With the exception of the three plays in which Kris Adams burned the Cougars' secondary, BYU dominated every single facet of this game. 

Jake Heaps looks like he could be another great quarterback next season for BYU, especially with all the returning offensive starters. He and Cody Hoffman showed an incredible connection whenever they were on the field, the running game looked great and the offensive line was dominant.

On defense, BYU forced three interceptions from Trevor Vittatoe and corralled the offense all game. 

It was a truly dominant game by the Cougars. 

It wasn't as close a game as we expected, but because of the points scored, it was still an exciting way to start the Bowl season. 

After Trevor VIttatoe stepped back on his injured right foot, took aim, and fired another deep pass Kris Adams looked back up into the afternoon sky. He saw another perfect spiral aimed right at him and it fell into his arms for a 49-yard score, his third of the game. 

Adams and BYU's number one receiver Cody Hoffman are both having incredible statistical days. 

Adams has now caught just three passes, but they've gone for a 67-yard touchdown, a 37-yard touchdown and a 49-yard touchdown. That all adds up to 153 receiving yards. 

On the other team, Hoffman has caught eight passes for 137 yards and three touchdowns of his own. He's also picked up 111 yards in the return game. 

Ever since Bronco Mendenhall took over the play calling duties for BYU, they've been a much better team on defense. They had the 102nd ranked scoring defense before and the 32nd ranked afterwards. 

Now the Cougars are playing much better than any six-win team in the country. They will definitely do better next year. 

Jake Heaps will be a sophomore with a whole year's worth of experience under his belt. 

All four of the running backs that contribute for BYU will return. 

Cody Hoffman and two more of the Cougars' top receivers will be returning for another season. 

Four of the five members of the offensive line will start again in 2011. 

The 2011 version of the BYU Cougars will be playing in a much more prestigious bowl next season. 

After Andrew Rich picked off a Trevor Vittatoe pass that literally hit him right in between the numbers, the BYU Cougars took over on offense at the UTEP 46-yard line. 

Joshua Quezada ran for eight yards. Then JJ Di Luigi gained nine yards and a first down. 

Quezada ran backwards for a loss of one yard. Then Di Luigi gained that yard back.

On 3rd-and-10, Jake Heaps hit Cody Hoffman for a 29-yard touchdown pass to increase the lead to 45-17. 

After that third touchdown pass to Hoffman on the day, Heaps had completed 24 of his 33 pass attempts for 255 yards and four touchdowns. The freshman is going to remember this day for quite some time. 

As if we needed any more proof after the perfectly-thrown 67-yard bomb from Trevor Vittatoe to Kris Adams, we learned yet again that Vittatoe can throw the deep ball quite well. 

Responding to bring BYU's lead back to just 21 points, Vittatoe hit Adams once more for a touchdown, this time a perfectly thrown 37-yard pass to his favorite receiver. The pass literally traveled over 50 yards in the air. Impressive stuff indeed.

He completed all three of his passes on the drive for 62 yards and that touchdown. 

Now if only the UTEP defense could stop BYU's offense just once...

After holding the UTEP Miners without a score at the end of the second quarter, BYU got the ball first in the second half and made the most of the opportunity. It was a perfect beginning to the second half of play for the Cougars. 

Cody Hoffman returned the ball to the 25-yard line to start, then the offense took over. 

Jake Heaps was 5-for-6 for 46 yards on the drive and JJ Di Luigi ran four times for 18 yards, including the touchdown on a 2-yard sweep to the right. 

BYU led 38-10 after this first drive of the second half and I don't see any way that UTEP is going to come back in this one. 

BYU Cougars:

Jake Heaps: A+

  The freshman quarterback completed 18 of his 25 passes in the first half for three touchdowns and 185 yards. He looked great throughout the first half with the exception of one stupid throw that resulted in an interception deep in UTEP territory. 

Cody Hoffman: A+

The wide receiver and returner was quite productive in the first half. Hoffman returned two kickoffs for 68 yards to give his team great field position. He also caught six passes for 100 yards and two scores. UTEP has yet to come up with an answer for Hoffman. 

Overall: A

This BYU team played incredibly well in the first quarter, but only tied the second quarter 7-7 because of a huge pass play allowed. They have clearly been the better team. 

UTEP Miners:

Trevor Vittatoe: B-

He's toughing it out in his last collegiate game, but struggling. Vittatoe has completed seven of his 13 passes for 120 yards, a touchdown, and an interception. But that has to be taken with a grain of salt as a 67-yard pass contributed more than half his yards and his one scoring pass. 

Kris Adams: C+

The wide receiver did catch the 67-yard touchdown pass, but that's been his only positive contribution as he's been locked down by the BYU secondary. He did get open in the end zone with 0:15 seconds left but dropped a pass that hit him in the hands. 

Overall: C+

This team just hasn't been playing well at all. With the exception of the big play, the offense has gotten absolutely nothing done. Vittatoe has been inconsistent and taken too many sacks. The running game has been missing completely. And the defense has had a lot of difficulty stopping the Cougars. 

Tom Pennington/Getty Images

Methodically driving down the field, Jake Heaps had a chance to increase the lead to 38-10, but instead made an awful mistake. 

