REGIONAL ROUNDUP : Colorado State Upsets BYU, 28-21

LaVell Edwards will have to wait at least a week for his 200th victory as No. 22-ranked Brigham Young was upset by Colorado State, 28-21, Saturday at Provo, Utah.

“I hope he gets it--next week,” said Colorado State’s Greg Myers. “We didn’t want to allow that to happen against us.”

Myers had two of the four interceptions off BYU’s John Walsh, who was also sacked four times.

Myers turned his first interception into a first-quarter touchdown with a 30-yard return. “I think it was a key moment,” Meyers said. “We needed something to get us going.

“Our defense was confident coming into this game. We knew we had the potential to beat BYU.”

Quarterback Anthoney Hill completed 17 of 31 passes for 280 yards and ran for a touchdown for the Rams, who are 3-0 for the first time since 1977.

Walsh completed 27 of 57 passes for 358 yards for BYU (2-1).

Edwards (199-74-3) is trying to become the 13th coach to win 200 games.

“It was a major disappointment. I thought we were ready to play,” Edwards said. “Credit Colorado State.”

Colorado State Coach Sonny Lubick was the defensive coordinator for then top-ranked Miami when BYU upset the Hurricanes, 28-21, in 1990.

“I want anyone who saw this on television to say, ‘That’s one heck of a defensive unit,’ ” he said. “I have never been so proud of a team as I am of this bunch of guys.”

Colorado State intercepted three passes in building a 21-10 halftime lead, then held off a BYU comeback.

After David Lauder’s 33-yard field goal cut it to 21-13, Colorado State’s Scott Lynch made the fourth interception off Walsh. Hill drove the Rams 63 yards in seven plays, with Van Ward going the last yard to make it 28-13 with 5:15 left in the third quarter.

BYU had another drive stall at the Colorado State 19 in the third quarter when Walsh was sacked for a 10-yard loss on fourth down.

Walsh’s six-yard touchdown pass to Mike Johnston with 1:14 to play and a two-point conversion pass to Mark Atuaia got the Cougars back to within a touchdown. But BYU failed to recover the onside kick and Colorado State ran out the clock.

Wyoming 17, Tulsa 7--Ryan Christopherson gained 163 yards in 35 carries and scored a touchdown to lead the Cowboys to a nonconference victory at Laramie, Wyo.

The 236-pound Christopherson, the nation’s leading rusher, punished the Tulsa defense all day, even after suffering a bruised right shoulder in the third play of the game.

“That’s how tough he is,” Wyoming Coach Joe Tiller said. “Ryan got tattooed all afternoon. I thought he stepped up his play in the second half. He is so mentally tough.”

Wyoming won despite losing 105 yards on 12 penalties.

BIG WEST

Micah Knorr kicked a 45-yard field goal and Pratt Lyons added a safety to give Utah State a 5-0 a nonconference victory over Ohio University at Athens, Ohio. The Aggies (1-2) allowed the Bobcats (0-2) to cross midfield only twice, and never inside the 35.

SOUTHWEST

With the memory of wasted chances against UCLA, Southern Methodist (1-2) scored with three seconds remaining to defeat New Mexico, 34-31, in a nonconference game at Dallas. On the winning play, SMU quarterback Ramon Flanigan stepped away from two defenders and hit Brian Berry with a seven-yard touchdown pass. “The players willed themselves to win,” Mustang Coach Tom Rossley said. “They knew we were going to win this game.” New Mexico (0-3) fell to Southwest Conference team for the third time this season.

MIDWEST

Chad Seitz kicked a 37-yard field goal into a gusting wind as time ran out to give Miami of Ohio a 17-17 tie with Cincinnati at Oxford, Ohio. Jon Bacon, Cincinnati’s kickoff specialist, hit a school-record 58-yarder with a 15 m.p.h. wind at his back to give the Bearcats (0-2-1) their only lead at 17-14 with 1:19 to play. Miami (0-2-1) went 60 yards in 12 plays to set up Seitz’s field goal.

SOUTH

Tommy Waters threw two touchdown passes and Southern Mississippi stopped two second-half Memphis drives inside the 10 as the Golden Eagles beat the Tigers, 20-3, at Hattiesburg, Miss.

Waters, a much-maligned, fifth-year senior, completed 19 of 33 passes for 188 yards, including a 12-yard touchdown to Ryan Pearson and a 13-yard score to Fred Brock.

Southern Miss (2-1) and Memphis (1-2) are among five independent teams that make up the new Liberty Bowl Alliance, which will determine the host team for the Dec. 31 bowl game at Memphis, Tenn. Only Southern Miss has two wins.

The Golden Eagles led 14-3 when Waters found Brock open in the left corner of the end zone with 2:45 left in the third quarter. It was Waters’ fourth straight completion on the 10-play, 80-yard drive after Memphis missed a field goal.

L.T. Gulley returned an interception 23 yards for a touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter to finish the scoring.

Five of eight second-half possessions for Memphis ended in Southern Miss territory, but produced no points. Two ended at the 7, one on a missed 24-yard field goal by Luis Tejeda and the other on an incomplete pass on fourth-and-goal by Tony Scarpino after the Tigers had moved 73 yards in the third quarter.

Scarpino completed just 15 of 37 passes for 149 yards, with three interceptions.

Waters hit Pearson in the end zone six minutes into the game to give Southern Miss, which outgained Memphis only 259 yards to 232, the lead for good.