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Provo • At one point this football season, BYU trainer Kevin Morris described the injury that was keeping safety Andrew Rich from practicing as a "full-body contusion."

Yet Rich, the senior from northern Utah's Bonneville High and Snow College who passed up scholarship offers from Boise State and Cal to walk on at BYU, has not missed a down this year due to injury. With 89 tackles, five pass breakups, an interception, three forced fumbles and one recovery, Rich is arguably the team's MVP this season.

And those stats don't reflect where he probably has made his biggest contribution this season, as a leader, coach Bronco Mendenhall said. Along with a dozen or so other seniors, Rich will play at LaVell Edwards Stadium for the final time Saturday when the 5-5 Cougars play host to 1-9 New Mexico.

"He has a passion for Brigham Young and how we are running the program, and that's makes him a step or two faster, makes him hit a little bit harder, makes him be more consistent," Mendenhall said. "That's what the magic of the program is."

Two months ago, Rich sat in a cramped interview room at Doak Campbell Stadium after Florida State had routed the Cougars 34-10 to drop BYU's record to 1-2 and fought back tears, saying he couldn't put a finger on why the team was struggling. That the Cougars can become bowl eligible with a win Saturday is meaningful to him, he said, because of the way the season started.

"I felt it was under my watch," he said. "I am a senior, I am a captain, I am expected to carry the torch, so to speak, and the struggles have come under my watch. And as a senior, I know it is a team game, but you take responsibility for some of those trials and losses. Just the way that we were performing as a whole, I didn't think I was doing a good enough job of leading and helping my teammates understand what it was going to take."

There's no doubting a string of easier opponents has spurred the turnaround, but Rich said the ups and downs have made his last season the most memorable one yet.

"I just want it to end the right way," he said. "We worked so hard this whole season. We have had some hard times, some of the toughest times of my football career. But I think we have worked in a way that it is going to end on a positive note."

Briefly

BYU has averaged 31.2 points per game in its last five games after averaging 15.2 points in its first give games. … Only eight teams in the country have been penalized less than the Cougars, who are averaging 36.8 penalty yards per game.

drew@sltrib.comTwitter: @drewjay,@sltribbyu