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SAN DIEGO — The BYU Cougars finished their season off with a 23-6 victory against San Diego State.
Junior linebacker Kyle Van Noy played a stellar fourth quarter and led the Cougars to their win.
At the beginning of the fourth quarter, BYU was losing 6-3 but a forced fumble and fumble recovery by Van Noy in the end zone changed the momentum.
A few plays later, Van Noy intercepted the ball and returned it for a touchdown, which solidified BYU’s victory.
Van Noy finished the night with eight tackles, 1.5 sacks, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery, one interception and two touchdowns. He was deservedly named Defensive MVP of the game.
Besides Van Noy, BYU’s defense once again proved it is a force to be reckoned with. The defense held SDSU to two field goals when the team was in the red zone.
BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall credits the team’s execution and play all season to the defensive success in the red zone.
“It comes from how well our players execute,” Mendenhall said. “We have a simple saying that touchdowns aren’t good. Going into this game we were one, two or three in red zone defense in the country so what you saw tonight wasn’t anything new. It was just our players doing what they do.”
Special teams also played a large role in the game. Senior punter Riley Stephenson punted for 268 yards and had four kicks land inside the 5-yard line.
Also on three punts, junior Daniel Sorenson stopped the ball on the 1-yard line, giving SDSU poor field position.
Mendenhall also credits the victory to the turnovers caused by the defense and catches by junior wide receiver Cody Hoffman.
“Defensive turnovers and our punting game ended up making the difference,” Mendenhall said.
While BYU’s defense stole the show, the offense had an OK game with senior quarterback James Lark starting his second game.
Lark once again filled in for an injured Riley Nelson. Lark threw the ball for 244 yards and two interceptions.
Freshman running back Jamaal Williams scored the only offensive touchdown during the fourth quarter. Williams finished the night with 31 rushing yards and two catches for 27 yards.
Mendenhall is proud of how his team performed overall and loves the mentality his players have.
“They showed heart and epitomized what BYU football is all about,” Mendenhall said. “They try as hard as they can, every game, win, lose or draw. The expectation at BYU is that we do play in postseason games every year and that we win. That can only happen with great young men, which I’m surrounded by and the credit goes to them.”
Ashley Anderson is a senior at BYU majoring in public relations with the hope of one day having a career in sports public relations.
