The JJ and Jo Jo Show

Going into Saturday’s game against UNLV, it figured that BYU’s running backs would rack up a lot of yards, which they did. The Cougars rushed for 291 yards and six touchdowns in the 59-21 thumping of the Rebels.

Scoring three of BYU’s final four touchdowns were sophomore J.J. DiLuigi and freshman walk-on Jo Jo Pili. Pili is a 5-foot-1, 259-pound walk-on out of Timpanogos High. That touchdown was his first carry at the collegiate level.

During the third quarter, BYU had the ball at the 1-yard line. The call came in to give the ball to Unga, who already had three touchdowns on the night. Pili was in at fullback to block for Unga. But Unga had other ideas and discussed them to quarterback Max Hall.

“The play at first was designed to be a dive for me up the middle,” Unga said to reporters afterwards. “But I asked Max, ‘Let’s change this. Let’s get Jo Jo in there.’ He looks at me and said, ‘I can’t do that.’ I said, ‘Yes, you can.’ He said, ‘Alright, whatever.’ I looked at Jo Jo and said, ‘You’re getting in, right?’ He said, ‘Yeah, I’m getting in.’ It was so fun to see Jo Jo get in there and get his first touchdown. Then his expression after. That was one of the greatest feelings to see him come out and be happy, ecstatic. He said, ‘Harvey, that was the best feeling in the world.’ That’s are the kinds of things that football is all about — success of your teammates, to see them happy and succeed — it’s a wonderful feeling. I’m happy for Jo Jo.”

Said Hall: “It’s a play we’ve worked on a bunch. We just wanted to get Jo Jo a touchdown so we decided to get him the ball and let him get into the end zone. It’s a play that was designed to go to Harvey. Harvey said no, ‘Let’s let Jo Jo run it in.’ Instead of handing it to Harvey, we gave it to Jo Jo and he got into the end zone. It was a very unselfish thing by Harvey. I’m happy to see Jo Jo get into the end zone. I think he’s worked hard and deserved it.”