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PROVO — BYU opened the Tanner Mangum era at home with a 35-24 win over No. 20 Boise State on Saturday night at LaVell Edwards Stadium.
Mangum threw up another prayer for the Cougars (2-0) to upset the Broncos, nailing the winning touchdown on a 35-yard lob to Mitch Juergens to go up 28-24 with 45 seconds remaining.
Kai Nacua added a touchdown on a 50-yard pick-six with 30 seconds left, with his school-record-tying third interception of the game to give the Cougars the final margin of victory.
Here are a few quick thoughts on another wild game in Provo that sets up next week's undefeated showdown at UCLA and freshman quarterback Josh Rosen.
Kai Nacua is a difference maker in BYU's secondary
After missing the season opener at Nebraska for disciplinary issues related to the Cougars' season-ending loss to Memphis in the Miami Beach Bowl, Nacua pulled down his first interception of the year with 50 seconds left in the opening quarter.
"There's no one I'm more happy for than Kai," BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall said. "That was a tough stretch after that Memphis game.
"I think he made a huge statement with this game."
The former high school quarterback finished the first half with four tackles and two pass breakups to go along with his interception before adding two more picks — including a game-icing pick-six — and five tackles on the night.
Tanner Mangum can sling it
Mangum needed just three plays, one pass, to add to his bountiful touchdown haul. The freshman from Eagle, Idaho, threw an 84-yard TD strike to Mitch Juergens on the third play of the game, just 51 seconds after the opening kickoff.
But he didn't get a whole lot of help from the running game, which totaled just 11 yards in the first quarter.
BYU used the pass to set up the run, and Adam Hine's 21-yard touchdown run in the third quarter was almost a direct result of Devon Blackmon's 70-yard TD grab just a few plays earlier.
Mangum completed 17-of-28 passes for 309 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.
BYU has a new weapon at wide out
Juergens was one of the last players to receive a scholarship (just three weeks ago), but he earned it Saturday night against Boise State. The receiver topped the 100-yard receiving mark with 8:56 left in the first half, and finished with 172 receiving yards and two touchdowns on four catches.
Boise State's defense began clamping down on Juergens after that play, but that opened Devon Blackmon to haul in five catches for 100 yards in another triple-digit effort.
With a BYU receiving corps that goes six or seven deep, having an extra, unexpected target for Mangum is not a bad thing.
BYU's run game needs work — a lot of it
After struggling against Nebraska, the BYU run game didn't do much better in the first home game of the season. The Cougars finished the first half with minus-14 rushing yards despite Adam Hine's 13 yards on 11 carries .
Hine finished with 93 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries, but he was the only rusher providing any significant positive momentum for BYU — and he did so in the last quarter and a half.
It's a start — but the Cougar rushers have a long way to go.
