By SCOTT BELL
He's ba-ack.
Kevin Feterik returned Saturday and brought along the missing BYU offense as the Cougars downed Tulsa 49-39 at Cougar Stadium.
The universe seemed to be restored to its proper order on a gray Saturday afternoon in Provo. BYU's offense moved up and down the field at will, the scoreboard operators were busy, opposing coaches slammed their headsets in despair and a standout quarterback directed the whole thing.
Three-point games, drives with no first downs and games with no touchdowns were distant memories, exorcised by an offensive explosion Cougar fans had been waiting for all season.
'I told Norm (Chow) there at the end,' said BYU coach LaVell Edwards, 'this is the first WAC game I've seen all year.
'The big thing was having Kevin back. Not only that he played well, but the emotional lift he gave to the team in there was big.'
The Cougars have been looking for leaders on offense all year long. Feterik was stepping into that role before his injury, but Saturday was his coronation. That this is his team became painfully obvious in his absence.
'The spirit on the offense was up, the offensive lineman were happy and feeling good,' said defensive end Byron Frisch. 'And you have to have that. You have to have a leader out there. I'm ecstatic that we have that now, because that's something we had with Sark, but didn't have (this year) until today.'
'The thing that was frustrating is that we began so darn young in the key areas (this year),' Edwards said. 'I think in the Utah State game we finally started to gel, and that's when (Feterik) got hurt. Then it was kind of like starting over again.'
Feterik, starting just four weeks after fracturing his ankle against Rice, wasted no time in making an impact. He completed his first two passes for two first downs. On the next play, Brian McKenzie burst around the right side for a 31-yard touchdown.
Just like that, BYU led 7-0.
Feterik drove the team for two more first quarter touchdowns, a 18-yard run from Jaron Dabney and a 20-yard pass to Aaron Cupp, and the Cougars led 21-0 after one.
Feterik finished the game with 15 completions in 28 attempts for 246 yards and 4 touchdowns. But his return-party wasn't a complete joy ride. Tulsa saw to that. Feterik got flattened in the third quarter, receiving a chin laceration that required six stitches.
The Tulsa offense made quite a showing as well. Or the BYU defense didn't show up, depending on who you talked to. Either way, after BYU raced to the early lead, Tulsa fought back to 21-12, then traded touchdowns with BYU the remainder of the way.
'Sometimes we think our defense is so great we can come on the field and stop anyone,' said cornerback Omarr Morgan. 'Today we kind of got lackadaisical. The offense won this one. There's no way Tulsa should put up that many points on us. But we made the plays when we had to.'
Frisch was even more outspoken about the defense's struggles.
'I think what happened today is we had a few guys who saw the offense playing well and decided to take a play off here and a play off there,' Frisch said. 'We looked terrible. We can't do that. We've got to be consistent.'
Almost lost in the hub-bub of Feterik's return was the amazing day put together by BYU's running backs, particularly McKenzie. The senior rushed for a career high 187 yards on 23 carries. Along with McKenzie -- Dabney, Will Snowden and Cupp teamed up to produce 296 rushing yards for the Cougars.
'Today was a make 'em or break 'em day,' McKenzie said. 'We let it all hang out today. Last week, we had no running game, so we wanted to show today that we do have a running game.'
Defensive breakdowns notwithstanding, the Cougars will gladly take this one. With Feterik back in the lineup, all bets are back on. A WAC championship and bowl appearance are back in the Cougars' immediate view.
And at least for one cold November day, all seemed well again in Cougar-land.