PROVO — BYU head football coach Kalani Sitake was “sick of losing” when he met with the local media last Monday during his weekly press briefing.

Saturday's result, then, felt like a breath of fresh air.

KJ Hall had 112 yards rushing, 44 yards receiving and a touchdown in one half of work, and quarterback Tanner Mangum threw for 283 yards and three touchdowns to help BYU (2-7) snap a seven-game losing skid with a 41-20 win Saturday afternoon over visiting San Jose State.

“He’s amazing with his instincts,” Mangum said of Hall, who left the game at halftime with an injury and was not available to the media. “I love having him in there. He’s a good athlete, a good player, and I hope to get more out of him.”

The win was BYU’s first of the season against an FBS opponent, and its first since a 20-6 victory over FCS Portland State in the season-opener Aug. 26.

“It’s good to get a win,” BYU coach Kalani Sitake said. “There are still a lot of things that we need to fix, but it’s good to be able to approach them with a notch in the win column.”

BYU’s Micah Simon caught three passes for a game-high 67 yards and two touchdowns, and tight end Matt Bushman added 28 yards receiving and a touchdown.

BYU’s 31 points scored was the highest offensive output of the 2017 season, and the Cougars forced five turnovers — including a dropped kickoff and a muffed punt return against the Spartans (1-8).

It all added up to a “more aggressive mentality” that Sitake has preached to his players since losing a seventh-straight game for the first time since 1968 a week ago at East Carolina.

“Having optimism isn’t good enough. Just saying that things will get better isn’t good enough,” Sitake said. “You have to combine that with hard work and preparation, and when you do those combined, it shows on the field.

“It’s a lot easier to make corrections when you win.”

Mangum took advantage of consecutive scoring drives to open the game, finishing off a five-play drive with a 23-yard TD toss to Simon, his first of two on the day. The junior quarterback then added an 11-yarder to Bushman after Brayden El-Bakri forced a fumble on the ensuing kickoff with a brutal hit.

“Whenever you can get off to a good start, you can play more loose, more free and more confident,” Mangum said. “I give a lot of credit to our defense, making our job a lot easier.

Hall scampered up the east sideline in the second quarter to give BYU a 21-6 lead on a 75-yard touchdown, the longest scoring play for the Cougars since former quarterback Taysom Hill hit Jonah Trinnaman with a 75-yard TD strike on the first play of a 55-53 win over Toledo in 2016.

Trinnaman added a 45-yard reception Saturday and finished with 50 yards on two catches.

Hall did all of his damage in the second half, leaving the game around halftime with an injury and leaving his status going forward uncertain, according to Sitake.

“I’m disappointed that he wasn’t able to come back and finish,” Sitake said. “We’ll have to look at him again. I don’t think there’s enough information for us to know the severity of his injury.”

Linebackers Grant Jones and Fred Warner also left the game with injuries.

BYU held San Jose State to just 50 yards of total offense in the opening quarter, and 338 total yards. The Cougars were playing without cornerback Troy Warner, a starter who was ruled out for the remainder of the season after suffering an injury in BYU’s 33-17 loss at East Carolina.

But the Cougars held San Jose State out of the end zone until Tre Walker hauled in a 30-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Montel Aaron with 7:24 left in the fourth quarter.

“Obviously, it was an ugly day for us,” San Jose State first-year coach Brent Brennan said. “The turnovers were an absolute disaster, in my opinion.

“These were all teachable moments for our team. When you’re playing as many young people as we’re playing, game day is full of teachable moments, whether you win or lose. Today we had a lot of them on the negative side of the ledger.”

The Spartans were facing their third team from the state of Utah this season. They previously lost at Utah 54-16 before a 61-10 home rout to Utah State in a Mountain West Conference contest.

Ula Toluta’u was not available for BYU’s game. The freshman running back was cited for possession of a controlled substance during a traffic stop Oct. 7 in Orem.

Sitake declined to comment on Toluta’u’s status, citing an athletic department policy not to comment on student-athletes’ individual legal or Honor Code-related situations.

Squally Canada, Brayden El-Bakri, Austin Kafentzis and Riley Burt joined Hall in the BYU backfield. Canada ran for 44 yards for the Cougars, including his first touchdown since the season-opener against Portland State.

Next up:

BYU travels to Fresno State next Saturday, Nov. 4, for an 8:45 p.m. MDT kickoff. The Bulldogs are 5-2 with their only losses to top-ranked Alabama and Washington, with a 4-0 mark in Mountain West play.

San Jose State returns to Mountain West play against San Diego State.

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