Cougars Get it Done on the Ground

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PROVO, Utah -- Third down proved successful on both sides of the ball for the Cougars as BYU defeated conference foe San Diego State 24-21 at LaVell Edwards Stadium on Saturday.

With 3:21 left in the game and San Diego State threatening a 24-21 BYU lead, the Cougar defense held the Aztecs on three-consecutive plays to force a punt and seal their first conference win of the season.

“That was a signature moment for this defense,” said BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall. “They did exactly what they were supposed to do and it was fun to see.”

The BYU offense, led by freshman quarterback Jake Heaps, was 12-of-19 on third down. Heaps finished the game with 126 passing yards on 15-of-22 completions.

Three BYU running backs recorded career high marks in rushing attempts and yards as the Cougars tallied 271 total yards on 62 attempts.

Junior JJ Di Luigi led the running game with 22 rushes for 134 yards while junior Bryan Kariya added 85 yards on 22 attempts. True freshman Joshua Quezada tallied 50 yards on 11 carries.

“They knew we were running the ball and we knew we were running the ball and we just pounded it out,” said junior offensive lineman Matt Reynolds.

A fake field goal kept the Cougars alive in their first drive of the game as junior Matt Marshall connected with freshman tight end Mike Muehlmann for 16 yards and a first down.

Di Luigi capped the 19-play, 78-yard drive with a three-yard touchdown run to put the Cougars on the board first. With the successful PAT conversion, senior Mitch Payne passed Kurt Gunther for first place on the BYU all-time PAT conversion list with 163 during his career. During the drive the Cougars converted two times on third down and used up 8:28 of the clock.

On the following Aztec possession, sophomore linebacker Brandon Ogletree intercepted San Diego State quarterback Ryan Lindley to set up a first-and-10 on the 24-yard line. Kariya scampered in from two yards out on the ensuing offensive possession and the Cougars took a 14-0 after the Payne PAT conversion.

The Aztecs got on the board late in the second quarter when Lindley connected with receiver Vincent Brown for a 36-yard touchdown pass.

The Cougars held the Aztec offense to minus-2 rushing yards in the first half and held San Diego State to 241 yards of total offense on the night.

The Cougars extended their lead by three with 6:21 left in the third quarter on a 29-yard field goal by Payne before the Aztecs answered on fourth down from the Cougar one-yard line with 4:43 left in the third quarter to cut the lead to three.

The Cougars widened their lead to 24-14 at the beginning of the fourth quarter on a 9-play, 67-yard scoring drive that was capped by a 1-yard touchdown run by Kariya, his second touchdown of the game. It was the first two-touchdown game of Kariya’s career.

However, the Aztecs wouldn’t go quietly, scoring on a four-yard pass from Lindley to Brandon Sullivan to draw within three of BYU with 6:27 left in the game before going three and out late in the fourth quarter.

“We all saw them respond and that is gratifying as a coach,” Mendenhall said. “I’m not willing to say we’ve arrived but we did see a difference.”

With the win, BYU improved to 2-4 overall and 1-1 in the Mountain West Conference. The Cougars travel to Fort Worth next week to face off against No. 5 TCU at 3 p.m. CT on Oct. 16.

San Diego State (3-2,0-1) vs. BYU (2-4,1-1)

Date: Oct 09, 2010 Site: Provo, Utah Stadium: LaVell Edwards

Attendance: 62176

Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Score

----------------- -- -- -- -- -----

San Diego State..... 0 7 7 7 - 21 Record: (3-2,0-1)

BYU................. 14 0 3 7 - 24 Record: (2-4,1-1)

Scoring Summary:

1st 04:57 BY - DI LUIGI, JJ 3 yd run (PAYNE, Mitch kick), 19-78 8:28, SDSU 0 - BY 7

02:02 BY - KARIYA, Bryan 2 yd run (PAYNE, Mitch kick), 5-24 2:40, SDSU 0 - BY 14

2nd 05:00 SDSU - BROWN, Vincent 36 yd pass from LINDLEY, Ryan (PEREZ, Abel kick), 2-52 0:31, SDSU 7 - BY 14

3rd 06:21 BY - PAYNE, Mitch 29 yd field goal, 8-38 4:13, SDSU 7 - BY 17

03:43 SDSU - ESCOBAR, Gavin 1 yd pass from LINDLEY, Ryan (PEREZ, Abel kick), 8-83 2:29, SDSU 14 - BY 17

