JH13 BYU Football Blog

BYU vs Washington

2010-09-02T15:52:00.001-07:00

Like everyone, I can't wait for the season to start and I'm especially looking forward to watching this game. I was at the game a couple years ago up in Seattle, in the endzone where Jake Locker got called for that now infamous unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Here's my take on that call before we get started into this year's game. It was kind of a nitpicky call. BYU is lucky it got called too, because I all but guarantee that Locker would have ran it in for a 2 point conversion the next play. I don't know if the refs HAD to call it.

But having said that, you know as a college player that there are certain things you can't do after scoring a touchdown. One of them is throwing the ball up in the air. The only time I could have gotten away with anything I wanted was the last play vs Utah. I could have done ANYTHING, the game was over! And I stand up and put my arms up, lame. I've thought about what I could have done that would have been way cooler. But I think part of the reason I didn't have a cooler celebration in mind is because you don't think of touchdown celebrations as a college player, at least I didn't. Because it's a penalty. You can't tell me Jake Locker was more excited than I was in those moments. You don't throw the ball up, and it would have been more surprising to me at the time if they had not thrown the flag than that they did. Like I said, BYU was lucky they did...

On to this year! There are a ton of question marks with BYU, for me the biggest is the offense, specifically the quarterback. Riley could end up doing amazing, or he could struggle. In your first real college game, I'd say odds are on struggle's side.

They are going to miss Harvey big time. With Harvey I would expect their offense to still be potent. Without him, it's another big question mark. Who will step up and be the man? One thing BYU was missing last year (and those of you who read my blog know I harped on this after every losing game!) was playmakers. Someone has to step up and turn the momentum back to your side when things don't look good.

Last year, when things went bad, they snowballed. This year, someone has to step up with the mental toughness to not let that happen. I don't care about a loss if you play well. But it's unbearable to watch a team getting stomped and no one really doing anything to resist it, especially if it's your alma mater! On offense and defense, I just want to see some big plays.

Defensively, I'm not going to put this down as a question mark, because it's all but a fact to me at this point, I can't envision BYU's D being able to contain Jake Locker. I hope they do, but it's rare in the past few years to see BYU's D contain even an unathletic quarterback from scrambling for first downs on third and mediums. I've seen Locker play a few times and he's an incredible athlete and great scrambler. In the past he's been a very inaccurate passer, he's got a very strong arm, but every time I've seen him he's been very inconsistent hitting his targets. But last year he improved a bit, and with Sarkisian's coaching and all the hype for him coming out his senior year as a possible number one draft choice, I can't see him not dialing it in this year. His scrambling alone is going to be a nightmare, and if he's throwing well, it could be a long day...

Since everyone knows you can't write about a game without making a certain prediction, here's my take: I see BYU's offense showing promise, but being inconsistent. I see Washington's offense converting 3rd downs on scrambling, but for some reason I'm getting a vibe that they'll have trouble punching it in consistently in the red (or blue or green) zone (whatever it's called now inside the 20!). I don't know why, but that's what I'm feelin. However I think in the end, Locker's scrambling will be too much for BYU sadly. But I have been wrong before. I'm just excited for Saturday, and I hope that BYU brings it! Brings what? IT! Ha ha!

Go BYU!!!

New Season! General Good and Bad of Fall Camp

2010-08-30T08:11:00.000-07:00

It's football season again! I have to say I'm still getting used to (and not really loving) football season being here and not putting on my pads and helmet with everyone else! But there's no denying that there is just a certain feeling in the air when football season is around the corner. It's funny but one thing I recognize the most when I get out on the grass is the smell. Maybe it's the grass, maybe it's mixed with sweaty pads and jerseys, but whatever it is, I guess it's just what football smells like to me. Kind of weird I guess.

Fall camp is tough. It's just really a grind. Your body is tired, your mind is tired. You can be emotionally drained from trying to win out a spot on the team. It's just a ton of work. The bad part of camp is just the seeming eternity of it. It takes what seems like months for a few weeks to go by. Each day seems like a few and they all kind of run together. You have to find a way to deal with the heat. You get bumps and bruises and aches all over, but usually, unless it's serious, you have to just play through it. I used to take a few ibuprofin before almost every practice because I got biceps tendonitis and also I remember I used to get this pain in my lower legs too sometimes. The whole thing is just a mental and physical overload. Those are some of the tough parts of camp.

The good part of camp is...hmmm, this one is tougher ha ha! At the time, there is a part of you that thinks that there is nothing good about fall camp, you just want it to be over! But looking back I have some good memories of it. You just come together as a team slowly and at the time you might not realize it, but you do bond together. You make friends with guys that you'll always be friends with. We had a few memorable team activities too. We had a skit night, with hilarious impersonations of the coaches (Vic So'oto did an awesome Coach Anae, and Nate Hutchinson dared to do a great skit of Coach Mendenhall coaching a kids church basketball game). I also remember the last day of camp my senior year. Coach Mendenhall posted the practice schedule on the bullitin board in the locker room like he does everyday. And we got in there and looked at it and just stared in unbelief. It was the longest schedule yet filled with all of the hardest, most physically grueling drills. Everyone was just bummed out. So we get up in the team room ready to get started and Coach gets up there and says that we've had a change in practice schedule and turned the projector on. I remember it said something like: period one: get on the busses, period two: drive to Provo River, period three: float down the river etc. And we just went nuts! I still remember everyone was just jumping around going crazy, so excited to not kill eachother again in practice that day. But we had earned it too, or I don't think coach would have had us take that practice off. We were ready to play. That was definitely one of my favorite memories from BYU camp. Coach got us good.

