Jaren Hall passed for two touchdowns and rushed for a third before leaving with an injury, lifting the Cougars to a 35-26 nonconference victory over host Stanford in the regular-season finale for both teams Saturday night.
Christopher Brooks amassed 164 yards on 23 carries, while Hinckley Ropati and Puka Nacua joined Hall with rushing TDs for BYU (7-5), which will take a three-game winning streak into its bowl game. BYU rushed for 358 yards total.
Tanner McKee threw for 313 yards and one score for Stanford (3-9), which completed a bowl-less season with five straight losses.
Hall threw 43 and 1 yards to Isaac Rex and ran in from 19 yards out, helping BYU take a 28-12 halftime lead. Ropati also had a 43-yard rushing TD in the half for the Cougars.
When Nacua raced 25 yards for a TD with 12:48 remaining in the game, the visitors were up 35-12 and hardly noticed that Hall had left the game with a sprained right ankle. He did not return.
But Stanford didn’t give up easily. Backup quarterback Ashton Daniels plunged in from 1 yard out, then McKee connected with Brycen Tremayne for a 7-yard score, getting the Cardinal back within 35-26 pending Joshua Karty’s PAT attempt with still 4:39 to play.
But Karty, who earlier in the game had seen his perfect PAT season end with an effort that went wide left, never got a chance to get Stanford back within one score. A bad snap prevented his attempt, leaving the Cardinal two scores behind.
BYU was then able to run out the clock, with Brooks running four times for 27 yards and a pair of first downs.
Brooks joined Ropati (85) and Hall (69) as three Cougars who rushed for 50 or more yards en route to the huge team total.
Hall finished 7-for-11 passing for 93 yards and the two scores without an interception.
McKee went 31-for-40 without an interception for Stanford. The 313 yards were just seven short of his season-best, accomplished in October against Arizona State.
Tremayne was the game’s leading receiver with 11 catches for 130 yards, while Mitch Leigber was the Cardinal’s leading rusher with 40 yards on 12 runs and a 1-yard score in the second quarter.
Karty, who also entered the game without having missed a field goal all season, completed Stanford’s scoring with 34- and 54-yard kicks in the first half.
–Field Level Media
