FT. COLLINS -- Capitalizing on a quick start in the first half, No. 21 Colorado State defeated BYU 45-21 in Mountain West Conference football action Thursday night at Hughes Stadium in Ft. Collins, Colo. With the loss, the Cougars drop to 4-6 overall and 2-3 in conference play while the Rams improved to 8-1 and 5-0.
After forcing BYU to punt on the first possession of the game, the Rams started the scoring with a 69-yard touchdown pass from Matt Newton to Pete Rebstock on their third play from scrimmage to take the 7-0 lead. The Rams finished the first quarter with a 21-0 lead that the Cougars were never able to overcome.
"Colorado State played exceptionally well tonight," BYU coach LaVell Edwards said. "I have to congratulate them. We played poorly in the first half again and I can't figure it out."
Leading 38-0 at halftime, the Rams scored one more touchdown with 8:22 left in the third quarter to take a 45-0 lead on a 51-yard touchdown pass from Newton to Will Layne.
The Cougars finally got their offense going after junior defensive end Ryan Denney blocked a Rams punt that gave the Cougars the ball at the Colorado State 8-yard line.
Junior quarterback Brandon Doman, who entered the game at halftime in relief of junior Charlie Peterson, scored on the first play of the drive on an eight-yard touchdown run. That score extended BYU's streak to 322 consecutive games without being shutout.
The Cougars scored again after Isaac Kelley recovered a Newton fumble to give the Cougars the ball at the Colorado State 29-yard line. Doman completed a pass to Brian McDonald for 13 yards to take the Cougars down to the Rams 16-yard line. McDonald then had a 13-yard rush to take BYU to the 3-yard line. Doman capped off the drive with a three-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Jonathan Pittman.
BYU finished its scoring after Denney blocked another punt that gave the Cougars the ball at the Rams' 43-yard line. Doman eventually brought the Cougars to the 1-yard line on a 29-yard pass to senior wide receiver Margin Hooks. Sophomore Luke Staley finished the BYU scoring on a four-yard touchdown run.
Doman finished the night with 72 yards passing and 25 yards rushing with two touchdowns, one passing and one rushing. McDonald led the Cougars with 29 yards rushing on five carries. Staley led all BYU receivers with 36 yards on seven catches. Hooks finished with 34 yards on two catches.
Denney and junior linebacker Justin Ena led the Cougar defense. Denney finished with two unassisted tackles, two blocked punts and one fumble recovery. Senior defensive tackle Hans Olsen finished the night with 10 tackles, including six for loss.
Newton led the Rams with 298 yards passing and three touchdowns. Cecil Sapp finished with 119 yards rushing to lead the Ram running attack.
The 45-21 loss was the worst conference loss the Cougars have suffered since they lost 59-28 at Hawai'i in 1990. It also marks the first time since a 21-17 Rams win in 1975 Colorado State has defeated the Cougars in Fort Collins.
The loss also eliminated any chance the Cougars have to play in a bowl game. Because of its 12 regular-season games, BYU needed to win seven games to be bowl eligible. The best BYU can finish now is 6-6.
The Cougars will next face New Mexico Nov. 18 in Cougar Stadium. That game will mark the final home game for the legendary Edwards who will retire at the end of the season.
Box Score (Final)
Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Score
----------------- -- -- -- -- -----
Brigham Young....... 0 0 7 14 - 21 Record: (4-6,2-3)
Colorado State...... 21 17 7 0 - 45 Record: (8-1,5-0)
Scoring Summary:
1st 11:24 CSU - REBSTOCK, Pete 69 yd pass from NEWTON, Matt (HURST, C.W. kick),
