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PROVO — BYU sleep-walked to a 14-9 halftime lead over UMass in a game that kicked off at noon, the earliest of the season on the Cougars’ schedule.
An old face in an old place for the first time this season helped wake up the Cougars.
Harvey Langi ran for 56 yards and two touchdowns, and Taysom Hill added 81 yards and a score as BYU pulled away from UMass, 51-9, to earn its seventh win of the season Saturday afternoon at LaVell Edwards Stadium.
“It wasn’t anything we talked about,” BYU coach Kalani Sitake said of the second-half surge. “The guys came in and knew what they needed to get done; it wasn’t like they needed to be fired up. They were playing well, but we kind of screwed ourselves on some of those plays with turnovers and penalties. Once we were able to settle down a little bit, play our game, then good things happened. Once we started rolling, we just kept it rolling.”
Hill completed 19-of-31 passes for 171 yards, and KJ Hall ran for 101 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries. Tanner Mangum saw time in the fourth quarter, and finished with 2-of-4 passes for 19 yards, including a 7-yard TD toss to Garrett Juergens for his first score of the season.
UMass struck first, turning a fumble into a 70-yard touchdown pass from Andrew Ford to Bernard Davis for an early 6-0 advantage with 3:27 left in the first quarter.
Hall gave the Cougars their first lead of the game, 7-6, with an 11-yard TD run on the first play of the second quarter. UMass retook the lead, 9-7, on Logan Laurent’s 44-yard field goal, but Langi barrelled into the end zone for a 5-yard touchdown for a 14-9 halftime lead that started a spell of 45 unanswered points to end the game.
Here are a few quick thoughts from BYU’s seventh win of the season before next week’s season finale against in-state rival Utah State.
Hall, Langi buoy depleted run game
Yes, it came against FCS Southern Utah. But the son of Kalin Hall showed well in his first action of the season last week with 127 total yards and a touchdown.
With Jamaal Williams and Squally Canada injured, the coaching staff activated Hall off the practice squad again for his first career start. The redshirt freshman went for just 2 yards on his first carry, but finished with 101 yards and a touchdown in back-to-back games.
“KJ is playing really well right now,” Sitake said. “He’s a good back for us, and gives us something that we don’t have (elsewhere).”
Langi, an all-state running back at Bingham High, also played significant time at fullback and has now seen time at defensive end, middle linebacker and running back as a team captain in 2016. He finished with 56 yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries.
“I just love playing football,” said Langi, who scored his first offensive touchdown since getting in the end zone for Utah against BYU in 2011. “It’s a game, and I get to play a game every week and practice every day. If I’m going to play this game on offense or defense, that’s cool. It’s fun for me.”
Shut-down defense
BYU’s day didn’t start out well on defense.
After conceding the opening touchdown on Andrew Ford’s 70-yard strike to Bernard Davis, the Minutemen had a lead until Langi’s first rushing touchdown paced BYU’s 14-9 halftime lead.
They made up for it after the half.
The Cougars held UMass to 49 yards in the third quarter as they ended the game on a 45-0 scoring streak.
“At the beginning of the game, we had a couple of assignment errors,” defensive back Eric Takenaka said. “But we adjusted to that, and we started shutting them down. It allowed us to make plays out there.”
Special teams made the difference
Rhett Almond’s two field goals to open the second half weren’t welcome sights for most BYU fans. But the sophomore kicker did what he had to do — and BYU’s stagnant offense got a big boost from special teams.
Morgan Unga’s blocked punt return. Takenaka’s forced fumble and recovery. Even Francis Bernard’s pick-six was helped by a favorable field position that forced UMass quarterback Andrew Ford to throw a pass over the middle that he will be second-guessing.
“Those are the opportunities you hope for on kickoff team,” Takenaka said. “You just want a chance, and hope you can do something.”
Takenaka was also quick to credit the rest of his blockers who helped make his first career fumble recovery possible.
“I had that opportunity because of how my teammates played. They set it up for me. All I could do was run straight at the guy; he was dead in his tracks. I have to give credit to the rest of my team on that.”
