Cody — call him MVP

Del Norte grad star of the show in bowl game

Hoffman with the game trophy. He’s also the MVP. McClatchy-Tribune

The Brigham Young University sophomore wideout led the Cougars to a  24-21 come-from-behind win against Tulsa at the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl in Dallas.

Hoffman finished the day with eight catches for 122 yards and three scores as he was named the MVP of the bowl game.

Last year, Hoffman had 137 yards and three scores in  a New Mexico Bowl win against UTEP.

On the winning play Friday, BYU signal caller Riley Nelson hurriedly led BYU to the line with a call from the sideline to spike the ball and stop the clock.

Instead, Nelson faked the spike and then threw a touchdown pass to Hoffman with 11 seconds left to give the Cougars  the win and another 10-win season.

Later that afternoon he was at the airport in Dallas with his family heading  for a quick trip home to Crescent City for New Year’s, his father Richard Hoffman said by phone to The Triplicate.

When asked if Cody was available to speak, Richard said that he had found a nice spot to get in a few winks and was resting.

“He’s pretty tired,” Richard  Hoffman said. “He’s sleeping in a corner right now.”

When Richard was in the car on the way to the airport he talked a little bit to Cody about the game.

BYU wide receiver Cody Hoffman celebrates with teammates Braden Hansen, left rear, Bryan Kariya and Braden Brown after catching the game-winning touchdown pass during the fourth quarter of the Armed Forces Bowl NCAA college football game against Tulsa on Friday in Dallas. BYU won 24-21. Hoffman had three touchdown receptions from Riley Nelson in the game The Associated Press

“We talked a little bit about what he did, but he did not say too much ... but deep down I think he’s excited,” Richard Hoffman said.

In a story in the Salt Lake Tribune Cody talked about the game winning play and said he  believed  that Nelson would find him in the end zone.

“Riley and I have a lot of chemistry; I think it starts with us living together last year,” he said. “He knows what we want to do and he got out of the pocket and it was anyone’s fair game, and he found me.”

When asked about his part in getting the win, the Tribune said that “Hoffman downplayed his own role in the play.:”

“It was just a fade route and the DB overplayed it,” he said. “But it felt great to stand there looking at the clock with just a few seconds left and us with the lead.”

“He wasn’t in a receiver’s stance at all, and that made the corner relax, and Cody took off and the corner sprinted so he wouldn’t get beat on the ball, but I had Cody’s eyes and he made a great play,” Nelson said in the Tribune story. “This ballgame would be a different story if it weren’t for him and his tough play.”

Last year, Richard Hoffman said he and his wife Cindy did not attend the bowl game and they regretted the decision. They made sure they were there  on Friday,

“There’s nothing like seeing him palying in person,” Richard Hoffman said.

Getting to the game ened up  being quite a challenge.

Richard Hoffman and his family left on Thursday for the game. But when they arrived at the airport in Denver they were told the flight to Dallas had been canceled and they would be put on another  plane the next afternoon. This would mean they would miss the bowl game.

That was not going to  happen the family decided, and after Cindy told the airline that this was far from acceptable and made her displeasure known, they were eventually booked on a flight leaving for Dallas in 15 minutes at the other end of the airport.

Richard Hoffman said they made a mad scramble through the airport.

“They were already closing the doors when we arrived but we made it,” Hoffman said

In a phone interview with The Triplicate on Wednesday, Cody Hoffman said his goal for the game was “just to help my team any way I can to get the win. Hopefully we play the way we know we can.”

He certainly exceeded those expectations.

The Cougars (10-3) wrapped up their first season of independence by winning 10 games for the fifth time in  head coach Bronco Mendenhall's seven years. They won nine of their last 10 games after consecutive losses in September.

BYU needed 12 plays to go 48 yards on its last drive. Nelson converted a fourth-and-9 with a 14-yard scramble and later ran 8 yards on third-and-5.

Out of timeouts at the 2 with the clock still running, Nelson decided to go with a play that the Cougars hadn't practiced in about two months. And one he remembered seeing Dan Marino pull off when he was watching the NFL as a kid.

“As our guys hustled to the ball, their guys kind of stood up because we were yelling ‘Clock it!” Nelson  said.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.