4th 13:43 BY - KARIYA, Bryan 1 yd run (PAYNE, Mitch kick), 9-67 4:51, SDSU 14 - BY 24

06:27 SDSU - SULLIVAN, Brand 4 yd pass from LINDLEY, Ryan (PEREZ, Abel kick), 6-59 2:31, SDSU 21 - BY 24

SDSU BYU

FIRST DOWNS................... 12 24

RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............ 12-53 62-271

PASSING YDS (NET)............. 220 142

Passes Att-Comp-Int........... 36-20-1 23-16-1

TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS..... 48-273 85-413

Fumble Returns-Yards.......... 0-0 0-0

Punt Returns-Yards............ 2-21 4-22

Kickoff Returns-Yards......... 2-38 2-62

Interception Returns-Yards.... 1-0 1-11

Punts (Number-Avg)............ 6-44.3 4-36.8

Fumbles-Lost.................. 1-0 1-1

Penalties-Yards............... 4-37 5-25

Possession Time............... 14:59 45:01

Third-Down Conversions........ 3 of 10 12 of 19

Fourth-Down Conversions....... 1 of 1 1 of 1

Red-Zone Scores-Chances....... 2-2 4-5

Sacks By: Number-Yards........ 2-12 1-9

RUSHING: San Diego State-HILLMAN, Ronnie 11-62; LINDLEY, Ryan 1-minus 9.

BYU-DI LUIGI, JJ 22-134; KARIYA, Bryan 22-85; QUEZADA, Joshua 11-50; HEAPS, Jake

6-4; TEAM 1-minus 2.

PASSING: San Diego State-LINDLEY, Ryan 20-34-1-220; TEAM 0-2-0-0.

BYU-HEAPS, Jake 15-22-1-126; MARSHALL, Matt 1-1-0-16.

RECEIVING: San Diego State-BROWN, Vincent 6-101; SAMPSON, DeMarc 4-47;

SANDIFER, Domin 3-25; SULLIVAN, Brand 3-6; QUIGLEY, Bryce 1-19; DENSO, Dylan

1-12; BROWN, Davon 1-9; ESCOBAR, Gavin 1-1. BYU-JACOBSON, McKay 4-29; MATHEWS,

Marcus 3-43; DI LUIGI, JJ 3-23; KARIYA, Bryan 2-13; MUEHLMANN, Mike 1-16; HAGUE,

Mike 1-10; MAHINA, Devin 1-5; HOFFMAN, Cody 1-3.

INTERCEPTIONS: San Diego State-MCFADDEN, Leon 1-0. BYU-OGLETREE, Brand

1-11.

FUMBLES: San Diego State-PARKER, Larry 1-0. BYU-MATHEWS, Marcus 1-1.

SACKS (UA-A): San Diego State-BURRIS, Miles 2-0. BYU-VAN NOY, Kyle 1-0.

TACKLES (UA-A): San Diego State-LEWIS, Darryn 7-5; YARBROUGH, Marc 7-2;

BERHE, Nat 6-3; SPENCER, Neil 4-3; ANDREWS, Marcus 4-2; BURRIS, Miles 4-2;

KETCHUM, Logan 4-1; DAVIS, Brandon 3-2; STEVENS, Khalid 3-2; AUTELE, J.J. 3-2;

PEREZ, Jose 4-0; BARKSDALE, Deme 3-0; MCFADDEN, Leon 2-1; TENHAEFF, Nick 2-1;

SILUANO, Rene 1-2; PRESTON, Andrew 1-2; LONG, Jerome 2-0; WILLIAMS, B.J. 1-1;

TAUANUU, Jacob 1-1; LAWSON, Ernie 0-2; HILLMAN, Ronnie 1-0; LOCKETT, Colin 1-0;

DENSO, Dylan 1-0; PARKER, Larry 0-1; WADE, Josh 0-1. BYU-LOGAN, Brian 8-0; RICH,

Andrew 2-4; VAN NOY, Kyle 5-0; BRADLEY, Brando 4-1; EASON, Corby 2-0; WAGNER,

Jadon 0-2; MEES, Carter 1-0; JORGENSEN, Aust 1-0; PUTNAM, Matt 1-0; HUNTER,

Shane 0-1; UALE, Travis 0-1; SO'OTO, Vic 0-1; OGLETREE, Brand 0-1; RICHARDSON,

Jordan 0-1.