SAN DIEGO -- Linebacker Rob Morris lifted BYU past a slow first half start to lead the Cougars to a 30-7 victory Saturday night over San Diego State.
The senior recovered two fumbles and caused a third as BYU improved its record to 7-1 overall and 4-0 atop the Mountain West Conference. The Aztecs fell to 3-6 overall and 1-4 in the league before 40,836 fans at Qualcomm Stadium.
Morris' hit off a stunt with Chris Hoke with just over 13 minutes left in the third quarter caused Aztec quarterback Jack Hawley to fumble. That fumble was scooped up by Cougar defensive tackle Hans Olsen, who rambled 24 yards for his first touchdown. Olsen's TD helped increase BYU's margin to 20-7.
"I saw the ball fly out right as he (Morris) hit him," said Olsen. "I didn't know it was a live ball, but I was hoping it was."
Morris was also credited with 14 unassisted tackles, one assisted tackle, five tackles for a minus 30 yards and three sacks for a minus 25 yards. His first fumble recovery came off a bizarre series in which teammate Jared Lee intercepted Hawley in the second quarter, then Brandon Doman threw an interception on the next play, and Morris recovered Larry Ned's fumble on the next play.
Morris' recovery set up the first of Owen Pochman's three field goals. The initial 23-yard field goal came at 4:58 left in the first half after BYU had failed for eight downs from first and goal situations.
The Aztec's then drove, but missed a 50-yard field goal before Pochman closed the half with a 27-yard field goal. Pochman's 42-yard field goal, his 13th consecutive of the season, came with 2:43 left in the third quarter.
SDSU struck first when Hawley scored off a nine-yard run with no containment in the first quarter after the first of two Kevin Feterik interceptions.
Feterik got BYU on the board midway through the second quarter when he hit freshman Luke Staley on a screen pass. Staley ran 20 yards behind the blocking of offensive linemen Jimmy Richards, John Skiba, and Matt Johnson to find the endzone.
"Kevin pretty much had to carry the whole load offensively tonight," said BYU coach LaVell Edwards. Feterik completed 21 of 32 passes for 262 yards, two TDs, and was sacked three times.
"They turned the ball over three times in the second half and that was the difference in the ball game," said Edwards. "Rob Morris was all over the field. He is unbelievable."
In the fourth quarter SDSU mounted a long drive downfield only to have Morris recover the fumble caused by Josh Lowe. Two series later Feterik found Margin Hooks for his second TD pass of the night, a 15-yarder with 7:06 left in the game.
"At halftime Kevin, Bryon (Frisch), and I went around and said, 'this isn't us. Calm down and play our game,' " said Morris.
Hawley suffered a shoulder separation in the first half and left the game after Morris caused the fumble off him in the third quarter. The Aztecs crossed BYU up in the first half using a combination of three-man rushes with eight dropping back into coverage, then rushing six.
"We don't like the results, but our effort was outstanding," said SDSU coach Ted Tollner. "BYU is a good football team and they find a way to win."
