second overtime victory<\/a> in program history.<\/p>\n“That was a heck of a ball game,” Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½ head coach George O’Leary said. “I thought the resiliency of the team was outstanding. When you go down 17-10, 24-10, and you come back, it shows that you have some perseverance with your team.”<\/p>\n
Holman played admirably, completing 30-of-51 attempts for 326 yards and two touchdowns. He also rushed for a score. But it was Plummer who stole the show. The senior linebacker, whose uncle passed away a day prior, was the heartbeat of the team with 17 tackles, 1 sack, 4.5 tackles for loss, a forced fumble and the subsequent recovery.<\/p>\n
“Last year, my closest friend died in a homicide. My uncle died yesterday. I was crying and I told my mom, `What am I going to do?'” Plummer said. “She said, `You have to play your heart out for your uncle and for your friend.’ I just went out there. I have brothers behind me, but I didn’t tell them that because I didn’t want them to worry about me. At the same time, I loved my uncle and I loved my friend, so I just wanted to go out there and play.”<\/p>\n
Holman started 5-for-5 on the Knights’ opening drive, including a string of passes to Breshad Perriman, J.J. Worton and Jordan Akins that moved the chains on each completion.<\/p>\n
Facing fourth-and-one on the five-yard line, Holman took it upon himself to deliver the first touchdown as he catapulted into the end zone after defensive back Jordan Johnson attempted a low tackle.<\/p>\n
Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½’s defense forced the Cougars to go 3-and-out, and Worton’s 32-yard punt return set up the Knights in BYU territory. Holman extended his hot start to 8-of-8, helping advance his team to the 25-yard line. Kicker Shawn Moffitt then matched his season-long field goal. The 42-yarder padded the Knights’ advantage to 10-0 with 4:37 remaining in the first quarter.<\/p>\n
The Cougars finally cracked into the red zone with 10 minutes remaining in the second quarter, but Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½’s defense ensured that they wouldn’t stay there for long. On first-and-10, quarterback Christian Stewart aired it out to the front-left pylon and Jacoby Glenn stretched out to snag his third interception of the season – a career-high – for a touchback.<\/p>\n
BYU did manage to get on the scoreboard before the end of the half, marching the ball downfield on a 10-play drive that ate up 41 yards. Plummer prevented the Cougars from picking up a first down on third-and-3 with a tackle for loss. BYU called upon Trevor Samson to convert a 32-yard field goal with 5:12 to go, making it 10-3.<\/p>\n
Stanback resuscitated Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½’s offense, which had stalled in the second quarter with four-consecutive three-and-out drives. His 14-yard reception gave Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½ a first down, and Hall put the Knights into scoring position at the 23-yard line with his 16-yard catch.<\/p>\n
But BYU came up with a big stop thanks to Sione Takitaki’s sack and fumble recovery to close out the half which left Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½ with a 10-3 edge at the break.<\/p>\n
The Cougars opened up the half with Colby Pearson’s 4-yard game-tying touchdown catch on third-and-goal, halting the Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½ defense’s streak of keeping opponents out of the end zone for nine-consecutive quarters.<\/p>\n
BYU put Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½ on its heels by capitalizing on a misfortunate fumble on a punt return. Scott Arellano’s 27-yard punt hit a Knight’s leg, allowing Algernon Brown to recover the ball, which set up his team on Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½’s 25-yard line. Paul Lasike rushed 10 yards on BYU’s first play before Stewart connected with Devin Mahina for a touchdown, 17-10.<\/p>\n
Things snowballed for Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½ as Holman’s first pass of the next drive was intercepted by Skye Povey. He picked up 15 yards before he was brought down and a personal foul penalty bumped up the Cougars to the 14-yard line. Once again, Stewart found Mahina for a touchdown and just like that, the Cougars held a 24-10 lead.<\/p>\n
Enter Hall. His 58-yard return carried Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½ to BYU’s 37-yard line. Facing fourth-and-one, Holman inched his way to the 10-yard line to make it first-and-goal. He found Justin Tukes for an 8-yard reception and Stanback punched it in, 24-17, with 5:37 remaining.<\/p>\n
The Cougars rolled into the red zone on 13 plays into the beginning of the fourth quarter, when Plummer forced a fumble and recovered the ball. Although the Knights came up short in converting the turnover to points, the stop allowed them to eventually tie the game with 10:17 remaining thanks to Reese’s steady hands. On a free play, with BYU jumping offside, Holman threw it deep to Reese, who made a spectacular catch to tie things up, 24-24.<\/p>\n
Moffitt missed a potential game-winning 50-yard field goal that was blocked with four seconds on the clock, forcing overtime.<\/p>\n
BYU won the coin toss for the extra period and elected to play defense first. Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½ headed toward the south end zone and its rowdy student section.<\/p>\n
“The crowd was outstanding tonight. There is a reason we were down in the student end,” O’Leary said. “You have a choice. They won the toss, so we got to pick the end. We pointed to the student end right away. There is a noise factor down there that helps. I thought it was just a great football night.”<\/p>\n
Holman made some magic happen as he bounced around for a 6-yard rush while picking up a facemask penalty that fast-tracked his team to the 8-yard line. Time and again, the Knights relied on Stanback as their target, and with his four-yard touchdown reception, he helped grab a 31-24 lead that forced BYU to match on its possession.<\/p>\n
Stewart managed to pick up a first down with his completion to Mahina at the 13-yard line. But the Cougars could not tie it. Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½’s defense held strong inside the 5-yard line for the dramatic win.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wide receiver Rannell Hall awaited a kickoff on the 5-yard line. The Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½ football team had watched a 10-point first-half lead morph into a 24-10 deficit with 9 minutes to play in the third quarter. Hall knew his team needed more than a pick-me-up. They needed a game-changer. His 58-yard kickoff return gave new life to the Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½ offense. It…","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":62000,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-twocol.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[9805,1810,1939,5305,5427,12521,8490,3346,3883,5299,7415,202,11059],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-61998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-american-athletic-conference","tag-football","tag-george-oleary","tag-jj-worton","tag-josh-reese","tag-justin-holman","tag-justin-tukes","tag-ncaa","tag-rannell-hall","tag-shawn-moffitt","tag-terrance-plummer","tag-alumni","tag-william-stanback"],"yoast_head":"\n
O'Leary: "I Thought It Was Just a Great Football Night." | Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½ News<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n