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PROVO, Utah -- The BYU football team won 23-17 over the Washington Huskies in front of a sell-out crowd of 63,771 Saturday night for its first win of the season.

Sophomore Eathyn Manumaleuna tipped a pass on a Washington fourth-down attempt that fell incomplete at the BYU 27-yard line with 1:55 left in the game. After BYU held the Huskies scoreless for the second half, the Cougars were able to hold on for the victory.

“I was proud of our team tonight; it was a complete victory,” BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall said. “Our offense played well enough to win, our defense played well enough to win, and we won the field-position battle.”

The duo of Cougar quarterbacks, Jake Heaps and Riley Nelson, proved to be successful, ending up with identical passing yardage. The freshman Heaps finished 13-of-23 for 131 yards while Nelson went 11-of-17 for 131 yards and two touchdowns. Nelson’s ground game added 45 yards on eight carries.

“There was no script," Mendenhall said of BYU's two-quarterback system. "Riley was going to take the first series and Jake the second and we just went from there. They both looked poised and confident, regardless of the drive.”

Junior JJ Di Luigi had a big night for the Cougars, coming up with 152 all-purpose yards. Di Luigi caught four passes for 83 yards and touchdown, while adding 13 rushes for 69 yards.

“JJ Di Luigi met my expectations,” Mendenhall said. “It’s great to see a player that labors in the program and battles and finally does really well.”

After keeping Washington off the board in the third, BYU’s defense again held the Husky offense scoreless for the fourth quarter. Senior safety Andrew Rich totaled nine tackles while senior linebacker Shane Hunter added nine of his own. Junior linebacker Jordan Pendleton had eight tackles including half a sack. Senior defensive back Brian Logan contributed with three pass breakups on the night.

“Coach Jaime Hill called a great game,” Mendenhall said. “I was really impressed with the job he did. I have not been in a defensive meeting so it was great to see it come together.”

The Huskies got on the board first with 10:02 left in the first quarter with a seven play, 73-yard drive. Quarterback Jake Locker finished off the drive by completing a 19-yard touchdown pass to receiver Jermaine Kearse.

BYU nabbed its first score of the game on a safety with a botched snap by the Huskies. With 4:30 left in the first quarter, the snap went high over punter Will Mahan’s head, rolling 39 yards into the end zone before Mahan tossed the ball out of the back of the end zone to give BYU two points.

The Cougars scored again on a 22-yard field goal by Mitch Payne with 31 seconds left in the first quarter. Heaps was 3-for-5 for 46 yards on the drive before an incomplete pass on third down inside the Washington 5-yard line brought out the field goal unit.

In the second quarter, Nelson was able to march the Cougars down the field for their first touchdown of the day. Nelson found true freshman Joshua Quezada for his first career reception, a nine-yard touchdown pass in the back of the end zone to give BYU its first lead of the game. Nelson scrambled to convert the two-point conversion to put the Cougars up 13-7.

Washington answered back with Locker running for a nine-yard scramble to the end zone to put the Huskies back on top with 8:43 left until half. Kicker Erik Folk added to the Washington lead with a 54-yard field goal to end the half, putting the Huskies up 17-13.

After stopping the Huskies first drive of the second half, Heaps led the Cougars on a 58-yard scoring drive that ended in a 29-yard field goal by Payne. The 11-play drive featured Di Luigi running for 28 yards on three carries and Bryan Kariya picking up 14 yards on three attempts.

BYU’s tandem of quarterbacks continued the scoring soon after with Nelson finding Di Luigi over the middle for a 48-yard touchdown strike to put the Cougars back on top 23-17 for good with 4:23 left in the third quarter.

Washington's Locker had 266 yards on 20-of-37 passing and one touchdown, with 29 yards and another touchdown on 11 carries. Running back Chris Polk picked up 92 yards on 16 carries to lead the Huskies. Kearse added 108 yards receiving on five catches and one touchdown.

Next week BYU travels to Colorado Springs to take on Air Force on Saturday at 2 p.m. The game will be televised live on VERSUS.

BYU vs. Washington

Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Score

----------------- -- -- -- -- -----

Washington.......... 7 10 0 0 - 17 Record: (0-1)

BYU................. 5 8 10 0 - 23 Record: (1-0)

Scoring Summary:

1st 10:02 WASH - Kearse, J. 19 yd pass from Locker, Jake (Folk, Erik kick), 7-73 3:03, WASH 7 - BY 0

04:30 BY - TEAM safety, , WASH 7 - BY 2

00:31 BY - PAYNE, Mitch 22 yd field goal, 9-66 3:53, WASH 7 - BY 5

2nd 12:08 BY - QUEZADA, Joshua 9 yd pass from NELSON, Riley (NELSON, Riley rush), 8-47 2:36, WASH 7 - BY 13

