Crowton's Cougars back to .500

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — They're back to .500, a first for BYU football this deep in a season since head coach Gary Crowton's first season in 2001.

And now it is time to rest.

After defeating Air Force 41-24 with a 38-point second half explosion, the Cougars are 4-4 overall and are in second place in the Mountain West Conference with a 3-1 record.

BYU's next game is Nov. 6 at home against San Diego State after taking this coming weekend off.

"What we're going to do is heal up, get a lot of treatment," Crowton said of BYU's bye week, the first break for the Cougars since opening up against Notre Dame on Sept. 4.

"Academically we're going to stress that the players work hard on their studies and what they have to do in the classroom. We're practicing and we'll be working on timing and rhythm without much hitting, and then our coaches will recruit and get a look at our recruiting class and the future."

Receiver Todd Watkins, who had six catches for 153 yards and a 70-yard touchdown against the Falcons, agreed that he and his teammates are in need of a break. Watkins is now ranked No. 6 nationally in receiving yards per game, averaging 107.5 on 44 catches for 860 yards.

Said Watkins; "It's going to help me a lot with my shoulder. It will help a lot of guys because we have players nicked up all over the place. This is the perfect time to have a bye week for us."

It was Watkins long bomb scoring strike from quarterback John Beck on the second play of the second half that rocketed the Cougars past the Falcons, who led 10-3 at the break.

Prior to that, BYU's offense struggled.

Watkins said he and others told Crowton not to go away from that long pass play, which did not work in the first half with Beck misfiring with his timing.

"I told the coach we had that open in the first half and we went right back to it in the second half. John came out the second half and was perfect, but I almost dropped it," Watkins said.

Beck, who completed only half of 16 pass attempts the first half, hit on 12 of his next 15 — and one-third of those went for touchdowns, his best effort of his career. The Cougars gained 527 yards total offense on the Falcons.

"We have the potential to be a quick-strike offense and we also have the ability to move it down the field on the ground if we have to," Watkins said.