35. 10/19/19 - Injury-laden Cougars get big win over #14 Boise St.: BYU - 28, #14 Boise St. - 25

            The BYU Cougars (2-4) had already managed two upset victories over big name teams (#24 USC & Tennessee) when they hosted #14 Boise State (6-0). However, they also had humiliating losses to Toledo and South Florida. The injury-plagued Cougars were also without starting QB Zach Wilson. In his place, freshman Baylor Romney made his first career start against the vaunted Broncos.

Boise started their opening drive on their own 30, and galloped up the field. CT Thomas completed the drive with a 12-yard TD rush. The Cougars responded, stalking 78 yards on a 16-play drive that was kept alive when Romney escaped the grasp of one defender, scrambled out of the pocket and heaved a 22-yard pass to Talon Shumway for a first down. After reaching the Blue Zone, Romney and Shumway completed another first down on third-and-12, setting up a first-and-goal. On second down, Lopini Katoa took the handoff and threaded his way through the fray for a 4-yard TD rush, knotting up the score at 7-7. The Cougar D interrupted Boise’s next drive with an interception by Isaiah Kaufusi. The Cougars drove to the Bronco 6 as the quarter ended, flipping the field.

Unfortunately, the Cougars drive was derailed when an apparent TD scramble by Romney was nullified by a holding penalty. After Katoa was caught in the backfield on third-and-long, the Cougars were compelled to attempt a long FG that failed. Both defenses controlled the line throughout the second quarter, forcing punt after punt until late in the half, when the Broncos notched a 38-yard FG right before halftime to take a 3-point lead into intermission.

The Cougars, came out of the break reinvigorated, busting out three TD in the third quarter alone. After crossing midfield on their initial drive, Romney pitched the ball to Sione Finau on the option play. Finau used his blockers to streak down the middle of the field untouched for a 46-yard TD rumble that capped a 75-yard drive. The Broncos tried to answer, but their FGA sailed wide left. The Cougars began their next drive with a 39-yard pass to Talon Shumway. On fourth-and-one at the 27-yard line, the Bronco D crowded the line to stop the power rush. Romney took the snap and stayed low, as if he’d fumbled the snap, and shuffled back several yards before rising up and lobbing the ball over the scrum to TE Matt Bushman, who was wide-open after escaping the melee. Bushman outraced his single pursuer for the touchdown. BYU got the ball back when Jackson Kaufusi intercepted another errant throw, returning it ten yards to the Boise 41. *On second down, Romney handed off to Katoa, who pitched it back to WR Hifo Aleva on the reverse, who pitched it back to Romney. The nifty flea-flicker ruse allowed the play to develop downfield as the Broncos tried to figure out who had the ball. Meanwhile, Bushman had again managed to break free of his defender, caught Romney’s throw at the 13 and fought off his pursuer while crossing into the end zone for a 39-yard reception (#80).

TE Matt Bushman
Courtesy of BYU Photo

QB Baylor Romney
Courtesy of BYU Photo


Down, but not out, Boise tried to organize a fourth quarter comeback. They immediately responded to BYU’s third TD strike with an 81-yard drive that ended with a 13-yard TD pass to Octavius Evans in the back corner of the end zone. Rather than take the safe one-point play, the Broncos went for two, completing the play with a short pass to Garrett Collingham. Meanwhile, the BYU offense went into safety mode, piling up a grand total of 13 yards in the fourth quarter. With 6:41 remaining, Boise State organized one more long drive, a 79-yard march punctuated by a 5-yard TD catch by Akilian Butler, pulling the Broncos within 3. Clinging on to their 3-point lead, the Cougars were initially granted a first down on a third-and-one play in which the officials gave them a favorable spot. However, Boise State challenged the placement and won, making it fourth down and one, at their own 34-yard line with 2:17 remaining. Rather than punt, the Cougars went to their bag of trick plays. BYU DB Austin Kafentzis took the snap and climbed the pile to reset first down. From there, BYU went to the Victory Formation for the final plays to outlast the Broncos for a big 28-25 win.

The win jump-started the Cougars, who ran off a string of 5 consecutive wins to finish the season with a 7-5 record, earning an invite to the Hawai’i Bowl. Unfortunately, they lost the game to the hosting Warriors to finish the season at 7-6. The Boise State Broncos went on to finish the season as the MWC champions, with a 12-2 record and #23 ranking.

 Game highlights link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sFhhigEfAs

 *BYU Tv's Top 100 plays in BYU Football TV history (updated 12/12/20 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYzgPw-bQ_c)

 

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