BYU football: Little things help, hurt BYU

ALBUQUERQUE — It takes a lot of little things to win football games and that was never more apparent than Saturday in BYU's 24-19 win over New Mexico in University Stadium.

Lobo kicker James Aho missed three field goals and a PAT in the loss to the No. 22 Cougars. In a five-point loss, that's 10 points that could have been. Two of the field goals and a PAT hit the upright and bounced harmlessly away. BYU safety Andrew Rich blocked the other field goal just before halftime.

"I had no problem with it," said Lobo coach Mike Locksley. "He's one of the best kickers I've been around in my young coaching career. I had no problem with it. That is the luck of the draw."

It was also luck of the draw that Max Hall, the nation's No. 2-ranked pass-efficiency passer was driving the Cougars down the field for a score when a lob screen pass was intercepted. He also threw a couple of passes at the feet of his receivers and had sure-handed McKay Jacobson drop a key wide-open third down pass in the second half.

The Cougars had minus-5 yards total offense in the fourth quarter. A big part of that was a huge mistake by sophomore receiver O'Neil Chambers, who was called for hitting a defender down field when teammate Dennis Pitta caught a huge pass for a gain.

On his way back to the huddle, an official raced up to Chambers, who questioned the call and then threw a 15-yard flag on Chambers, who said he was doing nothing but hustling back to the huddle.

That one play stopped BYU, and produced a third-and-30 that failed on a Hall pass to Andrew George.

The Cougars had just scored easily on a quick 80-yard drive in which offensive coordinator Robert Anae turned over the reins of play calling to Hall. In a no huddle, quick call series, the Cougars looked unstoppable in racing down the field on UNM's defense. Hall found Luke Ashworth for a 13-yard strike and 24-13 lead.

BYU's defense forced UNM to give back the ball. It was on the next BYU drive, the Cougars again set up to have Hall run the no-huddle, quick style play. And that's when Chambers got the drive-killing penalties.

"We weren't that far off," said Hall, whose pass efficiency for the game was 157.

BYU coaches took running back Harvey Unga out of the game after halftime to help him recover from his ankle injury suffered last week in Laramie. Unga, who had 50 yards, was not in the game on BYU's possession after a failed Lobo onsides kick with minutes left in the game.

In his absence, freshman Bryan Kayria, who'd had one previous carry in the game and has seen little action since his star roles in wins over Oklahoma and Tulane, fumbled the ball, which gave UNM a chance at a last-minute win.

On UNM's next series, aided by a personal foul on BYU safety Scott Johnson, BYU got two sacks on the Lobo quarterback while rushing just four players.

Little things do count.

e-mail: dharmon@desnews.com