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High-powered BYU keeps rolling against Wyoming

Sep 21, 2008 - 12:53 AM PROVO, Utah (Ticker) -- Brigham Young was pushed to the limit by lowly Washington two weeks ago. Since then, the Cougars have been virtually untouched.

The 11th-ranked Cougars continued their onslaught on the early season schedule, manhandling Wyoming in their Mountain West Conference opener, 44-0, on Saturday.

After embarrassing UCLA in a 59-0 blowout last week, BYU (4-0, 1-0 MWC) has now outscored its opponents by a 103-0 margin over the last eight quarters of play.

"I think the shutout is significant in terms of being back-to-back," BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall said. "The main emphasis of our program is how many points we can score and how many we can limit, so I think we're improving in that area."

The Cougars' latest win was almost too easy. The Cowboys gave the ball away six times - with two of those turnovers going all the way back the other way - and all BYU had to do was put a few efficient scoring drives together to put the game away.

Mission accomplished - and once again, it was accomplished by halftime.

"With this team there are very few things unexpected," Mendenhall said. "As you come into the game it usually plays out about how we prepared them. It usually sorts out, just about how we think it's going to sort out; they play just about how we think they're going to play. And so I think there is a level of trust between the schemes, the players and the coaches."

On back-to-back possessions in the second quarter, Max Hall connected with Austin Collie for touchdowns as BYU went into halftime with a 27-0 advantage. With 4:36 left in the first half, Collie ran a fly route down the right sideline, and Hall delivered a perfectly placed ball for a 62-yard touchdown.

One possession later, Hall capped off a nine-play, 59-yard drive with a 7-yard scoring strike to Collie.

Hall's numbers on Saturday may have looked a bit pedestrian after last week's showing, when he tied a school record with seven touchdown passes against the Bruins - and did so in just 2 1/2 quarters on the field. Against the Cowboys (2-2, 0-2), he was 16-of-27 for 189 yards and three touchdowns. Collie brought in eight receptions for 122 yards.

"The Cougars were way too much for us," Wyoming head coach Joe Glenn said. "They're a real good football team. BYU's going to do this to a lot of teams. I'd like to see them go all the way."

BYU's defense also got in on the act when junior defensive back Scott Johnson returned a fumble recovery 64 yards for a touchdown to open the scoring. Later, senior linebacker David Nixon scored the game's final touchdown with a 19-yard interception return.

Cougars running back Harvey Unga scored a pair of touchdowns - one through the air and another on the ground - and finished with 95 rushing yards on 19 carries.

Wyoming sophomore quarterback Dax Crum completed 15-of-28 passes for 119 yards and an interception. Two of his backups, Karsten Sween and Chris Stutzriem, each threw an interception as well.

"I was really impressed by the defensive performance and their ability to not only have great enthusiasm, but to have it result in turnovers," Mendenhall said. "Not only do we not risk giving up big plays - which we have not given up the past couple of games - but now they're starting to take the ball away. That was probably the biggest improvement that I saw."