BYU vs. Boise State Postgame Notes and Quotes

TEAM NOTES

Attendance: 63,470 (sellout)
Flag bearers: The team flag was carried by sophomore linebacker Sione Takitaki and the special teams flag was carried by sophomore linebacker Fred Warner. The alumni flag was carried by former BYU defensive end Brett Keisel (1997-01).

For the second week in a row, Tanner Mangum threw a go-ahead touchdown pass in the final minute of the game.

The 84-yard touchdown pass from Tanner Mangum to Mitchell Juergens was the 5th-longest pass play in BYU history and the longest since Steve Sarkisian connected with Dustin Johnson for an 87-yard touchdown and the first score of a 49-0 victory over Rice in 1996.

Tanner Mangum had the second-most total passing yards by a BYU freshman QB in their first start. Ty Detmer, a redshirt-freshman, threw for 333 in 1988 against New Mexico.

Kai Nacua’s three interceptions in the game tie the BYU single game record set by Tyson Smith against Wyoming in the year 2000.

The BYU defense recorded four sacks and seven tackles for loss while holding Boise State to 361 total yards and 64 yards rushing.

BYU outgained BSU 381 to 361 in total yards, 309 to 297 in passing yards and 72 to 64 in rushing yards.

The Cougars improve to 8-3 in game two of the season under Bronco Mendenhall. BYU improves to 2-4 overall against Boise State.

BYU improved to 43-2 since 2005 when notching at least three or more team sacks in a single game.

PLAYER NOTES

Mitchell Juergens
Junior receiver Mitchell Juergens had a career high in receiving yards with 172 yards on four receptions with two touchdowns. His 176 all-purpose yards are a career high.

Devon Blackmon
Senior receiver Devon Blackmon caught a career-long 70-yard reception in the third quarter. He also had a career high of 105 yards and tied a career-high six receptions.

Tanner Mangum
Freshman quarterback Tanner Mangum started his first NCAA football game, throwing 17 of 28 for 309 yards and two touchdowns. He also recorded his first-career rushing touchdown in the game.

Adam Hiné
Senior running back Adam Hiné scored his first touchdown of the year on a 21-yard rush in the third quarter. He had 93 yards on 19 carries, leading all rushers.

Michael Wadsworth
Senior defensive back Michael Wadsworth set career highs in total tackles (11) and solo tackles (7).

Harvey Langi
Junior linebacker Harvey Langi had two sacks in the game, with his second coming on a crucial third-down play late in the game. It was his first multi-sack game of his career.

BYU POSTGAME QUOTES

Bronco Mendenhall

I really liked the resiliency of Tanner Mangum. For his first start to beat a team like that in a home crowd after a Hail Mary a week ago, I don’t know where you go from there. I’m really proud of him.

Difference from Nebraska:
One of the main differences in this game was Adam Hine. He helped get some balance back into our game and take some pressure off of Tanner. Our receivers continued to make critical plays when they needed to.

On defense:
I was impressed with our defense the majority of the game. They hit especially hard in the third quarter. I saw improvements in the kick coverage as well.
The defense had fun. I had fun working with them today. They got better. We’re a work in progress.

On Kai Nacua’s return:
It’s great to have Kai Nacua back. He changed the game. The range he covers and the plays he makes, that’s really who he is. I’m really excited for him regarding all the scrutiny he’s been under. For him to be able to come out and play that way it’s fitting. It shows who he is and how he’s worked so hard to be back on our team.

Confidence in Mangum:
I think the team has confidence in each other, not just Mangum. Tanner is just the quarterback. They have confidence in each other. Coach Wintrich worked very hard off-season. Tanner is now just stepping into his role his part

On Mitchell Juergens’ scholarship:
When Mitch received his scholarship, the reaction of the team had never been like that. It was a mosh pit celebration because they respect him so much. There is no one the team is happier to see make a play like that than Juergens. They respect him so much. That’s the best tribute anybody could ever pay. The team is happier to see him make a play like that. He stretched out all 5-foot-7 of him or however tall he is.

