BYU football: Cougars get back on track, roll Rams

PROVO — A week ago, BYU coughed up five turnovers, and forced zero, in a crushing loss to Florida State.

Going into Saturday's game at LaVell Edwards Stadium, Colorado State was No. 2 in the nation in turnover margin while the Cougars were 104th.

But BYU turned the tables on the Rams, jumping to a big lead early thanks to costly CSU turnovers en route to a convincing 42-23 victory in the Cougars' Mountain West Conference opener.

"I credit our defense because they did a great job of creating turnovers and creating a short field for us offensively," said BYU tight end Dennis Pitta. "Whenever you get a short field like that, it's important that you make those into touchdowns and get points on the board. That's what we were able to do. We got off to a quick, early lead and that helped us. We sputtered a little bit after that, but we were able to regroup after that and make big plays."

"Our goal today was to play fast and physical," said BYU free safety Scott Johnson. "That was our main goal that first drive. That causes mistakes by the other team. Last week, we may have came out a little flat. It's a huge momentum swing when you get turnovers right away."

With the win, 19th-ranked BYU improved to 3-1 on the season while CSU suffered its first loss of the year to drop to 3-1.

On the third play from scrimmage, Cougar cornerback Brian Logan intercepted a tipped pass off CSU's Dion Morton and returned it 28 yards to the CSU 15. Two plays later, BYU scored on a four-yard Harvey Unga touchdown run to put the Cougars up, 7-0.

CSU marched all the way to the BYU 14 on its next possession, but missed a 32-yard field goal. Following a Cougar punt, Ram wide receiver Rashaun Greer caught a pass, but the ball was jarred loose by Logan and picked off by safety Andrew Rich.

It took BYU only two plays to score again on a one-yard run by Hall to make it 14-0.

Then, late in the first quarter, Matt Marshall blocked a CSU punt, giving BYU the ball on the Rams' 18-yard line. Once again, two plays later, the Cougars scored on a five-yard run by Unga.

At the end of the first period, BYU led 21-0 — on only six offensive plays from scrimmage.