To get through camp successfully, you have to have a good attitude about all the work and stress. My senior year, I remember trying to take the approach that I would try to make every practice fun. I think I did pretty well. Even though it was hard, I always tried to have a good time. Joking around with teammates, and having great focus during practice. Physically, you have to take extra good care of yourself. I had a routine down, before and after every practice, I'd stretch for 5-10 minutes. I was usually too tired after practice to stand around and stretch so I'd lay down and put my leg up on the wall by a corner and stretch out my hamstrings. All my stretches were lying down stretches. You wouldn't believe how much of difference that made. And that's a tip for everyone out there too, flexibility in my opinion is the most underrated factor in not only being a good athlete, but in overall health and fitness.

Pro Day!

2010-08-28T13:37:00.001-07:00

People have been asking me how pro day went at BYU this spring. Well, I didn't get picked up so that tells something ha ha! But I actually did pretty well. All my numbers were as good or better as when I came out my senior year. But it's different when you're coming out of college, those are the players the scouts are most concerned with. I was the leading tight end in the nation statistically coming out after '06. But I've been out for 2 seasons with a serious injury and so I would have had to do extraordinarily well to get more tryouts. If I would have ran a 4.4 with 25 bench press reps I'm sure I would have gotten some looks. But I ran a 4.6 with 19 reps on a bench press. Not bad, but not amazing either. I could say I've always been more of a gamer and I've never been great at the tests but I don't want to make any excuses. I worked hard to get back into shape good enough to get those numbers and I feel good about it. It would have been great to get some looks but I'm fine with how I performed.

The part I was disappointed with was that I didn't get a chance to catch passes for the scouts, which is where I know I'm at my best. It wasn't anyone's fault really, the way it works is the QB and skills players have a script basically of the patterns and throws that they want to show the scouts. Then if the scouts or coaches want to see anything specifically they have you run through that too. So Max Hall and Dennis Pitta and Andrew George had their routes kind of planned out. I offered to run a few if they got tired, but it was their pro day so I didn't want to take away at all from what they were doing. I do wish I would have jumped in and run some receiver routes for them though. So it was too bad I didn't get a chance to showcase my pass catching skills, because I have to say, there's not many people who do that better than me (hopefully that doesn't sound too cocky, but i know what I'm good at, and what I could work on, like blocking ha ha!). Anyway, that's kind of how it went down for me for those who were wondering.

Post Vegas Bowl

2009-12-23T11:25:00.000-08:00

It's been awhile since I last posted sorry! It was good to see the Cougars go out with a big win. I wasn't sure how this game would turn out, I definitely thought it would be closer. But now that I think about it, it makes sense how it turned out. I say that because it seemed to me like this team really lived and died with momentum. When they had it, they killed teams and looked really good. When they didn't, it was ugly. So for them to go out and beat a good Oregon State team like that was cool to watch.

I can tell you that winning your bowl game as a senior is a great feeling. It's kind of the end of a chapter in your life and to go out with a win feels awesome. I remember in 2006 when we won big over Oregon I just felt really drained and exhausted, but like I had really accomplished something. It's like you've been working so hard and being so focused on one thing for so long and now you've accomplished it and it's over. There's that quote from Vince Lombardi's famous speech where he says, "I firmly believe that any man's finest hour - his greatest fulfillment to all he holds dear - is that moment when he has to work his heart out in a good cause and he's exhausted on the field of battle - victorious." And that's true, that's how I felt and I'm sure that's how these seniors felt last night, it's just an awesome feeling to put a cap on your career with a big win like that. So big congratulations to those seniors, especially Max, Dennis, Andrew, Vic, and Manase, who are all guys that I knew when I played and have really watched the past couple years.

Post game comments, playbook

2009-12-01T20:46:00.000-08:00

A lot of people have asked me about what I thought about Max's now infamous comments after the game. I don't think it's that big a deal. I thought it was kind of funny. Yeah he did make a sweeping generalization about the entire university which he realized was wrong, he did issue an explanation/apology. I think it's just one of those things where it came out wrong, he was pretty fired up about about winning the game and wanted to kind of lash out at the people who acted totally and unacceptably horrible to his family last year which is completely understandable to me.

