PROVO — BYU opened the 2016 season with five games decided by a total of 12 points.

Somehow, Friday night’s home date with SEC foe Mississippi State was closer.

Taysom Hill threw for three touchdowns and ran for another to help the Cougars survive the Bulldogs 28-21 in double overtime and improve to 4-3 on the season.

Hill completed 16-of-28 passes for 165 yards, and ran for 53 more in the win. Jamaal Williams ran for 76 yards on 26 carries to become BYU’s all-time leading rusher, and tight ends Tanner Balderree and Hunter Marshall each hauled in their first career touchdown passes for the Cougars (4-3).

Nick Fitzgerald led Mississippi State (2-4) with 214 yards and a touchdown through the air, to go with 41 yards and two scores on the ground.

Here’s how the offense graded out in a close, ugly win wherein both teams combined for 16 penalties.

Offense: C+

Marshall pulled in his first career touchdown at BYU, but the offense only had 103 yards in the first half against a below-average SEC opponent. The first-year tight end transfer from Snow College finished with one catch for 1 yard and one touchdown, while fellow tight end Balderree had one catch for a 25-yard score on the first play of the second extra period.

Offense was scarce in the first half, when BYU piled up just 126 total yards. Jamaal Williams ran for a lethargic 38 yards on 11 carries as Mississippi State keyed in on him in the first 24 minutes.

“They are a strong team,” Balderree said of the Bulldogs. “That’s one of the biggest things that stood out from the defenses we’ve played so far. We had to overcome that, dig deep, and use our technique to get better.”

The Cougars’ defense forced two turnovers, but BYU could not convert on either of them.

Even if not perfect, the BYU offense came alive at clutch moments — especially in overtime. The Cougars had just 286 yards of offense in regulation, but scored twice in overtime through clutch plays and sheer determination to eke out the win. Hill threw his first interception since Sept. 24 against West Virginia, but was cleaner in the second half.

The offense was not great, but it came through when needed — and a win’s a win, especially over an SEC opponent.

Defense: B+

The BYU defense wasn’t always flashy, but it made the plays — especially on third down — more often than not when called upon.

Butch Pau’u did not start, but he returned to the lineup after missing two games with a knee injury. Troy Warner also featured at cornerback while recovering from a hamstring injury, and the returners made an impact with Pau’u finishing with nine tackles and Francis Bernard adding a game-high 13 tackles and one tackle for loss.

Micah Hannemann and Kai Nacua each had an interception, with Nacua securing the 13th of his career as the defense came up with quick stops. Trajan Pili added a big third-down stop with his second career tackle for loss, and Sae Tautu finished with 2½ tackles for loss.

“I’m just real proud of our boys,” Tautu said. “They fought hard. That’s a tempo team; they go fast. They wore us down, we wore them down, and to fight the way we did, it was awesome.”

After the Bulldogs took a 14-7 lead at halftime, BYU shut out Mississippi State’s offense in the second half with just 150 yards of offense allowed. Fitzgerald made a play happen at the goal line with an overtime hurdle — but the Bulldogs only gained 13 yards in the two extra periods.

Special Teams: C-

The third phase has been strong for BYU in the opening weeks of the season, but had three penalties for 25 yards in the first six minutes of the game. An untimely substitution infraction for too many men on the field extended the Bulldogs’ second drive of the game, a play that directly led to the opening touchdown and an early 7-0 deficit.

Rhett Almond missed a 42-yard field goal, and Andrew Mikkelsen replaced him in the second half to kick PATs (Almond returned to the game to kick the game-sealing PAT in the second overtime).

Jonny Linehan was a bright spot on special teams, averaging 47.7 yards per punt, including a season-long 62-yarder late in the second half. The former BYU rugby star finished with four punts downed inside the 20 and one inside the 10.

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Tanner Balderee scored his first career touchdown on a 25-yard pass from Taysom Hill on the first play of double overtime, and the Cougars held on for a 28-21 double-overtime win in front of 62,184 fans Friday night at LaVell Edwards Stadium.

Coaching: B+

BYU’s slow starts continued, trailing 14-7 at halftime. Head coach Kalani Sitake again used his word wizardry to inspire the Cougars through the second half, and resilience, attitude adjustment or a little bit of both took over down the stretch to secure the win.

Overall: B-

BYU faces a short week before traveling to the blue turf at Boise State next Thursday night, and the Cougars have a lot of errors to correct and problems to address. But it will be a lot easier to fix those errors beginning Saturday morning coming off a win over an SEC opponent.

“There are some things we need to work on between now and the next game,” Sitake said. “We’ll be getting up early tomorrow to work on some things for Boise State.”

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