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Provo • Not too many people were surprised that BYU routed Fresno State on Senior Day at LaVell Edwards Stadium on Saturday afternoon to finish the home portion of its schedule undefeated.

Defensive end-turned-tight end Remington Peck throwing a touchdown pass?

Now that's a different story.

After a slow start on offense for the third straight week, the Cougars eventually got rolling in the second quarter and ensured that the final home game for around 18 seniors was one for the memory books. They thrashed the visiting Bulldogs 52-10 in front of 57,515 shivering fans to improve to 3-0 against Mountain West Conference teams, 6-0 at home, and 8-3 overall.

The Cougars will visit another MWC team, Utah State, next Saturday in the regular-season finale with some confidence and momentum after opening November with a close win over San Jose State and a close loss at Missouri.

But for a while Saturday, it appeared this game was going to be another nail-biter. Then BYU's defense took over.

Leading just 10-3 and having been forced to punt — or fake a punt, in one instance — on four of its first six possessions, BYU produced a pair of turnovers that pretty much ended 26-point underdog Fresno State's upset hopes.

Safety Kai Nacua returned an interception 32 yards for a touchdown, his second pick-six of the season, to give BYU a 16-3 lead midway through the second quarter. Linebacker Fred Warner then picked off FSU QB Zack Greenlee two plays later and returned the ball to the 18 before Greenlee prevented another pick-six with a touchdown-saving tackle.

On the next play, Tanner Mangum threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to Moroni Lualu-Pututau, the freshman's first-ever TD catch, and the rout was on.

"I think the momentum in the game was generated by a couple of turnovers that we [forced] defensively," said BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall.

Nacua had another interception in the second half, and almost took that one to the house as well. But the first interception got the Cougars out of their funk.

"I feel like it kinda sparked us, got us going on a roll," Nacua said. "I think it woke everyone up, yeah."

While Nacua and Warner made the big picks, senior defensive end Bronson Kaufusi played his final game at LES in spectacular fashion, finishing with three sacks, five tackles, four tackles for loss, a pass breakup and a blocked field goal.

"Defensively, I thought they were physical," said Fresno State coach Tim DeRuyter. "They've got some large guys. Kaufusi is a big man, and he runs really well."

After misfiring early, Mangum got it together on the first play of the second quarter when he hooked up with Mitch Mathews for a 45-yard completion that led to a 1-yard TD run by Francis Bernard. The freshman completed 24 of 37 passes for 336 yards and the TD to Lualu-Pututau before Beau Hoge came on early in the fourth quarter.

"I put that on me," Mangum said of the slow start. "I was just a little bit off on some of my throws, just missing by a little bit … Obviously, not the way we wanted to start. We have to just work on coming out and firing. But once we got rolling, we were clicking, and that's when it is fun."

More fun — for BYU, anyway — ensued when the 6-foot-4, 275-pound Peck took a handoff from Mangum and threw a perfect strike to Terenn Houk for a 15-yard touchdown.

"That was a beautiful throw — on the money," Mangum said. "So we will see. No guarantees next week who the starter will be."

He was joking, of course. The Cougars could afford to do that Saturday — but only after the defense came to the rescue.

Twitter: @drewjay —

Storylines

R The Cougars celebrate Senior Day with an easy romp over Fresno State to improve to 3-0 against Mountain West Conference teams and finish undefeated at home

• The Cougars score three second-quarter touchdowns after a slow start to put the game away

• BYU safety Kai Nacua intercepts two passes and returns one 32 yards for a touchdown