This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Perhaps lost in the disappointment for BYU fans from Saturday's 35-32 loss at West Virginia was the fact that Taysom Hill ran for 107 yards in the game — finishing with 101 net yards because he was sacked one for minus-6.

Hill said Monday that he came out of the game "a little banged up and bruised, but nothing too severe." He said his brief trip to the locker room in the first half was "a minor thing" and that he was "feeling pretty good" two days after the game.

Of course, one of Hill's runs in the third quarter probably caused some uneasiness among Cougar faithful — the 27-yard scamper on 3rd-and-11 in the third quarter in which he leapt over two West Virginia defensive backs and kept going for a couple more yards.

"Two guys converging and you know, most guys don't try to tackle me high," Hill said. "I felt like the best opportunity to break a tackle and make a play there was to jump."

I asked coach Kalani Sitake what he thought of the play and whether his heart skipped a beat on the sidelines.

"Just let him do what he does," Sitake said. "I mean, I wouldn't jump like that because I can't. He got up and he landed on his feet and spun around and still had a chance to score, so yeah, we just let Taysom do it. He is starting to feel more comfortable running the ball. You can see that he is starting to trust his foot and starting to have his vision of the field, and starting to find grass. So I was really impressed with the things he did. For a quarterback to run for that many yards is difficult to do. He's going to keep doing that. We will keep relying on him to do things with his feet, as well as with his arm."

Despite throwing three interceptions — two were tipped — Hill was generally pleased with his performance, and the offense's play as a whole.

"I think overall we executed, and that's kind of what we've been talking about through the course of this season, is we need to execute at a higher level and I think we did a better job outside recognizing man and zone, and our receivers did a great job of recognizing that and then winning the one on one and the man to man match ups, allowing me to get the ball out on time. We saw a lot of productivity. So, it was good," he said.

It was easily the best game of the season for BYU's offensive line, which played without Ului Lapuaho for the second straight week. Freshman Thomas Shoaf started in Lapuaho's place and did an admirable job.

"Yeah, they did great," Hill said. "Everything starts up there, and any time you can rush the ball for over 250 yards, it is a great day. Again, it all starts up front. We wouldn't have been able to have the productivity the way that we did without those guys that block. They were taking the right steps, keying the right guys, and they played a really good game."

You can read Hill's description of the final play — the pass intended for freshman Aleva Hifo that was batted away by a defender and into the hands of another WVU defensive back — in this article in today's Tribune.

Hill said there were two defensive backs in the area — which enabled one to corral the loose ball — due to a poorly run route.

"It was a four vertical route. Aleva kind of got man-pressed, and pushed out that way," Hill said. "In a perfect world, he probably should have been a little bit closer to the seam, which allowed that corner to get in and make a play. But hats off to that DB that got his hand in there and flipped it out."

That said, Hill reiterated that the offense played well, overall.

"I think it gives us a lot of confidence going into the rest of the season that if we execute and if we run our routes the way we are supposed to, and we get the ball out on time, and we protect, we are going to be really difficult to stop. That's our mentality going into it and we expect to continue to do that week in and week out," he said.

Sitake said there were plenty of positives to build upon as BYU prepares for Toledo on Friday.

"Yeah, I think there was no secret going into the season that we needed Jamaal [Williams] to be ready, and we put a lot of the load on him. He did some great things running the ball. I think Taysom did some great things running the ball as well, so the run game was there. The O line blocked a lot better. I think they did some really good things in pass protection as well. We just need to be consistent."

Sitake said the receivers played with an edge after enduring a week of finger-pointing for their play in the 17-14 loss to UCLA.

"I think they played well," he said. "I think all the talk about going against man coverage was really difficult for them to take. They are guys who have a lot of pride, too, and their coach wants to make sure they do well. If you watch the film, which we did, I was really impressed with the receivers and how they played. They were able to get separation. Obviously, we want to make more plays when the ball is up for grabs. But we will keep working on that. What I liked is they blocked downfield, and the effort was there, and they had a little chip on their shoulder and that is going to stay throughout the whole year."

The Cougars even asked a receiver to throw a pass on a failed two-point conversion attempt. Mitchell Juergens took a pitch and rolled to his right, but Hill — who had leaked out after handing the ball off — was covered and Juergens had to throw the ball away.

"They really didn't play it very sound," Hill lamented. "We had a tight end that came free back side. His guy didn't run with him, which made Mitch bubble out a little wider and the safety dropped off and saw me leaking out, and so we took a chance there with a trick play and it didn't work o