LARAMIE, Wyo. -- BYU receiver McKay Jacobson, who had not played since injuring his hamstring during game warm-ups Oct. 2, was coy when asked if he was 100 percent healthy.

The typically fleet-footed sophomore sure appeared a little slower Saturday, to the untrained eye, when he chugged toward the end zone on a 79-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter.

He didn't seem to quite possess the same breakaway speed that the Cougars have missed the past four games. But he was sure fast enough to beat a defender and avoid an ankle swipe just shy of the goal line as part of a 52-0 romp at Wyoming.

"A little out and up," Jacobson described the well-timed pass along the right sideline from quarterback Max Hall. "As I was running, I could feel (the defender) kind of bite. The ball was floated in the air to me. It was just a lot of fun.

"This whole week I felt good. It was just good to get out there and play. It was a lot of fun."

Jacobson, briefly talking to the media after the game at Memorial Stadium, said "a lot of fun" as many times as he caught passes (three). He went for exactly 100 yards, all of his catches coming in the first half as he served as the perfect yang to the yin of tight end Dennis Pitta, who the Cowboys were focused on all afternoon.

Pitta had three catches (35 yards) and sidekick Andrew George didn't get a ball his way, though Hall pointed out that all the interior attention made it better for receivers on the edges.

J.J. DiLuigi ran a "wheel" route along the right sideline, found wide-open for a 44-yard score to start the game. Those moments existed throughout for the Cougars.

It helped to have Jacobson as part of them.

He said he was "full go" during the bye week, after he was frustrated to miss the Oct. 24 loss to TCU (38-7) that likely ended his bid to be on a second Mountain West Conference title team after he played a vital role in 2006 (before his LDS mission to Japan).

Teammates were thrilled to have Jacobson back, and said the speed was there.

"McKay's kind of deceptively fast," said safety Andrew Rich, who looked up and saw the tail end to Jacobson's long touchdown jaunt. "He's obviously the fastest guy on our team. But if you watch him, he's so fluid -- he doesn't look like he's running a hundred miles per hour, which he really is. Unless you're running right next to him, it's hard to figure just how fast he's going."

• All Riley-ed up: Backup quarterback Riley Nelson saw his most extensive playing time this year, set up by a 45-0 lead with 5:32 left in the third quarter.

"It was good for Riley. He works really hard," Hall said. "I love being with him in the quarterback room, he asks a lot of questions and always trying to get better. Really, he's learned pretty fast. There are some things he has to work on that I'm helping him out with, but he's going to be a good quarterback here."

Nelson never tried a pass but did rush for 71 yards on 10 tries. He had a 10-yard touchdown run with 4:48 left, shortly after he was fortunate to have an interception in the end zone erased by a couple of offsetting personal-foul penalties. DiLuigi and a Wyoming defender did some excessively aggressive tussling during a block.

Head coach Bronco Mendenhall made the QB switch, which started getting discussed when a 31-0 halftime lead was stretched by seven more points on Bryan Kariya's short touchdown run. That came with 10 minutes left in the third quarter.

One more score, coaches decided, and Nelson would replace Hall. A short field and quick drive (four plays, 38 yards) produced by Shawn Doman's fumble recovery gave the sophomore transfer from Utah State even more time.

BYU's coaches have been hopeful to get Nelson, who transferred from Utah State during his LDS mission, around 10-12 quarters. This puts him around a ballpark of five quarters right now. There will be a four-way battle to be the Cougar quarterback next year, and Nelson will be the only one with Division I experience.

Mendenhall liked the idea of seeing many fresh faces in the second half, a little showcase of 2010 perhaps.

"It was fun to see so many different players play, and to see them play well," Mendenhall said.

• Injury report: BYU had a few pains but nothing major, Mendenhall said. Running back Harvey Unga tweaked an ankle early in the second half and didn't return. The coach said that had more to do with the score than anything. Pitta caught some whiplash while trying to block, but would return. Also, defensive end Jan Jorgensen had a bag of ice on his left knee afterward.

The senior said it was bruised during a first-half sack attempt, in which two teammates joined him in chasing down Wyoming's Austyn Carta-Samuels.

"I slammed it into the ground pretty hard," said Jorgensen, who has started a team-best 38 consecutive games. "But it's fine. Nothing structural."

• A little more on Pitta: The Cougar tight end caught his first pass of the game with 11 seconds remaining in the first quarter for a 13-yard gain. The senior has caught a pass in 39 consecutive games dating back to Oct. 23, 2004 (at Air Force), prior to his LDS mission. Those 39 games marks a new BYU program record previously held by Glen Kozlowski with 38.

• Last word: "The two years I've been here, it's been the same exact weather -- it's been great." -- Senior safety Scott Johnson, never seeing snow in Wyoming, but rather sunshine and temperatures in the 50s.

• Extra points: BYU's 52-0 win over Wyoming marked its second consecutive shutout win against the Cowboys after a 44-0 victory in Provo last season. It also marks the Cougars' first shutout win on the road since a 27-0 win at UNLV in 1999. ... BYU had no turnovers, marking the fifth consecutive game as head coach that Mendenhall's teams haven't lost the ball to Wyoming. ... BYU is 5-0 away from Provo. ... Carrying the team flag was senior linebacker Terrance Hooks with former BYU defensive lineman Larry Hamilton carrying the alumni flag. Hamilton, who played for the Cougars from 1980-84 was a two-sport athlete at BYU, also competed on the men's wrestling team.

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