This was the last time Utah State will ever face Max Hall and Dennis Pitta.

That duo led an assault on the Aggies in BYU's 35-17 win that elevated the Cougars to a 4-1 record.

But it was BYU's defense that proved the most consistent force Friday night.

For the 20th-ranked Cougars, this was a contest to find a few answers in this young season, albeit against a one-win USU squad inspired by Gary Andersen to be tougher.

Could BYU's defense contain a mobile quarterback? In a late-burst a year ago in Logan, Aggie QB Diondre Borel looked like the son of Jor-El.

Could BYU's defense stop a great power back like Robert Turbin and a USU offense ranked in the top 10? And could Max Hall stop throwing interceptions?

What got answered?

Well, Borel never really hurt BYU's defense with his feet, his arm or any other body part. Generally, he ran into a fish net.

Turbin never got loose. When the Aggies really needed him, going for it on fourth-and-1 in the fourth quarter from their own 32, Andrew Rich stopped him cold with a little help from the infamous new-flying sod when he made his cut.

Harvey Unga used that play to set up a series of runs leading to his touchdown dive to put BYU up 28-10.

Defensively, BYU clearly answered for itself.

"We played harder than them," said Cougar linebacker Andrew Rich.

Hall, who completed 10 of 15 passes in the first half for 154 yards and a pair of touchdowns (194.91 pass efficiency), got greedy on his first pass of the second half, going for a home run to Luke Ashworth. Aggie safety Rajric Coleman easily picked it.

It was kind of a cheap-thrill kind of pass while up 14. Certainly it wasn't necessary. Maybe it was something BYU offensive coaches saw in USU's secondary, or, if it was Hall going maverick on those deep posts, they didn't work.

On the next series USU picked off another bomb, this time by Kejon Murphy.

The first, Hall overthrew. The second floated on him. They were back-to-back wasted Cougar possessions. Unga and Tonga could have run on those possessions and led the offense to 14 more points. Perhaps that's why BYU passed — because they were haughty enough to gamble and rolled snake eyes.

"We didn't need those shots," said BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall. "We were managing the game just fine. But, on the other hand, we didn't want to take away his aggressiveness."

BYU's first scoring drive lasted a whopping 18 plays, primarily done with the run. A BYU offense hadn't run that many plays in a drive since the Las Vegas Bowl against Cal in 2005.