DALLAS — BYU overcame a bevy of mistakes and miscues along with some uninspired early play to pull out a 24-21 victory over Tulsa Friday in the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl.
It was a typical Riley Nelson effort, which saw the Cougar QB make some very bad decisions, but making up for it with some improbable play-making during key junctures to give BYU its third straight bowl win.
OFFENSE: The Cougar offense got off to a very slow start. After a promising first drive, the offense bogged down as Tulsa forced Nelson to stay in the pocket and beat them with his arm. Nelson didn't respond well initially, throwing more errant passes that should have gone for turnovers than completions during the first half of play.
In typical Nelson style, he ended the half strong, getting outside of the pocket to throw a touchdown pass to Cody Hoffman across the field and across his body as he neared the sidelines. The play was aided greatly by offensive lineman Matt Reynolds, who lost his helmet on the play, but still administered a brutal, decleating block to free Nelson up for the TD pass.
From that point, Nelson and the offense settled down a bit and strung together some good drives, including a Nelson-to-Hoffman TD pass from 30 yards out late in the third quarter to give BYU its first lead at 17-14.
Nelson was never better than he was during the final winning drive. He beat the Golden Hurricane with both his arm and feet, eventually hitting Hoffman in the endzone for the game-winning score with just 11 seconds remaining. Grade: B
DEFENSE: After the Golden Hurricane marched down the field for an opening-drive touchdown, the BYU defense responded well, forcing Tulsa to three straight three-and-out possessions. They were beat on a quick 4-play, 86-yard touchdown drive late in the half, however, as Tulsa's wide receivers were able to beat the Cougar coverage deep on a couple of occasions.
The defense was solid throughout most of the second half, but long pass plays again did them in with Tulsa converting a 30-yard touchdown pass with 10:42 left in the game. They continued to make big play, limiting Tulsa QB G.J. Kinne and the Tulsa offense after that point. Tulsa finished the game with just 249 yards of total offense and 37 yards rushing. Grade: A-
SPECIAL TEAMS: The special teams play kept BYU in the game during the first half of play. Riley Stephenson and the punt coverage team were able to pin the Golden Hurricane inside the 20 yard line on four occasions and inside the 10 yard line twice. They accounted for a huge turnover late in the half, giving the offense a short field which it converted into a touchdown.
The stellar punt execution continued in the second half. BYU pinned Tulsa clear back on its 1-yard line during a key juncture with 8:05 left in the game. Overall, Stephenson punted it eight times for an average of 41.9 yards per punt, with seven of them being downed inside the 20. Grade: A
COACHING: The Cougar defense didn't look prepared at the start, but the coaches quickly made some adjustments which led to some very solid play for most of the first half. The offense, meanwhile, struggled with any sort of consistency without any clear game plan on how best to attack Tulsa. The Golden Hurricane defense dictated the play for most of the second half without BYU making necessary adjustments.
Among the key coaching adjustments was to have Kyle Van Noy consistently spy Kinne in the pocket during most third-and-long situations which contributed mightily to most of BYU's many three-and-out efforts on defense.
The big coaching decision came with 2:54 with BYU down 21-17 in a fourth-and nine-situation at midfield. BYU elected to go for it with Nelson again making a play — this time with his feet — running for the first down, and eventually leading to the game-winning TD pass. Grade: B+
OVERALL: It took BYU a while to wake up, but when it did, the Cougars proved to clearly be the better team as the game came to a close. They were resilient in their effort, closing out another successful season under head coach Bronco Mendenhall. Grade: A-
Email: bgurney@desnews.com
Twitter: @BrandonCGurney