocquemore
On how defense played
I thought we played great. We stopped the line and that was our main goal this week. There are a lot of things we can clean up to get ready for the next game, but at first glance I think we played great.
Feeling of the locker room right now
It’s full of excitement. It’s been like 44 years since we have won back-to-back and winning here in Provo – it’s big time for us now. It’s love and brotherhood and we are soaking it all in right now.
On how the program is now
It shows how we’ve grown from last year to this year. It shows how much talent we have from last year to this year and how we have matured. A lot of people compare last year to this year and we’ve just hit the ground running. You can expect a lot of good things from this team. We all come together and see the things we can clean up, which makes it even more exciting for us.
On the win
This game gives a lot of pride, play for the will, play for history. It didn’t affect what we want our end goal to be – a Mountain West Championship. Going into this game, we knew it was going to be a big one. We will stay focused on our end goal.