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Utah St.-BYU Preview

Sep 28, 2009 - 5:57 PM By DAN PIERINGER STATS Editor

Utah State (1-2) at No. 16 Brigham Young (3-1), 9:00 p.m. EDT

BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall admitted it was tough to deal with the attention surrounding the team's season-opening win over a top-five team and the chance the Cougars were en route to a BCS bowl bid.

With all that hype erased by its first loss of the season, BYU looked much more comfortable last week.

The 20th-ranked Cougars look to continue to rebound from a disheartening defeat by maintaining their recent dominance of Utah State on Friday night in Provo.

A win over then-No. 3 Oklahoma on Sept. 5 paved the way for what could have been a BCS-busting season for BYU. After a rout of Tulane the following week, however, the Cougars (3-1) fell 54-28 against Florida State on Sept. 19, snapping their 18-game home winning streak and seemingly putting a BCS bowl out of reach.

With those heightened expectations tempered by the loss, BYU got back on track with a 42-23 win over Colorado State in its Mountain West Conference opener Saturday. The Cougars survived 10 penalties for 117 yards and some sloppy moments on defense to hand the Rams their first loss.

"I thought it was a good win," said Max Hall, who completed 18 of 29 passes for 241 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. "We had some ups and some downs, but for the most part I thought the guys played hard."

Hall also ran for a touchdown, and Harvey Unga added three TDs on the ground while becoming the Cougars' first 100-yard rusher of 2009 with 113 on 22 carries.

"I think it was one step closer to what we're going to get from Harvey," Mendenhall told the school's official Web site regarding the 6-foot, 240-pound junior, a 1,100-yard rusher each of the last two seasons. "He runs hard, runs physical and is a good football player."

Despite Unga's performance, the Cougars were still outgained 438-373. Mendenhall, though, wasn't too concerned about that discrepancy considering the score.

"Yards, to me, aren't the indicator. It's points," said Mendenhall, whose team converted two interceptions and a blocked punt into touchdowns in the first quarter. "Any time that we hold an opponent to 24 points or under, we win a lot of football games."

In four-plus seasons under Mendenhall, BYU is 35-2 when giving up 24 points or fewer.

The Aggies (1-2) got their first win of 2009 last Saturday, compiling 604 yards in a 53-34 rout of Southern Utah. It was the ninth-highest yardage total in team history and Utah State's first 600-yard performance since Nov. 17, 2001.

A lot of the credit for the breakout offensive performance went to Robert Turbin, who ran for 104 yards, caught four passes for 116 yards and scored three touchdowns. Diondre Borel completed 15 of 21 pass attempts for 316 yards and three TDs without an interception.

The Aggies will likely need a similar performance to keep up with the Cougars, who have dominated the rivalry in recent years. BYU has won nine straight in the series since 1994 by an average of 18.8 points.

The Cougars, then ranked eighth, scored 24 points in the first quarter and went into the fourth with a 34-0 lead against the Aggies last October before holding on for a 34-14 victory. Hall was 23 for 37 for 303 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions, and Unga ran for 89 yards and a TD.

Turbin had 74 yards and a touchdown on eight carries, but Utah State couldn't overcome three turnovers that led to 17 BYU points.