Hall and Hill: BYU shrugs off slow start to pull past Utah Tech, clinch bowl eligibility

PROVO — If Saturday afternoon really was Jaren Hall's last time playing at LaVell Edwards Stadium, the redshirt junior left it all on the field.

He also got a little help from Keanu Hill, who was not one of the 37 players being honored on senior day.

Hall threw for a career-high 456 yards and five touchdowns with one interception, and also ran for a 10-yard rushing score, to help BYU overcome a slow start and shrug off FCS Utah Tech 52-26 and clinch bowl eligibility Saturday afternoon in the final home game of the regular season.

Hall's six touchdowns in front of 56,069 fans at LaVell Edwards Stadium are the most by a BYU quarterback since Christian Stewart threw for five scores and ran for another against Savannah State in 2014.

Hill caught six passes for 137 yards and three touchdowns, a career-best first-half hat trick that helped the Cougars overcome a sluggish start to end the Trailblazers' three-game winning streak.

On a day when Puka Nacua — a junior who celebrated senior day with the 13 true seniors and 23 other players on the roster, including Hall — was held to five catches for 53 yards, the sophomore from Bedford, Texas, was more than happy to pick up the slack.

And Nacua was perfectly content to let him as he fought through double teams and bracket plays, with a Utah Tech nickel intent to make his life miserable.

"Their defense played really well, but we've got dudes all over the place," said Nacua while wearing a lei filled with candy and other snacks that his family made for him on senior day. "As much as I'd like to make the play, if that means you've got Chase Roberts or Kebo one-on-one, those guys will have a hey-day.

"I love seeing all those guys go off, but especially Kebo. I want the play sometimes, but then Jaren makes the right play — I'll be the first one celebrating with him in the end zone or on the sideline."

Nacua didn't commit to returning to BYU next year to exhaust his collegiate eligibility; he'll make that decision after the season. He did say, however, that his plan is to play every game remaining for the Cougars this season, including the upcoming bowl game.

And when he does decide to move on, he felt pretty good about the state of the BYU receiver room after him with players like Hill and Roberts, who caught two passes for 82 yards and a touchdown.

"You have to give credit to Utah Tech; they made some plays," BYU coach Kalani Sitake said. "They were trying to take Puka away, they double teamed him quite a bit and Keanu was the one to benefit from that. Credit to our guys for finding the open man and for Jaren throwing the ball downfield."

In fact, there were really only two passes that Hill admitted he wanted back: a missed slant route that he dropped that would've converted one of the six missed third-down conversions the Cougars had, and a post route that could've gone for a fourth touchdown.

Nacua even ribbed him for the dropped slant route, but maybe that's just being picky. After trailing 6-0 after the first quarter and as much as 13-7 in the second before retaking the lead for the final time just before halftime, maybe the Cougars can afford to be picky.

"We were just shooting ourselves in the foot," Hill said of the offense's first half. "We were making mistakes that we've been trying to improve on and we shouldn't be making mistakes like that at this time in the season. But we were able to bounce back from it tonight."

Christopher Brooks rushed 12 times for 102 yards for BYU, with all but one carry in the second half as the Cal transfer returned from a three week-long layoff due to injury. Hinckley Ropati added 16 carries for 43 yards for a team that pulled away with a 24-6 second half performance.

Utah Tech quarterback Victor Gabalis threw for 340 yards and three touchdowns, and fifth-year senior Deven Osborne caught three passes for 138 yards, including an 80-yard touchdown in the first half.

Washington State transfer Joey Hobert added 11 catches for 100 yards and two touchdowns for the Trailblazers (4-7).

Hill claimed his second touchdown reception of the half, going up and pulling down a 45-yard pass from Hall with 3:15 on the clock before Hill cashed in on Jakob Robinson's interception with his third interception of the first half to give the Cougars a 28-20 edge at the break.

Hall completed 14-of-18 passes for 275 yards and a career-best four touchdowns in the first half, pacing an offense that piled up 336 yards on 38 players.

That was the good news; less so for the Cougars? Gabalis threw for 208 yards and two touchdowns, including an 80-yard strike to Osborne where the fifth-year senior destroyed BYU's secondary en route to a 13-7 lead in the second quarter.

Osborne caught three passes for 138 yards in the first half, but Gaballis' interception was the key difference in the first half.

Hall's 10-yard touchdown in the third quarter capped a frustrating eight-play, 55-yard drive to push BYU's lead to 35-20. The quarterback's offensive numbers continued to soar to career-high levels, but in many ways, so did his team's mistakes.

The Cougars committed 10 penalties for 127 yards and added two turnovers to keep it close until shutting out the Trailblazers in the second half. But after halftime, the game was rarely in doubt as the Cougars salted away the clock with Hall's rushing touchdown, a 32-yard score to Isaac Rex, and Terence Fall's 25-yard jet sweep that went for six to become the first-ever European-born player to score a touchdown in program history.

And an added bonus? BYU has two more games remaining, not just one in the regular-season finale at Stanford next Saturday.

"I'm just glad that we get to go bowling," Sitake said. "There's guys on our team that haven't been to a bowl game; they're really excited and emotional about it. I'm just really happy that we got the win for our guys that just had their last game in LaVell Edwards Stadium, the last feeling that they have of being on this field is getting a victory.

"It's hard to say goodbye, but I'm happy that we get the bowl game because it delays the inevitable where you have to say goodbye to a bunch of guys that you care about and who have done so much for the program."

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