Fui's Field

Saturday the jerseys in blue successfully defended its territory at Lavell Edwards Stadium in a slugfest to remain undefeated against UNLV (4-0) under Bronco Mendenhall in its 11th straight home sellout. Good ole #9 (Austin Collie) got things quickly rollin with a 75 yard opening kickoff return breaking this seasons previous high of 51 when O'neill Chambers took some serious chunks of yards off the field against Northern Iowa. Marching down a short field Max Hall completed his opening drive with a 8 yard TD completion to Andrew George placing the Cougars on the board first. (Photo Credit goes to Scott G Winterton)

On the day Hall had an efficient day "at the office". Max threw for 4 TDs with no INTs on 30 attempts with 24 receptions putting him at a 186.4 efficiency rating (per Wrubell). It was definately gratifying to see Hall spread the wealth around (9 different receivers) while making the most of the Cougars opportunities. BYU was perfect 6 of 6 in the "blue" zone.

After the dust had finally settled from the matchup the receiving corps had amassed 247 yards. Collie had yet another phenomenal game dissecting the rebel secondary in his 6th straight 100 yard receiving contest (113 for the record). Late in the 1st quarter O'neill Chambers caught his first TD (I'd assume/hope there will be MANY more to come as well) as a Cougar on 20 yd pass from Hall. Reed caught 5 for 71 yards even blocking for a Max Hall 31 yard scamper in the second quarter. Although, Pitta seemed to be AWOL until the forth quarter when he grabbed a 6 yard TD pass. Kudos to the coaching staff for opening the playbook (reverse, Collie pass to Reed, etc) even just a little bit more than usual. Always nice to keep defenses honest on their heels not knowing what to expect. (Photo Credit goes to Scott G Winterton)

While the road graters in the offensive trenches were busy clearing the paths the ground game was a beautiful site to see. Di Luigi was able to add a phenomenal block. Harvey bruised for 82 yards with solo TD. It seemed like the spotlight though was on Fui. Concerning his OL Fui mentioned "They just exploded and the holes were just right there. You could fit an elephant through that". Vakapuna on the ground bulldozed for 71 yards on the day including a TD reception.

For the day the special teams were more than adequate although there is always room for improvement. Freshman Bryan Kariya was able to block a punt allowing the Cougars to capitalize. Santiago had a beautiful punt pinning UNLV deep in its own territory. Payne drilled 2 field goals while his PATs were 4 of 4 perfect. On the other hand there were too many short field's for the rebels from kickoffs heading out of bounds.

Between the 20s the defensive clamps came down on Frank "The Tank" only allowing 32 yards on the day. However, in its place Omar Clayton threw for over 350 yards up and down the field on the "bend don't break" defense. It took a sack by Matt "The Stork" Putnam on Clayton and a desperation heave INT by Andrew Rich in the south endzone as the final seconds ticked off the clock to stop the bleeding. Afterwards Coach Sanford acknowledged "We just didn't make enough plays. Unfortunately, that's been a recurring theme" his rebels shortcoming giving them their 4th straight loss.

Next week the Cougs travel to the rocky mountain state and will take on pesky Colorado State and new coach Steve Fairchild at 4 pm in a matchup that will be televised on "The Mountain". Fairchild served as the OC for the Buffalo Bills the last two years. BYU is 36 and 27 overall against the rams in a series that began back in 1922.