Let's be honest. We were expecting BYU to come away with a big win (and the score was close to Nathan's predictions of 42-17), so it didn't come as too much of a shock that we did. But it was definitely a heartening experience.
The Game
The first quarter was close. MTSU started the game with an unnerving 49 yard kick-off return to the Cougar 40, which lead to a field goal in just the first 3 minutes in the game. Adam Hine answered with a 90-yard return of his own, called back for a penalty, putting us on the 15 yard line for the first possession. BYU scored, bringing the score up to 7-3. From then on, possessions remained stagnant until MTSU came back for a touchdown at the end of the quarter, 7-10.
In the second quarter, BYU drove yet again to the red zone and fell short within just a couple yards of the end zone. Kyle Van Noy stepped up for the safety, 9-10 BYU. Midway through Taysom ran in a score himself to bring the score up to 15-10. Sorensen kicked true, 16-10. At the end of the quarter, BYU began to pull away when they scored yet another touchdown (Alisa rush this time), 23-10 BYU.
The second half. As you can imagine from the final score, BYU continued scoring throughout the rest of the game while keeping MTSU from scoring again. BYU closed the night with over double the amount of yards (486 - 212), 22 - 13 on first downs, 177 - 105 passing yards, 309 - 107 in rushing, on only 26:12 of possession time versus MTSU's 33:48. Overall it was a good victory for the Cougars as it prepares us for next week's game against Utah State.
Points of Interest
Taysom Had a Good Game.
Taysom did well in his throwing game. It's true. 14 of 19 throws were caught, cmp % 73.7 (nearly double that of his last game), for 177 yards on the night.
He also rushed for 165 yards and scored twice. There's a reason he's been rated as #3 leader in rushing on ESPN.
Red Zone Trouble
We still ran into some trouble in the red zone as we got within 5 yards of the goal line twice and managed to miss the mark. Two turnovers, but one ended up better than we could have hoped.
Kyle Van Noy Safety
The 37 points weren't all from the offense this game. After one of our red zone turnovers, Kyle Van Noy pounded through the offensive line and tripped up the running back in the end zone for a Safety.
Falslev Kick-off Return for a Touchdown
Falslev loves his punt returns for touchdowns (Did you see him against TCU last year?) even if they don't always pan out (like in the game against Utah last week). This week though, he got what he came for, a 71-yard punt return for a touchdown last night.
Adam Hine Injury
Unfortunately our game was not as clean as we had hoped it would be. Adam Hine, another running back whom we had high hopes for for this game, is out with a concussion. In the first quarter, Hine made a block against a MTSU player during a kick-off return and went down with an injury. He did not return to the game and we'll have to see how he fares in the coming weeks before we'll know when he'll be fit to go.
On the injury side, Jamaal Williams did not make a return appearance to the game as he is still out for his heart-stopping injury last week.
Cody Hoffman also didn't play due to a 1-game suspension for violation of team rules.