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PROVO, Utah -- The seniors of the BYU football team, along with some freshmen stars, led the Cougars (6-5, 5-2) to a 40-7 victory over New Mexico (1-10, 1-6) on Saturday night at LaVell Edwards Stadium.
“It was great for our seniors to get a win tonight,” said BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall. “I cared more about playing at a higher level for those seniors because of all the time they have put into this program.”
With the win, BYU becomes bowl eligible for the sixth-straight season under Mendenhall.
“There was a time this season that I wasn’t sure what was going to happen with this squad and it seemed daunting to try and recover this team,” Mendenhall said. “It’s taken a lot of thought, prayer and leadership from our coaches. I think this team, this year, has learned more lessons than any other squad I’ve coached in my six years.”
The senior leaders on defense turned in another solid performance with linebacker Shane Hunter totaling 11 tackles, safety Andrew Rich adding two interceptions and cornerback Brandon Bradley recovering a fumble to lead the way for a BYU defense that allowed just 259 total yards and forced four turnovers.
BYU’s trio of talented freshmen all made a big impact for a Cougar team that rolled up 494 yards of total offense. Quarterback Jake Heaps threw for 231 yards on 18-of-31 passing for two touchdowns. Heaps also added his first career rushing touchdown on a one-yard run in the first quarter. Wide receiver Cody Hoffman contributed with five catches for 71 yards and two touchdowns and Joshua Quezada had a career high with 107 rushing yards on 15 carries and a touchdown.
“I think our team took a great step forward here today by handling another unique situation and holding down another team that was struggling with their season,” Mendenhall said. “I think they had a great chance to mature and the guys were extremely consistent today.”
Defensive lineman Eathyn Manumaleuna intercepted Lobo quarterback Stump Godfrey on New Mexico’s first possession and returned it 30 yards to the New Mexico 13-yard line. Heaps got the Cougars on the board with a one-yard quarterback keeper for the touchdown. Kicker Mitch Payne converted the PAT attempt to put BYU up 7-0 with 10:01 remaining in the first quarter.
On the ensuing Lobo possession, defensive end Matt Putnam forced a fumble which was recovered by Bradley at the New Mexico 38-yard line. With another short field to work with, the Cougars added a 34-yard field goal from Payne to make it 10-0.
Junior running back JJ Di Luigi scored on a 4-yard touchdown run to add to the Cougar lead on BYU’s first possession not in New Mexico territory. The seven-play, 80-yard drive was highlighted by Quezada rushing three times for 41 yards.
After a stagnant second quarter, BYU got things going on a fourth-down conversion from its own 43-yard line on a gadget play with junior Matt Marshall coming in at quarterback, completing a five-yard pass to sophomore running back David Foote. The drive ended in a 28-yard field goal from Payne to put the Cougars up 20-0 at the half.
Heaps connected with Hoffman on a 17-yard touchdown strike on BYU’s first possession of the second half. The play came immediately after another fourth-down conversion where Heaps found senior Luke Ashworth for a 15-yard gain to move the chains.
The Lobos got on the board with 4:14 remaining in the third quarter when Godfrey found sophomore receiver Quentell Solomon for a 12-yard touchdown pass. Junior James Aho made the PAT attempt to make it 27-7.
BYU added another touchdown on a 14-yard rush from Quezada with 14:10 remaining in the game. Payne connected on the PAT to extend the Cougar lead to 34-7. The senior kicker also passed his brother, Matt Payne, to become the all-time Mountain West Conference leader in kicking points with the conversion.
After the Lobos threatened to score again, Rich intercepted a pass from Godfrey in the end zone. BYU put together a 10-play, 80-yard drive, ending in a 10-yard touchdown pass from Heaps to Hoffman to put the Cougars up 40-7.
BYU travels to Salt Lake City to face the University of Utah to end the 2010 regular season on Saturday, Nov. 27 at 1:30 p.m. MT.
