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Provo • Neither Derrick Shelby, Mo Lee nor Trevor Reilly are much accustomed to seeing the football beckon them to pick it up in a real live game, especially way down there near the goal line.

But all of them knew just what to do when it unexpectedly happened.

Shelby recovered a fumble in the end zone at one end of the field to start the game, Lee scooped up another at the other end to effectively end it, and Reilly went ahead and pounced on one more — maybe he just felt left out — to lead the Utah Utes to an stunning 54-10 victory over the BYU Cougars at Edwards Stadium on Saturday night.

The Utes scored 17 points off the three crucial plays deep in Cougar territory, making heroes of guys who almost never even touch the ball.

Shelby is a senior defensive end who fell on the ball in the end zone barely a minute into the game, after BYU's Terence Brown snapped the ball past quarterback Jake Heaps, and Heaps lost the handle trying to throw it away.

"It was like a gift," Shelby said, after planting a massive Utah flag in the middle of the "Y" at midfield. "It was nothing but good things, from there."

That's putting it mildly. The Cougars committed seven devastating turnovers.

Yet they were still in the game early in the third quarter, when JD Falslev attempted to field the kickoff after the Utes had taken a 24-10 lead. But the ball bounced off Falslev's body and out of the end zone, where Lee — a junior defensive back — scooped it up and dashed across the goal line.

"I was not expecting that," Lee said, "so I just had to take advantage of it. … I'm just glad I made a play for the team."

The touchdown did not count because the Utes could not advance a fumble in that situation, but they scored two plays later to effectively finish the Cougars with still half of the third quarter remaining.

By the end of it, Reilly joined the fun by sacking Heaps to force another fumble and scrambling to recover it at the 6-yard line. A sophomore linebacker, Reilly allowed the Utes to kick a field goal for a 33-10 lead en route to their biggest victory over the Cougars since a 49-0 win in 1922.

Comedy of errors

BYU committed seven turnovers that led to 31 Utah points:

Mistake Result

Fumble Touchdown

Fumble Missed field goal

Fumble Punt

Fumble Touchdown

Fumble Field goal

Interception Touchdown

Fumble Touchdown