Luke Staley Rusher of the Game: Lopini Katoa. I didn’t think I’d put anyone besides Squally Canada in this spot, but here we are. Katoa had ten carries for 64 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Given that McNeese came into this game being known for slowing the run, BYU did well with Lopini Katoa leading the way.

Austin Collie Catch of the Game: Talon Shumway. Shumway had only one catch, but it was a doozey! It went for a touchdown, was made in the back corner of the endzone and while being contested. Great play for Shumway!

Steve Young-Curtis Brown Dual Threat of the Game: Aleva Hifo. While he didn’t do as much running this week as he did last, he seems to be a focal point of the offense. He’s getting at least five touches a game and the only person getting more per game this season is Squally Canada, though Katoa is close behind him and may get more after he had a solid game.

Payne Special Teams Player of the Game: Skyler Southam was perfect on three field goals and three extra points. In the system they are running now, they will lean heavily on Southam, and so far, he’s holding up well and kicking true.

Ty Detmer Heisman Play of the Game: Lopini Katoa’s 14-yard touchdown run. The freshman from American Fork, made the most of his extra opportunities, including a beautiful, well blocked, text book 14-yard touchdown run.

Andrew George-Jonny Harline Game Winning Play: Katoa’s four-yard run where he got a great block from Austin Hoyt. His initial touchdown run would prove to be the only score BYU would need to put McNeese away. They’ll need much more to win in Seattle next week.

LaVell Edwards Call of the Game: Where they have Sione Takitaki lining up at linebacker. The guy is in on almost every tackle. He’s got great instincts and will be up to the challenge of taking on Gaskins in Seattle. He shadowed Taylor well and he’ll be relied upon to do the same with Gaskins and he will get it done. We don’t have to worry about how he’ll play.

-Unga-Williams Run of the Game: Squally’s Run up the sideline

-Jorgensen-Herrmann Sack of the Game: Corbin Kaufusi

Sikahema Special Teams Play of the Game: Kaufusi blocking the fourth field goal of his career. The guy has a future in the NFL in an at worst back up and special teams player roll, if he wants it. He’s a very good athlete and uses his height and length to his advantage.

Reynolds Blocks of the Game: Katoa’s 14-yard run had great blocking across the line but especially by a pulling Keanu Saleapaga who kept the hole open at the point of attack and allowed Katoa to hit it at full speed. Moroni Laulu-Pututau also had a great block on that run.

Van Noy Hit of the Game: Kaufusi hitting Orgeron that caused the intercepted throw to Rhett Sandlin. So Kaufusi had a sack, a blocked kick, and a quarterback rush that forced an interception. Not to mention five total tackles and one for a loss. He’s the best defense player on the team this year.

Pitta TE of the Game: Dallin Holker. The freshman had three catches for 23 yards and proved he can and will be an important weapon moving forward.

Beck-McMahon Throw of the Game: Tanner Mangum to Talon Shumway. One aspect that gets overlooked that made this play difficult was that Mangum was throwing from the sunlight into the shade and Shumway was looking for the ball as he crossed that line and with his eyes adjusting to the lighting made the catch. Not to mention he had a defender right in his face. Still Mangum put it in a good place and Shumway came down with it.

Steve Young Hall of Fame Moment of the Game: Mangum’s throw to Shumway was great, maybe too rare but great none the less. His pump fake prevented additional defenders from getting to Shumway and preventing the touchdown.

Kai Nacua Pick of the Game: Tanner Jacobsen’s interception gets this because it led to Shumway’s touchdown catch. When you play as conservatively on offense as BYU does, you need to get points off of turnovers in order get wins.

Resume Watch: After starting off with two straight losses Arizona has had back-to-back wins. They have finally got their running game going but will be in for a test when they take on USC this weekend and will see if they can compete in the PAC-12 South. Cal is 3-0 and will be hosting a 3-1 Oregon team that blew a huge lead in their bid to upset PAC-12 favorite, Stanford. A win over Oregon would show that Cal is the real deal. Wisconsin beat Iowa over the weekend and has once again taken hold of the B1G West and will be the favorite to win that division. Especially as their only remaining challenging games are against Michigan and Penn State both teams in the East. So, BYU’s strength of schedule is holding up nicely, were the Cal game to be their only loss and UCF to drop a game BYU could be a New Year’s Six team.

Lot’s of freshman getting time, Katoa, Gunner Romney, Dax Milne, Dallin Holker, Alden Tofa, Jakson Kaufusi, and Earl Tuioti-Mariner. It’s good to see freshman contributing and showing us that the future at BYU is bright.

Hopefully Zayne Anderson will be back by next week I don’t know the extent of his injury, but he was big against Wisconsin and I get the feeling we’ll need him to upset Washington.

We’ve got to overcome the slow starts. Overcoming slow starts is best done by starting fast! If you’re offense doesn’t get any traction until the second quarter, it’s going to be difficult to sustain any rhythm and win big games consistently.

Kilaniball is here to stay. Thanks in large to last weeks win, for better or for worse, Sitake is here until at least the swearing in of the winner of the 2020 presidential race. We’ll see if his style of hard-nosed defense, great special teams, and an offense that picks its battles works and leads to success.