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Provo • BYU's hopes against Eastern Carolina looked perilous.

On Saturday night at Lavell Edwards Stadium, the Cougars trailed by two touchdowns midway through the first quarter. They faced fourth-and-one from their own 34-yard line.

Coach Bronco Mendehall shouldered an obvious dilemma. He could punt, give the ball back to the Pirates and look at the possibility of falling behind by three scores, or he could get the ball the 235-pound battering ram Algie Brown and attempt to maintain possession.

Mendenhall picked the Brown Option and the junior running back from Salt Lake's Skyline High School delivered. After taking a handoff from quarterback Tanner Mangum, Brown was initially stopped at the line of scrimmage by a wave of East Carolina defenders. But he spun free and lunged for the first down.

The critical call by Mendenhall and second-effort run by Brown paid huge dividends when BYU followed with its first scoring drive, which triggered the Cougars' eventual 45-38 victory over the Pirates.

Why did he forego a punt in that situation?

"I just thought it was going to be a close game — a tough game — and I thought those kind of games have to managed aggressively," Mendenhall said. "So that's what we did. We had our mind made up before the game we were going to do that and the [opportunity] presented themselves. Luckily we executed.

For Brown, the game turned out to be a memorable one. He rushed for 134 yards on 24 carries and scored four touchdowns, including a 53-yard run only two minutes into the second half.

"Really, really impressed," Mendenhall said. "When you start now being able to run the ball effectively, in combination with Tanner, that's kind of been the piece that's been missing. … We knew going in Algie was more healthy than he was last week and he performed well."

Brown was a huge factor on BYU's game-winning drive. He carried five times for 36 yards. He capped the 75-yard, 10-play march with a 9-yard touchdown with 19 seconds left.

"We were actually playing to run it down and have the last play be a field goal," Mendenhall said. "To the credit of our offensive line and Algie, they made it even better." —

Season stats

BYU running back Algie Brown's game-by-game rushing statistics this season (he did not play against UCLA or Michigan because of injury):

Opponent Rush Yards Avg TDs Long

Nebraska 3 1 0.3 0 3

Boise State 5 22 4.4 0 20

UConn 18 95 5.3 0 34

East Carolina 24 134 5.6 3 53