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Show INSIDE SPORTS IN CONTROL MARLINS JUMPING MORE SUGAR Surging Florida tops Sravesfor its seventh Sugar Shane Mosley beats Oscar De a Hoya Page ¢3 Page C3 Nai FOUND OF he Soiheim Cup for the second Ome in three yeal stFaignt victory , curope leads USA entering the Page C5 OLLEGEK FOOT The Walt Lake Tribune Lit1IOn rving SUNDAY fall) rock SEPTEMBER 14, 2003 atest Fun WWW.SLTRIB.COM (Pep. ARIZONA STATE 26, BYU 10, NEw MEXICO7 UTAH Srate 16 Stunt No offense! fske, adow | Racrand Oper rock rock illage Roy Dasner/ The Associated Press Arizona State defensive end Nick Johnson,left, closes in on Utah State quarterback Travis Cox. GORDON MONSON USUkeeps Mendenhall madehis it close with Sun Devils presencefelt By Kurt KRactuorre Pid fo i LBUQUERQUE, N.M In the search for a win, The Salt Lake Tribune in. ugly oneat that, Bronco Mendenhall looked at the reflection in the mirroron TEMPE, Ariz. — Utah State’s twoweek tour of the Top 25 ended Saturday night, leaving the Aggies fully aware of their place in Division LA footbail, yet encouraged by their showing andeager to start playing somebody their own Saturday night ir wasit the ther way around? Maybe the reflection was giv | | ing him the once over, theevil size. eye, A 26-16 loss to No. 16 Arizona State at Sun Devil Stadium followed last week end’s 31-7 defeat at No. 18 Nebraska. So with roughly $800,000 going into the USU athletic department budget to help reduce the pain of the two trips to the big time, the Aggies (0-3) will take a able enemy was His defense. week off and prepare for their home In a turnover-filled game Saturday, | the Aggies took great consolation from staying within 19-10 after three quarters and keeping the heat on the Sun Devils to the end. A USU defense that ranked among the country’s worst the past two seasons held up respectably, except for allowing receiver Skyler Fulton to catch two touchdown passes from quarterback Andrew Walter. | | Defenseis the difference for Cougars By Parrick KINAHAN The Salt Lake Tribune And faced with heavy pressure much ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. | | Erase the film before Brigham Young's storied reputation as an offensive juggernautis ex- posedas a fraud. intercepted three times in the first three quarters, in each case throwingthe ball Not that anyof the Cougarscare. To them,all that matters is BYU is atop the Mountain West standings three weeks into the season. The Cougars got there in ugly fashion Saturday, beating New Mexico 10-7 before a crowdof33,606 at University Stadium. BYUhadall the excusesin the worldto stink on offense. And the Cougars took them. In the first half, they lost starting quarterback Matt Berryto a fractured pinkyfingeron his throwing hand. Berry who is scheduled to have surgery this morning, probably will miss Saturday’s right to a defender with no chance for his receiver to make a catch. Cox bounced back to lead a scoring drive that cut ASU’s lead to 26-16 in the final 10 minutes. The Aggies then forced a punt and drove to the ASU 24. After a sack, Chris Stallworth just missed a diving attempt to catch Cox’s pass in the end zone. On fourth down and 24 to go, coach Mick Dennehy elected to punt. When ASU converted on a third-down play with five minutes remaining, USU’s come- back hopes weregone. game against Stanford and could beout See USU, Cli for two weeks. Center Scott Jackson (knee) and running back Tafui Vakapuna (fibula) also went down early. On top of the injuries, the wind was howling across the stadium to thwart any attempt at a passing game. Left with no choice, BYU hadto win in a fashion that could do serious damage to Gary Crow ton’s reputationas an offensive wizard. “We had to playit safe,” BYU’s coach said. “I felt like we did the right thing.” Because winning is what counts, no one could argue Forthefirst time in his three years at BYU, Crowton played a game offield position. With Matt Payne as a stalwart punter and a defense that is emerging as awesome, the choice was obvious. Over three games, the mounting evi dence already speaks volumes. BYU's de fense has to rank among the Mountain West's best. our + prevail inthe FLOgS preval in te first game between the . . tworivals since 1991 By Jaime ARON The Associated Press AUSTIN, Texas — De’Arrius Howard charged to the few sec‘ions of red-clad fans surrounded byall the burnt orange, grabbed a giant state of Arkansasflag and waved it proudly. Then he went into the end zone, plucked some orange-painted grass and tossed it aside. The Razorbacks had just beaten their most hated rival on its hometurf, a place they hadn't been in 13 years. And even if most players weren't born when the Arkansas-Texas rivalry was in its heyday, they knew what throats,” said linebacker Levi Madarieta The Lobos might still be trying to gen erate some kindofoffense if the clock had not mercifully run out. After using a 66yard gain on a wide receiver screen pass to set upits only score, New Mexico could not do anything in the fourth quarter With Payne wearing out his leg punt ing, BYU’s defense spent muchofthe sec ondhalf on the field. The Cougars seemed escapable at UniversityiStadium during Brigham Younggs visit to New Mexico. 