FORT COLLINS, COLORADO -- In his final season on the sidelines, LaVell Edwards and Brigham Young will not be going "bowling."
Matt Newton threw three touchdown passes as 21st-ranked Colorado State ended Brigham Young's bowl hopes with a convincing 45-21 victory in a Mountain West Conference matchup.
Prior to this season, Edwards announced he would be retiring as coach of Brigham Young after 29 seasons. With a 12-game schedule this season, the Cougars needed seven wins to reach a bowl game for the 23rd time in Edwards' tenure.
The Cougars (4-6, 2-3 MWC) entered tonight's game needing to win their final three games to qualify for their latest bowl game. But with a steady snow falling, those hopes were quickly put to rest in the first half.
Newton had touchdown passes of 69 yards to Pete Rebstock and 13 yards to Joey Cuppari in the first quarter. He added a 51-yard scoring strike to Will Layne early in the third quarter, giving Colorado State a commanding 45-0 advantage.
A senior, Newton atoned for four turnovers in a loss to the Cougars last season by completing 19-of-31 passes for 298 yards.
Cecil Sapp added touchdown runs of 39 and nine yards in the first half for Colorado State (8-1, 5-0), which snapped a nine-game losing streak to the Cougars at Hughes Stadium that dated to the 1975 season.
It did not take the Rams long to establish their dominance as Newton opened the scoring less than four minutes into the contest with his 69-yard TD toss to Rebstock, who finished with four receptions for 110 yards.
On its second possession, the Rams moved 72 yards in eight plays and Newton capped the march with his 13-yard TD toss to Cuppari.
Sapp, who finished with 119 yards on 18 carries, capped a big first quarter, when he ran 39 yards for a score with 47 seconds left in the period to make it 21-0.
The rout continued in the second quarter. After C.W. Hurst kicked a 43-yard field goal, Rahsaan Sanders scored on a three-yard run to make it 31-0 midway through the period.
Sapp put an exclamation point on the half with a nine-yard run with 1:48 left before intermission.
BYU looked to be heading toward its biggest loss in the Edwards era after Newton found Layne from 51 yards with 8:22 left in the third quarter for a 45-point bulge.
Edwards, who became coach of the Cougars in 1972, endured his worst defeat in 1989 at Hawaii, when his club suffered a 56-14 defeat.
The only bright spot for the Cougars was that they extended their NCAA record of not getting shutout to 322 games. Quarterback Brandon Doman helped ensure the streak would continue, when he scored on an eight-yard run with 4:26 left in the third quarter.
Doman and Charles Peterson split time at quarterback for the Cougars. Doman completed 7-of-17 passes for 72 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions while Peterson went 11-of-24 for 48 yards and one interception.
Colorado State held a 463-177 advantage in total yards.
