This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

The numbers on the stat sheet suggest that BYU outlasted Nevada in a shootout on Saturday night — until you get to the turnover column. The Cougars had three giveaways — all fumbles — and Nevada never had a turnover. The mistake-free play earned the Wolf Pack a 42-35 win as BYU fell for the third straight game after that promising 4-0 start. The numbers are staggering: BYU had 601 yards of total offense and 38 first downs. Nevada had 411 yards and 20 first downs. "Nevada did a nice job in the second half of capitalizing on our mistakes," coach Bronco Mendenhall said. The Cougars had a 28-13 halftime lead, and when they marched into Nevada territory on their first possession of the second half, all was well in Provo. But three straight incomplete passes from the Nevada 26 led to a field goal try, and Trevor Samson missed the 44-yarder to break his streak of eight straight makes. Nevada quarterback Cody Fajardo didn't really hurt the Cougars in the first half with his dual-threat abilities, but he sure did on the Pack's first drive of the second half, and then all of the fourth quarter. BYU's failure to get him to the ground several times on the drive early in the third flipped the momentum, and his 1-yard TD run cut the lead to 28-20. This is Christian Stewart's offense now, and the backup BYU quarterback played extremely well if you can look past the two fumbles in the fourth quarter. His first fumble came with BYU trailing 35-28 and Nevada quickly cashed in from the BYU 20. His last one came after BYU had moved the ball to the Nevada 38 with 39 seconds left. It looked like overtime was in the offing again, like last week. But "Just trying to do a little bit too much," Mendenhall said of Stewart's fumbles. The senior finished 39 of 63 for 408 yards and four touchdowns. Yes, BYU attempted 63 passes, a season-high. The 601 yards was the most since the offense had 681 in last year's 47-46 Taysom Hill-led win over Houston. Ten receivers caught passes for BYU, led by Mitch Mathews with 16 catches for 182 yards. Mathews is the first BYU receiver with at least 15 catches since Jay Miller caught 22 in a 56-21 win over New Mexico in 1973.