PROVO -- For the 23rd time, including a record fourth time since becoming a member of the Mountain West Conference in 1999, and the second straight year, BYU has claimed the Mountain West Conference championship. The Cougars' 17-10 win over Utah improved BYU's record to 9-2 on the season and gave BYU the outright Mountain West title.
OVERALL WIN STREAK IN TACT
The Cougars' 17-10 win over Utah marked the Cougars' eighth straight victory this season. Entering today's game, the Cougars held a seven-game win streak, which was longer than 22 of the 25 teams ranked in last week's AP Top-25. Overall, BYU has won 19 of its last 21 games.
CONFERENCE WIN STREAK IN TACT
The Cougars' victory over the Utes marked the 15th straight victory over a league opponent. The current win streak includes back-to-back outright league titles and is a MWC record.
HOME WIN STREAK IN TACT
The Cougars' 17-10 win over Utah extended BYU's home winning streak to 12 straight games, marking the longest home win streak since winning 17 straight from October 7, 1989 to November 23, 1991.
A WINNING TRADITION
With today's victory against Utah, the Cougars improved to 9-2 on the season, marking the 19th season (since 1976) BYU has posted nine or more wins in a season. The win also marks the second straight year the Cougars have had nine or more wins in back-to-back seasons since the 1989-90 seasons.
FULL HOUSE
Attendance at LaVell Edwards Stadium Saturday was listed at 64,749. It is the second largest crowd since the seating reconfiguration in 2003. The largest was 65,251 on Sept. 4, 2004 against Notre Dame.
"MAX"IMUM EFFORT
Sophomore quarterback Max Hall totaled 269 yards passing on 17-of-40 attempts in BYU's 17-10 victory over Utah on Saturday to clinch the Cougars' second straight outright MWC championship. Hall, playing in his first-career game against Utah, led BYU to a fourth quarter comeback victory. With just 1:34 left in the game and BYU trailing 9-10, Hall took the Cougars up the field in a nine-play, 56 second drive that was capped by a 14-yard touchdown run by Harvey Unga. On a critical fourth-and-18, Hall found Austin Collie running down the right sideline for a 49-yard hookup that kept the game alive.
HALL SETS ANOTHER MWC SOPHOMORE RECORD
With his 254 all-purpose yards against the Utes, Max Hall became the single-season MWC sophomore record holder for total offense.
RUSHING AGAINST THE UTES
With a 141 yards rushing on the day, BYU improves its record to 12-1 (since 1972) against the Utes when a ball carrier has 100 or more yards rushing.
FRESHMAN UNGA COMES UP BIG AGAINST UTES
Freshman running back Harvey Unga--BYU's all-time leading freshman running back--carried the ball 23 times for 141 yards in the Cougars' 17-10 win over Utah, marking the sixth 100-yard game he has produced this season and the third against a Mountain West opponent. Unga has 1,050 yards on the season ,becoming the first freshman to break the 1,000-yard mark in BYU football history.
RUNNING BACK MILESTONE
With Harvey Unga passing the 1,000-yard rushing mark, BYU has had a 1,000-yard rusher in three straight seasons for the first time in BYU football history. Unga becomes the eighth running back in BYU history to run for over 1,000 yards.
A TRIO OF FIELD GOALS
Mitch Payne connected on three field goals against the Utes, marking the first time since last season's 30-23 double-overtime loss at Boston College that BYU kicked three field goals in a game.
COLLIE HITS 100-YARD MARK FOR FOURTH STRAIGHT GAME
Sophomore receiver Austin Collie caught five balls for 126 yards, including a game-saving 49-yard reception on a fourth-and-18 in the Cougars' final drive. It is the fifth game this season he has been credited with 100 or more yards. (Collie also had a 98-yard effort against New Mexico.) Collie's performance against Utah marked the fourth straight game he has totaled 100 or more yards. BYU improves to 20-2 against the Utes (since 1972) when a Cougar receiver gets 100 or more yards.
