BYU defeats Northern Iowa 41-17

This afternoon BYU won its second straight season opener extending the nation's longest winning streak to 11. The win, however, wasn't as simple as many expected it to be. The Northern Iowa Panthers put up a good fight against the nationally ranked Cougars.

“I give Northern Iowa credit,” said Mendenhall. “I think they are a very good team and coach [Mark] Farley does a great job with them. They are physical and their quarterback had an outstanding game in terms of heart.”

In the first half, BYU fans felt it was all their game. After the first two periods, BYU led the contest 27-3. All BYU right? Not quite. In the third quarter, UNI showed they came to play. A crazy reverse/wide reciever pass put UNI on the board in the third quarter. But that wasn't the worst part of BYU's third quarter. The Cougars were plauged with mistakes during the quarter, including 4 fumbles (3 recovered by UNI). One of those fumbles occured when Max Hall was hit in the back in his own end zone. UNI fell on the ball and 6 points went on the board. In the fourth, BYU started to put it back together. Two late scores put BYU well in front and ended the game 41-17.

Key Players
Max Hall and Dennis Pitta were the duo of the day. They connected 11 times for 213 yards, with an average of almost 20 yards per pass. Bronco even noted in the post game show that they planned their offense so that a defense could not cover all of the key positions. UNI chose to play the run and the wide outs. Therefore, they wouldn't be able to cover the tight end, which is exactly what happened.

Areas of Improvement
Ball Security. The first game jitters showed in the third quarter. Vetrans and rookies alike had problems holding on to the ball. “Ball security was one of the things we can improve on, and with that being different, most likely the game would have been much more convincing,” commented Mendenhall. “We saw enough mistakes and things that we can certainly improve on over the next week.”

Next Week
A test. BYU faces Washington on the road. The past two years, BYU has not won a single non-conference road game. This well be the real test of what BYU is made of.