For the second week in a row, the BYU football team never trailed throughout the entire game.
The Cougars trampled the Idaho State Bengals on Saturday afternoon, 56-3, to extend their win streak to five games. Junior quarterback Riley Nelson threw for 215 yards on 11-for-17 passing and ran for 62 yards to lead BYU over its only FCS opponent this season.
“We felt like this was a game matchup-wise we could come in and execute both in the run, the pass and the play action game,” Nelson said. “We came in with high expectations and I think in most aspects we met those expectations.”
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[/media-credit]BYU had a well-rounded offensive game with seven different players getting into the end zone. Four scores came on the ground as the Cougars ran for 290 yards. Nelson threw three touchdowns, which contributed to 282 total passing yards. Sophomore receiver Cody Hoffman caught a game-high two touchdowns and helped the team get rolling on offense early on in the game.
“He’s so consistent,” BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall said of Hoffman. “He has such size and range and he uses his body so well. It seems like if Riley puts the ball anywhere close to him, he just has a knack for getting the football.”
Idaho State attempted to punt on the opening drive of the game, but BYU linebacker Kyle Van Noy blocked the kick to set up the Cougars on the Bengal 15-yard line. Seven seconds later, the Cougars were up 7-0 as Nelson completed a pass to freshman receiver Ross Apo for a touchdown.
Mendenhall said that Van Noy’s blocked punt was just one of many big plays he’s made this year.
“If you look just at Kyle’s production this entire year, starting from Ole Miss, really what game hasn’t he contributed with an interception, a sack, knocking down a pass, doing something,” Mendenhall said. “The guy just makes a lot of football plays.”
Defensively, the Cougars held their opponent to just three points, a lone field goal late in the first quarter. BYU also picked off three passes, one of which was returned for a touchdown by safety Daniel Sorensen.
“Our defense is playing really well right now,” Nelson said. “To play against an offense like that where they’re chucking it all over the field with slants, hitches and all that stuff, that’s hard to defend. … One thing you can count on our defense is they’re going to play with a lot of energy and a lot of emotion.”
The Bengals continued with their season long plan of passing the ball on almost every down. Idaho State threw 60 passes for 231 yards and only ran the ball for a total of 20 yards. However, starting quarterback Kevin Yost left the game during the second quarter due to an injury caused by a hard hit in the pocket.
“We’re taught to be basically animals by coach Mendenhall [and] it starts in practice,” Van Noy said of the defensive performance. “We’re always going to be aggressive no matter what, that’s just how we’re taught to play here at BYU.”
Sophomore quarterback Jake Heaps, who was benched partway through the season, came into the game with 7:13 left in the third quarter. Heaps finished with 67 yards on 8-of-10 passing and one interception. Several BYU players deep on the depth chart saw playing time late in the game once the Cougars held a commanding lead.
“To have players actually get to play in LaVell Edwards Stadium in the game — that was maybe the happiest I’ve seen our locker room in a long time, not just from pockets of players but collectively,” Mendenhall said. “That made me feel good to see those guys who work so hard in the shadows get a chance.”
