BYU football: Max effort — BYU wins in impressive smashin'

PROVO — No last-second blocked kick was required this time. BYU's third matchup with UCLA in 370 days proved to be an old-fashioned Bruin-kicking from beginning to end.

The No. 18 Cougars exploded for 35 points in the second quarter and cruised to a stunningly easy 59-0 rout of UCLA on a sun-drenched Saturday afternoon at LaVell Edwards Stadium.

Nobody expected BYU to score 59 points. Nobody expected the Bruins — led by new offensive coordinator Norm Chow — to be shut out. But that's what happened.

Now UCLA. Now you don't.

"I didn't expect it to be quite like that," said BYU quarterback Max Hall, who tied a school record with seven touchdown passes. "But I did expect us to come out and play well. I expected us to put a lot of points on the board because this team, right now, we believe in each other. We're working our tails off.... Things just clicked for us. We took advantage of turnovers. We just kept rolling with the momentum and it turned out to be a pretty good day for us."

That's an understatement. It was BYU's most dominating victory ever over an opponent from a Bowl Championship Series conference and it was UCLA's worst loss in nearly 80 years. The Cougars have now won five of their last six games against Pac-10 opponents.

"We were determined to put a complete game together," said BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall. "It's just the next victory in our program as we return, and work to return, to what BYU football once was. I was proud of our team today."

The Cougars found themselves in the national spotlight after last Saturday's 28-27 victory over Washington because of a controversial unsportsmanlike conduct call on Husky quarterback Jake Locker. That resulted in a 35-yard extra point attempt, which BYU blocked at :02 to clinch the game.

But in the national media, the Cougars' win was overlooked or even ignored. What's more, BYU dropped three spots in the Associated Press poll.

Apparently, the Cougars had heard and seen enough. They responded in resounding fashion.

"It was a great win for us last week and we felt like we deserved it," said tight end Dennis Pitta. "A lot of the media didn't really give us too much credit for it. We wanted to come out and make a statement, and kind of send a message. Other than that, it was just another game for us."

And what statement did BYU make?