BYU has been hit hard by the injury bug over the past couple of years and this season has been no different with running backs Ty’Son Williams and freshman sensation Sione Finau going out with season-ending injuries.

And while most of the attention has been on the Cougars starting three different quarterbacks this year due to injuries — the second time its happened in three years — the running back position has been hit even harder with a number of running backs who have been in and out of the lineup throughout the season.

The Cougars were so thin at the running back position heading into Saturday’s game against Massachusetts that they had Tyler Allgeier move over to offense from his linebacker position. And while running back Lopini Katoa did see some playing time, the sophomore was a game-time decision due to being in concussion protocol earlier in the week.

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Turns out, the Cougars didn’t need either of them as freshman Jackson McChesney — playing just his second game as a Cougar — finished with a game-high 228 yards and two touchdowns to lead BYU to a 56-24 blowout victory over UMass.

McChesney broke off a number of big runs, including gains of 44 and 62 yards to end the game with a whopping 15.2 yards per carry. McChesney’s performance also broke a BYU freshman record and his 228-yard outing was the sixth-best all-time at BYU. Former Cougar star running back Curtis Brown was the previous freshman record holder with 217 yards against Utah State in 2002.

Running Back Depth

If Ty’Son Williams decides to appeal to the NCAA for a medical hardship so that he can return next season, the Cougars will be in even better shape as the South Carolina transfer was nearly unstoppable this season as he ran for 264 yards on just 49 carries for an average of 5.4 yards per carry. Williams managed to do all that against arguably BYU’s toughest opponents and did so right out of the gates in a new offense. Cougar fans can only imagine what he will do next year if he does decide to come back.

Former Kearns High standout Sione Finau just passed Williams for the most rushing yards this season after racking up 102 yards and a touchdown last week in a win over Idaho State. Before suffering a season-ending injury in practice this past week, Finau had 359 yards and two touchdowns on just 59 carries for an average of 6.1 yards per carry.

As a freshman last year, Lopini Katoa led the Cougars in rushing with 423 yards and eight touchdowns. Katoa averaged 5.6 yards on the ground and hauled in 20 catches for 114 yards and a touchdown.

Williams was on track for a 1,000 yard season before getting hurt and Finau was on track for 600 yards since stepping in and taking over since the Boise State game in which he rushed for 89 yards and a touchdown.

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Notes & Milestones

Winning Streak — BYU won its fifth consecutive game and it’s just the second five-game winning streak under Kalani Sitake and fourth since going independent.

Most Points — BYU’s 42 points in the second quarter were the most in any of quarter in program history. The previous high was 36 points in the fourth quarter against Washington State back in 1990.

Matt Bushman — Although he had just two catches on the day, the junior passed Chad Lewis to move into the No. 6 spot for career receptions with 113. The freshman All-American will have a tough choice whether to leave school early after the season and play in the NFL, or come back and play his senior season.

600 Yards — With 628 yards of total offense — just shy of 639 yards the Cougars racked up in a 42-14 win over Utah State — BYU has now had two or more games with at least 600 total yards of offense in a single season. The last time that happened was back in 2013 when the Cougars played Houston (681) and Texas (679).

Zach Wilson — The sophomore’s 293 passing yards today give him 3,370 for his career, passing Marc Lyons for 20th-place on BYU’s all-time passing list.

BYU Defense — Before pulling starters early in the second half, the Cougar defense completely shut down the UMass offense. The Minutemen had just 31 yards of total offense in the first half and averaged just 1.1 yards per play.

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