3 plays, 79 yards, TOP 0:43, BYU 0 - CS 7
02:48 CSU - CUPPARI, Joey 13 yd pass from NEWTON, Matt (HURST, C.W. kick),
8 plays, 72 yards, TOP 3:41, BYU 0 - CS 14
00:47 CSU - SAPP, Cecil 39 yd run (HURST, C.W. kick),
1 play, 39 yards, TOP 0:09, BYU 0 - CS 21
2nd 14:13 CSU - HURST, C.W. 43 yd field goal,
4 plays, 3 yards, TOP 1:14, BYU 0 - CS 24
07:56 CSU - SANDERS, Ra. 3 yd run (HURST, C.W. kick),
5 plays, 14 yards, TOP 2:00, BYU 0 - CS 31
01:48 CSU - SAPP, Cecil 9 yd run (HURST, C.W. kick),
8 plays, 54 yards, TOP 2:31, BYU 0 - CS 38
3rd 08:22 CSU - LAYNE, Will 51 yd pass from NEWTON, Matt (HURST, C.W. kick),
3 plays, 66 yards, TOP 1:20, BYU 0 - CS 45
04:26 BYU - DOMAN, Brandon 8 yd run (POCHMAN, Owen kick),
1 play, 8 yards, TOP 0:09, BYU 7 - CS 45
4th 12:53 BYU - PITTMAN, Jonath 3 yd pass from DOMAN, Brandon (POCHMAN, Owen kick),
6 plays, 29 yards, TOP 2:00, BYU 14 - CS 45
07:00 BYU - STALEY, Luke 4 yd run (POCHMAN, Owen kick),
8 plays, 43 yards, TOP 4:02, BYU 21 - CS 45
BYU CS
FIRST DOWNS................... 9 22
RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............ 16-57 43-165
PASSING YDS (NET)............. 120 298
Passes Att-Comp-Int........... 41-18-3 31-19-0
TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS..... 57-177 74-463
Fumble Returns-Yards.......... 0-0 0-0
Punt Returns-Yards............ 4-41 6-77
Kickoff Returns-Yards......... 7-148 4-69
Interception Returns-Yards.... 0-0 3-5
Punts (Number-Avg)............ 8-46.5 6-24.7
Fumbles-Lost.................. 2-2 3-3
Penalties-Yards............... 8-56 3-25
Possession Time............... 23:46 36:14
Sacks By: Number-Yards........ 2-19 0-0
RUSHING: Brigham Young-MCDONALD, Brian 5-29; DOMAN, Brandon 4-25; STALEY,
Luke 6-4; SITAKE, Kalani 1-minus 1. Colorado State-SAPP, Cecil 18-119;
SANDERS, Ra. 13-40; McGARITY, Jeff 8-24; RUFF, Duan 2-minus 1; NEWTON, Matt
2-minus 17.
PASSING: Brigham Young-PETERSON, Charl 11-24-1-48; DOMAN, Brandon 7-17-2-72.
Colorado State-NEWTON, Matt 19-31-0-298.
RECEIVING: Brigham Young-STALEY, Luke 7-36; SITAKE, Kalani 3-14; HOOKS,
Margin 2-34; PITTMAN, Jonath 2-7; MCDONALD, Brian 1-13; OFAHENGAUE, Tev
1-12; RIGELL, Mike 1-3; SNOWDEN, Will 1-1. Colorado State-REBSTOCK, Pete
4-110; LAYNE, Will 4-86; CUPPARI, Joey 4-38; WOOLSTENHULME,C 4-36; RICE,
Frank 3-28.
INTERCEPTIONS: Brigham Young-None. Colorado State-CROWELL, Rick 1-5; HOWELL,
John 1-0; GALLIMORE, Ju. 1-0.
Stadium: Hughes Stadium Attendance: 27412
Kickoff time: 6:01 pm End of Game: 9:16 pm Total elapsed time: 3:15
Officials: Referee: Gerald Wright; Umpire: Darrell Jenkins;
Linesman: Dave Hettema; Line judge: Jack Lynch; Back judge: Terry Leyden;
Field judge: Andy Castagnola; Side judge: Carl Richins; Scorer: John Kietzmann;
Temperature: 38 Wind: 1 W Weather: Chance of Flurries
SACKS (UA-A): Brigham Young-HOKE, Chris 0-1; GALI, Setema 0-1; KEISEL, Brett
1-0. Colorado State-None.
TACKLES (UA-A): Brigham Young-ENA, Justin 7-7; OLSEN, Hans 2-8; GALI, Setema
6-3; LEE, Jared 5-4; WALKENHORST, Pa 0-5; SMITH, Tyson 3-1; WILSON, Derrus
2-2; KELLEY, Isaac 2-2; HOKE, Chris 1-3; NIELSON, Mike 3-0; MADSEN, Michael
3-0; STEARNS, Ned 3-0; KEISEL, Brett 1-2; DENNEY, Ryan 2-0; PHILLIPS, Danny
2-0; JOINER, Isiah 1-1; GUNDERSON, Ryan 0-2; FARRIS, Alex 1-0; RAMAGE, Corey
1-0. Colorado State-GALLIMORE, Ju. 4-1; WILLIAMS, L. 0-5; VICKERS, David
2-2; KAY, Russell 1-3; WYNN, Dexter 1-3; CROWELL, Rick 3-0; STEWARD, Josh
0-3; WOODS, Thal 0-3; SPRAGUE Aaron 0-3; HURST, C.W. 1-1; GIBSON, T. 1-1;
HEALD, Doug 1-1; LOWE, Ameer 1-1; MARTIN, Rocky 1-1; HOWELL, John 1-1;
THOMAS, Wallace 0-2; McGUCKIN, Chad 1-0; WOLF, Casey 1-0; HOGAN, Peter 1-0;
GALLIMORE, Ja. 1-0; SVOBODA, Brad 0-1; WOOD, Drew 0-1; COLACION, Tony 0-1.