The BYU Cougars rushed for almost 400 yards in a 47-0 rout of the Hawaii Warriors on Friday night in Provo.
BYU's drought of 100-yard rushers was pulled down rather quickly tonight. Seventeen-year-old freshman Jamaal Williams posted 97 rushing yards in the first two quarters, leaving BYU three yards short of having two 100-yard rushers in just the first half, as Taysom Hill rampaged all over the Hawaii defense, including a 68-yard touchdown run.
Williams' extended minutes came, however, because Michael Alisa broke his right forearm early in the first quarter.
Jamaal ended the night with 155 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries, while Hill had 141 yards and one touchdown with the same number of carries. Sophomore and former rugby player Paul Lasike also added a fun 40 yards and two touchdowns in the second half.
Hill's performance through the air was okay, but showed plenty of room for improvement. He finished 12-21 for 112 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception. The biggest flaw was probably under-throwing Cody Hoffman on two deep balls, either of which could have gone for a score.
Meanwhile, BYU's defense was staunch. Sure, Hawaii isn't great. But while Nevada allowed the Warriors 378 yards, and USC allowed 264, BYU gave Hawaii only 148 yards. It's still impressive. This defense is consistently holding opponents to between 100-150 yards below their averages against other opponents.
The Cougar defense ("Zion Curtain") has also not allowed any points for 136 minutes, which is just over 9 quarters of football.
Overall, it's all you could ask. The defense dominated, Hill got some experience, and the Cougars posted a 47-0 blowout win.
Now ... if we can just get Bronco Mendenhall to see it would take a perfect Riley Nelson to be better than Hill was.