PROVO, Utah — Max Hall threw three touchdown passes and Harvey Unga ran for 118 yards and a score in No. 20 BYU’s 35-17 victory over Utah State on Friday night.
The Cougars (4-1) capitalized on two critical mistakes by the Aggies deep in their own territory while winning for the 10th consecutive time in the state series.
Utah State (1-3) turned it over on a bad option pitch with 39 seconds left in the first half, and the Cougars stopped the Aggies on fourth-and-1 early in the fourth quarter. Both plays led to quick touchdowns that gave the Cougars a safe cushion even before Hall’s third TD pass gave BYU a 35-10 lead with 2:45 left in the game.
Utah State fell to 1-50 against teams ranked in the AP poll.
Hall was 16-for-23 for 218 yards with the three touchdowns and two interceptions, giving him one more TD pass (11) than interception on the season.
The Cougars also had a fumble on the opening series, which led to a 6-yard touchdown run by quarterback Diondre Borel that gave Utah State a 7-0 lead. Borel added a touchdown pass with three seconds remaining before the Cougars recovered an onside kick and Utah State transfer Riley Nelson took a knee on the final play to end it.
Borel finished 20-of-28 for 213 yards, and Robert Turbin, who ran for 100 yards in each of the first three games of the season, finished with 47 yards on 17 carries.
Utah State 7 0 3 7 — 17
BYU 7 14 0 14 — 35
First quarter: USU — Borel 6 run (Ulinski kick), 10:02. BYU — Pitta 6 pass from Hall (Payne kick), 2:01. Second quarter: BYU — Ashworth 48 pass from Hall (Payne kick), 14:02. BYU — Tonga 3 run (Payne kick), :02. Third quarter: USU — FG Ulinski 20, 8:00. Fourth quarter: BYU — Unga 8 run (Payne kick), 13:00. BYU — Pitta 13 pass from Hall (Payne kick), 2:04. USU — Bowman 16 pass from Borel (Ulinski kick), :00. A — 64,103. USU BYU
First downs 20 22
Rushes-yards 37-109 43-213
Passing 213 218
Comp-att-int 20-30-0 16-23-2
Return yards 19 9
Punts-avg. 5-49.2 3-37.0
Fumbles-lost 2-1 1-1
Penalties-yards 6-55 8-54
Time of possession 28:45 31:15
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Utah St., Turbin 17-47, Borel 16-38, M.Smith 4-24. BYU, Unga 21-118, Tonga 7-31, Di Luigi 4-20, Hall 6-17, Kariya 3-14, R.Nelson 1-13, Team 1-0.
PASSING — Utah St., Borel 20-28-0-213, Team 0-2-0-0. BYU, Hall 16-23-2-218.
RECEIVING — Utah St., Sawyer 4-58, Morrison 3-36, Moats 2-25, Bowman 2-24, Alder 2-20, M.Morgan 2-17, Bartlett 1-11, Mitchell 1-11, Gwacham 1-9, Turbin 1-5, M.Smith 1-(minus 3). BYU, Ashworth 5-91. Pitta 5-83, Chambers 2-15, Tonga 2-14, George 1-9, Hafoka 1-6.
