Bosco: 321 Yards and Four Scores; BYU Wins by 2

No. 13 Brigham Young trailed by four points going into the final quarter before quarterback Robbie Bosco, who passed for 321 yards and four touchdowns, hit Mark Bellini with two touchdown passes to rally the Cougars to a 26-24 win over Temple Saturday night.

“I felt like we dodged a bullet,” BYU Coach LaVell Edwards said.

“Bosco was very strong tonight. He threw the ball very well,” Edwards added.

“Bellini’s a great receiver,” said Bosco, who completed three of his four touchdown passes to Bellini. “He got open a lot and he made a lot of big plays.”

The loss was another tough one for Temple, which has lost its three games by a total of seven points. “We played well enough to win, but just came up short,” Temple Coach Bruce Arians said.

Trailing, 17-13, after three quarters, Bosco hit Bellini with a 24-yard touchdown six seconds into the final quarter to give BYU (3-1) the lead for good.

Following an interception, Bosco hit Bellini for a 21-yard touchdown pass just three minutes and 20 seconds later to seal the victory.

Bosco completed 24 of 36 passes. Bellini had nine catches for 179 yards.

Temple had built an early lead on an 82-yard punt return by freshman Todd McNair and a 52-yard touchdown from Lee Saltz to Willie Marshall. Marshall also caught a four-yard touchdown pass with four seconds remaining for Temple.

Bosco opened the scoring with an 18-yard touchdown to Bellini to cap a 10-play, 71-yard drive.

Temple took the lead in the second quarter with the two big plays by McNair and Marshall.

Bosco cut the lead to 14-13 later in the second quarter when he hit Lance Lindley with a one-yard touchdown pass.

Jim Cooper kicked a 24-yard field goal in the third quarter for the Owls.

Temple’s Saltz completed 9 of 24 passes for 149 yards, while Paul Palmer ran for 155 yards for Temple.

Tom Tuipulotu led the Cougars in rushing with 66 yards.