The offense comes alive
BYU is averaging 23 points per game this season. The Cougars had 23 points at halftime against Middle Tennessee. They finished the game with 37 points, which is their second highest point total of the season, next to the 40 points scored against Texas.
BYU’s offense averages 96 plays per game this season, good for second most in the nation, behind only California. They only ran 74 against Middle Tennessee.
Last week, BYU scored 13 of 35 possible red zone points. Friday night, BYU scored 21 of 35 possible in the Blue Zone. They lost two fumbles inside the 5-yard line.
Ross Apo led the Cougars in receiving, gaining 38 yards on four receptions. He only had three receptions through the first three games of the season.
The BYU offense is averaging 307 yards rushing per game this season. They had 309 against Middle Tennessee.
Michael Alisa scored two rushing touchdowns for BYU. It was the first time in his career he has scored multiple touchdowns in a single game.
Running back Algernon Brown set a career high by rushing for 68 yards.
Hoffman out
Just prior to the game, BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall announced that Cody Hoffman would be suspended for the game against Middle Tennessee. Hoffman is BYU’s leading receiver and is in line to set multiple school receiving records. The specifics of his suspension are unknown.
Hill’s big night
Taysom Hill rushed for 165 yards against Middle Tennessee. With that total, he set the BYU record for most rushing yards by a traditional quarterback in a single season. The record was previously held by Virgil Carter who had 474. The all-time rushing record by any type of quarterback in a BYU season is held by Eldon Fortie, who had 1,149 yards in 1962.
Hill also moved into fourth place in career rushing yards by a quarterback in BYU history. He needs to rush for 765 yards to break the current record of 1,666 yards held by Fortie.
Hill is on pace for 1,836 rushing yards for the season, which would break the single season rushing record by a quarterback set by Northern Illinois quarterback Jordan Lynch, who rushed for 1,771 yards last season.
After only completing 40 passes on 114 attempts (35.1 percent) through three games this season, Hill completed 14 of his 19 passing attempts (73.6 percent) against Middle Tennessee.
Hill had a 141.4 efficiency rating against the Blue Raiders. This season he averages a rating of 72.
BYU defense corrects itself
After allowing 10 points in the first quarter, the BYU defense held Middle Tennessee scoreless through the rest of the game.
Senior Austin Jorgensen led BYU’s defense with a career-high nine tackles. Senior Blake Morgan and junior Marques Johnson also set career highs with five tackles each.
Senior Daniel Sorensen forced the only turnover for BYU, recording the seventh interception of his career.
Turnovers an issue
BYU turned the ball over five times against the Blue Raiders. The team lost four fumbles and threw one interception.
JD Falslev’s inconsistent play
After fumbling on his first two punt returns, JD Falslev returned a punt 71 yards for a touchdown. It was the first BYU punt return for a touchdown since 2011 against TCU (also Falslev). Falslev went on to fumble a punt return for a third time later in the game.
With his punt return against Middle Tennessee, Falslev became only the fifth player in BYU history with two returns for touchdowns.
