Five years ago, the Brigham Young Cougars won their second consecutive
bowl game in an improbable way.
After completing its second consecutive sweep of the
Mountain West Conference and 10-2 regular season record, BYU went back to the
Las Vegas Bowl hoping to repeat the dominating performance of a year before
when they beat the Oregon Ducks, 38-8. In 2007, the opponent was familiar. BYU
had played UCLA in game two of the season. The Bruins won that contest 27-17.
The Cougars, however, were expected to convincingly win the rematch.
BYU and UCLA followed opposite paths after their week two
meeting. After starting 4-1, UCLA stumbled to a 6-6 finish to barely qualify
for a bowl. With revenge on their minds and momentum on their side, BYU figured
to win easy.
The first quarter was a defensive battle, and finished in a
3-3 tie.
UCLA fumbled a BYU punt early in the second quarter. Matt
Bauman recovered the fumble for the Cougars, and it gave them life.
Max Hall hit Austin Collie for a 14-yard touchdown on the
very next play. The touchdown gave BYU its first lead of the game at 10-3.
After trading punts, UCLA scored its second field goal. This
one was from 52-yards away. It, momentarily cut the lead to four, 10-6, with 4:44 to play in the first half.
BYU quickly answered the UCLA field goal with another
touchdown. Collie set up the offense nicely with a 34-yard kickoff return to
the BYU 45-yard line. Hall completed all four of his pass attempts for 44 yards
on the drive. The final throw was a 13-yard scoring strike to Michael Reed.
At this point, BYU was in control. The Cougars led 17-6 with
1:03 left in the first half. The
Cougar D reinforced this fact by forcing the Bruins to punt just four plays
later. With just 19 seconds to go before halftime and pinned back at the 8-yard
line, BYU needed to just run out the clock and get into halftime safely.
BYU fumbled on first down, and UCLA recovered. On the final
play of the first half, UCLA scored a touchdown to pull within four, 17-13.
Those final few seconds of the first half completely changed
the second half. BYU had lost its offensive mojo, and didn’t score
at all in the second half. Fortunately, the BYU defense was up to the task of
stopping UCLA.
The Bruins were held scoreless in the third quarter. A
10-yard sack by David Nixon took UCLA out of field goal range and forced a punt,
and a Corby Hodgekiss interception stopped the other third quarter Bruins drive
that crossed into BYU territory.
While the score on the score board stayed the same, UCLA
gained the upper hand in field position during the third quarter. It paid off
in the fourth quarter. With 10:14 to
play, UCLA took over at the BYU 46-yard line. The Bruins could only manage to
gain 14 yards on seven plays, but it was enough to get into field goal range. A
50-yard field goal cut the lead to one, 17-16, with 6:24 to play.
Both teams then punted without gaining a first down. That
gave BYU the ball with 3:46 to play.
BYU could run out the clock and win with just a couple of first downs. However,
the Cougars had not run the ball well all night. They had just 34 yards on 28
carries, so Hall took to the air.
He found Collie for 37-yards on the first play of the drive.
On second and seven, BYU got a false start penalty that proved very costly.
Hall found Collie again for seven yards to set up a third and five situation at
the UCLA 32, rather than first and ten with less than two and a half minutes to
play. Hall’s third down pass was incomplete, and BYU punted.
The punt was downed at the two-yard line. It seemed very
improbable that UCLA could move into field goal range in the final 2:02 , but they did. On third and nine just past
midfield, a BYU defender gambled. He tried to make a play on the ball and knock
it down. He missed. The UCLA receiver caught the ball and rumbled 36 yards to
the 13-yard line.
After a two-yard run, UCLA called timeout with three seconds
to play to set up a potential game winning field goal. The 28-yard attempt was
a chip shot by any standard, but in light of the two 50-yard field goals that UCLA had already made.
Defeat seemed imminent. The snap was good; the hold was
clean; the kick was up, and true freshman Eathyn Manumaleuna was breaking
through the UCLA line. He put his hand up, and got a piece of the ball. Nevertheless,
the ball continued towards the uprights.
But, it did not make it through. Manumaleuna had sent the
kick off course just enough that the kick missed.
BYU had made a major mistake on offense to end the first half. The play made on special teams at the end of the second half made up for it. BYU won 17-16.
The win, coupled with Hawaii ’s
loss a few days later in the Sugar Bowl gave BYU the nation’s longest win
streak at 10 games. BYU had back-to-back 11-2 seasons. With Hall, Collie, and
several other key players returning for 2008 the expectations would be sky
high.
Collie finished the game as the MVP with 195 all-purpose
yards (107 receiving, 88 kickoff returns).
The Editor appreciates all feedback. He can be reached via email at bluecougarfootball@gmail.com
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