BYU loses to Nevada

With a strong offensive presence racking up a ton of yards, BYU fell to Nevada this last Saturday, October 18, 2014 on homecoming night in Provo 42-35. They now have a record of 4-3.

With another tough loss, a few playmakers stood out, but sadly the mistakes also stood out too.

First the playmakers. The most logical one to start is of course the backup quarterback taking over for his second start after Taysom Hill broke his leg...Christian Stewart. Out of everyone, he was the y-factor of the game according to fans on Twitter. 408 yards passing, 4 passing touchdowns, 1 rushing touchdowns, and even running when needed, Stewart strove to keep BYU in the game the whole 60 minutes of playing time. Combined with the rushing players, he gave BYU a 601 total offense game! He is most definitely ending up to being a good replacement for injured Taysom Hill in my opinion. The next playmaker was Mitch Mathews. With 16 catches for 182 yards and 2 touchdowns, Mitch Mathews had a record performance. The 16 catches put him in the BYU football history record book for #2 below Jay Miller with 22 catches in 1973 against New Mexico. He was a huge contributor. Next we have Paul Lasike, a running back who along with my last playmaker, took  the rushing load with 3 other running backs (Williams, Hine, and Brown) down with injuries, and he did it very well. He also decently contributed in the passing game with the second-most amount of receiving yards. Nate Carter is the last for me. The fifth-string running back showed the true depth at the running back position with an average of 12.4 yards per rush and having the longest rush of 22 yards. When he had open fields, he went far.

Sadly with the offensive prowess shown, there were mistakes. There were six penalties for 75 yards (compared to Nevada who had 6 penalties for only 36 yards), and there were 3 fumbles (by the offense). The defense performed well during the first half, they seemed to lose focus as they allowed Nevada to score 4 straight touchdowns. BYU was winning 28-13, but lost that lead as the defense struggled to stop Nevada QB Cody Fajardo and his offense from scoring and winning the game. In their defense though they did have two short fields to deal with due to two of the fumbles.

But they still showed that they need to improve a lot. The offense showed that they will be able to score, but the defense needs to figure out where they went wrong and rise from the loss to beat Boise State. I believe that if they can do that, BYU has a very good chance of winning and raising their record up to 5-3. They have proven that they can do it, so I know they can do it again (even with a lot of starters out due to injuries; and hopefully those starters can fully heal and start trailing back in onto the field to help BYU overcome their struggles and win more games).

BYU's next game will be on Friday, October 24th at 7:00 PM MST @ Boise State in Boise, Idaho on ESPN. There will be the usual pre- and post-game shows on BYUtv.

For all of you who are BYU basketball fans, please make sure to see my recent post about the oncoming seasons for men's and women's basketball for BYU!

Here are some stats from the game:
PASSING/RECEIVING (408 total yards, 4 touchdowns)
Christian Stewart (QB): 39 completions of 63 attempts (61.9%), 4 TOUCHDOWNS, threw to 10 different players, longest pass was 23 yards, 0 interceptions, 4 sacks
Mitch Mathews (WR): 16 catches for 182 yards, 2 TOUCHDOWNS, longest catch was 23 yards
Jordan Leslie (WR): 6 catches for 47 yards, longest catch was 12 yards
Paul Lasike (RB): 5 catches for 69 yards, 1 TOUCHDOWN, longest catch was 20 yards
Mitchell Juergens (WR): 4 catches for 41 yards, longest catch was 23 yards
Keanu Nelson (WR): 2 catches for 13 yards, 1 TOUCHDOWN, longest catch was 8 yards
Other players with catches: Devin Mahina (TE), Colby Pearson (WR) [found out Saturday that Pearson is from Blackfoot!], Algernon Brown (RB), Terenn Houk (WR), and Trey Dye (WR)

RUSHING (193 total net yards (29 yards were lost due to sacks and a tackle for loss), 1 TOUCHDOWN)
Nate Carter (RB): 87 net yards with 12.4 average, longest rush was 22 yards
Christian Stewart (QB): 47 net yards (72 total yards) with 2.9 average, longest rush was 12 yards
Paul Lasike (RB): 46 net yards with 3.8 average, 1 TOUCHDOWN, longest rush was 9 yards
Algernon Brown (RB): 11 net yards with 11.0 average
Other players with rushes: Mitchell Juergens (WR), Jordan Leslie (WR), and Terren Houk (WR)

KICKING
Trevor Samson (K): 5 for 5 on extra points

PUNTING
Scott Arellano (P): 3 punts for 36.0 average, longest punt was 53 yards

DEFENSIVE (64 total (52 solo) tackles, 1 SACK, 8 passes broken up, 0 turnovers)
Michael Davis (DB): 9 total (8 solo) tackles, 2 passes broken up
Robertson Daniel (DB): 6 total (6 solo) tackles, 2 passes broken up
Bronson Kafusi (LB): 5 total (5 solo) tackles, 2 passes broken up, 2 tackles for loss for 3 yards
Manoa Pikula (LB): 5 total (4 solo) tackles
Kai Nacua (DB): 4 total (3 solo) tackles, 1 tackle for loss for 4 yards
Zac Stout (LB): 4 total (2 solo) tackles
Logan Taele (DL): 4 total (1 solo) tackles
Skye PoVey (DB): 3 total (3 solo) tackles
Harvey Jackson (DB): 3 total (3 solo) tackles, 1 pass broken up
Travis Tuiloma (DL): 3 total (3 solo) tackles, 1 tackle for loss for 1 yard
Dallin Leavitt (DB): 2 total (2 solo) tackles
Graham Rowley (DL): 2 total (2 solo) tackles, 1 tackle for loss for 1 yard
Harvey Langi (LB): 2 total (2 solo) tackles
Michael Alisa (LB): 1 total (1 solo) tackle, 1 SACK, 1 tackle for loss for 1 yard
Fred Warner (LB): 1 pass broken up

Here is a link to the full page of stats:
http://byucougars.com/event-stats/m-football/box-score/105935