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| Kai Nacua intercepts the ball in the fourth quarter. |
The heart of bowl season is upon us. Since the BYU Cougars are not playing in a bowl this year, it seems appropriate to look back at BYU's most recent bowl game: the 2016 Poinsettia Bowl. A little more than a month after the game, it was announced that San Diego would no longer host this bowl game. That made Jamaal Williams' big night and Kai Nacua's clutch interception the final heroic chapter in Poinsettia Bowl lore.
Weather conditions were terrible to start the game. It was raining hard. The last time BYU played in the Poinsettia Bowl (2012), rain had left the field wet and impacted the game, too. Besides the weather conditions, BYU faced the challenge of playing without starting quarterback Taysom Hill. He hyperextended his elbow in the second half of the regular season finale against Utah State. Tanner Mangum started in his place. The Cougars were without starting linebacker Francis Bernard as well. He was held out for disciplinary reasons. To adjust, Harvey Langi was moved from defensive end.
Under those circumstances, BYU received the opening kickoff, and Aleva Hifo had a nice 39-yard return out to the BYU 45-yard line. The Cougars couldn't do anything with the good field position, and punted after three plays. Jonny Linehan's punt was downed at the eight-yard line.
The Wyoming Cowboys had to deal with their star running back sitting out the first quarter for violating team curfew during the week. They were able to get out of the poor field position. After a three-yard run on first down, Wyoming completed a 28-yard pass to a wide open receiver. The Cowboys couldn't move the ball any further downfield. On 2nd and 10, BYU forced an incomplete pass by pressuring the quarterback, and Dayan Lake had a really well-timed pass break up on third down to force the punt.
Wyoming's run defense hadn't been very good all season, and Williams took advantage of that on BYU's next series. He broke loose for 36 yards on first down, and dished out his first stiff arm of the night. BYU called Williams' number again the next play. He broke through the line easily, again, but the wet ball was an easy target for Wyoming to knock out of Williams' hand. The Cowboys recovered to stop BYU's momentum. Williams holds the BYU record for most carries in a career, but this was just the second time in his career he turned the ball over.
In the wet conditions, the game got sloppy. Neither team moved the ball more than 14 yards on next five possessions.
With 1:32 to play in the first quarter, Wyoming lined up to punt after another unsuccessful third down. The snap slipped through the punter's hands and went over his head. That enabled BYU to take over at Wyoming's three-yard line. After Williams was unable to pick up any yardage on first down, Mangum dropped back to pass. He couldn't find an open receiver, but he could scramble into the end zone for a touchdown.
Mangum's run put BYU up 7-0 with 38 seconds left in the first quarter.
Two plays into their next drive, the Cowboys' star running back came in. He made an immediate impact. He carried the ball four straight plays and gained 23 yards. He got his fifth carry after a short breather on the sidelines. This time, BYU was ready for him, and the Cougar D stuffed him for a one-yard loss to force a punt.
Williams ran hard on first down for a 13-yard gain dragging defenders the final four yards. On the next play, Wyoming got pressure on Mangum. He threw the ball with a man in his face, and without setting his feet. Therefore, his throw was away off target, and ended up being intercepted.
The interception was returned to the BYU 39-yard line. A pass interference call on BYU on first down moved Wyoming into field goal range at the 24-yard line. The Cougar defense stiffened, and forced Wyoming to try a field goal. The Cowboys were victimized, again, by the wet conditions. The holder was not able to get the ball down in time, and had to attempt a pass. It didn't work.
Mangum completed an 11-yard pass to Moroni Laulu-Pututau on 3rd and 8 to give BYU its first third down conversion of the game. Squally Canada had back-to-back nine-yard runs after that. Wyoming was called for defensive holding during Canada's second run. After KJ Hall was given a carry, Williams was back in the game and carried the ball the next four plays. He picked up 16 yards on the first carry, but got only two yards on 3rd and 4. That forced BYU to settle for a 27-yard field goal to push the lead to 10-0 with 3:08 left in the first half.
Wyoming then put together its best drive of the night, up to that point. The Cowboys overcame a holding penalty and got a first down, but the call was still costly as it negated a big pass completion. Defensive holding by BYU two plays later gave Wyoming another first down. The Cowboys picked up a third first down on an 11-yard pass. That moved the ball to the BYU side of the field. However, three straight incomplete passes followed, so Wyoming had to punt with less than a minute to play in the half.
