It’s a packed house here in Provo.
– UCLA threatened to run on fourth and one on its first possession, and forced BYU to use its first timeout. UCLA punter Aaron Perez then kicked a 61 yard punt.
– BYU marched down the field in 11 plays and fewer than five minutes for its first touchdown, an 11-yard pass from Max Hall to tight end Dennis Pitta. Hall completed every pass on the drive, (5-5, 56 yards). The offense, as Rick Neuheisel said all week, is methodical.
– BYU has scored first in 25 of its last 28 contests.
– In its second possesion, UCLA runs an option on 2nd-down and long. Craft pitches to runner Raymond Carter and fullback Trevor Theriot makes a perfect block to spring Carter for six yards.
– Three of Kevin Craft’s first four passes go to wideout Gavin Ketchum.
– UCLA corner Alterruan Verner has a great series on BYU’s second possesion, nearly intercepting Max Hall on second down and covering wideout Austin Collie perfectly on BYU’s first deep pass.
– UCLA again tries a swing pass on its third possession, this time to Dominique Johnson. UCLA wideouts are running lots of short routes- the Bruins are just trying to move the chains- but ten minutes in UCLA has only one first down.
– BYU, facing third-down and six, completes a 25-yard fade pass for a big first down. The pass floats over Michael Norris’ head, and Michael Reed caught it and just barely got his left foot in bounds. The Cougars continued to march down the field with a few short passes, and option run to wideout Austin Collie, and a swing pass to Harvey Unga.
– So far BYU has controlled the game, at the close of the first quarter they have the ball and could take a 14 point lead.