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  • No. 19 BYU Overcomes a Sluggish First Half to Beat Utah State and Retain the Wagon Wheel

No. 19 BYU Overcomes a Sluggish First Half to Beat Utah State and Retain the Wagon Wheel

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Football

No. 19 BYU football overcame a sluggish first half to stave off Utah State 38-26 at LaVell Edwards Stadium on Thursday night.

Early touchdowns from both the Cougar (4-1) offense and defense gave BYU an early 14-7 lead. The Cougars and Aggies (1-4) slogged through penalties and stymied drives to a 17-17 tie at the half.

BYU set the tone for a win with back-to-back touchdown drives to begin the second half. An 18-yard touchdown run from Christopher Brooks gave BYU an 18-point lead and proved the game-sealer with 8:18 remaining.

Hall went 17-of-27 for 273 yards and three touchdowns, while finding six different receivers. Kody Epps was Hall’s top target on the night. The redshirt freshman from Los Angeles, Calif., hauled-in five receptions for 86 yards and a touchdown, his third in as many weeks.

Wide receiver Gunner Romney returned from an injury suffered in fall camp to record four grabs for 51 yards. Brayden Cosper caught three passes for 56 yards, and Keanu Hill posted two grabs for 46 yards and a touchdown.

Ethan Erickson, a redshirt freshman from Laie, Hawaii recorded both his first-career reception and first-career touchdown on a 14-yard scoring strike from Hall in the third quarter.

Brooks’ 11 carries for 90 yards and a touchdown led BYU on the ground and was supplemented by eight runs for 39 yards from Miles Davis.

Micah Harper and Talan Alfrey tied for the team lead in tackles with 10 a-piece. Harper recorded five solo stops to go along with a forced fumble and a pass break-up. Redshirt freshman Talan Alfrey made his first-career start at safety for the Cougars and made the most of it with his career-high 10 tackles (five solo) and a fumble recovery. Ben Bywater had nine tackles as well as his second interception in three weeks.

Defensive lineman John Nelson wreaked havoc, recording a career-high six tackles (four solo) along with a tackle-for-loss and a pass break-up. Tooley benefitted from that break-up as he took his second interception to the end zone and now leads the nation in pick-sixes.

BYU gained 396 yards on 60 plays, while Utah State put up 392 yards of offense on 81 plays. The Aggies picked up 204 yards on the ground to BYU’s 117. BYU’s passing game out-did the Aggies’ 280-188.

With the win, BYU not only prolongs its hold on the Old Wagon Wheel but moves to 51-37-3 overall against Utah State as well as 29-18-1 against the Aggies at home.