PROVO — When BYU fell behind Cincinnati 10-0 at the end of the first quarter, there was plenty of panic in Provo.

It's safe to say that panic was premature.

The Cougars (5-2) used a 21-0 fourth-quarter sprint to rally past the Bearcats (3-3), 38-20, finally pulling away in the final period and outgaining their Midwest foe 449 yards to 341.

The offense was sloppy for much of the night, but the rally — and the win — does a lot to mask a team that had an admittedly "70 to 80 percent healthy" quarterback, according to head coach Bronco Mendenhall, and lost running back Riley Burt and offensive lineman Ryker Mathews to injuries at halftime.

Still, next week provides time to take a small step back as the Cougars host winless FCS foe Wagner in Provo next week.

Here's how the offense graded out during an up-and-down opponent that adds the most important letter — a W — to the win column.

Offense: C+

Tanner Mangum started the day completing 1-of-4 passes, though he wasn't helped early by his receivers with drops and penalties.

Mangum came into the game with a hobbled hamstring, and he finished the first half completing just 5-of-15 passes for 80 yards and an interception. At least four of his 10 incompletions were dropped passes to open or scantily covered receivers, as well.

Algie Brown's 5-yard rushing touchdown with 4:30 to go before halftime was BYU's first touchdown of the game, and even as the Cougars began to assemble a run game, freshman Riley Burt limped off the field following an electric 41-yard run in the half's final two minutes.

Mangum looked like himself again on the first drive of the second half, though, completing 7-of-8 passes for 72 yards and a 19-yard TD toss to Nick Kurtz to tie the game at 17-17 with 9:31 left in the third quarter.

Mangum finished with 19-of-32 passing for 252 yards and two touchdowns, both to Kurtz.

Kurtz finished with a special night, totaling 119 yards and two touchdowns on six carries.

But for the first half, BYU did little to move the ball. For that reason, the Cougars' grade can be best described as half-complete.

Still, a win is a win, and BYU couldn't have done it without some clutch offensive plays down the stretch.

"It's all inside. It's all in our hearts," Mangum said of the team's fourth-quarter mentality. "That's where it has to come from. On both sides of the ball we fight on every single play. I think that's the key; we take things one play at a time."

Defense: B

Sione Takitaki started his first game of 2015 after resolving a pair of misdemeanor theft charges this week, and the sophomore burst into the backfield for a tackle-for-loss on the first play of the game.

But every time the Cougar defense made a good play, it would give the yardage back through a chunk play. The Bearcats made three plays of double-digit yards during their opening drive, which ended in a 29-yard field goal, and marched down the field easily on the second drive after nearly taking a safety while pinned inside their own 10, then finishing the 15-play, 92-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown dump from Tion Green to DJ Dowdy to go up 10-0 with 4:54 to play in the first quarter.

It took Cincinnati quarterback Hayden Moore less than six minutes of the opening quarter to top 100 yards passing, nailing it on a 46-yard completion over the middle of the field on third and 11.

Kaufusi blocked a 58-yard field goal attempt to start the second quarter, a move that spearheaded the offense down to the 11-yard line in the first 16 seconds of the quarter before finishing with a 29-yard field goal from Trevor Samson for the Cougars' first points of the night. The senior team captain and former Timpview standout was the catalyst on both sides of the ball for much of the night, forcing the Bearcats into errant throws, poor decisions and then allowing the offense to settle into the game while keeping BYU close.

"I think as a defense when teams start getting yards on us, that wakes us all up," Kaufusi said. "Everyone elevates their game, and they just want to get to the ball and play faster. I feel like the defense takes it personally, and we just want to go back out and play again and stop them."

The Cougars settled down after falling to a 10-0 deficit. The front-seven forced a season-high eight tackles for loss, highlighted by Kaufusi's pair and 1.5 tackles for loss from Takitaki.

BYU's seven sacks in a game were the most since 1999 against San Diego State.

All in all, a good-enough night for the win — if not stellar for most of the evening.

Special teams: A-

Jonny Linehan opened his account with a 58-yard punt to the Cincy 9-yard line on the Cougars' opening drive after the offense stalled out. The junior New Zealand native booted five punts for 237 yards, averaging 47.4 yards per punt with four balls downed inside the 20 and failing to register a touchback.

The Cougars finally got a stellar grade from their return specialists, though. Garrett Juergens found the big play punt return BYU has been searching for this year, slipping free of a tackle to race 59 yards down field in the fourth quarter and set up Francis Bernard's 11-yard touchdown run with 4:35 left to ice the game.

"(Punt returner Micah Hanneman) has been doing an incredible job, but we've always been one block away," Juergens said. "Tonight, everyone got their blocks, and it all just came together. I can see it happening more and more as the games go by."

Coaching: B+

Maybe BYU coaches weren't calling the right plays early, but it's hard to put any blame on a coaching staff when quarterbacks were off-target, receivers were bobbling potential receptions, and the offense wasn't helping a BYU defense that — while not great — was making a fair amount of plays.

Robert Anae even sprinkled in some changing tempo in the second quarter, using a delayed handoff to Algie Brown to nearly double the running back's rushing yards on a 15-yarder after his first three attempts went for a total of 9 yards.

Anae changed up the play calling in the second half, giving the injured Mangum several short throws and quick releases for a handful of easy completions on the Cougars' opening drive that led to a 17-17 tie in the third quarter. It also helped, though, that BYU receivers only dropped one ball in that same span.

But Mendenhall deferred the win to the players — even if his positional calling helped lead to the second-half disparity.

"I wish I could take credit for it," Mendenhall said of the late surge. "I think these players, their determination increases. I think their concentration increases and their execution — all of that. You can kind of just feel it happen."

Overall: B-

BYU gets an A for its fourth-quarter effort, but a D grade (at best) for a fairly dismal first quarter in which the Cougars registered 19 yards of offense, including 9 on the ground. But steadily enough, the defense kept the Cougars in the game, and a A-plus-worthy final period leads to passable, tolerable, and — in the end — respectable grades overall.

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