After celebration:
I wasn’t thrown around the locker room today. I was saying a prayer. It’s maybe all the team could do. It seems like the season is great already. If that’s the way we’re going to play this year I guess we got to get ready for it.

It’s fun to watch them pull for each other.
I think these guys will play hard against who ever we play. 

Tanner Mangum
It was just good to come out with a win more than anything. The guys around me are so resilient–they fight to the end. It definitely was not the ideal situation but you just have to keep playing and keep fighting. The guys around me just made the plays and made it happen.

On 4th down
There was a possibility of going with a route underneath, but when I rolled out I didn't really have much of a choice. I saw Mitch (Juergens) running and gave it a shot and he made an incredible play. I didn’t see it because I was on the ground, but I heard the crowd roar.

On Devon Blackmon
Devon played an amazing game. He’s a gamer. He loves showing up for those big-time plays. He made a lot of big plays that helped our team a lot. Happy to have him on our side. He made some big plays and definitely helped our team a lot.

On the offense
Having an offense that makes big plays gives us a better chance to win. More than anything I just do my best to make the right decision. Luckily we have some amazing guys that made some amazing plays, and I just tried to make the right decisions.

On the last drive
The O-line started creating some big holes and we were able to march down the field. Adam Hine stepped up big. We just had desire and heart. sometimes things don’t go our way but you just have to keep fighting.

All that matters to me is that we won the game. It’s an amazing feeling to come out with the win against a very good Boise State team.

I like situations like that. They’re fun. At some point last week I just decided to smile and say that this is fun.

On seeing the crowd's tribute to Taysom Hill
I saw it too and it was inspirational. I thought, that’s cool, it definitely was inspirational and the whole night and for this season he gives us motivation. I miss him. We want to keep fighting for him.

Mitch Juergens
On the catch
I had my guy beat a little bit, and I was wondering if he was going to throw it. So I just tried to make a play and fortunately I made it. The first thing I did was look for yellow flags on the ground. Honestly, I couldn’t believe it. It was just happiness and joy and excitement.

On his experience as a walk-on
Coming away with the win means a lot, especially back-to-back weeks like we’ve had. Honestly, I can't find the words to describe how this feels. We have an unbelievable team from top to bottom. Everyone comes with heart and makes plays. I'm so grateful to be a part of this team.

On seeing the crowd's tribute to Taysom Hill
Some of the coaches came up and said, ‘Hey let’s do it for Taysom.’ My heart goes out to him, because he’s of the injuries he’s had. He is our leader and the ultimate fighter and so he’s going to continue to inspire us the rest of this year.

Adam Hine
On BYU's edge
We’re a really well-conditioned team and I definitely think they wore out at the end a little bit, but I still think it was a battle.

On the running backs
One thing I think with the running backs is that you never want to make the same mistake twice, that’s one of the Cardinal rules. So when you don’t get it the first down on a three-and-one or three-and-two, you have to get it the next time, and I think that’s the mentality of all the running backs right there."

On his preparation
My coach said, ‘Be ready to carry the ball.’ And I'm always ready to carry the ball.
I can’t say I was expecting that much, but I'm always ready to go.

On his TD run
It was so much fun, I finally got some room to move and make a couple guys miss and it was great getting to the end zone, especially with where we were at the time. We had some great blocks upfront too.

On the post game celebration
It was fun. We love our fans, they’re great fans especially the students who had been camping out since Monday and who were in line. We loved celebrating with them. They’re so loyal.

On QB Tanner Mangum
We have so much faith in Tanner Mangum. Tanner is one to step it up. He’s getting better for us each and every game. We understand he’s young and may make mistakes but he’s our quarterback and we need to get behind him. We have absolute faith in him. 