I don't mind some trash talk. I prefer if someone's going to say something like that that they do it before the game, when they do it after their last game their senior year it's kind of like their on safe ground now so they can get away with anything. But I can see how after winning the game too you want to just kind of stick it to your opponent a little more and throw some salt in the wound if you really dislike them. It may not be the classiest thing to do, but sometimes it just comes out because of the nature of competition and the rivalry. And make no mistake, it is a nasty rivalry on and off the field. I can say that when we finished our games against Utah, I really hated a few guys. It's been a couple years and now it's just like, hey, they're just kids like me going out trying to play their best and kick some butt. And so now I don't hold such nasty feelings towards anyone but I really didn't like them back then, and I'm sure they felt the same about me. After the game I was pretty tempted to lash out but I guess I just figured I didn't need to, because felt with how we'd won and how I played pretty much said it all.

So I don't think any less of Max for his comments, I can especially understand with what happened to his family last year why he would want to lash out. Yeah he over generalized but I just think you have to take things like that with a grain of salt.

There was another question about the playbook. I don't think I'm giving away any secrets if I tell you a little about how it works. Basically you have a list of plays that you have ready for basic 1st or 2nd down situations. Then you have groups of plays for specialized situations, 3rd and long, medium, and short, goalline, red zone, backed up, etc. Each week there are some plays that are staples (my favorite was a drag over the MLB to the opposite hash, money almost every time!) and then some that rotate around depending on how we felt they would work based on film of opponents. As the season went on there would be new plays added every now and then too. We'd make certain adjustments at halftime and sometimes even plug in a new play right there. Even on the sideline, you're always adjusting things based on how the defense is reacting to certain looks.

At BYU it was a pretty simple system and process. When I got to Indianapolis it was a big change. It was actually pretty simple overall, but there were just so many little intricacies and adjustments and calls and audibles that it is very tough to learn, and even tougher to actually apply. For example, you call a play in the huddle, you get up to the line, and you have to read how the defense is lined up and that will dictate how you execute your assignment, whether it's the way you run a certain route or the person you're assigned to block. There could be a slight shift in the D's alignment and your assignment changes in an instant. Also if there's an audible you all of a sudden have a completely new read and assignment to make in a split second before the ball is snapped. It can get pretty complicated, but it's like anything else, you just have to practice it so it becomes natural. You don't want to be thinking to hard about what to do, it just has to come naturally and that comes with repetition. Anyway, I know you were asking more specifically about BYU's playbook, but I thought you might find that interesting as well.

Post game

2009-11-28T20:44:00.000-08:00

What a finish! I was down on the sideline for the whole game it was pretty cool. I just have to say I'm so pumped for Andrew George! I played with him for 2 years, and he's such a great guy, so unselfish, hardworking, and great attitude. That's definitely a play he'll remember forever. He's lucky he got hoisted on top of everyone's shoulders and not dogpiled though! It was awesome to watch!

Coach Mendenhall used to say to us, we need to make one more play than the other team. And you have to give them credit, they did. Having said that, I can't believe it even came to overtime! The defense really got them the win on this one, they made some big plays which was awesome! But the offense was really atrocious in the fourth quarter. They had three opportunities to make a critical drive and went 3 and out 3 times in a row. I couldn't believe it. They didn't even need to score, but they needed to get at least 2 or 3 first downs. That way they could have run some clock and changed the field position because Utah had a shorter field all 4th quarter. In those critical possessions they looked really bad. The plays were too predictable and they didn't execute them at all. Max didn't have much time to throw and it looked like either no one was open or he didn't have the confidence to make the throw. Which is strange because he usually is on the other end of the spectrum, he will sometimes make throws that are pretty dangerous. So I guess he was being cautious. But it's not all on him, like I said, he didn't have much time, and the receivers needed to do a better job getting open as well.

But like I said, in this rivalry game you're going to have some highs and lows, and as a player you can't get too up or too down with the roller coaster. So they did just enough to win it and come out on top and that's all that matters!

When the game started BYU got out to kind of a slow start and I was just feeling frustrated that they came out so slow! Throughout the season I feel like I've been critical at times of the team and I don't want to be. As the game went on they started making some big plays, which if you've been following my blog I've been harping on this all year, that they've lacked big plays in the big games. It's easy to make big plays against Wyoming, but you've really got to work to make something happen against better teams. It was awesome to see Chambers get that long punt return to set up the first touchdown and also when Andrew Rich got that pick at the end of the half. I was getting pumped up to see them make some plays!

I'm writing this on the fly and I just saw the highlights and Andrew George did get dogpiled first! Ha ha! Also I saw Max talking some trash on Utah! That's awesome I was laughing my head off! Hey there's something to be said for going out on top! As a player, that's what you want. As a fan, you kind of have to live and die by who wins this game each year, but the hard thing is, BYU will win some years, and Utah will win some years ad that's just how it goes. Being a player if you can go out on top then that's something you will always live with and you can't go back and change it. It's a great feeling for me knowing that I definitely got the best of Utah and that will never change. Now these guys can say the same thing and no one can take that away from them.

