BYU Wins @ Middle Tennessee State!

With a much-improved defense and decent offense, BYU went to Tennessee and beat Middle Tennessee State 27-7 today, Saturday, November 1, 2014. BYU now has a 5-4 record with four games left in the season against UNLV, Savannah State, and California. They just need one more win to be eligible for the Miami Beach Bowl in Florida this December (which they already have a contract to go to if they get six wins).

Great things happened for all aspects of the team. For passing/receiving, quarterback Christian Stewart had NO interceptions and performed well in leading the offense. 8 out of the 10 players with receiving yards had an average of 10 or higher. For rushing, four out of the five BYU running backs contributed to the total offensive performance. Even Nate Carter (the fifth-team running back) gave a good showing with his five runs during the last few minutes of the game with an average of 4.8 yards. There is great depth there. The defensive performed well with their sacks, interceptions, and ratio of solo tackles to total tackles. The defense has improved a lot compared to last week versus Boise State and hopefully this win propels them forward to another one in two weeks against UNLV. The BYU punter, Scott Arellano, broke the longest BYU punt record for 81 yards as the wind helped propel the ball forward. The previous record was 80 yards.

With an efficient offense and an improved defense that only held Middle Tennessee to 119 passing yards with only one big play of 22 yards for a touchdown (which is much better compared to last week against Boise State), I believe BYU is ready to win at least two or their last three regular season games. There were still penalities, but one positive thing about that is that there were no special teams penalties like there usually is. Also, Jamaal Williams (running back) sadly strained his knee (due to being tackled at the knees) and is out again. We don't know for how long yet. We will continue to see if they can be consistent in execution and achieve more team wins like today. After today's game, an 8-4 final record for the regular season doesn't seem as unreachable as it once did! Let's go Cougars!!!

Their next game will be in two weeks (they have a bye week this next week) on Saturday, November 15, 2014, at home in Provo against UNLV (University of Nevada, Las Vegas) at 5:00 PM MST on ESPNU. It is a black-out game where the players will be wearing their special black jerseys. The usual pre- and post-game shows will be on BYUtv.

Here are some stats:
PASSING/RECEIVING (316 total yards, 2 touchdowns, 11.3 average receiving yards)
Christian Stewart (QB): 28 completions for 45 attempts (62.2%), 2 TOUCHDOWNS, longest pass was 37 yards, threw to 10 different players, 0 interceptions, 3 sacks
Mitch Mathews (WR): 6 catches for 60 yards (10.0 average), longest pass was 14 yards
Devin Mahina (TE): 4 catches for 40 yards (10.0 average), longest pass was 22 yards
Paul Lasike (RB): 4 catches for 22 yards, longest pass was 14 yards
Colby Pearson (WR): 3 catches for 45 yards (15.0 average), 1 TOUCHDOWN, longest pass was 37 yards (touchdown pass)
Jordan Leslie (WR): 3 catches for 33 yards (11.0 average), 1 TOUCHDOWN, longest pass was 19 yards (touchdown pass)
Terenn Houk (WR): 2 catches for 28 yards (14.0 average), longest pass was 16 yards
Jamaal Williams (RB): 2 catches for 24 yards (12.0 average), longest pass was 28 yards
Mitchell Juergens (WR): 2 catches for 12 yards, longest pass was 8 yards
Kurt Henderson (WR): 1 catch for 33 yards (about 1 yard short of a touchdown)
Keanu Nelson (WR): 1 catch for 19 yards

RUSHING (128 total net yards (20 lost), 2 touchdowns)
Jamaal Williams (RB): 49 net yards (1 yard lost) with 3.1 average, longest rush was 9 yards
Paul Lasike (RB): 28 total yards with 5.6 average, 1 TOUCHDOWN, longest rush was 13 yards
Adam Hine (RB): 25 total yards with 8.3 average, longest rush was 18 yards
Nate Carter (RB): 24 total yards with 4.8 average
Mitchell Juergens (WR): 5 total yards
Christian Stewart (QB): 5 net yards (11 lost due to sacks) with 0.7 average, 1 TOUCHDOWN, longest rush was 8 yards

PUNTING
Scott Arellano (P): longest punt was 81 yards, 5 out of 7 punts were within the 20-yard line, average punt yardage was 46.3 yards

DEFENSE (54 total (52 solo) tackles, 4 sacks, 2 interceptions, 2 forced fumbles, 7 tackles for loss for 35 yards)
Skye PoVey (DB): 8 total (7 solo) tackles, 1 tackle for loss for 2 yards
Zac Stout (LB): 7 total (7 solo) tackles
Bronson Kafusi (LB): 6 total (5 solo) tackles, 1 SACK, 1 tackle for loss for 6 yards
Dallin Leavitt (DB): 5 total (5 solo) tackles
Teu Kautai (LB): 3 total (3 solo) tackles, 3 SACKS, 3 tackles for loss for 23 yards, 1 FORCED FUMBLE
Logan Taele (DL): 2 total (2 solo) tackles, 1 quarterback hit
Tomasi Laulile (DL): 2 total (2 solo) tackles, 1 tackle for loss for 3 yards, 1 quarterback hit, 1 INTERCEPTION
Jordan Preator (DB): 2 total (2 solo) tackles, 2 passes broken up, 1 FORCED FUMBLE, 1 INTERCEPTION
Harvey Jackson (DB): 2 total (2 solo) tackles, 1 tackle for loss for 1 yard
Other players with passes broken up: Robertson Daniel (DB) and Michael Alisa (LB) each with one