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PROVO — BYU overcome a slow start to pull away from UMass, 51-9, for the seventh win of the 2016 football season.
KJ Hall and Harvey Langi combined for 182 yards and three touchdowns on the ground, and Taysom Hill added 152 total yards and a touchdown.
Here’s how the Cougars graded out as they moved to 7-4 on the season.
Offense: B-
A sluggish first half shouldn’t be ignored.
BYU had 275 yards of offense in the opening 24 minutes but scored just two touchdowns due to turnovers, penalties and a timely early score by UMass. In the second half, BYU flipped the script around — finishing with 437 yards of total offense, including 247 yards on the ground.
“We were confident going into the second half,” Hill said. “We knew we left some stuff out there, missed some drives and settled for field goals. But we were confident and knew we had everything there, and it showed in the second half.”
Defense: A
A missed tackle led to UMass’ opening score that forced BYU to play from behind early. But one missed play can be countered by a big play, and the Cougars made plenty of those.
BYU’s defense forced two sacks and five tackles for loss in the first half, and the Warner brothers, Fred and Troy, teamed up for a sack and a pass breakup on back-to-back plays when the Minutemen (2-9) threatened to jump out to a fast start.
Francis Bernard had a 40-yard interception return for a touchdown, the first of his career, and the defense allowed just 49 yards in the third quarter. Isaiah Armstrong also earned his first career interception.
“I had to show them something, that I can still run the ball a little bit,” said Bernard, a former running back at Herriman High. “We brought pressure, six people from the edge, and if you get blocked, you are supposed to play the flat route. As soon as the tackle played me, I made contact, backed up and the next thing I knew the ball was coming right to me.”
Special teams: A
UMass’ Isaiah Rodgers had a 51-yard kickoff return that gave the Minutemen a short field, but BYU’s defense held the visitors to a 44-yard field goal. That was all they could get in the third phase.
Morgan Unga blocked a punt in UMass’ red zone in the second half, and Eric Takenaka forced and recovered a fumble on the kickoff after cashing in Rhett Almond’s field goal with 9:06 left in the third quarter.
BYU also recovered a fumbled kickoff with 5:18 left in the game for a first-and-goal at the 8-yard line. Rhett Almond made three field goals, and the third phase showed up.
Even Jonny Linehan got into the act, throwing himself down with little contact to take a roughing-the-kicker penalty and a first down.
“They’ve been strong all year,” said Sitake, who gave the game ball to special teams coordinator Ed Lamb. “Looking at what Ed Lamb has done with special teams, the coverage has been really good. We had one long return today, and it was just a missed assignment.
“We hope to continue that.”
Coaching: B+
Whatever defensive coordinator Ilaisa Tuiaki said to his group in the locker room at halftime, it worked.
After allowing 213 yards of total offense in the first half, the BYU defense went to work forcing sacks, recovering turnovers and capping it all off on Bernard’s pick-six. UMass had just over 100 yards of offense in the second half, and stayed out of the end zone.
Good coaches get the most out of their players. While Tuiaki wasn’t doing that for the first two quarters, he made good work after a break.
Overall: B+
BYU’s seventh win of the season won’t be remembered for its beauty. But the Cougars fell out of the trap of a two-win UMass team, and recovered in time to pull away and provide valuable experience to some younger players before next week’s season finale against in-state rival Utah State.