Michael Wadsworth

The training staff has been training us all year. There are some critical positions we can’t just roll over. We have to fight back and we did that tonight. 

On Kai:
I love Kai. He brings a different energy to the game. I love playing with him. He’s a playmaker and you saw that tonight. He’s a great guy on and off the field. 

Chance to show what you can do:
I was nervous at the beginning, just building up to this moment. I’ve been waiting a long time. I’m grateful for the opportunity and a lot of plays came my way that I was blessed to make. 

We had a couple mishaps, but I thought we did really, really well. We tackled really well and communicated really well. Boise State is a hard team. They do a lot of different formations, but we communicated really well.

Mitch’s catch:
It was indescribable. You see Tanner move around in the pocket and then just heave it up. I look around and saw Devon first, but then I saw Mitch in this full extension. I’m so happy for Mitch. He works so hard. He grinds everyday. It’s so good to see him make a big play. 

BOISE STATE POSTGAME QUOTES

Bryan Harsin

“First of all, I would give credit to BYU. They won. They are a good football team and had a good game tonight. They made big plays.”

On Tanner Mangum:
“Tanner was able to move around and throw the ball up. They made plays in some of those situations. He threw the ball down the field. Those are opportunities for both side to make plays, and we did. We had a couple interceptions. We need to go back and look at it and see how those plays were made and see how we can fix it.”

“They just had one more interception that we did, and we just ran out of time. That’s really what happened.”

On the go-ahead pass:
“He threw the ball up in the middle, and we had guys there. We were just a little out of position. The receiver (Juergens) went up and made a play, I’m sure similar to the one last week, and he came down with it.”

“Guys are going to make plays. I think we did a pretty good job getting pressure on the quarterback. We did some good things. We were able to get into the backfield and disrupt the throwers and the run game at times.”

“You want to do as much as you can on the road to score as many points as possible. Anytime we are in the red zone we want to come out with points, and we didn’t do that, and that continues to be something that we need to focus on. We had some chances, but we just came up short.”

“I’m not about the stats. I’m about the wins.”

“The key question is the turnover battle. You have to find a way to win it. We didn’t. We did not win the turnover battle tonight, and we didn’t win the football game.”

On Ryan Finley:
“I thought Ryan Finley handled the environment pretty well. I thought he competed, but we had a couple turnovers in there that we’d probably like to have one of them back.”

“We play a lot of games, and every week you have to show up and be ready to play. The key is what you do take from the game. I want to really study the film to see what we have to do. How we walk away from this game is extremely important to this football team.”

“My message to the team is that we have lost games before. Teams across the country lose games. It matters how we respond.”

Shane Williams-Rhodes

On the offensive penalties: “We were undisciplined with penalties and it came back
 to bite us. I feel like if you give that team opportunities, they are too good on defense. We shot ourselves in the foot.”

On rebounding after the loss: “I feel like you can tell a lot about a team by the
 way they respond after a loss. Hopefully we go out there and have a good week of practice and we come back and rebound after this loss.”

Donte Deayon

On Mangum and preparation this week: “We knew Mangum was going to be a good quarterback
 coming into this game, so we just tried to focus on ourselves.”

On the Mangum to Juergens catch: “It’s disappointing. We saw it happen last week,
 and we just thought we had to make sure it didn't happen to us. You have to give them credit, he did a good job going up and getting the ball. But we have to make those plays if we want to be a dominant defense.”

On moving on after the loss: “We just have to take it one step at a time. We are
 going to move forward from this and get better from this, learn, take constructive criticism and open our hearts to getting better.”

Jeremy McNichols

“BYU is a good team, and they stopped us in the fourth quarter. We’ll just go back
 and fix it.”

On the Mangum to Juergens catch: “It was shocking. They threw pretty much a Hail Mary and he caught it. So, it hurt, but we’ve got to go back and fix it.”

On the penalties: “It hurts. We’ve just got to fix those penalties. It hurts.”