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PROVO, Utah (AP) -- John Beck passed for 267 yards and four touchdowns and Brigham Young got off to its best conference start in five years by beating winless San Diego State 47-17 Saturday.
Dustin Gabriel returned an interception 38 yards for a touchdown and Curtis Brown scored twice for the Cougars (5-2), who are 2-0 in the Mountain West Conference for the first time since 2001 -- the last time they won the league title.
Beck completed 16 of 21 passes and got a head start on the Cougars' week off by resting his sore ankles in the fourth quarter.
San Diego State (0-5, 0-2) has matched the worst start in school history. The Aztecs also started 0-5 in 2002, former coach Tom Craft's first season. Craft was fired in December and replaced by Chuck Long, who hasn't fared any better.
Kevin Craft, the former coach's son, played well in his first career start, going 20-for-32 for 216 yards. His biggest mistake was forcing a pass that Gabriel caught in front of the Aztecs' sideline and ran to the opposite corner of the end zone in the second quarter for a touchdown that put BYU ahead 33-3.
Atiyya Henderson had 21 carries for 93 yards Brandon Bornes and Tyler Campbell each scored on 1-yard runs in the third quarter for San Diego State.
The Aztecs surprised BYU with an on-side kick to start the game and recovered the ball, but were called from interference and the Cougars opened the first drive at the Aztecs' 43. It was that kind of day for the Aztecs, who were called for 10 penalties in the game.
BYU led 40-3 by halftime on Beck's third touchdown pass of the game, a 4-yard toss to Brown with 3:03 left in the second quarter.
Beck had kept the drive going by converting a third-and-7 with a 43-yard pass to Zac Collie, who caught the ball in stride after Beck was leveled while throwing it.
Beck also had an 8-yard touchdown pass to Jonny Harline, putting BYU ahead 26-6, and a 29-yard scoring pass to Collie that gave BYU a 14-3 lead. Collie caught it at the 11, stopped and curled back around untouched into the end zone.
BYU's Fui Vakapuna left the game with an ankle injury shortly after scoring on a 14-yard run to put the Cougars up 7-0. Vakapuna still led BYU in rushing with 56 yards on four carries.
OPENING DRIVE SUCCESS For the fourth time in six games, BYU started the game with a touchdown drive. The Cougars marched 43 yards on five plays (all rushes) with Fui Vakapuna picking up the final 14 yards for a touchdown. After starting the drive at the San Diego State 43-yard line, BYU needed just 1:41 seconds, scoring the opening touchdown at the 13:19 mark of the first quarter. The 1:41 minute scoring drive marked the quickest opening-drive touchdown since Brian Gray returned a 39-yard interception against San Diego State on Oct. 29, 1998.
EARLY LEAD The Cougars scored first for the fifth consecutive game. The last time a BYU opponent took an early lead was in the Cougars' opener when Arizona scored an early field goal to go ahead 3-0.
FIRST OF THE YEAR Curtis Brown, who led BYU last season with 16 touchdowns--14 rushing--picked up his first rushing touchdown of the season in the first quarter. Brown scored on a 62-yard touchdown reception against Tulsa earlier this season. Freshman Mike Hague made his first career reception in the second quarter. Dustin Gabriel recorded his first interception of the season. He also returned the interception for his first career touchdown.
QUARTER-BY-QUARTER All totaled, the Cougars have outscored their opponents in 17 of 24 quarters this season, including eight shutout quarters. BYU has not trailed since the Boston College game, marking 12 consecutive quarters without trailing.
DEFENSIVE TOUCHDOWN Gabriel's 38-yard interception touchdown marked the second straight home game BYU has recorded a defensive touchdown. Justin Robinson had a 64-yard interception return against Utah State. This season marks the first time BYU has scored two defensive touchdowns since 1998.
HALFTIME LEAD BYU's 40-3 halftime lead extended the Cougars' streak of being ahead at half to six straight games. BYU has held a halftime advantage in every game this season.
BIG HALFTIME LEAD The Cougars' first-half offensive outburst marked the first time BYU has scored over 40 points in the first half since the 2001 season opener. The Cougars posted 49 first-half points against Tulane on August 25, 2001. The 37-point advantage was BYU's largest since leading Nevada, 38-0, September 1, 2001.
