BYU junior wide receiver Luke Ashworth has made a name for himself among Cougar faithful as a hard-nosed, tough, role player who does a good job of blocking for his big-name running backs and star wide receivers.

"Luke Ashworth has been battling for a couple of years and this year he is kind of emerging," BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall said.

While appearing in 11 games for the Cougars during the 2005 season, the Timpview High School alum caught six passes for 90 yards -- including a career long 34-yard grab. After returning to the field in 2008 after an LDS mission, Ashworth saw action in all 13 games, but only grabbed three passes for 49 yards.

But it was a 48-yard touchdown strike from Max Hall to Ashworth in the second quarter of Saturday's 35-17 win over Utah State that rewrote his own personal record book.

"Things are coming together," Mendenhall added. "It's good to see for a guy that has invested the time. I'm proud to see what Luke did tonight."

The scoring strike from Hall marked the first touchdown of Ashworth's career while also going down as the longest reception of his career.

"It was like slow motion," Ashworth said. "It was a great ball by Max and I was just excited because I had a huge burden of not having a touchdown, so it was kind of exciting to get that first one in."

Ashworth also added career highs in receptions and yards with his five catches for 91 yards.

"It's been a lot of hard work," Ashworth added. "Coach Higgins has been a great receivers coach and he has been preparing me well. It's been a lot of hard work, but it's been some good payoff."

• More career firsts: The victory over Utah State saw the first career start for redshirt freshman defensive back Robbie Buckner.

Buckner got the start in place of regular starting defensive back Brian Logan.

"Brian Logan missed a walk through and that's why he did not start," Mendenhall said. "Robbie Buckner handled the rol e because of a violation of a team rule."

• Oct. 2: With the loss, Utah State has now dropped its last 10 games that have been played on October 2nd--with their last win on that date in 1965.

The Cougars have now won seven Oct. 2 games in a row -- with their last loss coming, ironically enough, in 1965 to the Oregon Ducks.

• Friday night's for winning: The Friday matchup with the Aggies marked the thirteenth time that the two teams have squared off on a Friday. The Cougars are now 13-0 against the Aggies on Friday nights, and hold an 18-3 overall record in games played on Fridays.

• Manase finds the end zone: Manase Tonga capped a two play, 29 yard drive with a three-yard touchdown run with 29 seconds left in the first half. The senior running back's scoring scamper marked the first rushing touchdown since a November 2007 35-16 victory against Colorado State.

• Utah State local ties: Austin Alder, a standout product of Provo High School, saw time for the Aggies Friday night, grabbing two passes for 20 yards. Alder is one of three Utah State players with ties to Utah Valley high schools--joining fellow Bulldog and Aggies' offensive lineman Funaki Asisi as well as Orem High School product Dustin Akana.

• Back-to-back Harvey: Harvey Unga notched 21 carries for 118 yards and one touchdown in the winning effort. The night marked the second consecutive game that Unga has rushed for over 100 yards.

• Defense stopping the run: The Cougar defense held the Aggies to just 109 yards on 37 rushing attempts, while forcing two fumbles and recovering one.

The fumble recovery marked the sixth recovery in five games for the Cougar defense.

• Female line judge: Friday night's referee crew included the lone female official in the NCAA.

Sarah Thomas, Friday's line judge, made her LaVell Edwards Stadium debut in the Cougars victory.

"It took me a second to realize that was a female," Dennis Pitta said. "Not in a bad way of course. I just wasn't expecting it. It threw me off a little bit, but I think she did an ok job, no complaints."

Safety Andrew Rich took notice of the female official as well by noticing the high octave voice level while Thomas was calling a play dead.

• Extra points: The alumni flag was run out of the tunnel by Mark Bellini, a member of the 1984 National Championship team, while linebacker Coleby Clawson carried the team flag...Senator Orrin Hatch was on hand to fire the customary "George Q." cannon during the team's entrance...BYU lost the coin toss for the first time this season, the Cougars are 3-1 when winning the toss and move to 1-0 when losing the toss on the year...Dennis Pitta's reception in the first quarter increased his consecutive games with a catch streak to 35 games...Jan Jorgensen extended his consecutive games started streak to 44 in the winning effort.