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PROVO, Utah -- It was a day of ups and downs for both the offense and defense during Saturday's scrimmage at LaVell Edwards Stadium.
"There was more balance in plays that were made on both sides," Coach Bronco Mendenhall said. "I would have hoped that our execution would have been at a higher level. We're not playing clean right now. From what my expectations were in terms of looking out there and seeing a quality football team executing at a high level today, we have some work to do. A sense of urgency is what I'm feeling. There's two weeks to go."
The offense scored three touchdowns on passes by John Beck and Matt Berry and a run by Curtis Brown. The defense also got into the endzone, scoring off two interceptions. Beck led all passers completing 15-of-24 attempts for 168 yards and one touchdown while Berry and Jason Beck both threw over 100 yards as well. Joe Griffin was the top receiver on the day, catching three passes for 75 yards and a touchdown. He also had the day's longest reception, a 51-yarder from Beck.
The defense got to Beck on the first drive, forcing him to finish 0-for-3 with Justin Luettgerodt and Manaia Brown both knocking down passes. The offense came back on the next drive as Berry threw to Zac Collie over the middle and he out ran the defense down the sideline for a 40-yard touchdown. The drive went 55 yards on four plays and Berry finished 3-of-4 for 55 yards.
With Beck and the first unit back in, the offense continued to roll, marching 80 yards in nine plays for a touchdown on a six-yard pass to Griffin. Beck finished the drive completing 4-of-5 passes for 68 yards, including the 51-yarder to Griffin. Curtis Brown ran three times on the drive and picked up 15 yards.
The offense continued to move with Berry back at the helm, getting all the way down to the defense's 22-yard line. From there the defense stopped Ray Hudson on two consecutive pass receptions, and then forced an incomplete on third down. Jared McLaughlin came on for a 38-yard field goal attempt but hit the left upright.
The defense held strong on the next drive after letting Beck complete three-straight passes for 35 yards, advancing the offense to the 45-yard line of the defense. Manaia Brown deflected Beck's next pass and then the secondary made Beck run for a short gain on the next play. Beck hit Bryce Mahuika for a seven-yard pickup on third down but it was just short of the first-down marker.
Beck played the next drive as well but was off the field in a hurry as his pass on the first play was intercepted by Aaron Gordon and returned 20-yards for a touchdown. The first team was back for the next drive and Beck got the offense back on track, directing the unit to the two before Curtis Brown punched it into the endzone. Beck was 7-of-9 for 58 yards and he completed his last seven attempts after missing his first two. Nathan Meikle caught four for 35 yards on the drive, including two key receptions on third down.
Jason Beck engineered the last two drives. The first ended when Paul Walkenhorst intercepted a pass at the 30 and ran to the 45 yard line before pitching to Daniel Marquardt. Marquardt got by one player before handing off to Stephen Covey, who ran it in from 30-yards out.
Beck got the offense down to the one on the last drive but the defense denied the offense on four-straight attempts at the endzone.
The Cougars will have another session of two-a-days on Monday with the morning session being open to the public from 10 a.m. until noon.
Written by BYU Athletic Communications
Scrimmage stats
Passing Stats
Player ATT COMP YDS TD INT SCK Jo. Beck 24 15 168 1 1 1 Berry 14 10 118 1 0 0 Ja. Beck 15 8 108 0 1 0 Total 53 33 394 2 2 1
Rushing Stats Player ATT YDS TD AVG LNG C. Brown 6 20 1 3.3 9 Jo. Beck 2 -2 0 1.0 1 Latu 1 6 0 6.0 6 Ja. Beck 2 11 0 5.5 6 Kariya 2 0 0 0.0 1 Total 13 35 1 2.7 9
Receiving Stats
Player REC YDS TD AVG LNG Watkins 3 32 0 10.7 14 Harline 3 17 0 5.7 6 So'oto 5 54 0 10.8 18 Collie 3 82 1 27.3 40 Ashworth 2 24 0 12.0 16 Meikle 4 35 0 8.8 16 Hudson 2 1 0 0.5 2 Griffin 3 75 0 25.0 51 George 1 5 0 5.0 5 Mahuika 1 7 0 7.0 7 Brown 1 4 0 4.0 4 Cooper 1 24 0 24 24 Hafoka 3 14 0 4.7 5 Jones 1 22 0 22.0 22 Total 33 394 2 12.0 51
Kicking Stats
Player FGA FG MISS PAT J. McLaughlin 0 1 38 3-3
Key Defensive Stats
Player TFL YDS SCK PBU PDF INT YDS TD M. Brown 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 Walkenhorst 0 0 0 0 0 1 50 0 Tafuna 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Feula 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Covey 0 0 0 0 0 0 20 1 Nehring 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Luettgerodt 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Hodgkiss 1 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 Aaron Gordon 0 0 0 0 0 1 20 1 Total 1 3 1 0 6 2 90 2