Date: Nov 6, 1999
Site: San Diego, CA
Stadium: Qualcomm Stadium
Attendance: 40,836
Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Score
----------------- -- -- -- -- -----
Brigham Young....... 0 13 10 7 - 30
San Diego State..... 7 0 0 0 - 7
Scoring Summary:
1st 03:22 SDS - Hawley, J. 9 yd run (Tandberg, N. kick)
2nd 08:08 BYU - STALEY, Luke 20 yd pass from FETERIK, Kevin (POCHMAN, Owen kick)
04:58 BYU - POCHMAN, Owen 23 yd field goal
00:00 BYU - POCHMAN, Owen 27 yd field goal
3rd 13:11 BYU - OLSEN, Hans 24 yd fumble recovery (POCHMAN, Owen kick)
02:43 BYU - POCHMAN, Owen 42 yd field goal
4th 07:06 BYU - HOOKS, Margin 15 yd pass from FETERIK, Kevin (POCHMAN, Owen kick)
Team Statistics
BYU SDSU
FIRST DOWNS................... 16 18
Rushing..................... 2 7
Passing..................... 11 9
Penalty..................... 3 2
Rushing Attempts.............. 27 34
Yards Gained Rushing.......... 63 123
Yards Lost Rushing............ 30 74
NET YARDS RUSHING............. 33 49
NET YARDS PASSING............. 262 192
Passes Attempted............ 34 36
Passes Completed............ 22 18
Had Intercepted............. 2 2
TOTAL OFFENSIVE PLAYS......... 61 70
TOTAL NET YARDS............... 295 241
Average Gain Per Play....... 4.8 3.4
Fumbles: Number-Lost.......... 0-0 5-3
Penalties: Number-Yards....... 6-62 5-40
Number of Punts-Yards......... 7-323 8-273
Average Per Punt............ 46.1 34.1
Punt Returns: Number-Yards.... 2-7 7-49
Kickoff Returns: Number-Yards. 1-7 2-59
Interceptions: Number-Yards... 2-37 2-8
Fumble Returns: Number-Yards.. 1-24 0-0
Miscellaneous Yards........... 0 0
Possession Time............... 30:43 28:52
Third-Down Conversions........ 1 of 11 5 of 16
Fourth-Down Conversions....... 0 of 0 0 of 0
Sacks By: Number-Yards........ 7-50 3-22
Individual Statistics
Brigham Young San Diego State
Rushing No Gain Loss Net TD Lg Avg Rushing No Gain Loss Net TD Lg Avg
-------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------
TAHI, Fahu 7 15 2 13 0 8 1.9 Lewis, J. 14 80 5 75 0 17 5.4
SITAKE, Kalani 2 7 0 7 0 4 3.5 Mitchell, L. 1 9 0 9 0 9 9.0
SNOWDEN, Will 2 6 0 6 0 5 3.0 Ned, L. 9 15 10 5 0 4 0.6
STALEY, Luke 6 9 4 5 0 4 0.8 Sheriff, L. 3 0 13 -13 0 0 -4.3
HOOKS, Margin 1 4 0 4 0 4 4.0 Hawley, J. 7 19 46 -27 1 10 -3.9
ATUAIA, Donny 2 5 1 4 0 5 2.0 Totals... 34 123 74 49 1 17 1.4
ENGEMANN, Bret 1 0 1 -1 0 0 -1.0
FETERIK, Kevin 6 17 22 -5 0 12 -0.8
Totals... 27 63 30 33 0 12 1.2
Passing Att-Cmp-Int Yds TD Long Sck Passing Att-Cmp-Int Yds TD Long Sck
------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------
FETERIK, Kevin 32-21-1 262 2 24 3 Hawley, J. 20-9-1 98 0 15 4
DOMAN, Brandon 1-0-1 0 0 0 0 Sheriff, L. 16-9-1 94 0 34 3
ENGEMANN, Bret 1-1-0 0 0 0 0 Totals... 36-18-2 192 0 34 7
Totals... 34-22-2 262 2 24 3
Receiving No. Yds TD Long Receiving No. Yds TD Long
----------------------------------- -----------------------------------
HOOKS, Margin 5 66 1 23 McNeill, G. 5 59 0 16
SITAKE, Kalani 4 45 0 24 Lewis, D. 4 51 0 34
HORTON, Ben 4 35 0 15 Pierce, S. 4 36 0 14
ATUAIA, Donny 3 37 0 13 Mitchell, L. 2 28 0 15
PITTMAN, Jonath 2 28 0 16 Tolver, J.R. 2 19 0 10
STALEY, Luke 1 20 1 20 Lewis, J. 1 -1 0 0
