COUGAR TOWN, Utah (Sept. 9, 2006) BYU's (1-1) high-powered offense was back to form Saturday as six different Cougars found their way into the end zone, leading the team to its first win of the season, 49-24, over the Tulsa Golden Hurricane (1-1).
BYU had put the game away long before a 53-minute lightning scare threatened to end the game with six minutes still remaining in the fourth quarter. Offensively, BYU racked up 467 total yards including 240 passing yards from quarterback John Beck. The Cougars took advantage of their scoring opportunities going 4-for-4 in the blue zone. Running backs Curtis Brown, Fui Vakapuna, Manase Tonga, Harvey Unga and wide receivers Zac Collie and Matt Allen each scored touchdowns in the victory.
"Our plan was to have good balance and to be better at what we were already doing," said BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall. "Basically, we need to simply execute what we're currently doing at a higher level."
After forcing Tulsa to a three-and-out on the game's first drive, BYU began its first possession with excellent field position - on its own 45-yard line - thanks to Collie partially blocking Tulsa's Chris Kindred's punt.
Seven plays and 55 yards later, Vakapuna scored on a seven-yard run putting BYU up 7-0 just five minutes into the first quarter. Cougar running backs Brown and Vakapuna combined for five carries and 49 rushing yards on BYU's opening drive, more than doubling the team's total rushing output against Arizona in its season-opener a week earlier. Brown (21 carries, 125 yards) and Vakapuna (11 carries, 96 yards) combined for 32 rushes and 221 yards for the game.
"When they perform like they did, it gives us a good chance to win football games," Mendenhall said.
Tulsa answered back two possessions later with a 58-yard, 15-play drive, which started in the first quarter and carried over into the second. Tulsa converted on a fourth-and-three on BYU's 34-yard line to close out the first quarter, setting up a six-yard touchdown pass from Paul Smith to Kyle Grooms eight plays later. The conversion knotted the score at seven apiece with 11 minutes to go in the first half.
The Golden Hurricane stifled BYU's offense on the ensuing possession, putting an exclamation point on the defensive stand with junior Courtney Tennial's blocked punt inside BYU's 20-yard line. The Cougars' defense held this time, as Tulsa came away with only a field goal to put the Golden Hurricane up 10-7 with 8:16 to go in the second quarter.
The first-half scoring continued as BYU notched another 14 points on the scoreboard with sophomore running back Manase Tonga's 6-yard touchdown run with just under four minutes to play and Allen's 3-yard touchdown reception three minutes later. The two drives gave the Cougars a 21-10 halftime advantage. For Tonga, the score was his first-career touchdown.
BYU's Brown opened the scoring one minute and two seconds into the second half with a 62-yard touchdown reception. Brown broke four tackles and eluded six defenders during the impressive run, just the third play of the third quarter.
"That particular play shaped the rest of the game," Mendenhall said.
Once again, Tulsa responded with an 80-yard, 10-play drive that ended with a 1-yard touchdown run from running back Tarrion Adams, making it a 28-17 game with just under 10 minutes left in the quarter.
An interception by Matangi Tonga with 3:43 to play in the third quarter set up BYU for its fifth touchdown of the game. With 21 seconds remaining in the quarter, Vakapuna rushed for an 11-yard touchdown, his second of the game.
After Beck hit Collie for a 16-yard fourth quarter touchdown pass, a powerful 38-yard run from Vakapuna put the Cougars in position for yet another touchdown. BYU would have to wait as a lightning delay put the game on pause for nearly an hour. When played resumed, freshman running back Harvey Unga punched in a 6-yard touchdown run to give BYU a 49-17 lead.
Tulsa running back Tennial scored on a 5-yard touchdown run with two minutes remaining to give the game its final margin of 49-24.
BYU heads to Chestnut Hill, Mass., to face Boston College on Sat., Sept. 16. The game will be shown on ESPN2, with kickoff set for 12 p.m.