1 Nomatter the outcoihe, Men denhall would win and Menden hall would lose. In this game, he was cutting off his nose to spite his face. His face won, though, by a nose: BYU 10, New Mexico7. Thefirst half was all Men denhall Thesecondhalf was all Nean derthal “My emotions were all mixed up tonight,” Mendenhall said after walking off thefield ex changing hugs with Cougars “Tt says a lot about ourcharacter,” said BYU defensive end Brady Poppinga. "A and Lobos and coaches andsta diumpersonnel and firefighters from the Albuquerquefire de partment. “I’m proudof the cur rent players I coach and the former players I coached. All the memories of all the experi ences I had with [the Lobos] See BYU, C10 See MONSON, C10 to grow stronger the longer they played Ramsbatter Weber after starting slowly No. 6 Longhorns 28: Hogs guru, was area in The Cougars stuffed a New Mexico offense that was averaging 570 yards a game. The Lobos had scored a combined 100 points in the first two games But against the realstuff, they got only one big play the entire game. “We knewthey were going to come in and be physical and try to shove it down Razorbacks Arkansas 38, #5 Texas him His scheme. His intensity. His fanaticism. His commitment. His allegiance And, from the looking glass out his recent disloyalty rhe countenanceof the man whospent thepast five years not only as Lobo coach Rocky Long’s defensive coordinator Ranvy Sovun/ The Associated Press here, but also as his asgociate Tight end Phillip Niu hauls in a 29-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Matt Berry. It was BYU's only touchdown of the game. head coach, and, now, had be comethe opponent’s defensive opener Sept.27 against LouisianaMonroe. That’s also their inaugural Sun Belt Conference game. of the night, Aggie quarterback Travis Cox struggled at times before coming around in the fourth quarter. He was the nasty stare down Kither way, the unmistak Colorado State 31, this meant to everyone back ="; “It’s the greatest game is in the world,” said Weber State 7: Rams get rolling in second and there coach third quarters to put Houston Nutt, unable to stop smiling following a 38-28 upset victory Saturdayover the sixth ranked Longhorns. “It’s a special feeling to beat Texas.” Matt Jones moved the Razorbacks (2-0) through the air and on the ground, keeping them in control throughout as Arkansas beat its highest-ranked foe since See ARKANSAS,Cll ae ee away the Wildcats ioss to Colorado, €12 C12 @ Louisiana Tech edges MSU €12 A FORT COLLINS, Colo ver California last week. "he Rams were supposedto have an @asy time against I-AA an easy win after two tough Weber Se, (@%), but it sure games to start the season didn’t start Out that way. Colorado State entered the game ranked eighth nationally with 516 yards per game but couldn't get anything going The Rams got it, but it took a little while before it got easy Rahsaan Sanders ranfor 123 yards and a touchdown, and Chris Pittman caught two Desonan Cannon The Associated Press much® smaller State overcame a SiOW Start to The Rams had jusf70 yards in thefirst quarter andfailed to score for thefirst time in nine quarters this season { don’t know if it Was an Weber State 31-7 on Saturday They played us real hardin Arkansas quarterback Matt Jones eludes Texas defender Rodrique the times you get In a game and, ! 7 the Wildcats Wright during the fourth quarter in Austin, Texas. { against touchdown passes as Colorado beat @ Boise State tops idaho State C12 @ Montana captures victory score late in a two-point win Colorado State was looking for @ OSU survives, Michigan rolls C2 then had to ASSOCIATED PRESS lH INSIDE @ UNLV shocks Wisconsin matter what we tell the players, it’s not as easy as they think,” said coach Sonny Lubick, who improved to 10-1 in home open ers at Colorado State Colorado State (2-1) opened the season with a last-minute tirst quartet ing some } See WILDCATS, Cli “x i) |
