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PROVO, Utah -- Third down proved successful on both sides of the ball for the Cougars as BYU defeated conference foe San Diego State 24-21 at LaVell Edwards Stadium on Saturday.

With 3:21 left in the game and San Diego State threatening a 24-21 BYU lead, the Cougar defense held the Aztecs on three-consecutive plays to force a punt and seal their first conference win of the season.

“That was a signature moment for this defense,” said BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall. “They did exactly what they were supposed to do and it was fun to see.”

The BYU offense, led by freshman quarterback Jake Heaps, was 12-of-19 on third down. Heaps finished the game with 126 passing yards on 15-of-22 completions.

Three BYU running backs recorded career high marks in rushing attempts and yards as the Cougars tallied 271 total yards on 62 attempts.

Junior JJ Di Luigi led the running game with 22 rushes for 134 yards while junior Bryan Kariya added 85 yards on 22 attempts. True freshman Joshua Quezada tallied 50 yards on 11 carries.

“They knew we were running the ball and we knew we were running the ball and we just pounded it out,” said junior offensive lineman Matt Reynolds.

A fake field goal kept the Cougars alive in their first drive of the game as junior Matt Marshall connected with freshman tight end Mike Muehlmann for 16 yards and a first down.

Di Luigi capped the 19-play, 78-yard drive with a three-yard touchdown run to put the Cougars on the board first. With the successful PAT conversion, senior Mitch Payne passed Kurt Gunther for first place on the BYU all-time PAT conversion list with 163 during his career. During the drive the Cougars converted two times on third down and used up 8:28 of the clock.

On the following Aztec possession, sophomore linebacker Brandon Ogletree intercepted San Diego State quarterback Ryan Lindley to set up a first-and-10 on the 24-yard line. Kariya scampered in from two yards out on the ensuing offensive possession and the Cougars took a 14-0 after the Payne PAT conversion.

The Aztecs got on the board late in the second quarter when Lindley connected with receiver Vincent Brown for a 36-yard touchdown pass.

The Cougars held the Aztec offense to minus-2 rushing yards in the first half and held San Diego State to 241 yards of total offense on the night.

The Cougars extended their lead by three with 6:21 left in the third quarter on a 29-yard field goal by Payne before the Aztecs answered on fourth down from the Cougar one-yard line with 4:43 left in the third quarter to cut the lead to three.

The Cougars widened their lead to 24-14 at the beginning of the fourth quarter on a 9-play, 67-yard scoring drive that was capped by a 1-yard touchdown run by Kariya, his second touchdown of the game. It was the first two-touchdown game of Kariya’s career.

However, the Aztecs wouldn’t go quietly, scoring on a four-yard pass from Lindley to Brandon Sullivan to draw within three of BYU with 6:27 left in the game before going three and out late in the fourth quarter.

“We all saw them respond and that is gratifying as a coach,” Mendenhall said. “I’m not willing to say we’ve arrived but we did see a difference.”

With the win, BYU improved to 2-4 overall and 1-1 in the Mountain West Conference. The Cougars travel to Fort Worth next week to face off against No. 5 TCU at 3 p.m. CT on Oct. 16.

San Diego State (3-2,0-1) vs. BYU (2-4,1-1)

Date: Oct 09, 2010 Site: Provo, Utah Stadium: LaVell Edwards

Attendance: 62176

Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Score

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

San Diego State..... 0 7 7 7 - 21 Record: (3-2,0-1)

BYU................. 14 0 3 7 - 24 Record: (2-4,1-1)

Scoring Summary:

1st 04:57 BY - DI LUIGI, JJ 3 yd run (PAYNE, Mitch kick), 19-78 8:28, SDSU 0 - BY 7

02:02 BY - KARIYA, Bryan 2 yd run (PAYNE, Mitch kick), 5-24 2:40, SDSU 0 - BY 14

2nd 05:00 SDSU - BROWN, Vincent 36 yd pass from LINDLEY, Ryan (PEREZ, Abel kick), 2-52 0:31, SDSU 7 - BY 14

3rd 06:21 BY - PAYNE, Mitch 29 yd field goal, 8-38 4:13, SDSU 7 - BY 17

03:43 SDSU - ESCOBAR, Gavin 1 yd pass from LINDLEY, Ryan (PEREZ, Abel kick), 8-83 2:29, SDSU 14 - BY 17

