71. 12/18/10 – New Mexico Bowl: BYU – 52, UTEP – 24

            The BYU Cougars (6-6) barely qualified for a bowl game after a difficult year that saw them lose to both of their in-state rivals and finish their final MWC season with a 5-3 record. As a result, they faced former WAC rival UTEP (6-6) in the New Mexico Bowl. It would be the Cougars’ sixth straight bowl game under Coach Bronco Mendenhall. Meanwhile, it was the Miners’ first bowl game since 2005. Although the Cougars had dominated their all-time series against the Miners (28-7-1), the two teams hadn’t faced off in 12 years.

After the Cougar Defense forced a punt in UTEP’s opening possession, the Offense took over at the UTEP 37 following a 43-yard punt return by J.D. Falslev. Four plays later, following a 31-yard reception by Cody Hoffman, Bryan Kariya pounded up the middle for 4 yards and the game’s first score. On their second possession, Freshman QB Jake Heaps directed a 12-play, 78-yard drive that culminated with a 9-yard TD pass to Luke Ashworth. A 72-yard kickoff return by UTEP placed the ball on the Cougar 22 to start UTEP’s next possession. The Cougar D stepped up big, forcing the Miners back 13 yards in 3 downs. However, the Miners’ kicker, Dakota Warren, nailed a 52-yard FG to salvage 3 points from the “drive.” The Cougars responded with a FG of their own - a 38-yarder by Mitch Payne to finish the first quarter with a 17-3 lead.

The Cougars started the second quarter on the right foot, with an interception by Brandon Ogletree at the UTEP 31. The Cougars struck fast, with Heaps leading WR Cody Hoffman with a long strike to the left side of the end zone for a 31-yard TD reception. Meanwhile, the Cougar D forced the Miner offense to go in reverse for the fourth straight possession. Heaps then led the Cougs on on their fifth straight scoring drive (64 yards), with Hoffman once again doing the honors with a 3-yard TD reception. The Miners finally struck it rich, going 67 yards in one go-for-broke pass from Trevor Vittatoe to Kris Adams for their first TD of the afternoon. The play must have inspired the Miner Defense because they finally forced a Cougar punt, and followed it up by intercepting Heaps in the final minute of the half. The Miners drove to the Cougar 3 but the ferocious Cougar D kept them out of the end zone. Despite the hiccup, the Cougars led 31-10 at the half.

When the Cougars came back out for the third, Heaps led a controlled 14-play, 75-yard drive that ate more than 6 minutes of clock time, and was punctuated by a pitch to  JJ DiLuigi, who swept his way into the right side of the end zone for a 2-yard TD rush. The Miners responded with a faster paced drive, culminating with a 37-yard TD pass to Kris Adams. After a rare Cougar punt, another Cougar interception in Miner territory, by Andrew Rich, set up another short field for Heaps and company. Heaps lofted a third down pass toward Hoffman, who outjumped the defender to complete the 29-yard TD play (his third TD reception of the day), giving the Cougars a commanding 45-17 lead through three.

BYU wasn’t quite ready to coast. Instead, they started off the fourth with a 65-yard drive. Joshua Quezada put his name on the score sheet with a rumbling 8-yard rush that pushed the lead to 35. The Vittatoe-Adams connection reared its head for the third time, midway through the fourth, for a 49-yard TD pass. After that, the defenses took charge.

Cody Hoffman
2010 New Mexico Bowl
Courtesy of BYU Photo

The Cougars absolutely dominated the Miners in the 52-24 blowout, rolling out 514 yards of offense, while the defense held the Miners to minus-12 yards rushing. Senior safety Andrew Rich earned defensive MVP honors with 2 interceptions, for 43 yards, and a sack. QB Jake Heaps earned offensive MVP honors after throwing 4 touchdown passes – three to WR Cody Hoffman (who racked up a BYU bowl record 262 All-Purpose Yards) – as the Cougars scored a school bowl record 52 points.

 Game highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khZjMtW8t00


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Cougar Centennial preview

 This blog is dedicated to highlighting the 100 greatest games in BYU Cougar football history. I've been a BYU fan since I was a little kid, and attended the university from 1992-1996. When I realized that 2022 was the 100th anniversary of BYU's first official football game, I decided to compile a list of the 100 greatest games in the program's history (from 1922-2021) and do a write-up for each of those games. I did something similar for the 50th anniversary of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, and figured I'd share my efforts with other BYU fans out there. Throughout the blog, I will be referring to Top 25 (or Top 20 prior to the expansion of the polls) rankings of either BYU or the teams they played. I realize that there are a couple of major polls, and even a few less famous ones, but for consistency sake I've decided to use the AP poll as the official ranking (even though BYU tends to be appreciated more by the coaches' poll). Also, many posts refer to the...
Read more

#98 - 11/1/80 – Most points in a game: #17 BYU – 83, UTEP - 7

Image
Junior QB Jim McMahon didn’t like to share the limelight with anyone. Yet that is exactly what he’d had to do in Provo. When Jim arrived in 1977, he found himself the backup to Marc Wilson, who enjoyed a spectacular sophomore season. The next year, the two QBs shared time behind center. That didn’t work out so well, so McMahon redshirted in 1979 - Wilson’s senior season. The result was the first undefeated regular season in team history. Now, it was Jim’s turn, and he wanted to break every single one of Wilson’s records, as well as set a bunch of new ones. Unfortunately, the Cougars started the 1980 season with a surprise loss to lightly regarded New Mexico. The loss served as a wake-up call to BYU, who were universally picked to repeat as WAC champions. The Cougars rolled out six straight victories, including a 28-3 win over Wisconsin on Sept. 20. These were convincing wins - with a minimum margin of victory of 16+ points. However, the Cougs didn’t break into the Top 20 until Oct. 18,...
Read more

#100 12/28/74 – BYU's first Bowl game: Oklahoma St. - 16, #17 BYU – 6

Image
               When the BYU Cougars (7-3-1) started the 1974 season with a 0-3-1 record, nobody would have guessed that they’d come back and win the WAC. However, since their 3 losses were against non-conference schools, they successfully won the conference title with a 6-0-1 record by knocking off two ranked teams (Arizona & Arizona State). As the winner of the WAC, the Cougars were invited to their first bowl game, to face the Oklahoma State Cowboys (6-5) of the Big 8 in the fourth annual Fiesta Bowl.                In the first quarter, the Cougar D corralled the Cowboys, forcing punts on each of the Cowboys first 5 possessions. The Cougar offense, meanwhile, moved the ball well early on. Senior QB Gary Sheide led the Cougars to the Cowboy 13, where Mark Uselman booted a 30-yard  field goal. Although they punted on their second possession, the Cougars took advantage of good field positi...
Read more