Tulsa Outlasts Cougars in Shootout

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TULSA, Okla., (Sept. 15, 2007 -- BYU sophomore quarterback Max Hall threw a career-high 537 yards and four touchdowns, but Tulsa racked up 595 yards of total offense of its own on its way to a 55-47 defeat of the Cougars.

BYU committed 14 penalties and four turnovers in its second loss in as many games. Freshman running back Harvey Unga rushed 21 times for 100 yards, while Austin Collie, Michael Reed and Dennis Pitta each had over 100 receiving yards. Hall completed 34 of his 57 pass attempts.

"I am proud of our offense and the way they competed tonight," Mendenhall said. "I take full responsibility as the coach to get our players ready and focused to play each week.

"As a defense, did not execute the way we needed to. Tulsa ran some trick plays and had some quirks in their offensive scheme that we weren't completely ready for. I take full responsibility for that."

Hall had two interceptions to start the second half that put BYU behind, 34-45, at the 10:45 mark of the third quarter. A 6-yard touchdown carry from Manase Tonga that cut the deficit to five points after the PAT was missed was followed by a Hall fumble that led to another Tulsa score. Hall responded to his miscues by hitting Reed with a 36-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter. But BYU still could not find a way to stop the Golden Hurricane from scoring, as a field goal put Tulsa ahead 55-47 with 4:15 remaining.

For the 12th time in its last 13 games, BYU got on the scoreboard first. Unga scampered one yard into the end zone for a 7-0 lead. The touchdown capped an 8-play, 57-yard drive that featured two receptions for 34 yards from Reed.

The Golden Hurricane scored 14 unanswered points on two touchdown passes to take a 14-7 lead heading into the second quarter.

Hall and Collie evened things up when the two connected on a 45-yard touchdown reception. However, Tulsa would one-up the Cougars on its very next play. TU quarterback Paul Smith found junior wide receiver Brennan Marion for a 75-yard touchdown pass that once again gave the Golden Hurricane the lead at 21-14.

The play was the longest touchdown reception BYU had given up since the 2003 season against San Diego State.

The Cougars kept the back-and-forth game going by driving 57 yards up the field and scoring on a 13-yard strike to Pitta. The drive took just 1 minute and 59 seconds.

Just as it did after BYU's previous score, Tulsa went deep on its next play for a 51-yard connection that set them up for an 18-yard touchdown reception and a 28-21 lead.

The feverish pace would continue, as Collie returned the ensuing kickoff 53 yards. The excellent field position ? as well as a defensive pass interference on third-and-goal ? allowed the Cougars to tie up it up again at 28-all. This time it was Tonga who found paydirt on a 2-yard touchdown rush.

After a 42-yard Tulsa field goal with 5:17 left in the half, Hall found senior wide receiver Matt Allen at the corner of the end zone for a 34-31 BYU lead at the half.

BYU returns to LaVell Edwards Stadium for a Homecoming match up against undefeated Air Force Sat., Sept. 22. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. (MT).

