Kai Nacua's late interception gives BYU a Poinsettia Bowl win against Wyoming

Kai Nacua couldn’t have picked a better way to end his BYU career.

With 1:22 remaining, Nacua made a game-saving interception that gave the Cougars a 24-21 win against Wyoming in the Poinsettia Bowl.

It was Nacua’s sixth interception of the year, which ties his own school record for most interceptions in a season. It also gave BYU its second consecutive nine-win season as the Cougars continue to try to regain the prominence they had a decade ago.

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The game started out sloppy thanks to heavy rains that saturated the field and made the ball slippery. A mishandled snap on a punt set up BYU’s first touchdown, a 3-yard run by quarterback Tanner Mangum, and then a mishandled snap on a potential Wyoming field goal ultimately netted BYU three points and gave the Cougars a 10-0 lead at halftime. It was their largest halftime lead of the season.

In the second half, the rain started to clear up and both offenses started to come alive. Wyoming scored on its first possession to cut the lead to three, but BYU answered with a fluke touchdown pass by Mangum that bounced off several players before landing in the hands of Tanner Balderree.

An interception by Wyoming quarterback Josh Allen set up running back Jamaal Williams’ only touchdown of the game, which capped off a stellar night of 26 carries for 210 yards.

It looked liked Williams’ touchdown was going to put the game out of reach, but Tanner Gentry caught back-to-back touchdown passes in the fourth quarter to get the Cowboys within three.

Wyoming started its final drive at its own 49-yard line and was quickly in field goal range. However, Allen, who had struggled some throughout the game, was flushed from the pocket and instead of throwing the ball away, he threw into traffic and Nacua was able to step in front of the pass to seal the game.

BYU has now won eight straight against Wyoming, which is its longest active win streak against another FBS team.

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Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter! Follow @YahooDrSaturday