BYU Cougars Survive Mistakes, Take Care of Business in Week One

There has not been a team in Provo with such promise and hype in recent memory as the one that is there now at Brigham Young University. Week One was supposed to be more of a scrimmage than a game, but the Northern Iowa Panthers gave the 16th-ranked team in the country a bit more than they bargained for.

The Panthers scored two touchdowns in the third quarter to come within 10 at 27-17 before BYU seized back control of the game in a 41-17 victory Saturday.

The first half went very much according to plan as the Cougars dominated all aspects of the game with UNI getting one big play that led to a field goal. BYU running back Harvey Unga scored two touchdowns on the ground and caught another from quarterback Max Hall in the first half. He finished the game with 64 yards on 18 carries. The Cougars went into halftime with a cozy 27-3 lead.

The third quarter, however, was a completely different story. Penalties, turnovers, and a trick play resulted in the Panthers being down just 10 with 5:59 left in the third quarter. BYU fans were clearly not happy as their team was clearly dominating the game but could not finish drives that should have ended in scores. Instead, the Cougar defense kept trotting out after a BYU fumble.

Despite all the mental mistakes, the Cougars never seemed as if they thought they were in danger, and more than half of UNI's 362 total yards came on two plays. All of the anxiety in the game was self-inflicted by the Cougars.

The offense, besides the turnovers, was virtually unstoppable; Hall threw for 486 yards and two touchdowns, and ran in another score. Tight end Dennis Pitta set a new personal best with 213 yards receiving.

In the fourth quarter, the Cougars put away the Panthers by extending their lead to 34 on a Hall run. Then a Bryan Kariya 14-yard touchdown run was icing on the cake for the Cougars, as they pushed the longest winning streak in the country to 11 games.

With one of their toughest tests coming next week at Washington, the Cougars cannot make all the mistakes they made today if they want to come home from Seattle 2-0.

With Utah winning at the big house and the Cougar offense looking very very good, Nov. 22, when the two teams play, could have both teams looking for a berth in a BCS game. Like the BYU vs. Utah rivalry needs anymore fuel to the fire, as the last two games were literally settled on the final play.