Box Score (Final)
Tulsa vs Brigham Young (Sep 09, 2006 at Provo, Utah)
Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Score
----------------- -- -- -- -- -----
Tulsa............... 0 10 7 7 - 24 Record: (1-1)
Brigham Young....... 7 14 14 14 - 49 Record: (1-1)
Scoring Summary:
1st 10:04 BYU - VAKAPUNA, 7 yd run (MCLAUGHLIN, kick), 7-55 2:23
2nd 11:03 TU - GROOMS, 6 yd pass from SMITH, (TRACY, kick), 15-58 6:37
08:16 TU - TRACY, 25 yd field goal, 4-7 1:07
03:51 BYU - TONGA, 6 yd run (MCLAUGHLIN, kick), 13-65 4:19
00:47 BYU - ALLEN, 3 yd pass from BECK (MCLAUGHLIN, kick), 6-61 1:02
3rd 13:52 BYU - BROWN, 62 yd pass from BECK (MCLAUGHLIN, kick), 3-65 1:02
09:56 TU - ADAMS, 1 yd run (TRACY, kick), 10-80 3:50
00:21 BYU - VAKAPUNA, 11 yd run (MCLAUGHLIN, kick), 7-50 3:22
4th 11:36 BYU - COLLIE, 16 yd pass from BECK, (MCLAUGHLIN, kick), 4-45 2:17
04:31 BYU - UNGA, 6 yd run (MCLAUGHLIN, kick), 10-83 4:56,
02:01 TU - TENNIAL, 5 yd run (TRACY, kick), 6-65 2:24
TU BYU
FIRST DOWNS................... 18 22
RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............ 31-82 42-227
PASSING YDS (NET)............. 221 240
Passes Att-Comp-Int........... 35-21-1 23-16-0
TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS..... 66-303 65-467
Fumble Returns-Yards.......... 0-0 0-0
Punt Returns-Yards............ 3-5 2-17
Kickoff Returns-Yards......... 3-49 1-20
Interception Returns-Yards.... 0-0 1-0
Punts (Number-Avg)............ 5-33.2 3-29.0
Fumbles-Lost.................. 1-0 0-0
Penalties-Yards............... 3-28 11-90
Possession Time............... 31:20 28:40
Third-Down Conversions........ 6 of 14 8 of 13
Fourth-Down Conversions....... 1 of 1 1 of 1
Red-Zone Scores-Chances....... 4-4 6-6
Sacks By: Number-Yards........ 1-9 1-8
RUSHING: Tulsa-ADAMS, Tarrion 8-23; TENNIAL, C. 3-21; DILES, Brandon 8-17;
JACKSON, Cauvey 3-12; MOSS, Idris 3-6; SMITH, Paul 5-4; TEAM 1-minus 1. Brigham
Young-BROWN, Curtis 21-125; VAKAPUNA, Fui 11-96; UNGA, Harvey 4-9; TONGA, Manase
1-6; TEAM 1-minus 2; HAGUE, Mike 1-minus 3; BECK, John 3-minus 4.
PASSING: Tulsa-SMITH, Paul 19-32-1-182; JOHNSON, David 2-3-0-39. Brigham
Young-BECK, John 16-21-0-240; BROWN, Curtis 0-1-0-0; BECK, Jason 0-1-0-0.
RECEIVING: Tulsa-ADAMS, Tarrion 7-89; BUGG, Ryan 3-17; CURTIS, Ted 2-18; MEYER,
Jessee 2-15; JACKSON, Cauvey 2-9; MOSS, Idris 1-35; GERMANY, A. 1-19; DILES,
Brandon 1-9; GROOMS, Kyle 1-6; COLLUMS, Jacob 1-4. Brigham Young-ALLEN, Matt
4-58; BROWN, Curtis 3-82; COLLIE, Zac 2-36; JACOBSON, McKay 2-31; TONGA, Manase
2-18; HARLINE, Jonny 2-12; REED, Michael 1-3.
INTERCEPTIONS: Tulsa-None. Brigham Young-TONGA, Matangi 1-0.
FUMBLES: Tulsa-ADAMS, Tarrion 1-0. Brigham Young-None.
Stadium: Edwards Stadium Attendance: 56627
Kickoff time: 2:06 pm End of Game: 6:10 pm Total elapsed time: 4:04
Officials: Referee: Steve Barth; Umpire: Michael Cooper; Linesman: Britt Choate;
Line judge: Keith Garmond; Back judge: Tom Hutson; Field judge: Al Delvento;
Side judge: Jim Quirk; Scorer: BYU;
Temperature: 77 Wind: NW 5mph Weather: Partly Cloudy, Warm
53 Minute Rain/Lightning Delay
Tulsa vs Brigham Young (Sep 09, 2006 at Provo, Utah)
SACKS (UA-A): Tulsa-LATU, Robert 1-0. Brigham Young-PAONGO, Hala 1-0.
TACKLES (UA-A): Tulsa-COLEMAN, Nelson 8-4; GRAHAM, Nick 6-1; ROBERTS, Roy 4-1;
KARATEPEYAN, A. 3-2; ALEXANDER, K. 3-2; NEMONS, Terrel 2-3; BLACKSHIRE, B. 3-0;
LATU, Robert 2-1; BUNTING, Nick 2-1; CRAVER, Steve 2-1; CHAMBERLAIN, C. 1-2;
BOYD, Walter 0-3; McGOWAN, Julian 1-0; TEAM 1-0; WARREN, John 1-0; JONES,
Brandon 1-0; GERMANY, A. 0-1; FLOYD, Popsie 0-1; KINDRED, Chris 0-1. Brigham
Young-TAFUNA, David 7-2; CRIDDLE, Ben 6-0; WAGNER, Aaron 5-2; JENSEN, Cameron
3-4; DOMAN, Shawn 2-2; ROBINSON, Justi 2-2; NIXON, David 2-1; PAONGO, Hala 2-1;
BOLDEN, Chris 1-2; GABRIEL, Dustin 1-2; HODGKISS, Corby 1-1; LUEKENGA, Kyle 1-0;
ANDERTON, Judd 1-0; STAFFIERI, Mark 1-0; COLLIE, Zac 1-0; TONGA, Matangi 1-0;
JORGENSEN, Jan 0-2; TIALAVEA, Russe 0-2; MIYAHIRA, Cole 0-1; POPPINGA, Kelly
0-1; KEHL, Bryan 0-1; FUGA, Romney 0-1; BATES, Dan 0-1.