BYU Rides Shoemaker to Win

Paul Shoemaker came off the bench in the fourth quarter to lead No. 24 Brigham Young to two late touchdowns as the Cougars rallied for a 42-35 victory over Utah State on Friday night.

Will Snowden’s two-yard run with 3:39 to play capped the second of two scoring drives engineered by Shoemaker, in a game in which the Cougars, 3-1 overall and 1-0 in the Western Athletic Conference, were given all they could handle by Utah State (2-3, 0-1).

In a game played Friday night to avoid conflicting with the Mormon church’s weekend conference in Salt Lake City, the BYU defense stopped Utah State at the Cougar 17-yard line in the final minutes of play to preserve the victory.

Shoemaker, benched by Coach LaVell Edwards during BYU’s season-opening loss to Washington, entered the game with 12:21 left and Utah State leading, 32-27.

He immediately took the Cougars 93 yards for a touchdown in a four-play drive capped by Dustin Johnson’s 16-yard touchdown reception with 11:33 to play.

Minutes later, after a Utah State field goal, Shoemaker confidently led the Cougars to the game-winning score. The crucial play on the drive was the quarterback’s third-down-and-long scramble deep into Aggie territory.

Utah State quarterback Matt Sauk was injured in the fourth quarter and replaced by freshman Brian Benza, who drove the Aggies deep into Cougar territory late in the game.