Cougars' execution flawless vs. Cowboys

It's simple, dummies. Everything boils down to execution.

That was never more evident for BYU football than the ways and means the Cougars totally dismantled Wyoming 52-0 on Saturday in War Memorial Stadium.

It was a cutlery set demonstration.

It was a rodeo with bulls but no riders.

It was something Bronco Mendenhall could choreograph to music.

You'd have to look hard and close to find very many flaws defensively or offensively for Mendenhall's squad against the Cowboys at Laramie. First-year coach Dave Christensen called BYU's win one of the most dominating performances he'd witnessed as a coach.

Few saw this coming after the Cougars looked inept as beat-down victims to TCU two weeks ago.

It came after two weeks of criticism of BYU's coaches and players — everything from naysayers questioning play-calls, game preparation, schemes, passion, heart, practices and even facial expressions and voice levels on the BYU sideline.

"This happened because we worked our butts off and executed," said BYU senior Jan Jorgensen. "It says a lot about the guys I play with."

"This is a credit to our defensive front and the pressure they got on Wyoming's quarterback," said safety Andrew Rich.

"We executed," said quarterback Max Hall.

BYU's defense registered the first shutout since, well, the last time the Cougars played Wyoming in Provo.

Hall missed just two of 22 passes attempted on his way to 312 yards and four touchdowns. His pass efficiency rating of 270 on Saturday was second all-time to BYU's greatest QB effort, Ty Detmer's excision of Utah back in 1989, a 278 rating.

Hall, who utilized a myriad of screen, mid-range darts and a long-bomb to McKay Jacobson, posted a .909 completion percentage, one of the best since Steve Sarkisian set the BYU mark (.912) in 1995 at Fresno State.

Offensively, BYU averaged a whopping 8.1 yards per play. Mixing in screens with the run, Hall and Co. set up precision passing that kept Cowboy defenders loopy all game long.

This wasn't the same Wyoming team that flexed some muscle against Utah. And this wasn't the same emotionless Cougar team that TCU victimized the last time BYU played.

"I thought everybody played well. The offensive line started it off being physical," said Hall. "We fixed some mistakes, we got healed up and we played with passion like we did at the beginning of the season."

Somebody bottle it up.

"It was a good day," said Jorgensen. "Everybody played good today. I don't know if it was an off-day for them or what, but they couldn't do a thing against us and it's good to have a day like that."