New Mexico (1-10,1-5) vs. BYU (6-5,5-2)
Date: Nov 20, 2010 Site: Provo, Utah Stadium: LaVell Edwards
Attendance: 59077
Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Score
----------------- -- -- -- -- -----
New Mexico.......... 0 0 7 0 - 7
BYU................. 17 3 7 13 - 40
Scoring Summary:
1st 10:01 BY - HEAPS, Jake 1 yd run (PAYNE, Mitch kick), 3-12 2:11, NM 0 - BY 7
07:07 BY - PAYNE, Mitch 34 yd field goal, 5-21 0:57, NM 0 - BY 10
02:58 BY - DI LUIGI, JJ 4 yd run (PAYNE, Mitch kick), 7-80 2:59, NM 0 - BY 17
2nd 00:35 BY - PAYNE, Mitch 28 yd field goal, 16-84 6:14, NM 0 - BY 20
3rd 09:46 BY - HOFFMAN, Cody 17 yd pass from HEAPS, Jake (PAYNE, Mitch kick), 11-72 5:03, NM 0 - BY 27
04:14 NM - SOLOMON, Quinte 12 yd pass from GODFREY, Stump (AHO, James kick), 13-72 5:25, NM 7 - BY 27
4th 14:10 BY - QUEZADA, Joshua 14 yd run (PAYNE, Mitch kick), 12-82 4:53, NM 7 - BY 34
07:17 BY - HOFFMAN, Cody 10 yd pass from HEAPS, Jake (PAYNE, Mitch kick failed), 10-80 4:58, NM 7 - BY 40
NM BY
FIRST DOWNS................... 20 29
RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............ 31-100 44-258
PASSING YDS (NET)............. 159 236
Passes Att-Comp-Int........... 30-15-3 33-19-0
TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS..... 61-259 77-494
Fumble Returns-Yards.......... 0-0 0-0
Punt Returns-Yards............ 1-0 2-1
Kickoff Returns-Yards......... 6-162 2-41
Interception Returns-Yards.... 0-0 3-53
Punts (Number-Avg)............ 4-40.5 3-47.3
Fumbles-Lost.................. 1-1 0-0
Penalties-Yards............... 5-25 14-141
Possession Time............... 24:40 35:20
Third-Down Conversions........ 4 of 11 6 of 13
Fourth-Down Conversions....... 0 of 0 2 of 2
Red-Zone Scores-Chances....... 1-2 7-7
Sacks By: Number-Yards........ 1-9 1-10
RUSHING: New Mexico-GODFREY, Stump 14-53; CARRIER, Kasey 15-44; AHO,James 1-4; TEAM 1-minus 1. BYU-QUEZADA, Joshua 15-107; DI LUIGI, JJ 10-65; KARIYA, Bryan 9-58; FOOTE, David 2-8; FOLSOM, Ryan 1-7; LARK, James 2-6; HEAPS, Jake 3-5; FALSLEV, JD 2-2.
PASSING: New Mexico-GODFREY, Stump 9-20-2-125; HOLBROOK, B.R. 6-7-1-34; AUSTIN, Tarean 0-3-0-0. BYU-HEAPS, Jake 18-32-0-231; MARSHALL, Matt 1-1-0-5.
RECEIVING: New Mexico-CARRIER, Kasey 5-22; KIRK, Ty 3-64; REED, Lucas 2-41; WILLIAMS, Bryan 2-10; HERNANDEZ, Chri 2-10; SOLOMON, Quinte 1-12. BYU-HOFFMAN, Cody 5-71; ASHWORTH, Luke 3-41; DI LUIGI, JJ 3-39; MAHINA, Devin 2-24; MUEHLMANN, Mike 1-22; HOLT, Austin 1-17; MENDENHALL, Zed 1-9; KARIYA, Bryan 1-6; FOOTE, David 1-5; QUEZADA, Joshua 1-2.
INTERCEPTIONS: New Mexico-None. BYU-MANUMALEUNA, Ea 1-30; RICH, Andrew 2-23.
FUMBLES: New Mexico-GODFREY, Stump 1-1. BYU-None.
SACKS (UA-A): New Mexico-LATCHISON, Jaym 1-0. BYU-VAN NOY, Kyle 1-0.
TACKLES (UA-A): New Mexico-BUTLER, A.J. 10-1; MESSINA, Carmen 6-5; MERRITT, Spence 4-2; FORREST, Bubba 4-2; HARRIS, Joe 3-3; UZODINMA, Ugo 1-4; MILLS, DeShawn 3-1; STONER, Joe 0-4; CARRIER, Kasey 3-0; LYLES, Jamarr 2-1; JOHANNEMANN, Se 2-1; HOOKS, Anthony 2-0; KENNEDY, Brett 1-1; NEELY, Cody 1-1; CARTER, Ravonne 1-1; LATCHISON, Jaym 1-1; SOLOMON, Quinte 1-0; HENTRUP, Garret 1-0; AHO, Andrew 1-0; GARDNER, Peter 1-0; RAYMER, Matt 0-1; MCPHEARSON, Emm 0-1. BYU-HUNTER, Shane 6-5; RICH, Andrew 4-3; LOGAN, Brian 3-3; OGLETREE, Brand 2-4; SO'OTO, Vic 2-4; PUTNAM, Matt 2-1; HESS, Connell 2-1; VAN NOY, Kyle 2-1; JORGENSEN, Aust 2-1; UALE, Travis 0-3; MANUMALEUNA, Ea 2-0; FRAZIER, Jameso 1-1; MENDENHALL, Zek 0-2; BRADLEY, Brando 1-0; HORNUNG, Reed 1-0; WAGNER, Jadon 0-1; ROWLEY, Graham 0-1; ANSAH, Ezekiel 0-1.