It was a lot of fun to get out there and play in front of the crowd. I was shaking the rust off a little bit. – Tanner Mangum
PROVO — BYU has established a reputation this season for being a run-oriented team that's known for its notoriously slow starts.
But Saturday afternoon at LaVell Edwards Stadium, the Cougars started fast, unleashed a tradition passing attack and throttled FCS opponent Southern Utah, 37-7, before a crowd of 59,302 in the first-ever meeting between the two programs.
With the victory, BYU (6-4) earned its sixth win of the season and clinched a berth in the Poinsettia Bowl on Dec. 21 in San Diego.
“It’s good to be bowl eligible,” said coach Kalani Sitake.
Quarterback Taysom Hill passed for more than 300 yards for the first time since the 2014 season, eclipsing that mark early in the third quarter. He ended up completing 22 of 29 passes for 320 yards, with two touchdowns and one interception. Hill also ran seven times for 29 yards a touchdown.
“It’s good to see a lot of guys getting open and catching the ball,” Sitake said, referring to the 12 different players that caught passes for BYU.
With the Cougars jumping out to an early lead, backup Tanner Mangum saw significant action for the first time this season. He completed 11 of 13 passes for 121 yards and rushed four times for 42 yards.
Final stat line for @tannermangum today: 11-of-13 for 121 passing yards, 42 rushing yards, takes one sack for @BYUfootball vs. @SUUFB pic.twitter.com/GBJwX2tuCQ
— Brandon Judd (@brandonljudd) November 13, 2016
Overall, BYU threw for 441 yards and racked up 596 yards of total offense.
“It was a lot of fun to get out there and play in front of the crowd. I was shaking the rust off a little bit,” Mangum said. “It’s been almost a year since the Las Vegas Bowl against Utah. It was fun to be out there with the guys and get the blood pumping a little bit. I have a lot to improve on but it was a good time.”
Sitake said offensive coordinator Ty Detmer “wanted to see Tanner in a part of the game where there’s significant reps, when the game wasn’t already decided. I left it up to him to make that decision in the second quarter … Taysom had a great attitude about it.”
Mangum entered the game for the first time at the start of the second quarter and completed his first pass attempt for 12 yards, then had back-to-back incompletions. After that three-and-out, Hill returned for BYU’s next possession and remained at quarterback the rest of the half.
Mangum came in for good in the third quarter and was a perfect 10 of 10 passing in the second half. Meanwhile, on his second series he was sacked for a 17-yard loss.
“Taking that long sack was kind of a dumb play. I felt like an idiot on that one," Mangum said. "It was a good learning experience getting out there and playing again.”
Later, however, Mangum showed nice mobility with a 35-yard scramble.
“I kept it hidden in the arsenal,” Mangum joked. “I didn’t necessarily expect that of myself, either. Obviously, a full year of offseason work to get faster and stronger helps a lot. I definitely wasn’t able to do that last year.”
For most of this season, the Cougars have fallen behind early, but it was a different story Saturday.
BYU scored on its first possession in two plays and 29 seconds. First, Mitchell Juergens made a diving catch for a 31-yard gain on first down then Hill broke several tackles on his way to a 16-yard touchdown run as the Cougars took a 7-0 advantage.
After forcing a punt, the Cougars were driving again when Hill fumbled. But when BYU got the ball back, Hill marched the offense to the SUU 31-yard line, where he threw a beautiful 31-yard touchdown strike to Nick Kurtz on the back corner of the end zone to give the Cougars a 14-0 lead.
Nick Kurtz (@TheKurtzWay) with the 31-yard TD catch on 4th and 17 for @BYUfootball vs. @SUUFB pic.twitter.com/gWYzahoGw4
— Brandon Judd (@brandonljudd) November 12, 2016
“I was really proud of the way we started,” Sitake said.
The Cougars scored on their next three possessions, including a 21-yard touchdown pass to Colby Pearson and a two-yard run by K.J. Hall, and had a 31-7 halftime lead.
SUU’s score came late in the first half on a 15-yard touchdown pass from Patrick Tyler to Logan Parker.
Besides that allowing that TD, BYU’s defense turned in a strong outing, limiting SUU to 21 yards rushing and 165 yards of total offense.
“We came out with a good game plan. Coaches told us to treat it like any other game,” said linebacker Fred Warner. “We had some missed tackles. It’s something we continue to work on. We did really well as a unit. Overall, I was happy with our performance.”
The @BYUfootball defense had a strong day against Southern Utah (@SUUFB), holding the T-Birds to 165 total yards and 7 first downs pic.twitter.com/gkGxBh64j2
— Brandon Judd (@brandonljudd) November 13, 2016
BYU’s first two possessions of the second half ended in turnovers on an Algernon Brown fumble and a Hill interception. The Cougars’ third drive of the third quarter ended with a missed 45-yard field goal by Rhett Almond as part of a scoreless period.
Almond booted a pair field goals in the fourth quarter, including a 30-yarder with 51 seconds remaining.
“It’s frustrating when you come off the field settling for three,” Mangum said. “You want to get into the end zone. That’s something we can work on.”
BYU hosts UMass next Saturday.
EMAIL: jeffc@deseretnews.com