4th 13:43 BY - KARIYA, Bryan 1 yd run (PAYNE, Mitch kick), 9-67 4:51, SDSU 14 - BY 24

06:27 SDSU - SULLIVAN, Brand 4 yd pass from LINDLEY, Ryan (PEREZ, Abel kick), 6-59 2:31, SDSU 21 - BY 24

SDSU BYU

FIRST DOWNS................... 12 24

RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............ 12-53 62-271

PASSING YDS (NET)............. 220 142

Passes Att-Comp-Int........... 36-20-1 23-16-1

TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS..... 48-273 85-413

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

Punt Returns-Yards............ 2-21 4-22

Kickoff Returns-Yards......... 2-38 2-62

Interception Returns-Yards.... 1-0 1-11

Punts (Number-Avg)............ 6-44.3 4-36.8

Fumbles-Lost.................. 1-0 1-1

Penalties-Yards............... 4-37 5-25

Possession Time............... 14:59 45:01

Third-Down Conversions........ 3 of 10 12 of 19

Fourth-Down Conversions....... 1 of 1 1 of 1

Red-Zone Scores-Chances....... 2-2 4-5

Sacks By: Number-Yards........ 2-12 1-9

RUSHING: San Diego State-HILLMAN, Ronnie 11-62; LINDLEY, Ryan 1-minus 9.

BYU-DI LUIGI, JJ 22-134; KARIYA, Bryan 22-85; QUEZADA, Joshua 11-50; HEAPS, Jake

6-4; TEAM 1-minus 2.

PASSING: San Diego State-LINDLEY, Ryan 20-34-1-220; TEAM 0-2-0-0.

BYU-HEAPS, Jake 15-22-1-126; MARSHALL, Matt 1-1-0-16.

RECEIVING: San Diego State-BROWN, Vincent 6-101; SAMPSON, DeMarc 4-47;

SANDIFER, Domin 3-25; SULLIVAN, Brand 3-6; QUIGLEY, Bryce 1-19; DENSO, Dylan

1-12; BROWN, Davon 1-9; ESCOBAR, Gavin 1-1. BYU-JACOBSON, McKay 4-29; MATHEWS,

Marcus 3-43; DI LUIGI, JJ 3-23; KARIYA, Bryan 2-13; MUEHLMANN, Mike 1-16; HAGUE,

Mike 1-10; MAHINA, Devin 1-5; HOFFMAN, Cody 1-3.

INTERCEPTIONS: San Diego State-MCFADDEN, Leon 1-0. BYU-OGLETREE, Brand

1-11.

FUMBLES: San Diego State-PARKER, Larry 1-0. BYU-MATHEWS, Marcus 1-1.

SACKS (UA-A): San Diego State-BURRIS, Miles 2-0. BYU-VAN NOY, Kyle 1-0.

TACKLES (UA-A): San Diego State-LEWIS, Darryn 7-5; YARBROUGH, Marc 7-2;

BERHE, Nat 6-3; SPENCER, Neil 4-3; ANDREWS, Marcus 4-2; BURRIS, Miles 4-2;

KETCHUM, Logan 4-1; DAVIS, Brandon 3-2; STEVENS, Khalid 3-2; AUTELE, J.J. 3-2;

PEREZ, Jose 4-0; BARKSDALE, Deme 3-0; MCFADDEN, Leon 2-1; TENHAEFF, Nick 2-1;

SILUANO, Rene 1-2; PRESTON, Andrew 1-2; LONG, Jerome 2-0; WILLIAMS, B.J. 1-1;

TAUANUU, Jacob 1-1; LAWSON, Ernie 0-2; HILLMAN, Ronnie 1-0; LOCKETT, Colin 1-0;

DENSO, Dylan 1-0; PARKER, Larry 0-1; WADE, Josh 0-1. BYU-LOGAN, Brian 8-0; RICH,

Andrew 2-4; VAN NOY, Kyle 5-0; BRADLEY, Brando 4-1; EASON, Corby 2-0; WAGNER,

Jadon 0-2; MEES, Carter 1-0; JORGENSEN, Aust 1-0; PUTNAM, Matt 1-0; HUNTER,

Shane 0-1; UALE, Travis 0-1; SO'OTO, Vic 0-1; OGLETREE, Brand 0-1; RICHARDSON,

Jordan 0-1.

Game 6: BYU Cougars vs. San Diego State Aztecs

BYU will play San Diego State on Saturday, Oct. 9, at 4 p.m. MT. The game will be broadcast live from LaVell Edwards Stadium on The Mtn. and KSL Radio 1160 AM and 102.7 FM.

