In the post-game news conference, BYU senior linebacker Bryan Kehl said the Cougar defenders are just a bunch of "small, slow guys."

Wait, let him finish.

"We're a great defense because we keep them in front of us, we hustle to the ball and know our assignments," Kehl said. "That's what wins the day."

And that's what happened on Saturday.

BYU throttled Arizona's newly-installed spread attack, holding the Wildcats to under 100 yards of total offense and just three first downs through three quarters of play in a 20-7 victory in front of 64,525 fans at LaVell Edwards Stadium. It was the Cougars' 11th consecutive win and their seventh straight at home.

"The team played with the poise and preparation they came into camp with," said BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall, who won his first season opener in three tries. "The defense played assignment-sound football."

Sure, new quarterback Max Hall was solid in his debut (26-of-39 for 288 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions) and redshirt freshman running back Harvey Unga was spectacular, combining for 194 total yards and two scores.

But it was BYU's defense, which has faced the spread offense for three years in practice, that enforced its will on the outcome of the game. Arizona scored a meaningless touchdown with 53 seconds to play but spent most of the afternoon frustrated because BYU seemed to be everywhere the offense wanted to go.

"If we went three and out, I wasn't worried," Hall said. "I knew we were going to get the ball back."

Kehl, who led BYU with 12 tackles, said the Cougars wore down the Arizona offense.

"The confidence and spirit of their offense died down and that prevailed throughout the day," Kehl said. "That's what defense is all about, shutting them down and not letting them get anything going."

Arizona quarterback Willie Tuitama was accurate, completing 26-of-36 passes. But until the final drive of the game, most of Tuitama's passes went for short yardage because the BYU defense made sure tackles. He finished with 216 passing yards, but through three quarters, he had 77 yards and an average of just 5.5 yards per completion.

"I thought their defense played faster than our offense," said Arizona head coach Mike Stoops. "Coming into this environment against a very, very good football team, I'm disappointed that we didn't execute a little better."

Hall was hit by Arizona all-American cornerback Antoine Cason on a blindside blitz and fumbled on BYU's first offensive series. Arizona had an opportunity to jump on the scoreboard first, but on fourth-and-5 at the BYU 31, freshman nose tackle Eathyn Manumaleuna and senior linebacker Kelly Poppinga combined to bring down Chris Jennings short of a first down.

The Cougars responded with a 72-yard, seven-play drive to put up the first points of the season. On third-and-3, Unga took a pass from Hall, shook a tackle and sped 27 yards for a touchdown.

The BYU special teams struggled on Saturday but did set up the Cougars' second score in the second quarter. Sophomore linebacker Matt Bauman downed a C.J. Santiago punt at the Arizona 1-yard line and the defense forced a three-and-out, taking over after a punt at the Wildcats 36. Eight plays later, Hall tossed a two-yard touchdown pass to sophomore tight end Dennis Pitta. BYU missed the extra point but took a 13-0 lead into the halftime break.

The Cougars left a couple of scoring opportunities on the field in the second half, with Mitch Payne missing a 37-yard field goal, then failing to pick up a first down on fourth-and-short at the Arizona 2-yard line.

But the way the defense was playing, it didn't matter. Arizona drove to the BYU 19-yard line at the beginning of the fourth quarter, but two penalties on the Wildcats forced a punt. With six minutes to play, the Cougars held on a fourth-and-7 when Kehl dropped Arizona's Terrell Turner short of a first down. Five plays later, Unga busted over from 11 yards out for the final touchdown of the game.

Unga ran 15 times for 67 yards and caught nine passes for 127 more, including a 48-yard catch-and-run where he appeared to be down but rolled over an Arizona defender and kept running.

Arizona (0-1) managed 255 total yards of offense but 80 of those yards came when BYU went to a prevent defense leading 20-0 late in the game.

BYU (1-0) travels to Los Angeles next week for a matchup with No. 14 UCLA, which blasted Stanford 45-17 on Saturday. Former Cougar quarterback Ben Olson threw five touchdown passes for UCLA.

Daily Herald Sports Editor Darnell Dickson can be reached at 344-2555 or by e-mail at ddickson@heraldextra.com

Get all your BYU sports news at CougarBlue.com

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page D1.