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Tallahassee, Fla. • Freshman Jake Heaps played every offensive down in the second half for the BYU Cougars in their 34-10 loss to Florida State here Saturday, while junior Riley Nelson played every down in the final 30 minutes last week against Air Force.

It hardly mattered. Neither quarterback was able to lead the team to a score after halftime.

Against FSU, Heaps was able to generate only 39 yards in the second half — several big sacks took away some positive yardage totals — and the Cougars finished with just 191 yards, their lowest output since 156 in 2003 against Utah.

"I had my shot to make some plays and do some things. … Obviously, I didn't make the plays," Heaps said.

Nelson made his third-straight career start, but left the game for good after throwing an interception on his second possession, BYU's third possession.

Heaps fumbled the ball away on BYU's next possession, but stayed in for the remainder of the game.

"The intent was to rotate every other series, and then see how the game was going and see what their defense lent to in terms of having an advantage," BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall said. "They weren't bringing a lot of pressure. They stayed with four-man rush, and usually that lends to being able to throw the ball, and find seams and holes in the zone. So that had a lot to do with why we stayed with Jake."

Asked if Heaps will start next week against Nevada, Mendenhall said he isn't sure yet.

"We will have to review the film and continue to work and look at what would be best for our team, especially I have to look at what they are capable of, Nevada. Looks like they are a very good football team," Mendenhall said.

In perhaps the key offensive series of the game for BYU, when the Cougars took over first in the second half after Heaps had led them to two scoring drives to close out the first half, Heaps threw two incompletions after an initial 6-yard run by J.J. DiLuigi.

Both passes were off-target, although Heaps' arm was possibly hit on one errant throw.

"I don't have any issues with our play-calling," Mendenhall said. "Again, I think our offensive staff is handling the play-calling very well and I think what is happening is they are becoming more specific to each quarterback and scripting plays that might be helpful.

"I thought Jake battled pretty well and showed some signs of composure. Obviously, there's some work to do, as there would be with a very young player at that spot. In a pretty tough environment, I thought he did some good things as well."

drew@sltrib.com Twitter: @sltribbyu, @drewjay —

Half-baked

BYU's offense in second half:

Opponent First half yards Second half yards Final score

AFA 233 76 35-14

FSU 152 39 34-10