Anyway, I'm just super pumped that they were able to make some big plays and win a big game! It was awesome to watch and see some of my old teammates go out there and win with such an exciting finish. And again, I'm so happy for Andrew, big congratulations to him! Go BYU!

Final drive 06

2009-11-27T18:34:00.000-08:00

So as you would probably guess a lot of people have asked me about the last play and last drive against Utah in 2006. This goes along with what I just wrote about the difference in being a player versus a fan. This is probably going to be a surprising revelation to some people. Because it's probably the opposite of what you would think would be going on in a player's head, or at least in my head.

When Utah scored that last touchdown, I had no idea what would happen, I didn't have any kind of special feeling that we would win the game. In fact, if anything I thought we would probably lose. And this is the weird part, I didn't care about the outcome. Not that I didn't want to win, but as a player like I mentioned, the outcome of the game wasn't what I was worried about. To tell you the truth, when they scored all I thought was, this doesn't look good at all, but let's go out there and see what happens. That's about it. I didn't try to get myself pumped up to do some superhuman thing to win the game. All you can do is do your job right and hope everyone else does theirs'.

I'm sure that's not the attitude that most people would expect, and I even thought myself that maybe I was a little weird for thinking that way. But I was talking to Jake Kuresa earlier today, and I asked him what he felt at that same moment, and he said he felt the exact same way. Just go out there, do your job, and see what happens, but the odds are not looking good.

So we started to move the ball down the field, and I didn't know what would happen. But we made a few plays and got some first downs. We got to a fourth down, and I remember feeling like I was almost on autopilot, I was so detached from my emotions. John found me sitting in a hole on a dig route over the middle to keep the drive alive. I remember not caring any more about catching that ball than I would care about catching a pass on a 2nd and 7 in the 1st quarter against UNLV. Don't misunderstand, I don't mean I didn't want to catch it or do my job right, but I didn't feel any more pressure to catch it than a routine pass. I didn't think, Oh my gosh if I drop this the game is over! I just caught it and ran, I also remember thinking that I couldn't have gotten more yards but one of their guys barely tripped me up or I would have probably got 20 yards.

Only when McKay Jacobson caught the pass at about the ten yard line did I think, Okay we should actually score here and win the game. But at the same time I still didn't feel any pressure. As a fan I would be going nuts, just ask my wife, when I watch a game, in a key moment I sometimes will take a lap around the house because I'm so excited and nervous.

We had a timeout and after we broke the huddle (and you can kind of see this on the replay on the tape) I remember telling John, Hey if you get in trouble just throw it up to me and I'll get it. The last play was trips left with the outside guys doing a crossing post and corner, and the inside guy doing a little swing to open the window for the corner. I was on the right side and they lined up 2 guys over me in case we tried another fade or jump ball to me.

After 2 seconds the play called was over and it was just a free-for-all. Now the rule in a scramble drill is that you follow where the quarterback goes and find an opening. So first he faded to the left so everyone followed. As I got over there I was kind of hidden behind everyone. So John started scrambling back to the right, and so my instinct was to follow because that's how we always practiced it. But as I saw everyone else following him, I thought, well if I stay behind if he sees me he can just chuck it all the way back here because there's no one around. I didn't think he knew I was back there, but he told me after that he did and he was actually trying to draw the defense back to the right. And if you watch him it makes sense because he just turns a hucks it without really seeing me.

What I remember about the ball being in the air was only that at first I misjudged it and thought it would come all the way to me and after a split second I realized it wasn't going to make it to me and I'd have to come up for it. That's all that went through my head.

There are two questions people ask me about that catch. The one I get less often is, what if you slid out of the endzone? I knew where I was at. If I had to come out of the endzone to catch it I would not have slid, I would have reached down to catch it, which is a harder catch but I have no doubt I would have made it. The second question is, what were you thinking while the ball was in the air? and/or were you afraid you were going to drop it? That one's easy. There was no chance in the world I would have dropped it. I wasn't nervous or scared or anything. Dropping it never crossed my mind. The next day we watched the replay of the game at my in-law's house, and only then did it really hit me, wow what if it bounced off my chest or something? I was ten times more nervous watching the replay (even though I knew what was going to happen) than I was actually catching the pass. I hadn't dropped a pass that I should have caught (and by that I mean any pass that I just flat out dropped, not ones where I was heavily defended or didn't have much of a chance on, but I got most of those too!) since the first game of the season. By my count I only had that one drop all year long. It honestly did not even cross my mind for a millisecond that I would drop that pass. I was on autopilot like I said, it was just routine. To tell the truth I would have been more excited watching that game, I would have gone nuts like so many people have told me they did.

Instead after I caught it, I didn't know what to do, so I stood up, raised my arms up, and then everyone dog piled on me and I almost passed out. Somehow I squirmed out of there though. Everything was kind of a blur. Because after exerting yourself in a long, stressful, and physical football game you're just kind of out of it once the game is over. My brother had jumped over the railing and down onto the field to find me because he was so excited, the cops were chasing him and he got to me and they were taking him and he's like, Wait this is my brother! And I was in such a daze I meant to tell them yeah he is, but what I remember is I kind of shrugged my shoulders or something and he took off again. I still feel bad about that! Sorry Andrew! At least he got away!

