PROVO, Utah – Taysom Hill and Michael Alisa ran for two touchdowns apiece to lead BYU football to a 37-10 win over Middle Tennessee Friday night at LaVell Edwards Stadium.

BYU vs. MTSU Book

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Hill completed 14 of 19 passes for 177 yards and rushed for 165 yards on 18 carries and two touchdowns. Alisa ran for 55 yards on 16 carries, and freshman Algernon Brown contributed 68 yards on 11 carries. Ross Apo had four receptions for 38 yards, and Mitch Mathews had three receptions for 47 yards. The Cougars' offense finished with 486 yards of total offense.

BYU is now 2-2 on the season, while Middle Tennessee drops to 3-2.

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The Cougar defense held the Blue Raiders to 212 yards of total offense for the game. Austen Jorgensen recorded nine tackles while Craig Bills each recorded seven tackles and Kyle Van Noy added six more, including five solo. Daniel Sorensen recorded an interception in the fourth quarter.

Following a Middle Tennessee field goal on the opening drive of the game, Adam Hine took the following kickoff 90 yards to the opposing 10-yard line. Three plays later, Hill ran it in from 12 yards out to put the Cougars up 7-3 with just under 11 minutes left in the first quarter.

The BYU defense forced the Blue Raiders to punt, but a fumble on the return set the visitors up with the ball on the Cougars 24-yard line. Just before the end of the first quarter, Logan Kilgore hit Marcus Henry for a 16-yard touchdown pass to give Middle Tennessee a 10-7 lead.

Paul Lasike returned the ensuing kickoff 33 yards to BYU’s 46-yard line. With the offense clicking the Cougars drove down the field to the Blue Raider 5-yard line before a lost fumble gave the ball to Middle Tennessee on the 2-yard line.

On the next play, Van Noy tackled Jordan Parker before he left the end zone to force a safety and cut the deficit to 10-9. The safety was the first for BYU since 2011 against San Jose State. Van Noy fought off a block and tripped up Parker, and Remington Peck kept him from leaving the end zone.

Middle Tennessee elected to punt the ball following the safety, and the Cougars drove the length of the field again before a fumble by Alisa went into the end zone untouched for a touchback.

Again the defense held strong and forced another punt by the Blue Raiders. A pass to Apo put BYU at midfield. Two plays later, Hill went 50 yards on a keeper off the right tackle for his second touchdown of the game to give the Cougars a 16-10 lead with 7:30 left in the second quarter.

Both teams traded punts before BYU got the ball back with 1:33 left in the quarter on its 33-yard line. After two rushes by Lasike for two yards, Hill had three straight completions to move the offense to the Middle Tennessee 14-yard line. A five-yard rush by Hill and a pass interference call on the defense put BYU on the 2-yard line. Alisa ran it in on the next play for his second touchdown of the season to give the Cougars a 23-10 lead with 15 seconds left in the half.

The Cougars opened the second half receiving the kick and drove the ball 60 yards on 11 plays as Alisa punched it in from one yard out for his second touchdown of the game to put BYU up 30-10. During the drive, Hill completed three passes over 10 yards to Apo, Mathews and Brett Thompson.

Towards the end of the third quarter, senior JD Falslev returned a punt 71 yards for a touchdown to put BYU up 37-10. The last time BYU returned a punt for a touchdown was in 2011 by Falslev against TCU. On the return, Falslev fielded the punt on the right hash, crossed the field and ran up the left sideline untouched for the final score of the game.

The Cougars return to action against in-state rival Utah State on Friday, Oct. 4 at 6 p.m. MDT. The game will be broadcast live on the CBS Sports Network.

BYU football has a quick turn around this week, looking to bounce back vs. Middle Tennessee State Friday after a Saturday night loss to Utah at home.

Kickoff is projected for 7:02 p.m. MDT. Fans can listen in on the Cougar IMG Sports Network 1160 AM, 102.7 FM and BYUcougars.com.

The Countdown to Kickoff pregame show will begin at 6 p.m. MDT on BYUtv and BYUtvsports.com. Fans can also tune in to BYUtv and BYUtvsports.com for the live postgame show at the conclusion of the game. Radio coverage will begin at 5 p.m. MDT on the Cougar IMG Sports Network 1160 AM/102.7 FM and BYU Radio (SiriusXM channel 143).

Middle Tennessee State (3-1) at BYU (1-2)
Friday, Sept. 27, 2013 at 7:02 p.m. MDT
LaVell Edwards Stadium
Provo, Utah

Complete BYU vs. Middle Tennessee game notes

Series

Friday's game is the first meeting between BYU and Middle Tennessee.

Career highs vs. Utah

Quarterback Taysom Hill had a career-high 260 passing yards vs. Utah and had 99 rushing yards. His previous high was 235 vs. Utah State in 2012. 

Mitch Mathews hauled in three passes for 54 yards, both career highs. His 26-yard reception in the third quarter was also a career best.

With 10 tackles, Tyler Beck also set a career best—his previous high was six against Hawai’i in 2011. The senior tallied 2.0 tackles for loss, the first time he has registered a tackle for loss.

Senior Mike Hague notched a personal-best six tackles, with all six coming as solo tackles.

The Hoff Show

Hoffman needs three touchdowns, 367 yds and nine receptions to become the BYU all-time record holder in each of those categories. He needs three more 100-yard receiving games to become the BYU leader in that category and 771 yards to become the BYU all-time all-purpose yards leader. Hoffman missed the UVa game due to a hamstring injury, but returned for the victory vs. Texas. Hoffman has caught a pass in 34 consecutive games played dating back to Oct. 23, 2010.