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Even BYU freshman quarterback Tanner Mangum admits it has almost reached the unbelievable stage.
Mangum, having already thrown last-second passes to give BYU its first two wins, added to his growing legendary status on Saturday night, leading the Cougars to a 42-35 come-from-behind win over East Carolina in front of 60,186 at LaVell Edwards Stadium.
Mangum left the game with a hamstring injury with the Cougars leading 38-21 and seemingly well on their way to the win. But after the Pirates rallied to tie it with 17 unanswered fourth-quarter points, Mangum returned and drove the Cougars 75 yards for the winning touchdown, Algernon Brown's fourth TD of the game, with 19 seconds remaining.
"I mean, I guess when I look at it, yeah, it is a little bit unexpected," Mangum allowed. "I mean, you wouldn't really expect that to happen."
You couldn't be blamed now, however.
Mangum completed 24 of 33 passes for 332 yards and three touchdowns, with no interceptions.
Looking gimpy when he re-entered the game with 5:06 remaining, he completed passes to Devon Blackmon (9 catches, 142 yards) and Terenn Houk, and Brown rushed for 36 yards on five carries.
"Man, what a remarkable performance by Tanner Mangum," said BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall. "I didn't expect to see him come back, but certainly glad that he did."
Mangum said he felt some tightness in his hamstring when he ran 7 yards for a first down on 4th-and-6 toward the end of the third quarter. Trevor Samson's 37-yard field goal gave BYU a 38-21 lead with 2:25 left in the third.
The Cougars went flat defensively — although Fred Warner's interception thwarted one ECU drive — and third-stringer Beau Hoge was unable to move the team. ECU forced three straight 3-and-outs before Yiannis Bowden picked off the true freshman on the fourth possession without Mangum in the game.
BYU's defense — playing with linebacker Harvey Langi and two suspended defensive backs, Jordan Preator and Michael Shelton, stiffened when it had to. Davis Plowman's 34-yard field goal tied it at 38, and on came Mangum to rescue the Cougars.
"Beau did a good job stepping in, but when it came down to that last drive, I couldn't stay on the sidelines any longer," Mangum said. "I knew I had to get in. It was hurting a little bit, but not enough to keep me out. … I didn't have to do much. [Teammates] did all the work. That's a good feeling knowing you can come out and trust all the guys around you, and that they are going to get that last score."
A topsy-turvy game changed just before halftime when, with BYU leading 28-14, ECU coach Ruffin McNeill replaced starting quarterback James Summers with Blake Kemp. The junior promptly led the Pirates on a nine-play, 77-yard touchdown for a score, then picked up where he left off in the second half.
He finished 28 of 36 for 371 yards and two TDs.
Mendenhall said BYU spent the "majority of the game plan" preparing for Kemp, and he was happy when Kemp entered the game to replace Summers, who ran 34 yards for a TD on ECU's second possession.
"Be careful of what you wish for," Mendenhall lamented.
The Cougars overcame an early 14-0 deficit with 28 unanswered points.
It was a wild and woolly half that featured two blocked punts — one by each team — a successfully executed fake punt by Jonny Linehan, and a costly fumble by Brown on BYU's first possession
The visitors went up 14-0 when Travion Hicks blocked Linehan's punt and Yiannis Bowden fell on it in the end zone.
"We were mad," Mendenhall said of that deficit. "It was like, 'Are we going to start the game like this?"
The Cougars picked up a crucial 4th-and-1 from their own 34 to prolong their next drive, and proceeded to score on their next four possessions to grab the 28-14 lead.
Bronson Kaufusi blocked an ECU punt during the scoring flurry, and BYU punched it in from the 1 to knot the score.
Mangum then threw a pair of touchdown passes on back-to-back drives — to Mitch Mathews and Houk — of 13 and 9 yards.
"Give them a lot of credit — they stayed in it the whole game," Mangum said.
Twitter: @drewjay —
Storylines
R Freshman QB Tanner Mangum tweaks his hamstring, but returns to lead the game-winning drive.
• Algie Brown's fourth touchdown, a 9-yard run with 19 seconds remaining, gives BYU the 45-38 win.
• East Carolina takes a 14-0 lead, falls behind by 17 in the second half, then rallies to tie it before BYU's last drive.
Inside
O Algie Brown has a career night. › C5