by Sports Xchange

Updated: October 5, 2008, 11:40 PM EST

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The series is hardly a rivalry -- the Cougars won their ninth straight meeting -- but the scene at USU's Romney Stadium was festive and competitive throughout, despite the visitors taking a gigantic early lead.

Eighth-ranked BYU, coming off a bye week, had plenty of rusty moments. Drives tended to stall, and the team didn't score in the second and fourth quarters. The Cougars also gave up points for the first time since Sept. 6 at Washington after having two consecutive shutouts.

"I always look at myself first and maybe in how we managed the bye week, and maybe that could have been improved," coach Bronco Mendenhall said. "I expected maybe a little bit of rust and some lack of precision, but I didn't expect it to be sustained as long as it was. But I think the kids from Utah State had a lot to do with that by playing hard."

BYU (5-0) was uncharacteristically sloppy throughout, piling up 12 penalties for 123 yards. Quarterback Max Hall threw a pair of interceptions, which weren't even close to completions, and several receivers didn't help by dropping numerous passes.

But BYU survived in part by forcing three first-quarter turnovers, which provided 17 points. The Cougars led 24-0 heading into the second quarter.

SEASON RECAP:

BYU 41, Northern Iowa 17: Max Hall threw for 486 yards and BYU, which led 27-3 at halftime and had the margin cut to 27-17 in the third quarter, held off a stingy Division I-AA opponent by using a superior offense that had eight player catch passes and saw tight end Dennis Pitta -- the third option for UNI to worry about -- snag 11 passes for 213 yards.

BYU 28, Washington 27: BYU hadn't won a non-conference road game against a BCS team in nine tries. That streak snapped after Jan Jorgensen's block of a 35-yard extra point attempt with two seconds left.

BYU 59, UCLA 0: Max Hall had six first-half touchdown passes, and tied the school record with seven total, as the Cougars cruised to their second win against the Bruins since last December's Las Vegas Bowl. BYU had 521 yards in 85 plays.

BYU 44, Wyoming 0: BYU started slower than usual, leading just 7-0 after the first quarter on a defensive touchdown (Scott Johnson's 64-yard fumble recovery) but the Cougars produced 20 unanswered points in the second period and cruised from there -- a close replay of the previous week's shutout win against UCLA.

BYU 34, Utah State 14: BYU built an early 24-0 lead and never looked back, not that it was always dominant or pretty. Improving to 5-0 came with a lot of mistakes, and a noted lack of concentration during several periods.