SCORING DEFENSE Entering Saturday's game against San Diego State, BYU ranked 40th in the nation in scoring defense, allowing just 17.4 points per game. The BYU defense gave up just 17 points against the Aztecs, lowering the Cougars' average to 17.3 points per game -- the lowest scoring defensive average through six games since 1988.
QUARTER "BECK" UPDATE With four touchdown passes, John Beck has thrown 59 career touchdown completions. Beck's eight-yard touchdown pass to Jonny Harline was his 57th career TD throw, breaking the all-time Mountain West Conference record of 56 touchdown passes previous held by Wyoming's Casey Bramlet. Beck finished the game 16-of-21 for 267 yards and four touchdowns for a career-high efficiency rating of 245.85. Beck's quarterback rating was the highest for a Cougar quarterback since Steve Sarkisian posted a 260.8 mark against Rice in 1996. Beck's 267 yards give him 8,689 in his career and moves him closer to second place (Jim McMahon 9,536).
GOOD GRIEF, CURTIS BROWN Curtis Brown rushed for 46 yards on 11 carries and caught four passes for 33 yards. Brown had one rushing and one receiving touchdown. Brown also returned three kickoffs for 94 yards with a long return of 48 yards. Brown now has 2,569 yards rushing in his career, remaining in fourth place all time.
THREE IN A ROW BYU's victory over the Aztecs was the third consecutive win for the Cougars. It marks the first three-game winning streak for BYU since the Cougars beat Air Force, UNLV and Wyoming in back-to-back-to-back contests last season. When BYU plays host to UNLV in two weeks, the Cougars will be going for their first four-game winning streak since 2001.
CONFERENCE START With Saturday's 47-17 victory over San Diego State, the Cougars are off to a 2-0 start in Mountain West Conference play, marking the best league start for the Cougars since the 2001 season.
HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE After finishing 3-3 at home last season, the Cougars are off to a 3-0 start in Edwards Stadium for the first time since the 2001 season.
THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME BYU is 3-0 at LaVell Edwards Stadium this season. All three games have been blowouts with the Cougars averaging 41.3 points a game while holding their opponents to 13.6 points per game.
BIGGEST CROWD A crowd of 60,804 witnessed BYU win its third consecutive game at LaVell Edwards stadium. The crowd was the largest this season.
San Diego St. 3 0 14 0 --17 BYU 20 20 7 0 --47 First Quarter BYU--Vakapuna 14 run (J.McLaughlin kick), 13:19. SDSU--FG Palmer 48, 10:12. BYU--Collie 29 pass from Jo.Beck (J.McLaughlin kick), 6:47. BYU--C.Brown 4 run (kick blocked), 2:38. Second Quarter BYU--Harline 8 pass from Jo.Beck (kick failed), 10:06. BYU--Gabriel 38 interception return (J.McLaughlin kick), 8:13. BYU--C.Brown 4 pass from Jo.Beck (J.McLaughlin kick), 3:03. Third Quarter SDSU--Bornes 1 run (Palmer kick), 12:20. BYU--Man.Tonga 18 pass from Jo.Beck (J.McLaughlin kick), 9:41. SDSU--Campbell 1 run (Palmer kick), 4:35. A--60,804.
SDSU BYUFirst downs 21 23 Rushes-yards 38-141 32-152 Passing 216 267 Comp-Att-Int 20-32-1 16-21-0 Return Yards 10 38 Punts-Avg. 5-41.6 2-47.5 Fumbles-Lost 2-1 2-1 Penalties-Yards 10-110 5-17 Time of Possession 38:55 21:05
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING--San Diego St., Henderson 21-93, Bornes 9-31, Wesley 1-14, Craft 5-2, Campbell 2-1. BYU, Vakapuna 4-56, C.Brown 11-46, Man.Tonga 5-23, Hague 5-18, Hudson 5-12, Jo.Beck 1-5, Team 1-(minus 8). PASSING--San Diego St., Craft 20-32-1-216. BYU, Jo.Beck 16-21-0-267. RECEIVING--San Diego St., Porter 8-70, Schilens 4-77, Swain 4-41, Bornes 2-18, Henderson 2-10. BYU, C.Brown 4-33, Collie 3-79, Jacobson 3-60, Man.Tonga 2-32, Meikle 1-38, Reed 1-13, Harline 1-8, Hague 1-4.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) APTV-10-07-06 1555MDT
