Brigham Young (3-1, 1-0) got back on track with a 42-23 win over the Colorado State Rams (3-1, 0-1). Harvey Unga had three touchdowns on 113 rushing yards to end the Rams 6 game win streak. BYU has now won 13 straight conference games at home.
The game was lost in the first quarter as BYU turned three CSU turnovers into a 21-0 lead. All three scoring drives were less than 39 yards and 39 seconds long. Giving that type of advantage was the Rams down fall as through the next three quarters the Rams stuck with and outscored the Cougars 23-21. However it is a 60 minute game and the Rams made too many mistakes early on.
Max Hall was 18-29 with 241 yards with a pair of touchdowns and interceptions. Unga was the big story as he extended a few drives by breaking tackles and slicing his way through the defense. His size was a real problem for the Rams. Dennis Pitta had a BYU touchdown called back on offensive pass interference, however the next play he would catch one of his own to put BYU up 28-7.
Colorado State made to many errors to win on the road against a ranked team. Grant Stucker played well as he was 30-50 for 372 yards also coming in with a pair of touchdowns and interceptions. If there were ever a stat for receiver interceptions those were two of them. Rashaun Greer had one bounce off his forearm right up to Brian Logan, the second one was right through his hands and fell to Andrew Rich. Apparently there was some attitude from Greer after these plays and he would be banished to the bench by Steve Fairchild for the rest of the game.
The Rams defense was easily cut up by Unga and the other backs, BYU ran for 132 yards on the day. The real issue was tackling. The standout play was in the 4th quarter and CSU was making their final attempt at a comeback, they were down by just 11. BYU was in a 3rd and 16 situation and the hand off went to Unga to run down some clock. However after a few missed tackles it was a first down for BYU that eventually lead to Unga's third touchdown.
This next section is a thumbs up, thumbs down look at the Rams effort. For those of you who don't know who Fum McGraw is click his name for a little history.
Fum Would Be Proud of Grant Stucker. The two picks were not perfect throws, but should not have been interceptions by any means. His career high 372 yards came from medium range throws which put his decision making and arm on display. His pocket presence still needs work as he failed to scramble once all day, as a result he took three coverage sacks that could have been thrown into the 3rd row for no loss.
Fum Would Be Upset at the tackling. Piss Poor would be a complement to the way they tackled. I understand Unga is a talented back but there was still way to many missed tackles. Hall even evaded three defenders on a 3rd down to keep a drive alive among other miscues. The physicality and technique needed to tackle a big back like Unga wasn't there today.
Fum McGraw Motivating Players of the Game are Dion Morton and Tyson Liggett. Both receivers gave the BYU secondary fits all day long. Morton had 43 yards and a touchdown, but drew multiple pass interference calls as they were trying to keep him in check. Tyson Liggett had a breakout day with 11 catches for 156 yards and a touchdown. He turned into Stucker's favorite target after Greer was sent to the bench.