08:43 WASH - Locker, Jake 9 yd run (Folk, Erik kick), 9-80 3:25, WASH 14 - BY 13

00:00 WASH - Folk, Erik 54 yd field goal, 11-63 1:55, WASH 17 - BY 13

3rd 06:59 BY - PAYNE, Mitch 29 yd field goal, 11-58 5:33, WASH 17 - BY 16

04:23 BY - DI LUIGI, JJ 48 yd pass from NELSON, Riley (PAYNE, Mitch kick), 3-48 0:56, WASH 17 - BY 23

WASH BY

FIRST DOWNS................... 20 23

RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............ 31-128 33-146

PASSING YDS (NET)............. 266 262

Passes Att-Comp-Int........... 39-20-0 40-24-0

TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS..... 70-394 73-408

Fumble Returns-Yards.......... 0-0 0-0

Punt Returns-Yards............ 0-0 2-26

Kickoff Returns-Yards......... 3-20 4-72

Interception Returns-Yards.... 0-0 0-0

Punts (Number-Avg)............ 6-45.2 6-37.2

Fumbles-Lost.................. 2-0 2-0

Penalties-Yards............... 5-66 6-60

Possession Time............... 27:48 32:12

Third-Down Conversions........ 5 of 15 5 of 16

Fourth-Down Conversions....... 0 of 3 1 of 1

Red-Zone Scores-Chances....... 2-2 3-3

Sacks By: Number-Yards........ 0-0 1-4

RUSHING: Washington-Polk, Chris 16-92; Callier, Jesse 2-40; Locker, Jake

11-29; Fogerson, Johri 1-6; Mahan, Will 1-minus 39. BYU-DI LUIGI, JJ 13-69;

NELSON, Riley 8-45; KARIYA, Bryan 8-20; CHAMBERS, O'Nei 1-8; HEAPS, Jake 1-6;

TEAM 2-minus 2.

PASSING: Washington-Locker, Jake 20-37-0-266; Aguilar, Devin 0-1-0-0;

TEAM 0-1-0-0. BYU-HEAPS, Jake 13-23-0-131; NELSON, Riley 11-17-0-131.

RECEIVING: Washington-Kearse, J. 5-108; Aguilar, Devin 5-57; Bruns, Cody

3-25; Callier, Jesse 2-15; Polk, Jordan 1-25; Izbicki, Chris 1-15; Sylvester, A.

1-9; Polk, Chris 1-7; Goodwin, D. 1-5. BYU-ASHWORTH, Luke 6-24; DI LUIGI, JJ

4-83; WILSON, Richard 3-45; JACOBSON, McKay 3-33; CHAMBERS, O'Nei 3-21; MATHEWS,

Marcus 1-17; MUEHLMANN, Mike 1-15; HOFFMAN, Cody 1-14; QUEZADA, Joshua 1-9;

KARIYA, Bryan 1-1.

INTERCEPTIONS: Washington-None. BYU-None.

FUMBLES: Washington-Mahan, Will 1-0; Locker, Jake 1-0. BYU-CHAMBERS,

O'Nei 1-0; DI LUIGI, JJ 1-0.

SACKS (UA-A): Washington-None. BYU-PENDLETON, Jord 0-1; FUGA, Romney 0-1.

TACKLES (UA-A): Washington-Foster, Mason 9-5; Aiyewa, Victor 8-2;

Williams, Nate 5-7; Fellner, Nathan 7-2; Trufant, D. 4-1; Richardson, Q. 3-1;

Elisara, Cam. 2-1; Crichton, Talia 1-3; Shamburger, W. 2-0; Dennison, Cort 0-3;

Gilliland, G. 1-0; Tucker, Tim 1-0; Houston, Matt 1-0; Thompson, E. 0-1.

BYU-RICH, Andrew 6-3; HUNTER, Shane 5-4; THOMAS, Steven 4-2; PENDLETON, Jord

2-6; OGLETREE, Brand 3-3; BRADLEY, Brando 3-3; FUGA, Romney 1-4; FRAZIER, Jameso

1-2; SO'OTO, Vic 1-2; LEUNG-WAI, Aven 1-1; JORGENSEN, Aust 1-1; LOGAN, Brian

1-0; GALEA'I, Jray 1-0; MANUMALEUNA, Ea 0-2; PUTNAM, Matt 0-1; HAGUE, Mike 0-1;

Stadium: LaVell Edwards Attendance: 63771

Kickoff time: 5:04 pm End of Game: 8:28 pm Total elapsed time: 3:24

Temperature: 92 Wind: ssw 8 Weather: Clear

19th-consecutive sellout

Game 1: BYU Cougars vs. Washington Huskies

BYU opens its season at home against Pac-10 opponent Washington on Saturday, Sept. 4 at 5 p.m. MT. The game will be broadcast live from LaVell Edwards Stadium on CBS College Sports and KSL Radio 1160 AM and 102.7 FM.

During halftime, BYU's eight All-Americans quarterbacks will be honored as part of Y Quarterback Weekend. For the first time in school history, All-Americans Virgil Carter, Gifford Nielsen, Marc Wilson, Jim McMahon, Steve Young, Robbie Bosco, Ty Detmer and Steve Sarkisian are returning to Provo. See below for more details.