At the half, Williams had already picked up 121 yards rushing.
Wyoming got the ball to start the second half. The Cowboys marched down the field picking up no more than nine yards on a single play. They had to convert two fourth downs to keep the drive going. The drive finally ended on a four-yard touchdown run 8:25 seconds into the third quarter.
The score closed the gap to 10-7 for BYU.
BYU wasn't in a rush, but the Cougars didn't take as long as Wyoming did on their first drive of the second half. The rain had let up significantly, and Mangum was able to get into a little rhythm throwing the ball. He found Nick Kurtz for 16 yards on first down. After two runs by Williams set up a 3rd and 2, Mangum completed a five-yard pass to get a fresh set of downs. He went deep for Kurtz again the next play, and that resulted in a 39-yard gain.
BYU was now at the Wyoming five-yard line. A run for no gain and an incomplete pass made it 3rd and Goal. Mangum dropped back to pass. He scrambled out of the pocket, and lobbed the ball to tight end Tanner Balderee in the end zone. Balderee couldn't make a clean catch, and tipped it up behind him. A Wyoming defender then had a chance at it, but he did the same thing as Balderee. Balderee hadn't given up on the play, so the tip by the Cowboys defender gave him another chance to catch it, which he did all while three or four other players were also trying to get the ball.
After each team had the ball once in the third quarter, the score was 17-7 with 2:42 to play.
Wyoming's next drive was a lot shorter than its first drive of the second half. A targeting penalty on BYU's Micah Hannemann as the Wyoming quarterback was sliding moved the Cowboys to the BYU 43-yard line in just two plays. Wyoming tried a flea flicker on the next play, but Lake wasn't fooled. He was in perfect position to intercept the ball. He returned it to the BYU 45-yard line.
Sandwiched between two Williams runs, Mangum completed his sixth pass in his last seven attempts. This one went 12 yards to Colby Pearson. On the second play of the fourth quarter, Williams got loose in the Cowboy secondary. BYU wide receiver Jonah Trinnaman was downfield blocking and drove his man to the ground. That cleared the path for Williams to go 36 yards for a touchdown.
BYU now held a commanding 24-7 lead with 14:07 to play in the game.
Wyoming responded with another time consuming, ball control drive. After 6:32, the Cowboys scored on a nine-yard pass to close the gap to 24-14.
When BYU got the ball back, Williams went right back to work. He got loose for a 30 yard run, which took him over 200 yards for the game. He was having so much fun, while running, he beckoned to a Wyoming defender to come try and tackle him.
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| BYU RB Jamaal Williams (BYU Photo) |
The Wyoming offense was now red hot. Back-to-back passes for 11 and 30 yards quickly moved the ball to the BYU 40. Sae Tautu sacked the Wyoming quarterback for an 11-yard loss on the next play, but it didn't kill the drive. On 3rd and 21, Wyoming perfectly executed a deep out for a 22-yard gain. Three plays later, Wyoming completed a 23-yard touchdown pass.
With 2:11 to play, Wyoming had come within three, 24-21.
Wyoming didn't try an onside kick, but it wasn't a deep kick either. The Cowboys pooched it and BYU returned it to the 31-yard line. However, a personal foul penalty moved the Cougars back 15 yards. Wyoming used all its timeouts as BYU tried to run out the clock. On 3rd and 5, Mangum couldn't find an open receiver, so he took an 11-yard loss back at the 10-yard line. Wyoming was going to get the ball back with really good field position and less than 30 seconds had gone off the clock.
The Cowboys took over one-yard shy of midfield after the BYU punt. A 19-yard pass completion on first down moved the ball all the way to the BYU 32. Wyoming was poised to win the game. Except, senior safety Kai Nacua had one big play left in him. On the next play, he intercepted the ball to seal the win for BYU.
Harvey Langi made 16 tackles. He was one of three Cougar defenders with double-digit tackles (Butch Pau'u, 11; Fred Warner 10).
CO-PLAYS OF THE GAME: Tanner Balderee's 5-yard touchdown catch. Kai Nacua's interception to win the game.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Jamaal Williams--26 carries, 210 yards, 1 TD
The Editor appreciates all feedback. He can be reached via email at bluecougarfootball@gmail.com
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