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Having gone the first half of the season, the first six games, without a tight end catching a touchdown pass, the BYU Cougars got two in last Friday's 28-21 win over Mississippi State.

The first was that 1-yard pass from Taysom Hill to Hunter Marshall in the first quarter, and the second, of course, was Hill's 25-yarder to Tanner Balderree in the second overtime, which turned out to be the game-winner.

"It was exciting. It was a lot of fun. It was a relief for me, all the other tight ends and coach [Steve] Clark," Balderree said Monday. "We've been putting in a lot of work, and there was a lot of expectation and pressure at the beginning of the season. It's nice to be given opportunities and then to go out and do it. I was so pumped for Hunter, and I was glad that he got that. It was really exciting."

Marshall's TD was the first for a BYU tight end since converted defensive end Remington Peck caught one against Utah in the Las Vegas Bowl.

Marshall and Balderree have now combined to catch 11 passes for 144 yards and two TDs in seven games. Clark and Ty Detmer promised a return of the tight end, and so far they've delivered — albeit probably not to the extent that Cougar fans would like.

"Yeah, consistency is always helpful as a player, when you can know what to expect going into game, and a feel for it, a rhythm," Balderree said. "It helps you relax and just focus on playing football. So that has been a helpful thing for both of us. There are still other guys that are getting in there and making plays. Troy [Hinds] and Alema [Pilimai] and guys like that.

Balderree grew up in Michigan and then moved to Oregon before high school, so he was sort of familiar with Boise State's football success. The Broncos even recruited him — sort of.

"Not for football," he said. "I got a letter from them after my ACT [test] for school, but not for football."

The sophomore said Boise State is not as big as Mississippi State was, but makes up for it with athleticism and speed.

"As on offensive line and an offensive unit, we have to be prepared for the fact that every guy on the Boise State defense is athletic enough to make a play. We have to account for everyone," he said. ""They do a lot of twisting, slanting. One thing we have to be aware of this week: we are doing silent count, making sure that, one thing Boise likes to do is they like to yell move and stunt their guys before the ball is snapped to try to get you to jump offsides. So, as an offense we have to be composed and make sure that we don't let them get inside our heads and just play our game. We have to know when Taysom or Tejan [Koroma] is going to snap the ball, not when they are going to try to get us to move offside."

Another sophomore pass-catcher, Moroni Laulu-Pututau, caught the touchdown pass in the fourth quarter that knotted the score at 14-14.

He said the play worked perfectly because every player executed perfectly.

"I think it was huge, mostly just for the morale because we started going backwards and we had like seven plays within 10 yards. I think it was just big to get our confidence up. We went back and watched it and everyone did their job perfectly — the line blocked perfect, Jamaal [Williams] picked up a big block, which gave Taysom time to throw and he made the right read. It was just cool to see on film how everything connected perfectly and how the gears moved together and how they were supposed to."

Pututau didn't react perfectly after the catch, however. He spiked the ball into the turf of the north end zone, drawing a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty from the refs and a good chewing out from the coaching staff.

"The spike wasn't such a good idea," he said. "I wasn't planning on doing that. I didn't think I threw it that hard, then I looked back and was, oh yeah, I threw it hard. I think it was just the way the ball bounced. It went up perfectly, so they threw [the flag]. Then my coaches let me have it."

A one-handed catch that Pututau made just before the end of regulation made SportsCenter's Top 10 list.

"I didn't even see it, so I heard about it [being on SportsCenter]," he said. "I guess it is cool. It was funny … lucky. … I just had a dig route. He just threw it up. I was in the right place at the right time."