BYU football notebook: Gusty winds play major role in Vegas

LAS VEGAS — Going into Tuesday's Las Vegas Bowl, rain was in the forecast. As it turned out, the weather did affect the game — but it was the wind that played havoc in BYU's 44-20 victory over Oregon State.

The wind was clocked at 37 miles per hour out of the north at kickoff and it continued to blow fiercely throughout the game, with wind gusts estimated as high as 43-55 miles per hour. The goal posts swayed in the stiff breeze and debris swirled around on the field and around the stadium.

OSU won the coin toss and chose to kick with the wind, which paid off as the Beavers scored a touchdown midway through the first quarter. But with the wind in their favor in the second and third quarters, the Cougars capitalized by seizing a big lead.

"I don't remember playing in a wind like that," said OSU coach Mike Riley, who coached in the Canadian Football League.

BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall described some of quarterback Max Hall's passes as "sliders, curveballs and floaters." He added, "It was a matter of which team adjusted better."

"We realized that in order to move the ball, we needed to do it with shorter passes," Hall said.

At one point in the first half, the netting behind the goal post in the north end zone had to be pulled down because it would have prevented a kick from going through the uprights. On kickoffs, BYU freshman Craig Bills had to hold the ball to keep it on the tee.

In the second quarter, OSU punter Johnny Hekker had a pair of six-yard punts into the wind. BYU punter Stephenson booted a career-long 60-yard punt — the second-longest in Las Vegas Bowl history — with the wind.

On their first possession of the first half, going into the wind, the Beavers -- perhaps trying to avoid another six-yard punt, tried a fake punt that didn't work and gave BYU the ball at the OSU 32. The Cougars ended up scoring on a 17-yard touchdown pass from Hall to Dennis Pitta to put BYU up, 30-7 -- making the possibility of OSU rallying amid such windy conditions almost impossible.

BYU'S BIG IMPACT: The Las Vegas Sun reported Tuesday some numbers that confirm what the Cougars have meant to the Las Vegas Bowl, as well as the Las Vegas economy, since they started bowling here five years ago. All five Las Vegas Bowls since 2005 have been sold out, although there were plenty of empty seats in the south end zone for Tuesday's game.