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Provo • They held on to the ball, made big plays on defense, were smart and creative in their play-calling, broke tackles, made pinpoint passes, sacked the opposing quarterback and attacked until the final result was no longer in question.

The BYU Cougars took out a season's worth of frustrations on Saturday afternoon in a confidence-boosting affair reminiscent of past Mountain West Conference conquests that have been few and far between this year.

And they had a willing accomplice. The UNLV Rebels played the perfect foil at every turn, allowing the Cougars, who were coming off a bye, to roll to a 55-7 win in front of 61,283 at LaVell Edwards Stadium.

"I think we played probably our most complete game [of the season] today," coach Bronco Mendenhall said.

The Cougars (4-5) got their groove back, learned that freshman quarterback Jake Heaps has the ability to riddle defenses when given time and aided by sure-handed receivers, and coupled some much-desired offensive balance with another outstanding defensive effort to post their largest margin of victory since a 52-0 win at Wyoming last November.

It tied for the fourth-worst loss in 1-8 UNLV's miserable football history.

A crucial breakout game?

Depends on whom one asks.

"From the overall perspective, it was nice to have the win," Mendenhall said. "I am not sure it was needed [to right the ship]. I wouldn't put it in that classification."

Players such as JJ Di Luigi, Bryan Kariya and Andrew Rich, however, said it was the tonic they needed to keep their hopes for a bowl bid (six wins) alive.

Oddly, the Cougars failed to do anything with the ball the first time they touched it, after Brian Logan's interception on the first play of the game set Heaps and company up at the UNLV 41. Heaps' pass on third-and-10 wasn't close, and the Cougars had to punt. Cue the murmuring.

But then, the Cougars opened the floodgates offensively, exorcising all those demons in a six-possession scoring stretch.

"I think that we're getting there," Kariya said. "It was something that we've been waiting for. We all knew it was going to happen. It was just a matter of time, I guess."

Touchdown drives of 49, 86, 44, 58 and 76 yards and a field-goal drive near the end of the half — all engineered by Heaps — led to a 38-0 lead at the break.

"I think [Heaps] played a lot cleaner game, but I think, again, it is just the next step in him continuing to improve," Mendenhall said.

Meanwhile, the Cougars' defense was as dominating as it was two weeks ago against Wyoming, if not more so. UNLV had 5 total yards (in 10 plays) in the first quarter and 73 in the first half.

The Rebels finished with 144 yards, but only after getting 70 on their final drive against the Cougar bench-warmers. Marcus Sullivan's 24-yard touchdown catch with 41 seconds remaining spoiled the shutout and disappointed a large number of fans who stuck around for the ending, given that rival Utah was getting pounded by TCU in Salt Lake City.

The Cougars racked up 516 yards, 458 coming in the first three quarters before backup James Lark took over for Heaps during the entire fourth quarter.

"Definitely, this is the breakout game that we have been talking about all season, that we needed to have happen," running back Di Luigi said. "The receiving game was awesome today, and the running game was solid, too."

Heaps finished with his best numbers as a Cougar by far: 19-of-31 for 294 yards, with two touchdowns and no interceptions.

"It felt like high school a little bit," he said.

drew@sltrib.com Twitter: @drewjay —

Storylines

R In Short • The Cougars exorcise all sorts of demons, improving to 4-5 with an easy win against woeful UNLV.

Key Moment • BYU scores on six straight possessions in the first half.

Key Stat • UNLV gets just 5 yards of offense in the first quarter.