By Michael Barzee
Don?t count these Cougars out.
BYU notched its first come-from-behind victory this season, erasing an 11-point fourth quarter deficit to beat New Mexico 27-24 Saturday night in Albuquerque, N.M.
?I asked the players to take it one play at a time until the game was over, knowing that it wasn?t going to be easy,? BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall said. ?I just asked them to play four quarters as hard as they could and they did and I?m proud of them.?
After trailing 21-13 at halftime, both the Cougars? offense and defense came out swinging in the second half. The BYU defense started if off, forcing the Lobos to punt on their opening drive. The Cougar offense started their first drive of the half at their own nine-yard line. They marched 70 yards before John Beck threw an interception at the two-yard line. Despite this setback, the Cougars kept their composure and didn?t give up.
?To have young men with this kind of character, we”ve been through a lot already and they”ve been resilient,? Mendenhall said. ?They overcame adversity to the end and kept believing in themselves and their coaches. I am proud of them and their performance.?
The Lobos drove 91 yards after the turnover before being forced to kick a field goal putting them up 24-13. The turning point in the game came at the beginning of the fourth quarter when Cougar linebacker Markell Staffieri recovered a fumble by New Mexico quarterback Kole McKamey at the BYU 7-yard line.
The Cougar offense took the first New Mexico turnover 93 yards for a touchdown on a nine-yard Curtis Brown run. After their first extra point try of the game was blocked, BYU had to go for the two-point conversion to try and cut the deficit to three points. The conversion failed and the Cougars trailed 24-19, which meant BYU would have to score another touchdown to win.
The Cougars got that chance with 2:48 left in the game, after the BYU defense forced New Mexico to punt. It took the Cougars? offense a little more than a minute and five plays to score a touchdown. On the drive, quarterback John Beck found five different receivers, including a 23-yard touchdown strike to receiver Matt Allen.
?I think they (New Mexico) had a sense the game was in doubt but I didn”t see any panic until the last drive. I saw a lot of panic on the last (BYU) drive,? New Mexico head coach Rocky Long said.
Brown punched in the two-point conversion to give BYU a 27-24 lead.
The Lobos had their chance to win the game, getting the ball back with 1:40 remaining in the game. But the Cougar defense stopped them on fourth down with just under a minute left, securing a BYU victory.
?As we talked at halftime I sensed that they could win, I sensed that they believed,? Mendenhall said. ?I think they were determined to make it happen and they did. That is to their credit. That shows maybe the true nature of this team is starting to come out.?
Beck completed 34-of-44 passes to 11 different receivers in the game, including backup running backs Joe Semanoff and Manase Tonga. The duo replaced Fahu Tahi, who was suspended from the game after violating team rules. Beck finished the day with 371 yards passing and three touchdowns.
Tight end Jonny Harline was the leading Cougar receiver, catching 10 passes for 123 yards, his second straight 100-yard receiving game. But the passing game wasn?t the only part of the offense finding success. Brown rushed for 104 yards and a touchdown, making it his seventh game in his career with over 100 yards rushing.
?Coach Mendenhall said that New Mexico is a great team and that it is going to come down to who can make the best last play,? Brown said. ?Obviously they are going to make plays and we are going to make plays. We just have to make one more than they did and that is what we did.?