So that's pretty much how it went down. Probably a lot different than you would think. It's not like the movies at all. In fact I can hardly watch "inspirational" sports movies because they're just so cheesy to me, there's always some big speech or some big motivation and so much emotion involved that people think that's how you win a game, you get all hyped up. But I'll tell you right now, I don't care if someone is playing for some higher reason, when they line up across from me they better be ready for that moment and that play because that's all that matters. And even if they're playing for their mama who flew out special for the game, I don't care. If you're going to guard me you'll need more help than that!

So to me looking back, it was a pretty awesome experience. That's the kind of play you dream about making as a kid, and not very many people get to actually do it. But at the time, it was just another play. And I played just as hard on every other play that whole season as I did on that one. That will always be my most famous play I'm sure, but in my head it's not my favorite play or even the one that I'm the most proud of. But for BYU fans everywhere it was definitely the most memorable, and I'm certainly happy I was able to be a part of it!

BYU Utah

2009-11-27T12:41:00.001-08:00

Looking at the game Saturday, it seems like a pretty even matchup. Both teams are 9-2. At the same time, I think if BYU is on their A game, they are the better team. If the team that beat Oklahoma shows up, they will win no doubt about it. But that's a big "if" because that team has been nowhere to be found in every other big game this year.

The first thing to remember is that as a player your approach to the game is completely different than a fan's. As a fan, you live and die with each play and it feels like every play is going to determine the outcome of the game. For example if Utah scores on the opening kickoff some will almost see it as an omen that they're going to win. There's probably even people reading this that are thinking right now, don't say something like that! That's bad luck! I think that feeling comes from being so helpless in determining the outcome. You want to feel like you have some control in who will win so many people have little traditions and things and feel like if they don't follow them to a T, their team will lose. As a player, and if Utah scored like that right off the bat, the worst thing I could do is get upset about it and think, oh great here we go again!

As a player, you can't live and die with each play like that, because you wouldn't be able to perform. As a player, you actually do have some control over how the game turns out. But the weird thing is, you don't ever want to think about how the game will turn out. I used to think that was just me, but listen to just about every interview with an athlete that you've ever heard, even Michael Jordan, you almost never hear any player want to talk about the outcome of a game that hasn't been played. Once in a while someone will "guarantee" a victory, and sometimes they're right and sometimes they're not. All you ever hear players talk about is that they're going to go out and do their best. It's not because they're scared of giving the other team quotes that they're going to put up in their locker room, which I think is way overblown. I never saw any quote pinned up in any locker room I've ever been in. People in the media think that's what players are trying to avoid, but it's just that fact that you don't worry yourself with things you don't have control over. It puts an added pressure on you that you don't need.

So at this point, while all the fans can think of (including myself) is who will win, the BYU players can't worry about the outcome of the game, they just need to focus on knowing their assignment and getting it done, one play at a time. That's all you worry about. You let the rest sort itself out.

I'll add some more in a bit...

Special Guest John Beck

2009-11-24T20:37:00.000-08:00

I asked my old quarterback and road roommate John Beck to write a few paragraphs about the BYU Utah game. The one thing that most people probably don't realize about John is that I swear he remembers every single play from his entire career. I'm not exaggerating. Every time I talk to him he talks about a different play, in great detail. And not just big plays, little plays that I usually have no recollection of. He'll talk about the routes, how the defense reacted, how he threw the ball. He's really one of those guys that you can say is a true student of the game. So thanks for your input John, here's what he's got for us:

Utah Week

Jonny asked me a few weeks ago to write a few paragraphs about the Utah week for his blog. Since I’m forever indebted to the guy for what he did on the receiving end of my passes the answer was a definite yes. I wrote something for Quinn Gooch’s blog last year so I don’t want to give the same write up of the final drive. I thought this time many fans would like to know what it’s like to be in the QB’s shoes leading up to the game.

The first day of the week begins the media hurricane. All weeks have days where you speak to the media covering BYU and those media outlets that cover the opponent, but this week all media is intensified. The media relations people for us would try to limit the amount of time we dealt with the media but it’s easy to see that there will be many more articles and interviews this week. I think part of the reason is that the majority of the Salt Lake based papers and bloggers don’t talk to us the entire season but when the Utah week rolls around their microphones and cameras are in your face.

It is also easy to see that they are waiting for a slip up, especially by the QB. They dig with their questions wanting you to either show or express some sort of hatred for the rival so they can make that the headline.