BYU (1-4) at San Diego State (3-1)

Oct. 9, 2010

4 p.m. MT

LaVell Edwards Stadium

Provo, UT

THE BYU-SAN DIEGO STATE SERIES

BYU and San Diego State have been a part of a few record-breaking performances together. Last season, the Cougars earned the program’s 500th win in school history while Dennis Pitta passed Gordon Hudson for most receiving yards by a tight end in BYU history. In 2008, BYU defeated the Aztecs to wrap up three-straight undefeated seasons at Edwards Stadium. In 2005, SDSU broke beat BYU in San Deigo for the first time since 1988. Finally, the two teams own an NCAA record that will likely never be broken: the highest-scoring game ever to end in a tie occured in 1991 when Marshall Faulk and the Aztecs tied the Cougars, 52-52. Overall, BYU leads the series 26-7-1 and has never allowed SDSU to win two-straight seasons.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR

- With his next PAT conversion, senior kicker Mitch Payne will break the BYU record for most in a career previously set by Kurt Gunther. Payne and Gunther are currently tied with 162 PATs apiece.

- BYU is 15-2 all-time versus San Diego State in Provo. The Aztecs have not won at Edwards Stadium since a 16-15 victory in 2000.

- The Cougars will look to win their third conference game in a row at home after defeating Air Force and Utah to end the 2009 season. The Cougars have a four-game victory streak in the series dating back to SDSU’s 31-10 victory in San Diego in 2005.

- Senior safety Andrew Rich enters the game as one of the best defenders in the country, coming in at 16th in the nation in tackles and 11th in the nation in solo tackles per game. He has had two 14-tackle games so far this year.

- The Cougars finished Saturday’s game at Utah State playing without five defensive starters who have been knocked out by injuries. BYU started the game without defensive tackle Romney Fuga, outside linebacker Jameson Frazier and free safety Steven Thomas and then lost the team’s top two tacklers, strong safety Andrew Rich and outside linebacker Jordan Pendleton, during the game. Including the offensive side of the ball, BYU played without seven opening-day starters.

MOVE FORWARD, NOT BACKWARD

As a team, the Cougars are one of the least penalized squads in the nation, averaging just five penalties per game, tied for 25th among all FBS schools and tied for second in the MWC. BYU’s average of 40 penalty yards per game is tied for 18th in the nation and is second best in the conference just behind Wyoming’s average of 39.6 yards per game. Against Nevada, BYU committed just one penalty for five yards, the first single-penalty game for the Cougars since 2003.

HERE, THERE AND EVERYWHERE

Junior running back JJ Di Luigi has racked up the yardage for the Cougars so far this season, leading the team with 374 rushing yards, 262 receiving yards and 690 all-purpose yards. Di Luigi also leads the team in rushing yards per game (74.8), receiving yards per game (52.4), kick return yards per game (27.0) and all-purpose yards per game (138.0). The junior has half of BYU’s touchdowns with four and is tied with kicker Mitch Payne for the team scoring lead with 24 points on the year.

HEAPS UP THE RANKS

After five games and two starts, true freshman quarterback Jake Heaps is making his mark on the BYU freshman quarterback charts:

Passing Yards

1. Matt Berry 1,309

2. Ty Detmer 1,252

3. John Beck 864

4. Jake Heaps 759

5. Drew Miller 430

Pass Completions

1. Matt Berry 108

2. Ty Detmer 83

3. Jake Heaps 81

4. John Beck 73

MIGHTY HUNTER

Linebacker Shane Hunter led all players with a career-high 13 tackles against Utah State last Friday, including a BYU season-high 10 assisted tackles. He is currently ranked eighth in the conference with an average of 8.6 total tackles per game. Hunter has also come up with two of BYU’s four turnovers created this season, recovering a fumble against Florida State and intercepting a pass at Air Force.

PAYNE CLOSING ON RECORDS

With one PAT against Nevada, Payne is now tied with former Cougar kicker Kurt Gunther (1980-82) for most PAT conversions in a career with 162. Payne is also currently 11 PAT attempts from passing Gunther’s mark of 179 in the BYU record books. He is also 64 points away from scoring the most points of any Cougar player in BYU history, a record currently held by kicker Owen Pochman (1997-00) with 333 points.

For the complete BYU vs. San Diego State game notes, see the attached PDF file.