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SAN DIEGO — The BYU Cougars ended the 2012 college football season with a 23-6 win over San Diego State in the Poinsettia Bowl. Here is my initial thoughts on tonight's game...
BYU's best defense in program history came up huge tonight. No play was bigger than Kyle Van Noy's fumble recovery for a touchdown after knocking the ball out of Adam Dingwell's hand in the endzone. KVN also scored on a pick-6 that put the game out of reach for the Aztecs. While the defense gave up yards, they did their job in keeping the Aztecs out of the endzone. The defense ended the season the same way they played all year long: strong.
-James Lark, making his second-career start at quarterback, was never able to equal his performance against New Mexico State.
-When Lark was able to throw the football, he was able to find Cody Hoffman, who caught 10 passes for 114 yards. Hoffman was brilliant as always, especially on third down.
-The BYU offensive line struggled all night to keep the Aztec defense out of the Cougar backfield. The O-line issues have been a concern all year and tonight was no different.
-BYU's running game was stifled from the beginning of the contest. SDSU made a conscious effort to stop Jammal Williams and the freshman was held in-check until the fourth quarter when he scored a touchdown on a 14-yard run.
-Big props to punter Riley Stephenson. Stephenson booted three punts down to the 1-yard line and one at the 8.
-If this was the last game for Van Noy and Hoffman in a BYU uniform, they went out in style.