When it comes to film study this is the game (aside from the bowl game) you have the most tape on your opponent. By this point you have also seen a few of their televised games and have the familiarity of preparing for them the year before. This film study portion of the week can be one of the biggest tasks. You want to see as much as you can so you can gain tips on them that will help on game day but at the same time you don’t want to study too much. This can lead to looking for too much in the defense, which at times can take away from just playing football. The way I handled this was I chose the games that I felt would show me the most. You want to choose games where they face a similar offensive scheme. You also want to find games where there are critical situations, third downs in critical moments, red zone defenses on third downs against a passing team, end of the game defenses when they are both ahead and behind. The critical situations will tell you what they feel they are most successful with or what the coach has the most confidence in. Also we would watch the games from the previous years. With all this information you could now get a good feel for what they will probably do. After this is the where you leave the space for the unknown. You always have to prepare for the unknown, especially against Utah. Every year I played them they had a few things that they either hadn’t shown or were slightly different from the previous games. At this point in the season each team has so much on tape that staying too close to tendency or what you feel might have got you there tends to not fare as well.

On campus this is the week most students talk to you. Every student and teacher wants to express how badly they want to beat Utah. Going into the 2006 game we hadn’t beat Utah since 2001 so you can imagine the built up frustration that students and faculty had going into the game. This makes the week even more exciting. When more is on the line you feel it. It was great to have those people talk to you because it reminds you how much support you have at the university.

Practice week goes by so fast. Maybe for some it went by slow but for me it went by so fast. At this point in the season most everything is in drive. You’ve been playing for the last 12 weeks and you know it’s going to be the little things that will make the big difference.

The game is the most special when you are a senior. No one has to tell you it’s your last game against them. As soon as you walk off the field the game before you know everyday from then on leads to that one objective, beating them the last time you play them. Unfortunately my first three years I had to see the seniors walk away from that game not having won. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who held on to those experiences and thought about them when that week in 2006 rolled around.

Most people will want to know what gets said before these rivalry games. Some might think that there is a lot yelling or some great motivational speech. I know in the Ohio State vs Michigan rivalry the Buckeyes have a traditional speech that they give about their opponents putting their uniform and cleats on the same way they do. To be honest I can’t remember at all what was said before the games I played in. I mostly remember stuff said on the sideline or on the field during the game. In this game a lot has to be done on the sideline because so many adjustments are made on the fly.

The last point I want to talk about I feel is one of the big keys to this game, at least it was in the years I played. That point is adjusting to what the other team knows. Not just has practiced but knows. I will give their defensive coaches this, they always had some sort of defense up in the game that they must have just come up with for our game and in especially my last game they stole hand signals. In that last game we had to change some hand signals because they knew them. They also played not just routes but how we threw routes. At the end of that year we felt like we were having the most success with some guys throwing the go route so it dropped right on them instead of leading them downfield. Giving our guy a chance to go up for it and make a play. Utah’s secondary was playing those throws. They knew that we weren’t going to try to throw the ball past them and they played it that way. They were well prepared for what we had done.

Also “going to the well” with certain plays usually leads to a missed third down or having to dump it to your checkdown. Plays that may have been your gimmies on third down situations now have a defender right on their back. This was evident in the third quarter my senior year. We got in some positions where we went with some of the plays that had been so good for us throughout the year and sure enough they were covered. It’s like your playing the same group of kids in your neighborhood you always play and it’s always a close game but this one is worth all the marbles. In these games some of the biggest plays happen when it doesn’t happen exactly the way you draw it up.

Lastly I believe experience in this game is so important. What do you take with you? What experiences have you had leading up to this point? Are these the games you wonder if you are going to play well in or know you will play well in? Will you just let the same thing happen as last time or will you put your foot down and fists up and say not this time!

I miss playing in this game. I learned so much and grew so much from playing in these rivalry games. I’m sure the team feels they learned a lot from that game last year and can’t wait to put their feet down and fists up and say not this year!

I’m excited for the outcome of the game on Saturday. Go Cougars!!

Air Force at BYU

2009-11-19T06:49:00.000-08:00

Air Force has definitely improved this year, they look pretty good. They played TCU closer than anyone else has this year. The thing about playing Air Force is that since they run the ball so much if you let them control the clock and consistently pick up first downs, your offense is not going to have as many opportunities as usual. So you have to make the most of each one.

The good thing is, BYU in the last few years has not had any trouble at all stopping the option. Because BYU plays such an assignment based defense, it's perfect for going against the option. The trouble is that it's hard to prepare for, because no one at BYU is that used to running an option, so the scout team has to really step up to give the D a good look. Usually they'll have a running back or receiver step in to play quarterback on Air Force week.

The offense has to pretty much prepare like normal, but like I said they have to be prepared to take full advantage every time they have the ball.

Keys:

1. No big plays. Occasionally Air Force will do a fake option and try to throw over the top. I think they should have a hard time driving the ball down the field 3 or 4 yards at a time against BYU's defense.

2. Cause a turnover. Air Force is very disciplined in this aspect and usually does not fumble. I think BYU's defense can cause some chaos if they come flying with some big hits on the pitches and cause a turnover or two.

3. No 3 and outs. BYU's offense has to make the most of each possession. As an offensive player, each drive we didn't score a touchdown was a failure in my mind. It didn't matter if we were starting at our own 2 yard line. At the very least though, they have to control the ball and can't let Air Force own the time of possession. So even if they start deep in their territory, they need to at least change the field position and make Air Force execute long drives.