He had a receiver open in the flats who would've picked up a first down on 3rd-and-6. He also had a receiver breaking deep. A decent lob pass would've been enough to get it in to him for a touchdown. 

Instead the freshman decided to throw a laster all the way to the deep receiver but a UTEP defender, Travaun Nixon, simply stepped in front, picked it off, and returned it all the way to BYU territory. 

With just a minute left, they had a chance to score and close the lead a little bit, picking up some momentum in the process to take into the locker room. 

An incomplete pass ended the half though as time expired. 

After going down 28 points, the Miners needed to make something happen fast to avoid solidifying the blowout. 

So, on the first play of the ensuing drive, Trevor Vittatoe launched a long bomb to Kris Adams. Adams caught the pass in stride and sprinted just out of the reach of two BYU defenders all the way down the field for a 67-yard touchdown pass. 

Not only did the pass keep the margin relatively manageable, but it also gives UTEP some momentum, which they sorely need. 

Big plays have the ability to fire up a team. Could this be a turning point? 

If it is, the defense will have to actually do something to stop BYU's offense. 

After Trevor Vittatoe's pass was intercepted by Brandon Ogletree on the first play of the second quarter the Miners were in big trouble. One play later, Jake Heaps hit Cody Hoffman on a 31-yard touchdown pass to make it 24-3 in favor of the Cougars. 

The Miners got the ball back, and after gaining four yards on the first two plays, both of which were runs, they went backwards. Vittatoe was called for intentional grounding and the sack, which went for 19 yards, was credited to Vic So'oto. 

The running game carried the Cougars all the way down the field and then Cody Hoffman caught another touchdown pass, this time a 3-yard strike from Heaps in the center of the end zone. 

The score became 31-3 and the total yards stood at 232 to -20 in favor of BYU at that point. 

BYU Cougars:

Jake Heaps: 9/13, 99 yards, 1 touchdown, A+

JJ Di Luigi: 6 carries, 18 yards, 1 reception, -1 yard, B-

Cody Hoffman: 1 kickoff return, 51 yards, 2 receptions, 49 yards, A

Overall: 17 points, 143 yards gained, -5 yards allowed, A+

UTEP Miners

Trevor Vittatoe: 2/4, 21 yards, 0 touchdowns, 0 interceptions, 2 carries, -23 yards, B-

Marlon McClure: 1 carry, -3 yards, 1 reception, 12 yards, 3 kickoff returns, 125 yards, A+

Overall: 3 points, -5 yards gained, 143 yards allowed, F

After Marlon McClure's 72-yard kickoff return all the way to the BYU 22-yard line, I was convinced that UTEP would manage to score a touchdown on the short field and close the margin to just seven points. 

That was not the case as the offense continued to struggle. Trevor Vittatoe was dropped on the first play on a blindside cornerback blitz for a loss of 10 yards. The Miners struggled to regroup and were forced to call a timeout before the playclock expired. 

McClure ran backwards for a loss of three yards on the next play, an unsuccessful reverse. Then Vittatoe was forced to throw at the feet of his receiver just to avoid the pressure. 

Dakota Warren, who was just 4-for-11 on field goals from more than 30 yards, came on and knocked a 52-yard field goal through the uprights to make it 3-14 in BYU's favor. 

Tom Pennington/Getty Images

After leading a touchdown drive on BYU's first possession and then watching the UTEP offense go backwards, freshman quarterback came back onto the field with a chance to increase the lead to two scores. 

On the second drive, he completed all six of his passes and gained 52 yards through the air. One throw in particular stood out, a sideline out route to Cody Hoffman that Heaps squeezed into a very tight window. The ball was perfectly thrown. 

Heaps has now completed seven of his nine passes for 83 yards and the one nine-yard touchdown pass to Luke Ashworth.

To make that even more impressive, the two incompletions by Heaps both came on drops by JJ Di Luigi. Neither was the quarterback's fault. 

Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

No matter what happens in this game, you have to respect Trevor Vittatoe. 

In an earlier game against UAB this season, he took a hard hit and tore multiple ligaments in his right ankle. He also suffered a shoulder injury on the play. 

Most quarterbacks would call it a season, or in this case a career, and be content to watch from the sideline while resting their ankle and letting it heal. Not Vittatoe. 

He's played every game, just absolutely gritting it out through the pain. Not many people would have the mental fortitude to do so, especially when planting to throw down the field would be quite painful. 

It may not be in his best interest, but Vittatoe has proven to be an absolute warrior. 

Tom Pennington/Getty Images

After BYU struggled their way to nine yards and just one first down on their first drive of the game, mostly due to Andrew Rich's sack of Trevor VIttatoe for a loss of 13 yards, Ian Campbell came on to punt the ball away. 

JD Faisley returned that punt for 47 yards all the way to the UTEP 37-yard line. 

The possession got off to an awful start when JJ Di Luigi was blown up literally as he received the handoff from Jake Heaps. It was an absolutely brilliant play by UTEP's defense. 

However, Heaps threw a 31-yard catch-and-run to Cody Hoffman on the next play and then watched as Bryan Karilya plunged into the end zone from four yards out. 

With that, the Cougars took a very quick 7-0 lead.