OFAHENGAUE, Tev 1 19 0 19 Totals... 18 192 0 34
DOMAN, Brandon 1 7 0 7
TAHI, Fahu 1 5 0 5
Totals... 22 262 2 24
Punting No. Yds Avg Long In20 Punting No. Yds Avg Long In20
----------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------
SOWARDS, Jesse 7 323 46.1 55 0 Sisco, J. 8 273 34.1 44 4
Totals... 7 323 46.1 55 0 Totals... 8 273 34.1 44 4
Punts Kickoffs Intercept Punts Kickoffs Intercept
All Returns No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg All Returns No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg
--------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------
Gilford, J. 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 19 19 Pierce, S. 5 41 14 0 0 0 0 0 0
NIELSON, Mike 0 0 0 1 7 7 0 0 0 Lewis, J. 0 0 0 2 59 41 0 0 0
LEE, Jared 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 18 18 Smith, T. 2 8 8 0 0 0 0 0 0
DABNEY, Jaron 2 7 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 Abdul-Rahim, A. 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
Totals... 2 7 7 1 7 7 2 37 19 Miller, B. 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 8 8
Totals... 7 49 14 2 59 41 2 8 8
Field goal attempts Field goal attempts
---------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------
POCHMAN, Owen 2nd 04:58 23 yds - Good Tandberg, N. 2nd 01:48 50 yds - Missed
POCHMAN, Owen 2nd 00:00 27 yds - Good
POCHMAN, Owen 3rd 02:43 42 yds - Good
Defensive Statistics
Brigham Young
## Player UT AT Total ForLoss FR-Yd Intc BrUp Blkd Sack/Yds QH
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
44 MORRIS, Rob 14 1 15 5-30 2-0 . . . 3/25 .
3 GRAY, Brian 3 3 6 . . . 1 . / .
93 FRISCH, Byron 5 . 5 2-9 . . . . 1/8 .
9 LEE, Jared 4 1 5 . . 1-18 2 . / .
10 ROBERTSON, Hesh 4 . 4 . . . . . / .
47 ENA, Justin 3 1 4 . . . 2 . / .
41 KELLEY, Isaac 3 . 3 . . . . . / .
25 EDWARDS, Elan 3 . 3 . . . . . / .
19 STALEY, Dustin 3 . 3 . . . . . / .
72 OLSEN, Hans 3 . 3 2-14 1-24 . . . 2/14 .
37 FALES, Andrew 2 . 2 . . . . . / .
63 RAMAGE, Cory 2 . 2 . . . . . / .
92 DENNEY, Ryan . 2 2 1-3 . . 1 . 1/3 .
51 LOWE, Josh 1 . 1 . . . . . / .
53 HARDING, Doug 1 . 1 . . . . . / .
48 SITAKE, TJ 1 . 1 1-3 . . . . 1/3 .
5 PITTMAN, Jonath 1 . 1 . . . . . / .
98 WATKINS, Chris 1 . 1 . . . . . / .
39 NIELSON, Mike . 1 1 . . . . . / .
58 HOKE, Chris . 1 1 1-7 . . . . 1/7 .
30 Gilford, J. . . . . . 1-19 . . / .
San Diego State
## Player UT AT Total ForLoss FR-Yd Intc BrUp Blkd Sack/Yds QH
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
93 Gbaja-Biamila,K 8 1 9 2-9 . . 1 . 2/9 .
55 Mayo, J. 7 2 9 1-3 . . . . / .
23 Abdul-Rahim, A. 5 1 6 . . 1-0 . . / .
37 Curtis, R. 4 2 6 . . . . . / .
3 Sharpe, R. 4 1 5 . . . . . / .
97 Nicholson, S. 4 1 5 1-2 . . . . / .
22 Smith, T. 4 . 4 1-1 . . 3 . / .
46 Duran, M. 3 1 4 1-1 . . . . / .
9 Miller, B. 1 2 3 . . 1-8 1 . / .
12 Mitchell, L. 2 . 2 . . . . . / .
47 Demps, W. 2 . 2 . . . . . / .
18 Russell, B. . 2 2 . . . 1 . / .
51 Haywood, J. 1 . 1 1-1 . . . . / .
92 Young, A. 1 . 1 1-13 . . . . 1/13 .
38 Cleary, M. 1 . 1 . . . . . / .
80 Tolver, J.R. 1 . 1 . . . . . / .
36 Burton, K. 1 . 1 . . . . . / .
88 Ange, J. 1 . 1 . . . . . / .
21 Truvillion, J. . 1 1 . . . . . / .