BYU football: Whew! Cougs heave sigh of relief after sack, failed Hail Mary

PROVO — For about 59 minutes and 53 seconds, two defenses couldn't make a play.

But in the final 7.4 seconds, two unsung BYU defensive players did — on back-to-back plays — preserving a 42-35 shootout victory over UNLV on Saturday at LaVell Edwards Stadium.

The No. 18 Cougars rallied to take the lead on a 74-yard drive, adding a two-point conversion with 1:46 remaining. Then it was up to the defense, which on this day was a frightening proposition.

That would be the same BYU defense that Rebel quarterback Omar Clayton and his stable of talented wide receivers had victimized all day long.

UNLV drove deep with ease into Cougar territory again, but with less than 10 seconds remaining, defensive end Matt Putnam came up with a sack. Then walk-on Andrew Rich intercepted a pass in the end zone as time expired.

"When it comes down to winning football games, there has to be grit, there has to be determination, there has to be execution at key times," said BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall. "There have to be enough plays made to win. That's what our team did today and I'm proud of them. It was a very hard-fought victory and a sweet victory."

Especially after a bitter loss the previous week at TCU.

"Obviously, your nerves get a little bit going when you have situations like that where you're down by one or up by just a touchdown and they're driving on us," wide receiver Austin Collie said. "The defense pulled through and did exactly what they needed to do. And we got the win."

With the victory, BYU improved to 7-1 overall and 3-1 in the Mountain West Conference while UNLV dropped to 3-4, 0-4.

On second-and-10 with 14 seconds left and the ball resting on the BYU 14-yard line, Putnam eluded a block and chased down Clayton for a 12-yard sack — BYU's first of the game.

"It's always fun to just see the quarterback's back and nobody between you and him," said Putnam, a 6-foot-6, 237-pound freshman.

"We had been able to get pressure but we weren't able to sack (Clayton)," Mendenhall said. "That was the most important play of the game to that point and helped us win the game."

That set up the final play as Clayton heaved a pass into the end zone that was picked off by Rich. Game over.