Provo, Utah – Never mind that Mountain West Conference showdown Nov. 5 of potentially unbeaten Colorado State and TCU.
Brigham Young interrupted CSU’s three-game winning streak by hanging on to a 24-14 decision over the perpetually late-starting Rams before a homecoming crowd of 58,165 at LaVell Edwards Stadium.
Curtis Brown danced through a gaping hole on third-and-goal from the 2 with 2:07 left for a 10-point advantage. The Cougars’ rushing attack, which entered the game last in MWC rushing, piled up 274 yards on the ground while MWC passing leader John Beck threw only 18 passes for 168 yards.
CSU (3-3, 2-1) waited too long for any semblance of offense. After Brown’s last TD, the Rams were driving again, but Johnny Walker fumbled a pass reception on the CSU 44 with 1:42 left.
“Tonight it was too late,” said offensive coordinator Dan Hammerschmidt. “Last week it was almost lost too late.”
After a virtually lifeless offensive display for nearly the first three quarters, it took a fourth-and-7 conversion and a bizarre fumble exchange upheld by instant replay for CSU to force itself into BYU’s red zone for the first time.
Justin Holland hit Walker for 13 yards to the Cougars 23 on fourth-and-seven. Three plays later, Holland fumbled the snap and several BYU players dived for it only to have wide receiver David Anderson come up with it for 5-yard gain, setting up fourth-and-one at the 14.
Holland rifled the ball to Kory Sperry, who dived in the right corner of the end zone for the score on the final play of the third quarter, making it 17-7 BYU.
The defense answered by forcing BYU’s only punt of the night, and Holland came back with a six-play, 63-yard drive capped by a 19-yard pass to Anderson. With 9 minutes left, the Rams trailed 17-14 as BYU’s momentum all but slipped away.
“We should be able to hang 30 points on anybody,” said Holland. “I feel terrible for the defense. They held a high-scoring team to 24 points when BYU scored 50 on TCU.”
Holland blamed “drive killer” holding penalties and sacks for the slow start. “We’re pretty good at stopping ourselves,” he said.
CSU couldn’t get its running game going, with MWC rushing leader Kyle Bell held to 36 yards on just nine carries.
CSU coach Sonny Lubick preferred to give the credit to BYU (3-3, 2-2), which is still learning a new offensive system.
“The big problem is we had a hard time stopping their running game,” Lubick said. “We put ourselves in difficult situations. We never did get in a rhythm.”
BYU extended its lead to 17-0 on a 27-yard Jared McLaughlin field goal with 6:40 left in the third quarter. It was the biggest deficit CSU faced since losing 56-24 to Minnesota in the second week of the season. But then the Cougars came in with the Mountain West’s most-anemic ground game, and before long looked as dominant as Minnesota’s nationally ranked rushing assault.
For CSU it was a familiar pattern of slow starts on offense while Kyle Bell warmed up. A week ago the Rams had only three points to show in the first three quarters.
Holland was sacked three times in the unproductive first half, matching the season total allowed by CSU.
Colorado State 0 0 7 7 – 14
BYU 0 14 3 7 – 24
Second quarter: BYU – Brown 4 run (McLaughlin kick), 12:27. BYU – Coats 2 pass from Beck (McLaughlin kick), 1:32. Third quarter: CSU – Sperry 14 pass from Holland (Mark kick), :01. Fourth quarter: CSU – Anderson 19 pass from Holland (Mark kick), 9:00. BYU – Brown 2 run (McLaughlin kick), 2:07. A – 58,165.
CSU | BYU
First downs 15 23
Rushes-yards 21-30 52-274
Passing 281 168
Comp-Att-Int 22-30-0 13-18-1
Return Yards 9 3
Punts-Avg. 4-45 1-38
Fumbles-Lost 4-1 2-1
Penalties-Yards 8-50 6-55
Time of Possession 24:48 35:12
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING – Colorado St, Bell 9-36, Ohaeri 3-17, Walker 1-6, Green 1-2, Holland 7-(-31). BYU, Brown 31-147, Tahi 14-86, Beck 5-37, Meikle 1-4, team 1-0.
PASSING – Colorado St, Holland 22-30-0-281. BYU, Beck 13-18-1-168.
RECEIVING – Colorado St, Walker 8-100, Anderson 5-54, Sperry 3-42. Hill 3-24, Osborn 1-19, Roberts 1-19, Green 1-4, Morton 0-9. BYU. Harline 4-81, Tahi 2-17, Coats 2-14, Ashworth 1-23, Collie 1-13. Griffin 1-13, Reed 1-4, Allen 1-3.
Staff writer Natalie Meisler can be reached at 303-820-1295 or nmeisler@denverpost.com.
