BYU's 24-10 victory over Northeast Louisiana Saturday certainly wasn't a work of art. It's safe to say it won't be replayed on KBYU's "Friday Night Fandemonium" next summer. It certainly won't make Cougar fans forget the 1980 Holiday Bowl miracle win over SMU.
But it was a victory and, following a miserable performance the week before against Arizona State, the Cougars will take it and run."Nothing comes easily, I guess," BYU coach LaVell Edwards said. "It was a tough one, but we made the plays in the second half we needed to make in order to win."
No. 25 BYU entered the game as a 29-point favorite against 1-7 NLU, but the outcome was still in question until the final five minutes. When John Walsh completed a 9-yard TD pass to Hema Heimuli with 4:36 to play, the Cougars finally had a little breathing room with a 14-point advantage.
The win improves BYU to 8-2 overall. New Mexico's upset over Utah puts the Cougars in a tie for first in the WAC at 5-1 with two games remaining. Northeast Louisiana, in its first year at the NCAA Division I-A level, dropped to 1-8.
"We played hard and we played well against a good football team," NLU coach Ed Zaunbrecher said. "All we ask of our football team is that they be in a position to win in the fourth quarter."
The Indians were, in fact, looking good entering the final quarter. In front of an announced crowd of 57,579 - the smallest at Cougar Stadium since expansion in 1982 - NLU trailed 17-10, but had the ball and was driving when the fourth quarter began.
A 25-yard halfback pass from Carson Fields to quarterback Raymond Philyaw gave the Indians the ball on the BYU 11. The threat was halted, however, when Philyaw's pass into the corner of the end zone was intercepted by BYU's Patrick Mitchell with 12:41 to play in the game.
BYU's secondary, which has been injured and much-maligned in recent weeks, came up with several huge plays. In addition to Mitchell's interception, safety Cory Cook picked off a second-quarter pass at the goal-line after the Indians had driven to the BYU two-yard line. In the third quarter NLU drove to the BYU 5, but Cook sacked Philyaw for a nine-yard loss on a safety blitz, forcing the Indians to settle for a field goal.
"Our secondary hasn't made a heck of a lot of big plays this year, but today we made a few that really counted," Cook said. "They were driving on us all day, but we were able to stop them when they got close to the goal line."
Northeast Louisiana managed only 10 points, but moved the ball effectively at times. BYU's defense surrendered 400 yards of total offense, 196 on the ground and 204 in the air.
"They were much better than I expected," said linebacker Shay Muirbrook. "They just wouldn't go away."
BYU, meantime, racked up 465 yards of total offense with a balanced attack. The Cougars rushed for 209 yards - Jamal Willis did most of the damage with 134 yards on 26 carries - and passed for 256. Walsh completed 20 of 28 passes including three touchdowns. BYU earned 31 first downs, 16 in the air and 15 on the ground.
"Our game plan was to establish the run early so that we could pass and we were able to do that," said Willis, who is now 6-yards shy of 1,000 rushing for the season. "Sometimes I was carrying the ball five or six times in a row, so I was getting pretty tired, but it was fun."
Willis carried the ball seven times for 40 yards on BYU's first drive of the game and caught a 27-yard pass to boot, setting up a 31-yard David Lauder field goal.
NLU came right back, however, going 74 yards on eight plays with the big one being a 44-yard touchdown bomb from Philyaw to Stepfret Williams, giving the Indians a 7-3 advantage with 5:37 to play in the first quarter.
BYU's second drive went 80-yards, culminating with a 10-yard TD strike from Walsh to Mike Johnston with 2:36 to play in the opening quarter. Lauder's extra point gave the Cougars a 10-7 lead.
Neither team scored in the second quarter, but BYU went 52 yards in four plays, scoring on a 15-yard pass from Walsh to Heimuli to take a 17-7 lead with 9:53 to play in the third quarter.
"I'm glad we won, but we should have beaten that team by a lot more," receiver Bryce Doman said. "We definitely should have scored more points."
Northeast Louisiana, a team that was blown away by Colorado, Auburn and Georgia on the road, gave BYU all it could handle, but wasn't satisfied.
"We don't want to come close, we want to win these games," Zaunbrecher said. "There are no moral victories. You either win or you don't win."
Perhaps the best news for BYU was that the Cougars stayed relatively injury free - a big plus since the Cougars have a key WAC game against San Diego State Thursday at Cougar Stadium. BYU will close out the regular season against Utah at Rice Stadium Nov.19.
"I don't think we'll have any problem getting fired up for the next two games," Doman said with a wry smile.
GAME NOTES: Lauder's three successful extra points gives him 52 consecutive, an ongoing BYU record . . . Cook and defensive end Travis Hall led the Cougars with 10 tackles each, while Muirbrook had eight . . . The game was short by BYU standards, at just over three hours. Cougar games, because of their passing attack, often last four hours or longer . . . The paid attendance was 57,579, but the stadium didn't look nearly that full. On a cold, sometimes rainy afternoon, there were at least 10,000 no shows.