BYU football: Cougars lose another game and another quarterback

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Dani Jardine
Beau Tanner and Tanner Balderree look at Hoge, who left the game with an injury after this play.
(Dani Jardine)

BYU football suffered a 40-24 loss to Utah State on Friday and fell to 1-4 on the season.

“We’re obviously disappointed with the loss,” said coach Kalani Sitake. “We just had way too many errors for us to overcome and have a chance to win.”

Utah State came out strong in the first quarter, scoring just a touchdown four minutes into the game.

The Cougars were finally able to turn things around with a quick interception and touchdown by Michah Hannemann that put BYU on the scoreboard.

Two sacks from Kaufusi and Warner slowed down the Aggie offense and kept the score tied at 7-7.

In the second quarter, BYU’s offense kicked into gear as starting quarterback Beau Hoge led the Cougars to 14 more points in the second quarter.

Hoge first connected with Brayden El-Bakri for a 10-yard touchdown then found Beau Tanner for a 40-yard completion.

Tanner was initially ruled out of bounds on the spectacular catch, but replay officials overturned the call.

Just as things finally seemed to be clicking for the offense, Hoge threw a pick-six that put the score at 21-14.

Hoge was then taken out of the game for the remainder of the game due to a concussion he suffered on the next drive.

Third-string quarterback Koy Detmer Jr. took the field in place of Hoge, and the Cougars’ drive stalled shortly after.

BYU fumbled the ball its own 36-yard line on the next drive and the momentum swung back to Utah State.

A bad snap, resulting in a 22-yard loss, stalled BYU’s next drive and the Aggies scored on their next drive to tie the game at 21-21.

As the Cougars once again got the ball it was intercepted for a second time by the Aggies. This resulted in a 32-yard field goal at the end of the second quarter which gave Utah State a 24-21 lead.

Every third quarter possession resulted in a turnover for BYU. The team turned the ball over on downs, lost two fumbles and Detmer Jr. threw an interception.

“We just need to trust each other,” Tanner said. “It’s embarrassing how many turnovers we have, but it’s on all of us.”

The start of the fourth quarter looked better for the offense as Detmer connected on a 39-yard pass to Jonah Trinnaman to set up first and goal.

A 6-yard touchdown run was negated by a holding penalty and BYU had to settle for a 37-yard field goal three plays later, cutting the Aggies’ lead to 33-24.

Detmer Jr. threw another interception with 3:20 to play that resulted in a 50-yard touchdown for the Aggies.

BYU finished the game with seven turnovers.

“In all phases, we could have done better,”  said senior Fred Warner who was visibly upset after the loss. “We’ve got a lot to play for. No matter what I’m going to make sure we turn this around.”

BYU returns home next Saturday to play Boise State at 8:15 p.m. MDT.

“We’ll have to evaluate everything again and just get ready for next week,” Sitake said.

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