65. 9/9/99 – Last Minute win: BYU – 35, Washington – 28

             The opening game of the 1999 season pitted the BYU Cougars against the Washington Huskies. Although the Cougars defeated the Huskies in their initial meeting in 1985 (less than a year after beating them out for the national championship), the Huskies had defeated the Cougars in their next four match-ups, including in each of the previous three seasons. Donning their newly designed, tan-accented “bib” uniforms, the Cougars took to field hoping to start the new season, as members of the newly formed Mountain West Conference, with a win over a quality non-conference opponent.

The Cougars seemed to get off to a great start, with QB Kevin Feterik directing a 14-play, 73-yard drive deep into Husky territory, extended by a “running into the kicker” call and a 29-yard third down completion to Margin Hooks. Unfortunately, the drive stalled at the Husky 10, where the Cougars’ FGA went wide left. The Cougar D, led by Rob “Freight Train” Morris, then did its job, forcing a second Husky punt, but a Cougar touched the ball as it bounced into the end zone, and the Huskies special-teams pounced on it for a touchdown. After one quarter of play, Washington led 7-0.

As the second quarter began, the Cougars, courtesy of some key catches by Margin Hooks, were camped out in the Blue Zone. On third-and-6, from the 16-yard line, Feterik rolled left, then fired toward the end zone. Jonathan Pittman came back for the ball, then thrust himself over the goal line to tie the score. On their next drive, the Cougars advanced 83 yards, scoring on a 5-yard pass from Feterik to to an unguarded Margin Hooks. Unfortunately, the extra point attempt was blocked. Their next drive went 68 yards, but once again fizzled with a missed FGA. Meanwhile, the Cougar D prowled the line, forcing punt after punt. At halftime, the Cougars entered the locker room with only a 13-7 lead, despite having outgained Washington 295-80 in total yards in the half.

The Cougars started off the third quarter with another long drive, going 80 yards, with freshman Luke Staley punctuating the drive with a 9-yard TD rush. Washington responded with a 35-yard TD pass from Marques Tuiasosopo to Todd Elstrom. The Cougars struck back by mounting another 80-yard scoring drive. Staley once again did the honors, bursting through the line with an 11-yard TD rush. After three quarters of play, BYU led 27-14. 

In the fourth quarter, Washington stormed back with 14 unanswered points, aided by costly Cougar turnovers. Tuiasosopo capped an 88-yard drive with a 5-yard TD rush. After Feterik tossed up a costly interception deep in Cougar territory, Tuiasosopo scored again with a 3-yard rush to give the Huskies a 1-point lead. After starting the game with 7 drives of more than fifty yards, the Cougar offense was finally contained with drives of -8 (the interception) and 4 yards (their first punt). Luckily, the Cougar D, which had only allowed two drives in excess of 30 yards, held the Huskies to 3, forcing them to punt the ball back with 2 1/2 minutes remaining. The Cougars then marched 89 yards on seven plays: a first down completion to Carlos Nuno for 14, a first down pass to Luke Staley for 17, three straight incompletions, and a first down completion on fourth-and-10 to Ben Horton, who was initially short of the line, but turned and plowed ahead for a 12 yard gain. After a pass interference call on Washington moved the ball 8 yards to the Husky 38, Feterik dropped back and headed to the right before turning and scrambling left, then letting loose a 38-yard TD strike to Chris Hale, who caught it in the end zone with 1:16 remaining for the first catch of his career. They then converted the 2-point play to Doug Jolley to forge a 7-point lead. Still, the Huskies had time to respond, and drove into the Red Zone. On third-and-2, at the Cougar 11, with 0:09 remaining, Byron Frisch blitzed the QB, who was flagged for intentional grounding. The Huskies had one shot remaining, sitting at the Cougar 19 with 5 ticks on the clock. The pass sailed over the end zone as the clock ran out.

Kevin Feterik
Courtesy of BYU Photo

Margin Hooks
Courtesy of BYU Photo

Feterik finished the game with 501 yards and 3 TD passes, completing passes to 12 different receivers. The Cougars, who jumped into the polls at #25, would go on to finish the season with an 8-4 record, tying for first place in the newly formed MWC with a 5-2 record.

Game link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kSet0KoWrs

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