I want to see them go out and dominate the game. Air Force is a pretty good team, but BYU needs to show they can still put a whooping on a team besides Wyoming or Tulane. I don't expect them to score 50 points, simply because you don't have as much time with the ball against Air Force usually. But I think it should be obvious to anyone who's watching that BYU dominates the game physically and should win by 2 touchdowns.

Question of the Week 3

2009-11-17T06:45:00.000-08:00

It's here!!!

Watch out for Question of the Week 3 Friday!!!

2009-11-11T21:44:00.000-08:00

Me in the NFL

2009-11-11T06:22:00.000-08:00

The question was asked about me not getting drafted and what happened with me in the NFL. A lot of people have asked me about this so here's the basics. I got off to not a great start at the combine. My training for it was not bad, but it wasn't very suited to me specifically. There were a couple areas where I needed to improve.

I was already fast and had good hands, but I wasn't quite as heavy as teams usually like, and I had never been a very strong bench presser. I wasn't horrible, but just not quite as strong as I needed to be. What made it worse was that I had hurt my wrist in the Utah game (On my first touchdown when I landed on the goalline) and I hadn't been able to bench press very much for the last month. So when I was better and started my workouts for the combine, I was even farther behind than where I started. And I worked out with a group of guys and the workouts were not specifically suited to what I needed and we didn't focus on bench hardly at all. So that didn't help much.

I was really focused on getting heavier too. But at the time, I didn't understand much about diets and good weight, so I put on some weight but it wasn't good weight. I got up to about 250 which is where I wanted to be, but it slowed me down.

So really it was the worst of both worlds. I lost a step on my speed by putting on bad weight, and I didn't get much stronger anyway. So at the combine I put up less than impressive numbers, and I was so disappointed. After the combine I made the decision to come back to Utah to train for pro day (I had been in California). I took a lesson from my mistakes and focused more on what I needed. I just trained on my own and I improved on all my combine numbers pretty dramatically, but I don't think they put as much stock in it.

So I didn't get drafted which was disappointing, because I had people telling me I would get drafted on the first day if I put up good numbers. But I was picked up right as the seventh round ended by the Colts. So I spent my first off season with them. I learned a ton from just being with them for a few months, they are a first class organization. Unfortunately I got cut on the last cut, but fortunately I was picked up the next day by the Browns.

I used to think all NFL teams were the same, but going from the Colts to the Browns was like night and day. But I was with the Browns on the practice squad for most of my rookie season. I really learned in Cleveland what I needed to do to be a pro football player. I was very fast and quick and I'm telling you (and they know it as well as I know it) those linebackers had a hard time guarding me. Leon Williams was so frustrated one day he about took a swing at me. The next day, he came up and said, hey man you could be a really good player, you need to put some weight on and you could be really good. I always had a ton of confidence in myself, but to hear it from someone else felt really good.

Near the end of the year they released me because they wanted to try out another tight end, but they said they wanted to bring me back, but the next week the Giants picked me up so I went with them. After the first week in the playoffs, Coach Coughlin called me in and said they needed to pick up a few lineman and would have to let me go to do it.

I knew I would be picked up with a team and get into camp, so that offseason I focused on what I needed to make the team, and not just the practice squad. Through that year I had learned a ton about getting myself into the best shape possible and what my body really needed to be able to do that. I was really turning myself into a beast. I was getting so strong and putting on good weight and I had an unbelievable drive and hunger and anger and focus to come back and play awesome when I got into camp.

In talking with my agent I was probably looking at signing with a team around draft time when teams usually sign people in my position. And unfortunately as many of you know, at the beginning of that April, less than month before the draft, I snapped my achilles tendon. It was really a freak thing. I was playing basketball but nothing dangerous happened, I was backpedaling and suddenly it felt like someone just wound up and kicked me as hard as they could right below my calf. I was so confused as I fell, I was like, who in the world would kick me? Then I sort of realized what happened, I knew it was bad. I called my wife and told her I thought I snapped my achilles. People were telling me it probably wasn't, but I pretty much knew it.

That basically put an end to my career. I had surgery and have gotten back into pretty good shape, but I haven't really gotten another chance, and it would be nice, but I'm not counting on it. Although I wasn't drafted, I still was in the league and had a chance to make teams and stuff. I am very confident that if I hadn't been injured I would still be playing.

Big Win

2009-11-08T10:48:00.000-08:00

I think everyone was expecting BYU to pound Wyoming pretty easily. I was glad to see the defense force several turnovers. They need to get their confidence up and feel like a defense that can make game changing plays.

I didn't expect the offense would have any problems scoring on Wyoming and they made it look easy all day.

