By MICHAEL MILLER
miller@du2.byu.edu
The BYU Cougars blew a golden opportunity to defeat the Alabama Crimson Tide on Saturday night at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Two costly turnovers in the fourth quarter allowed the Crimson Tide to gain the upper hand and defeat BYU 38-31.
Alabama won its eighth straight season-opening game, while BYU lost its fourth consecutive road game.
With the score tied at 24 and BYU driving, Alabama senior cornerback Fernado Bryant turned the game around. Bryant intercepted BYU junior quarterback Kevin Feterik's pass mid-way through the fourth quarter, killing a BYU drive at midfield.
Minutes later, Alabama junior tailback Shaun Alexander scored a twenty-eight yard touchdown to put the Crimson Tide ahead for good, 31-24.
On BYU's ensuing possession, center Jimmy Richards and Feterik miscommunicated on the snap, and Alabama recovered the fumbled snap from center. The Crimson Tide increased its lead to 38-24 when Alexander scored his fifth touchdown of the night, setting a new Alabama record for most touchdowns in a game. On the evening, Alexander rushed 26 times for 115 yards.
'The ultimate costly mistakes were the two turnovers in the fourth quarter that led to easy touchdowns for them,' BYU head coach LaVell Edwards said. 'When they got those turnovers it was like a shot in the arm.'
The game got off to an inauspicious start for BYU as Alabama's offense looked like a well-oiled machine in the first half. At one point, the Crimson Tide was 8-for-8 on third-down conversions and amazingly attempted its first punt of the half with 1:20 left.
Alabama took the opening drive 65 yards in 15 plays, using up more than seven-and-a-half minutes. Alexander capped the drive by scampering five yards for his first touchdown to stake Alabama to an early 7-0 lead. BYU followed by going three plays and out-punting on its first possession.
The Crimson Tide's second possession resulted in Alexander's second touchdown of the night, a 37-yard dash that put Alabama ahead 14-0.
'We came out tight. We were not totally in sync either offensively or defensively at the beginning,' Edwards said.
Early in the second quarter, the BYU defense stepped up and got the Cougars on the scoreboard. Junior defensive end Byron Frisch picked up an Alexander fumble and returned it for a touchdown, cutting the Crimson Tide lead to 14-7.
Frisch's fumble return swung the momentum towards BYU and got the Cougars going, according to Edwards. 'It made all the difference in the world,' Edwards said.
Alexander and the Alabama offense came right back, as he scored a two-yard touchdown on the next possession. A 34-yard field goal by Alabama's Ryan Pflunger made it 24-7 as the Crimson Tide capitalized on a BYU fumble by Will Snowden.
Minutes later, BYU took advantage of an Alabama miscue just before the half. Junior tight end Carlos Nuno pounced on the pigskin after an Alabama punt returner fumbled. Several plays later, Feterik found sophomore tight end Tevita Ofahengaue wide open in the end zone for a 10-yard scoring strike to trim the Tide's lead to 24-14 at the half.
BYU started the second half with an impressive scoring drive. The Cougars drove 85 yards in 4 1/2 minutes to cut into the Crimson Tide's lead. Freshman running back Junior Mahe finished the scoring drive with a 5-yard touchdown run, pulling BYU within three.
Mahe said he was excited and thrilled that he even got to play in the opening game.
'I just tried to gain confidence in this game,' Mahe said.
Mahe rushed six times for 25 yards, including one touchdown.
BYU tied the game at 24 when sophomore kicker Owen Pochman booted a 23-yard field goal with just over a minute left in the quarter.
Feterik closed the scoring column for the Cougars when he ran in from 15 yards out to pull BYU within seven in the waning seconds of the game. Feterik finished 19-for-30 for 182 yards, with one touchdown and one critical interception that turned the ballgame around.