- Week 8 - #4 BYU (6-0) @ #22 MSSt (3-2) – Sat, Oct 14, (time) – Davis Wade Stadium, Starkville, MS – ESPN2
o Hey look! Another team that gets a bye week to prepare for a visit by BYU! Grrr! The Bulldogs lost a close one at home to LSU and a tough, 1-point loss at UGA but have won the rest, including surprising blowout @Auburn to catapult themselves into the top 25.
o The MSSt players claim they want revenge for last year and they come out and play like it early. Tanner seems flustered and bothered by their pass rush and gets sacked 3 times in the first quarter and is constantly being helped up off the turf.
o MSSt nails two FG’s and scores a TD and BYU finds itself down 13-0 after one quarter. The “S-E-C” chant drowns out the small pocket of “BBBBB-YYYYYY-UUUUUU” coming from the Cougars’ section.
o BYU catches their first break when a questionable offensive PI call backs up the Bulldogs and force them into a 3rd and long situation. An over-zealous QB tries to get it all back on one play and he takes an extra half-second too long to wind up and throw…enter…Fred Warner…who strips the ball KVN-vs-SDSU style, throws their athletic QB to the ground, picks it up and sprints to the end zone!
o Later in the 2nd, in typical Tanner fashion, he dodges oncoming defenders and absolutely hucks the ball down field nailing Trinnaman on a long 66 yard TD pass to put BYU ahead just before half time.
o The teams trade off TD’s in the third (Dye with a catch out of the backfield) and BYU shanks a FG as time expires. 21-20 heading into the 4th. After their long-snapper snaps it over MSSt’s punter’s head and we get a safety, the Bulldog’s add another FG to tie it up at 23. A few costly errors by both sides (including an INT by Tanner) force overtime.
o BYU’s kicking game has been pretty bad, but Kalani has guts and with BYU driving down to the 20 yard line a huge decision needs to be made on 4th and 5. BYU trots out their kicker but, as Greg Wrubell notes on the broadcast, Kaufusi lines up in the “TE” slot and BYU busts out the exact same play they ran against Utah last year to perfection…first down BYU!
o 2 plays later Tanner finds Bushman who towers over the MSSt DB and snags the ball out of the air like Gobert grabbing a rebound. One thing BYU’s D has done all day is force FG’s and they really tighten up. On 4th and 2 the Bulldogs mistakenly think they can QB sneak their way to a first down…in a Tebow-vs-Ole miss-flashback, BYU stuffs him short. On review the call “stands” and all heck breaks loose in Sticksville…I mean Starkville, Mississippi. BYU survives their last test of the season.
o Player of the Game – Fred Warner – 9 tackles, 2 PBU’s, 3 TFL’s, 1 sack, 1 forced fumble, 1 fumble recover, 1 TD