West Virginia (3-0) holds on after lead fades

LANDOVER, Md. — Dana Holgorsen could sense it on the sideline when West Virginia built a two-score lead early in the fourth quarter against BYU. The Mountaineers were feeling too good.

“I said we can get excited about being up 16 points if you want to but this thing ain’t over,” Holgorsen said. He was right. Taysom Hill and BYU rallied, but Maurice Fleming ended the Cougars’ last threat with an interception near his own goal line and the Mountaineers hung on 35-32 on Saturday.

Skyler Howard passed for 332 yards and Rasul Douglas returned an interception 54 yards for a score for West Virginia (3-0), which will head into Big 12 play unbeaten.

“It’s encouraging to be able to address some of these things when you’re 3-0 as opposed to losing a game like this and trying to address them after that,” Holgorsen said.

West Virginia grabbed a 35-19 lead with 11:27 left in the fourth when Howard hit Daikiel Shorts for a 9-yard score.

“We have to be one of those teams that’s constantly on the gas pedal and we let up,” West Virginia tackle Kyle Bosch said.

The Cougars scored two touchdowns in less than four minutes to cut their deficit to three with 5:55 remaining. They got one last chance to put together a game-winning drive after a miscommunication between Howard and center Tyler Orlosky led to a West Virginia fumble near BYU’s goal line.

Hill drove BYU to the West Virginia 28, but his final pass was tipped away from a receiver by West Virginia’s Nana Kyeremeh and intercepted by Fleming to seal it.

“We’ve been talking about that all week in practice,” Fleming said. “We get a lot of tipped balls. We just got to get our hands on them.”

BYU (1-3) has lost three in a row by a total of seven points to Power Five teams after opening the season with a two-point victory on a last-second field goal against Arizona.

“I just know we haven’t played our best game yet,” BYU Coach Kalani Sitake said. “I’m waiting for that to happen.”

In another game involving a Big 12 team, Jacob Park threw for 165 yards and three touchdowns and Iowa State thumped San Jose State 44-10 in Ames, Iowa, giving Coach Matt Campbell his first victory with the Cyclones. Mike Warren rushed for a season-high 103 yards for Iowa State (1-3). Joel Lanning was 5 of 8 passing for 136 yards and 2 TDs. The Cyclones needed 7:51 and 24 plays to put up 23 points — a season high for a game — in the first half. Lanning’s 49yard TD pass to Deshaunte Jones made it 30-3 early in the second half. San Jose State freshman Josh Love threw for 155 yards, but he was also intercepted four times. The Spartans (1-3) missed starter Kenny Potter, who was out with a right leg injury.