BYU Rides Berry’s Passing in Victory

Matt Berry threw for 276 yards and three touchdowns as Brigham Young overcame a sloppy start and 16 penalties to defeat Georgia Tech, 24-13, on Thursday night at Provo, Utah.

Berry was shaky in the first half of his first season-opening start, but settled down in the second half and picked apart the Yellow Jackets with a series of short passes and screens that the Cougars were able to spring for bigger gains.

Berry, who started the final six games last season as a freshman, finished 31 of 46 with one interception in front of former Cougar star Steve Young, whose was honored at halftime.

Tech, which had won its last four season openers, led, 13-7, at halftime thanks to two field goals by Dan Burnett and a blocked punt that was returned by for a touchdown, but the offense never really got going under freshman quarterback Reggie Ball.

Ball was 15-for-24 for 147 yards with an interception. He also had five carries for 39 yards.

Oregon State 40, Cal State Sacramento 7 -- Steven Jackson had 23 carries for 129 yards and two touchdowns as the Beavers routed the Division I-AA Hornets at Corvallis, Ore.

Derek Anderson completed 17 of 35 passes for 273 yards and two scores for Oregon State, which had 527 yards in offense.

Oregon State has won 16 nonconference games in a row at Reser Stadium. The Beavers’ last home loss out of Pacific 10 play came on Sept. 7, 1996, against Montana.

Utah 40, Utah State 20 -- Brandon Warfield ran for 173 yards and a touchdown at Salt Lake City as Urban Meyer won his debut as coach of the Utes.

Quarterback Brett Elliott added a touchdown on the ground and threw for another as Utah won its sixth in a row over the Aggies in the series’ 103rd game.

Utah’s eighth largest crowd in history, 39,697, may have expected a speedy, downfield attack but instead saw the Utes at their most effective staying in a running game.

Utah gained 202 of its 382 yards rushing.

OTHER GAMES

Joshua Cribbs directed two late touchdown drives and Jon Drager’s punt return set up Travis Mayle’s 40-yard field goal on the final play as Kent State defeated Akron, 41-38, in a Mid-American Conference game at Akron, Ohio.

P.J. Pope ran for three touchdowns and Josh Harris threw for two as Bowling Green defeated Eastern Kentucky, 63-13, at Bowling Green, Ky.