BYU vs. Washington

September 4, 2010

5 p.m. MT

LaVell Edwards Stadium

Provo, UT

BYU vs. Washington Series

BYU and Washington have come together to play only seven times (Washington leads the series, 4-3), but it seems as if each turns into something memorable. Last time the two teams met in 2008, the Huskies scored on a late drive to set up a potential game-tying extra point. BYU’s Jan Jorgensen blocked the kick, giving BYU the victory. Other notables games include the Cougars’ late win on a 38-yard pass from quarterback Kevin Feterik to unknown freshman Chris Hale for a 35-28 victory in 1999, breaking a streak of four-straight losses to Washington. The losing streak included the only black mark on a 14-1 season for BYU in 1996, a team led at quarterback by current Washington head coach Steve Sarkisian.

What to Watch For

- A victory on Saturday would give BYU a three-game win streak against Washington, the best in program history against the Huskies.

- The first win of 2010 will give BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall his 50th career win as a head coach in just his sixth season, all at BYU. He will become only the second coach in Cougar history to reach the 50-win mark, with LaVell Edwards earning his 50th win in the middle of his seventh season against San Diego State, 21-3, in 1978. Mendenhall’s 49 wins in his first five seasons as a head coach is tied for 10th all-time among FBS coaches.

- With Consensus All-American and current Baltimore Ravens Dennis Pitta and MWC Second Team selection and current Buffalo Bills Andrew George graduating after playing tight end for the Cougars last season, five freshman tight ends will compete to fill in at what has historically been a prolific position at BYU.

- After opening the 2009 season against Oklahoma and 2008 Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford, BYU will begin 2010 by hosting Washington quarterback Jake Locker, a top Heisman Trophy candidate coming into the season.

- BYU will start a quarterback other than Max Hall (now with the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals) for the first time since December 2006.

Familiar Face...

BYU welcomes back former Cougar quarterback Steve Sarkisian, now the football head coach at the University of Washington. Sarkisian started for BYU in 1995 and 1996, tallying a 21-5 record including a 14-1 season and No. 5 final ranking his senior season. Sarkisian led the nation in passing efficiency on his way to being named an All-American and winning the Sammy Baugh Trophy.

After playing in the Canadian Football League for three seasons, Sarkisian spent one year as the quarterbacks coach at El Camino Junior College before being hired on as the quarterbacks coach on Pete Carroll’s staff at USC where he would help the Trojans win a national championship while tutoring such quarterbacks as Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart. Sarkisian also spent one season as an assistant coach with the Oakland Raiders. He was hired as Washington’s head coach on Dec. 8, 2008, going 5-7 last season.

...Familiar Beginning

The 2010 season opener against Washington is the third time BYU has started its season playing the Huskies, all of which games have also been played in Provo. The Cougars are 1-1 in previous season openers against Washington, losing 42-20 in 1997 and winning 25-28 in 1999, the last time Washington visited Edwards Stadium.

Getting Started

Over the past 10 seasons, BYU is 7-3 in season openers, including a 6-1 record when opening at home. The lone setback at home during that stretch was against Boston College in 2005 in Bronco Mendenhall’s first game at the helm of the Cougars. After losing the opener on the road at Arizona the following year, BYU has won its last three season openers under Mendenhall, including the team’s 14-13 upset of No. 3 Oklahoma in Dallas last year.

Dating back to 1972 when LaVell Edwards became BYU’s coach, BYU is 23-15 in season openers, including an 11-4 resume at home, 10-8 mark on the road and 2-3 record at a neutral site. Mendenhall is 2-1 at home, 0-1 on the road and 1-0 at a neutral site. BYU and Washington have met twice previously in BYU’s season opener with BYU winning 35-28 in 1999 and losing 42-20 in 1996. Both games were played in Provo.

Y Quarterback Weekend

For the first time in school history, eight All-American quarterbacks — who played for legendary coach LaVell Edwards — are returning to Provo to take part in a fundraiser for the BYU Football program. Y Quarterback Weekend is scheduled for Sept. 3-4, and will feature All-Americans Virgil Carter, Gifford Nielsen, Marc Wilson, Jim McMahon, Steve Young, Robbie Bosco, Ty Detmer and Steve Sarkisian. Y Quarterback Weekend begins on Friday, Sept. 3, with a golf tournament at Riverside Country Club. The tournament is scheduled for the morning and will feature a limited number of teams. That evening on the BYU campus, LaVell Edwards will host a dinner and auction, where each All-American quarterback will provide a unique item to be auctioned.

The festivities conclude on Saturday, Sept. 4, with a special ceremony at halftime of the BYU vs. Washington football game. All money raised during the weekend will be used to endow scholarships at BYU. One fully endowed athletic scholarship is approximately $250,000.

See the attached PDF for the complete Washington game notes.