Provo • The directive from his head coach was to play more aggressively, more confidently, and take some more shots downfield.
BYU quarterback Tanner Mangum took it to heart.
The junior played his best game of the season Saturday at LaVell Edwards Stadium, leading the Cougars to a 41-20 win over San Jose State.
“Right off the bat, we took some shots and played with an aggressive mindset,” Mangum said. “We had some big plays and receivers made big catches. That is what makes my job easy.”
Mangum threw for 283 yards, a game after throwing for 319 against ECU, and said his ailing left ankle is finally close to 100 percent. That showed in the way he ran with the ball, packing it seven times for 30 yards.
Twice he picked up first downs on scrambles.
“We needed some first downs, and I did what I could with the opportunities I had,” he said. “My ankle is feeling better and giving me more mobility.”
Mangum completed eight of his first 11 throws, and two of those were dropped. He finished with a respectable passer rating of 146.1.
“When you get off to a good start, you can play more loose and free,” he said. “I give a lot of credit to our defense for making things easier for us.”
Mangum did make a few mistakes, including right before halftime when he should have thrown the ball away but forced it to tight end Matt Bushman for a 2-yard loss that kept the clock running. BYU didn’t get any points out of the drive as Micah Simon dropped a pass in the end zone on the final play of the half.
“It was just nice to be able to get a lead and not have to play from behind and have to catch up and get so tight with that type of setup,” coach Kalani Sitake said. “We just got ourselves in a hole way too many times in a lot of games and our goal was to try to get some confidence and establish that identity and keep working on it and try to sustain it throughout the game.”
Sitake said he was happy with how Mangum played overall, especially with his deep throws, but noted there were times the junior could have been more accurate.
“I will have to watch it on film to see if it is the routes, or if it is on his delivery,” Sitake said. “But there are some opportunities that we could have had to score more points.”