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Hall, BYU streak past Utah State

Oct 4, 2008 - 5:24 AM LOGAN, Utah (Ticker) -- BYU's shutout streak is over. The Cougars' winning streak was never in doubt.

Seventh-ranked BYU downed Utah State, 34-14, on Friday to run the nation's longest winning streak to 15 games.

Heisman candidate Max Hall completed 23-of-37 passes for 303 yards and two touchdowns, both to Austin Collie, but also threw two interceptions.

"Bottom line, it was a battle," Hall said. "Obviously, it wasn't our best day. I did a lot of things I wish I could have done differently."

The Cougars (5-0) cemented the victory in the third quarter with 10 points that built their lead to 34-0. Mitch Payne kicked a 21-yard field goal and Hall found Collie for their second scoring connection, a 12-yard pass that completed a short drive. Collie had eight catches for 132 yards.

After that, the only mystery was if BYU was going to ring up its third straight shutout. That streak of 11-plus quarters was snapped when Robert Turbin raced 40 yards for a touchdown less than two minutes into the final period.

Utah State (1-4), which committed four turnovers, scored again as Diondre Borel threw a five-yard touchdown pass to Tarren Lloyd. The Aggies are 1-47 against ranked opponents and have lost nine straight to BYU.

"We had more heart in this game," Borel said. "We turned the ball over three times in this game, and BYU scored. When we turned the ball over against Utah, we just hung our heads down. This game, everyone just stayed up."

The performance of BYU's defense in the final quarter will certainly get the attention of coach Bronco Mendenhall as Utah State seized momentum - as will the 12 penalties the Cougars committed, which cost them 123 yards.

"I think any time you win a football game, it's satisfying," Mendenhall said. "It's certainly satisfying for another win on the road and to win by a convincing margin."

The Cougars took advantage of three turnovers by Utah State to build a 24-0 lead at the break.

"They capitalized like a Top 10 will do," Utah State coach Brent Guy said. "We were lucky. It could have been worse."

Hall was 11-of-18 for 171 yards and a touchdown as the Cougars ran up more than 200 yards of total offense while only holding the ball for 11 minutes.

Hall and Collie combined on a 76-yard scoring pass as BYU took a 7-0 lead a little more than three minutes into the game.

The lead doubled when Brandon Bradley picked up a fumble by Borel and rumbled 38 yards to the end zone.

After a 44-yard field goal by Payne, the Cougars upped the lead to 24-0 when Harvey Unga scored on an 11-yard run. All the first-half scoring took place in the opening quarter.

"We were really disappointed with the start of that football game," Guy said. "The turnovers early in the football game were a huge factor. We went in at halftime and told the guys that we had to go back out and chip our way back into the game."