In the regular-season finale on Saturday night, the BYU Cougars took down the USC Trojans on the road, winning their tenth game of the season.
USC took the early 3-0 lead, but BYU responded with a 28-yard touchdown pass from Jaren Hall to Puka Nacua to put the visitors in front midway through the first quarter.
A nine-yard touchdown run by Tyler Allgeier early in the second made the score 14-3 in favor of the Cougars.
The Trojans cut the deficit to four before Allgeier found the endzone from five yards out to make the score 21-10 in favor of BYU. USC added a field goal to end the first half, making the score 21-13.
The Cougars seemed like they would put the game away for good at the 11:37 mark of the third quarter when Hall threw a 41-yard score to Keanu Hill gave BYU the 28-13 advantage.
Instead, USC came storming back, scoring a touchdown and a field goal to make the score 28-23 heading into the final frame.
USC then scored a touchdown and added a two-point conversion early in the fourth quarter, giving the Trojans a 31-28 lead and erasing what was a 15-point BYU advantage.
Determined to finish the regular season strong and keep its undefeated record against Pac-12 opponents intact, the Cougars rallied to retake the lead.
With just under four minutes left in the game, Jackson McChesney scored via a seven-yard run. The ensuing point after made the score 35-31 BYU.
The Trojans had one last chance to try and pull off the upset, but the BYU defense forced a turnover on downs that iced the game to give the team its tenth win of the year.
Jaren Hall led the way for BYU’s offense, completing 20-of-32 passes for 275 yards, adding pair of both touchdowns and interceptions. Tyler Allgeier led the rushing attack, tallying 11 yards and two scores on 21 carries.
Just keep winning
The 10 wins in the regular season add to an impressive two-year run for BYU football, having gone a combined 21-3 during the 2020 and 2021 seasons with a bowl win and two seasons in the national rankings.
The 10 wins also give the Cougars back-to-back 10-win campaigns for the first time since they did it four years in a row from 2006-09, as members of the Mountain West Conference.
Up next
The 10-2 Cougars will now wait to see if they have an outside chance to play in a New Year’s Six bowl game when bowl matchups are announced next Sunday. If not, they will play in the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl due to a contract they signed with the bowl game.
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