Box Score (Final)
              BYU Cougars vs Tulsa (Sep 15, 2007 at Tulsa, Okla.)
  Score by Quarters     1  2  3  4   Score
  -----------------    -- -- -- --   -----
  BYU Cougars.........  7 27  6  7  - 47       Record: (1-2)
  Tulsa............... 14 17 14 10  - 55       Record: (2-0)
  Scoring Summary:
  1st 10:05 BY - UNGA, Harvey 1 yd run (SMITH, Brian kick), 8-57 3:48, BY 7 - TLS 0
      04:28 TLS - HEINZ, Corey 43 yd pass from SMITH, Paul (TRACY, Jarod kick), 3-73 0:48, BY 7 - TLS 7
      00:30 TLS - JOHNSON, Trae 17 yd pass from SMITH, Paul (TRACY, Jarod kick), 8-82 2:03, BY 7 - TLS 14
  2nd 13:46 BY - COLLIE, Austin 45 yd pass from HALL, Max (SMITH, Brian kick), 6-70 1:41, BY 14 - TLS 14
      13:36 TLS - MARION, Brennan 75 yd pass from SMITH, Paul (TRACY, Jarod kick), 1-75 0:10, BY 14 - TLS 21
      11:30 BY - PITTA, Dennis 13 yd pass from HALL, Max (SMITH, Brian kick), 4-57 1:59, BY 21 - TLS 21
      10:27 TLS - HEINZ, Corey 18 yd pass from SMITH, Paul (TRACY, Jarod kick), 4-71 0:57, BY 21 - TLS 28
      07:51 BY - TONGA, Manase 2 yd run (SMITH, Brian kick), 7-36 2:25, BY 28 - TLS 28
      05:17 TLS - TRACY, Jarod 45 yd field goal, 9-42 2:25, BY 28 - TLS 31
      03:11 BY - ALLEN, Matt 15 yd pass from HALL, Max (SMITH, Brian kick failed), 4-45 1:54, BY 34 - TLS 31
  3rd 14:00 TLS - ROBERTS, Roy 49 yd interception return (TRACY, Jarod kick), , BY 34 - TLS 38
      10:45 TLS - ADAMS, Tarrion 10 yd run (TRACY, Jarod kick), 5-56 1:25, BY 34 - TLS 45
      06:55 BY - TONGA, Manase 6 yd run (SMITH, Brian kick failed), 9-63 3:42, BY 40 - TLS 45
  4th 11:51 TLS - HEINZ, Corey 37 yd pass from SMITH, Paul (TRACY, Jarod kick), 7-74 2:57, BY 40 - TLS 52
      06:44 BY - REED, Michael 36 yd pass from HALL, Max (PAYNE, Mitch kick), 6-83 1:38, BY 47 - TLS 52
      04:21 TLS - TRACY, Jarod 27 yd field goal, 5-56 2:23, BY 47 - TLS 55
                                       BY      TLS
  FIRST DOWNS...................       36       23
  RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............   36-157   33-105
  PASSING YDS (NET).............      537      490
  Passes Att-Comp-Int...........  58-34-2  37-22-1
  TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS.....   94-694   70-595
  Fumble Returns-Yards..........      0-0      1-1
  Punt Returns-Yards............     3-16     1-11
  Kickoff Returns-Yards.........   10-259     6-50
  Interception Returns-Yards....     1-13     2-49
  Punts (Number-Avg)............   4-48.2   6-38.5
  Fumbles-Lost..................      3-2      0-0
  Penalties-Yards...............   14-138     4-31
  Possession Time...............    35:04    24:56
  Third-Down Conversions........  7 of 15  3 of 13
  Fourth-Down Conversions.......   2 of 3   1 of 1
  Red-Zone Scores-Chances.......      5-6      4-4
  Sacks By: Number-Yards........     2-12     3-14
  RUSHING: BYU Cougars-UNGA, Harvey 21-100; TONGA, Manase 7-32; VAKAPUNA, Fui
  2-14; HALL, Max 6-11. Tulsa-ADAMS, Tarrion 18-79; WILLIAMS, Jamad 4-14;
  CHAMBERLAIN, C. 1-8; WHITMORE, A.J. 2-7; SMITH, Paul 6-minus 1; TEAM 2-minus 2.
  PASSING: BYU Cougars-HALL, Max 34-57-2-537; TEAM 0-1-0-0. Tulsa-SMITH, Paul
  21-35-1-454; WHITMORE, A.J. 0-1-0-0; JOHNSON, David 1-1-0-36.
  RECEIVING: BYU Cougars-REED, Michael 8-132; PITTA, Dennis 6-113; TONGA, Manase
  5-30; COLLIE, Austin 4-121; ALLEN, Matt 4-54; UNGA, Harvey 2-35; SEMANOFF, Joe
  2-20; MAHUIKA, Bryce 1-12; GEORGE, Andrew 1-11; SO'OTO, Vic 1-9. Tulsa-JOHNSON,
  Trae 5-95; MARION, Brennan 3-171; HEINZ, Corey 3-98; TOLIVER, Dion 3-53;
  CLEMONS, C. 3-24; ADAMS, Tarrion 2-12; FRANK, Jacob 1-14; GROOMS, Kyle 1-12;
  MEYER, Jesse 1-11.
  INTERCEPTIONS: BYU Cougars-CRIDDLE, Ben 1-13. Tulsa-ROBERTS, Roy 1-49;
  CHAMBERLAIN, C. 1-0.
  FUMBLES: BYU Cougars-HALL, Max 2-1; GEORGE, Andrew 1-1. Tulsa-None.
  SACKS (UA-A): BYU Cougars-NIXON, David 1-0; JORGENSEN, Jan 1-0. Tulsa-DAVIS,
  Charles 1-0; GARRISON, W. 1-0; KARATEPEYAN, A. 1-0.
  TACKLES (UA-A): BYU Cougars-NIXON, David 7-1; GOOCH, Quinn 5-3; POPPINGA, Kelly
  6-0; JORGENSEN, Jan 3-2; KEHL, Bryan 3-2; CRIDDLE, Ben 3-2; STAFFIERI, Mark 2-3;
  DOMAN, Shaun 2-3; HODGKISS, Corby 2-1; MANUMALEUNA,Eth 2-0; BUCHANAN, Kayle 2-0;
  HOWARD, Brandon 2-0; DULAN, Ian 1-1; SMITH, Brian 1-0; FOWLER, Kellen 1-0;
  BAUMAN, Matt 0-1; JOHNSON, Scott 0-1; TAYLOR, Isaac 0-1; JORGENSEN, Aste 0-1.
  Tulsa-COLEMAN, Nelson 10-7; CHAMBERLAIN, C. 7-3; DAVIS, Charles 7-2; DUNCAN,
  Randy 5-4; CRAVER, Steve 4-5; KARATEPEYAN, A. 4-4; ANTLE, Tanner 3-2; ROBERTS,
  Roy 1-2; GERMANY, A. 2-0; TRACY, Jarod 2-0; NEMONS, Terrel 2-0; BRYAN, Mike 1-1;
  GARRISON, W. 1-1; HOPKINS, Moton 1-1; GROOMS, Kyle 1-0; DRAKE, Ricky 1-0;
  LOCKETT, James 1-0; DESTIN, John 1-0; RAY, Odrick 1-0; ADAMS, Tarrion 1-0;
  FLOYD, Popsie 0-1; BELL, Jon 0-1; JONES, Brandon 0-1; ALLEN, Eliot 0-1.