COLLEGE FOOTBALL : WESTERN ATHLETIC ROUNDUP : BYU Defense Stuffs Run in 28-21 Victory

Colorado State’s plan was to stop Brigham Young’s running game and put enough pressure on Cougar quarterback Steve Sarkisian to keep him off balance.

Instead it was BYU that stopped CSU’s running attack en route to a 28-21 Western Athletic Conference victory Saturday at Fort Collins, Co.

And although Sarkisian was held in check for nearly a half, the BYU quarterback threw three touchdowns in the last three quarters and ended the game with 254 passing yards.

“They were able to run the ball and we couldn’t get the running game going,” CSU Coach Sonny Lubick said. “They did.”

BYU, 2-2 overall and 2-1 in the WAC, which had been averaging only six yards a game rushing going into the contest wound up with 106 yards despite four sacks of Sarkisian by Brady Smith. And the BYU defense held CSU (2-2, 1-1) usually steady running attack to only 14 yards in 23 carries.

“There were two very good defensive football teams out there today,” said BYU Coach LaVell Edwards. “We just got a good performance out of everybody across the board on defense.”

After a rough first quarter in which Sarkisian completed only three of nine passes for 38 yards, the BYU quarterback threw touchdown passes of 25 yards to Mike Johnson in the second quarter, 45 yards to Hema Heimuli in the third, and eight yards to Tom Baldwin in the fourth.

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Air Force 27, New Mexico 24--Beau Morgan scored the go-ahead touchdown on a fourth-down run and safety Kelvin King’s interception in the end zone secured the Falcons’ victory in Albuquerque.

Air Force (3-2, 3-1) overcame four turnovers, including two muffed punts to beat the Lobos (2-2, 0-2).

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Utah 34, UTEP 21--Mike Fouts threw two touchdown passes and the Utes (3-2, 3-0) withstood a last-minute surge to defeat the Miners (1-4, 0-2) in El Paso, Texas and remain unbeaten in the WAC.

Fouts completed 21 of 37 for 280 yards, including touchdown passes of 19 and 65 yards.