The two-headed quarterback offense that BYU plans on featuring this season received a lot of the preseason headlines for the Cougars, but it was the defense that stood out on Saturday.

The BYU defense pitched a second-half shutout and the offense came together in time to pull out a 23-17 win over Washington at LaVell Edwards Stadium.

After Washington took a 17-13 lead at halftime on Erik Folk’s 53-yard field goal, the BYU offense gave up plenty of yardage but never let the Jake Locker-led offense into the end zone the rest of the game.

Meanwhile, BYU’s two-headed offense was impressive in its first game as Jake Heaps and Riley Nelson each did their part to help the Cougars’ comeback.

iley completed 11 of 17 attempts for 132 yards with two touchdowns, including the game-winner JJ Di Luigi for 48 yards with 5 minutes left in the third quarter.

Heaps finished 13 of 24 with 132 yards. Neither quarterback turned the ball over in rolling up 404 yards of offense.

Washington passed up a chance to close within three points, which would have made it easier to tie it late in the game.

Trailing 23-17 with 12:35 remaining, Washington went for it on a 4th down and 2 from the BYU 23 instead of attempting a field goal. Locker threw incomplete to turn the ball over on downs.

Locker rushed for 33 yards and a touchdown in addition to completing 20 of 38 passes for 278 yards a score.