26th CAREER VICTORY
The Cougars' 17-10 victory over Utah marked BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall's 26th-career victory as a head coach and his second straight win over Utah in as many seasons.
FIRST BLOOD
Freshman kicker Mitch Payne booted a 22-yard field goal with 4:47 remaining in the first half to give BYU a 3-0 lead. The score marked the 21st time in the last 23 games BYU has scored first. BYU is 19-2 in those 21 games.
FIRST BLOOD vs. UTAH
Saturday's win against Utah improves BYU's record to 18-3 against the Utes (since 1972) when scoring first. The Cougars are also 23-4 against the Utes (since 1972) when taking a lead into halftime.
QUARTER REPORT
With a 0-0 tie after the first quarter, the Cougars have held seven of their 11 opponents scoreless in the opening quarter. For just the third time this season BYU shut out its opponent in the first half. The Utes were held scoreless in the first and second quarters, bringing the Cougar defense's total number of shut out quarters to 18 on the year.
HALFTIME LEAD
The Cougars held a 3-0 lead over Utah at halftime, marking the 10th time (in 11 games) this season BYU has led at intermission. BYU is 9-1 on the season when leading at halftime.
RUSHING DEFENSE
The BYU defense held Utah to 124 yards rushing. Junior running back Darrell Mack led the Utes with 56 rushing yards on 14 carries, meaning the BYU defense still has not allowed a 100-yard rusher this season. The Cougars remain the only team in the country that has not allowed a 100-yard rusher this season.
SCORING DROUGHT
For only the third time this season, BYU failed to score in the first quarter. The Cougars came up empty in the opening periods at UCLA and at UNLV. Saturday's game also marked the first time for BYU this season that the first quarter ended in a scoreless tie. The last time that happened was in the 2006 Las Vegas Bowl when BYU and Oregon both put up goose eggs in the game's opening quarter. The last time it happened in a BYU/Utah game was 2003.
THIRD QUARTER LEADS
Utah kicker Louie Sakoda kicked a 35-yard field goal at the 9:45 mark in the third quarter, tying the game at 3-3. It marked the first time this season BYU has not led during the third quarter since being tied at 21-all against UNLV.
PAPER OR PLASTIC
Mountain West Conference sacks leader, Jan Jorgensen, recorded two sacks against the Utes giving him 10.5 sacks for the season. Jorgensen's sacks came with just more than 10 minutes remaining in the first and third quarters. The sophomore defensive lineman threw Utah quarterback Brian Johnson to the grass on a first-and-10 for a loss of nine yards in the first quarter and a loss of six yards in the third. Jorgensen has recorded a sack in four consecutive games.
INTERCEPTION NOTES
With the Utes threatening on a third-and-four in the "blue zone", senior DB Corby Hodgkiss intercepted a Brian Johnson pass on the Cougars' four-yard line. It was Hodgkiss' second pick of the year. Later in the half sophomore linebacker Matt Bauman made his first-career interception. The BYU defense has intercepted at least one pass in 10 consecutive games, giving the team a total of 14 picks on the season.
BALL SECURITY
BYU running back Harvey Unga's fumble in the first quarter was just the second lost fumble by a BYU running back on a running play in the Bronco Mendenhall era. It was Unga's first.
PASSING TOUCHDOWN STREAK ENDS
Without a passing touchdown in the Cougars' 17-10 win over Utah, BYU's 14-game streak with at least one touchdown reception came to an end.
NOVEMBER 24 -- A VERY GOOD DAY
Today marked only the third time in BYU football history the Cougars have played on November 24. BYU is 3-0 on this date, including three wins over Utah.
BEST OF THE BEST
BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall posted a record of 26-10 at BYU and has the best record of the 13 head coaches who were hired for their first Division I-A job during the same year.
A LITTLE KNOWN FACT
BYU clinched is 23rd conference championship last week with a 35-10 win over Wyoming. With a win over Utah, the Cougars are now 19-4 when playing the Utes in a conference championship season.