BYU continues winning streak against Utah St, 34-14

In a game that was never a question for BYU fans, Utah State made the score look like it was a lot closer than it really was. The BYU defense shut out the Aggies for the first three quarters, but allowed two scores in the fourth quarter after defensive capitain David Nixon left the game with an injury.

BYU started this game quickly scoring 24 points in the first quarter. The defense forced USU to punt on their first posession. After that it only took three plays for Max Hall to find Austin Collie. Collie hauled in the pass and turned the corner on two USU defenders to go 76 yards for the touchdown.

That was just the beginning of the first quarter scoring frenzy for BYU. On the next USU posession, quarterback Diondre Borel fumbled the football. BYU defensive back, Brandon Bradley, scooped up the ball and ran it 35 yards for the touchdown. On the next USU posession, the BYU defense caused another fumble, and the offense capitalized with a 44 yard field goal by Mitch Payne. USU's next posession was ended on the first play when David Nixon intercepted a pass. The offense took one play to score. Harvey Unga ran it in from 11 yards out to make the score 24-0 at the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter was really rather boring, with no points being scored by either team. The third quarter picked up with BYU scoring 10 more points, putting them ahead 34-0 and continuing an 11 quarter shutout. It ended, however, in the fourth quarter, when the BYU defense looked like it was playing its first game of the season. They allowed two scores, and almost three. USU put one in the end zone with only a few seconds on the clock, but it was called back by a penalty. BYU ended the last play of the game by sacking QB Diondre Borel.

This game reminded me of Nick Saban's comments on his Alabama team's big win over Georgia a week ago. He said that the game was a coaches dream because they won the game, but his team played so poorly in the second half that he still had so much to work on in practice. I imagine Bronco Mendenhall has similar feelings. I'm sure he was happy to win the game, but probably walked out of the stadium with a list of things to work on before they take on New Mexico next week.

Player of the Game
Austin Collie
Collie hauled in 8 passes for 132 yards and two touchdowns. His long of 76 was a signature play that will show up on Collie's highlight reel for years. Although Pitta appeared to be Hall's favorite target as the season opened, Collie has now emerged as the top BYU reciever.