Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
PROVO -- In a typical 42-7 shellacking the top performers come from the same team and Saturday night it was no different.
Despite a slow start, the BYU Cougars dominated the New Mexico State Aggies on both sides of the ball eventually pulling away in the second quarter. Fair or unfair, the success of the team started with #9.
Jake Heaps, BYU quarterback: With the eyes of the BYU faithful squarely on his back, Heaps performed admirably and most importantly led his teammates to a nice win against New Mexico State. Heaps looked comfortable and confident and, except for a bad pass that was intercepted, was relatively sharp and on target spreading the ball around to eight different receivers. He finished the night 21-36 for 238 yards and four touchdowns, two to his favorite target and friend, Ross Apo.
Brandon Doman, BYU offensive coordinator: Doman didn't give up on Heaps after he threw that first half interception, which led to the game-tying score by New Mexico State. Doman kept calling pass plays and Heaps rewarded him by going 9-12 over the next two drives for 79 yards and those two touchdowns to Apo. Heaps kept that confidence Doman showed in him throughout the game, which led to the easy victory.
Joe Sampson, BYU cornerback: Sampson was Matt Christian's worse nightmare Saturday night. Sampson broke up several of the Aggie quarterback's passes, and almost intercepted two of them. Some of those breakups came in the first half when the game was still close and on third down when the Aggies were knocking on the door of scoring position. He was also constantly in the backfield and should have had a sack.
Kyle Van Noy, BYU linebacker: Even if Van Noy did very little on the field, his honoring of senior Jordan Pendleton was enough to get him on this list. Van Noy wore the injured Pendleton's No. 1 jersey. He also wrote "1" on the sleeves of his long sleeve undershirt. Pendleton is out for the season with a leg injury. Classy move by a great player. Van Noy finished with five tackles, one for a loss, a sack and a quarterback hurry.
JJ Di Luigi, BYU running back: Di Luigi quietly had a fantastic game. He didn't get into the end zone like five of his teammates, but the running back had 106 all- purpose yards, and most importantly made the play-action possible, and effective, for Heaps. Di Luigi ran for 75 yards, a game-high, on 12 carries and caught three balls for 31 yards.
Email: gjohns@ksl.com