I talked about last week how beating up on Wyoming doesn't seem to be too much of a big deal to a lot of people, given BYU's losses this year. But one thing it will do is give them confidence back. I was never much of a believer in comparing teams by how they played against certain opponents, but BYU was able to go out and absolutely crush Wyoming on the road, while Utah struggled to beat them at home. Now that BYU is supposedly the underdog (even though Utah is possibly the worst 14th ranked team ever, not just because I'm not a Utah fan, but they just have not looked very impressive all year) going into that game in a couple weeks, that should help their confidence going into that game, because it will be a tough one. But I've never put much stock in comparing teams that way, because every game seems to take on an identity of its own.

NFL Prospects

2009-11-06T17:35:00.000-08:00

A lot of people have been asking me what I think the NFL potential is for a few guys: Max, Harvey, and Dennis. So this is just my opinion, I hope they all do great, but this is just kind of how I see things shaking out.

Someone had brought up about Bill Parcells' formula for drafting a quarterback, 3+ year starter, 23+ wins, senior, college graduate. Max was one of four quarterbacks who fit those criteria. When you look at it, Max certainly has an impressive resume, he's won a lot of games, passed for a ton of yards and thrown a lot of touchdowns. Those are his positives and because of them I think he will get a shot. I don't think he will be drafted high, maybe not at all, but he will get picked up and given a chance. There's a couple negatives that will hurt him. He's not very tall. The NFL likes tall quarterbacks. It makes a world of difference when they can easily see over the line, like Peyton Manning. Also I think Max's sub-par performances in a few big games will hurt him as well. The Oklahoma game will definitely help though.

Quarterbacks, whether rightfully or not (I think not) get most of the blame but also most of the credit for their team's success or lack thereof. I think it is the hardest position, but I don't think the game hinges as solely on the quarterback as the media so often makes it seem. I remember times when we didn't have such great games, and John was heavily criticized, when to me it seemed a bit unfair because I saw things around him outside his control that were going wrong as well. But they also get most of the credit too, so I guess it balances out. Max has been blamed quite a bit for their losses the past couple years, and whether it's right or not, I think his stats in those games could hurt his stock. If he does make it in, I don't really see him as a starting quarterback. But I can see him maybe finding a place on a roster as a backup, but he would have to play extraordinarily well in training camp to do that. And frankly, looking at his performances against teams like TCU, with NFLish type defensive team speed, I don't know that I see him performing at such a high level against those NFL guys.

Harvey's a bit of a long shot in my mind. But that doesn't mean he doesn't have a chance, and I hope he makes the most of it if he gets it, because I love Harvey. He's powerful and shifty and a good receiver out of the back field. But he doesn't have the explosion and speed that they will look for in the NFL. He's not really a big play threat. I can see him possibly making an impact on special teams though, and if he gets into a camp and shows he can perform on special teams, that will go a long way for him and he'd have a chance at making the team.

To me there's no doubt Dennis can have a bright future in the NFL. He's got the best shot of the three. He's fast, has above average hands, he's not a bad blocker, and he's been a go-to receiver for Max for 3 years. He's caught for over 1000 yards, which is huge for a tight end in college, it doesn't happen that often. The highest I got was 935 and I thought I was doing awesome! (Notice we didn't count these as criteria in Week 1's Question of the Week! The scientist said it's not that important).

The only thing that is lacking to me when I look at Dennis is a little more aggression. And maybe it's because I know him off the field and didn't really play side by side with him it seems this way, but because he's so laid back it sometimes seems to me he doesn't have a ton of killer instinct when I'm watching him. That doesn't mean you have to act like a madman, but just a certain aggression that sometimes I feel he could bring that I haven't really seen from him. But I don't think this should really hurt him in the draft. Also he's played well against tough teams like TCU, which they will take into account.

A lot will depend on the combine too for him. I think if he runs a 4.6 or better, and gets at least 20 reps of 225, he'll get drafted first day, which will mean he'll all but certainly be on the roster. If he doesn't get those numbers I think he'll still be drafted, but probably second day if he doesn't perform at a very high level at the combine.

What will actually happen is really anyone's guess, from my experience 95% of players in the NFL are so close in skill level that the difference between most is really just taking advantage of one opportunity. Everyone is a great player. Then the other 5% are players who are really head and shoulders better than everyone else. When I was in Indy, it was Peyton, Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne. You could just tell that those guys were on another level, it was unreal how good they were.

Anyway, just because of what I've written doesn't mean I don't think that Max and Harvey can make it, but I do think they'll have a smaller window of opportunity. If they make the most of it they could get their foot in the door. It doesn't mean I don't think they're great players either, but the competition in the NFL is so unbelievably tight that the tiniest things will be the difference. Dennis, especially if he's drafted first day, will have a lot more room for error. The coaches will put more effort into a second round draft pick because they'll be paying the player $1 to $2 million just in signing bonus, so they have a financial interest in making it work. Guys who are drafted late or not at all don't have that luxury. Anyway I hope they all do great and make the most of the opportunity!

Wyoming Week

2009-11-02T18:38:00.000-08:00

Well the bye week is over and I'm sure the Cougars are dying to get back on the field and get over last week's beatdown from TCU. There's no doubt the Cougars should dominate this game, but going up to Laramie can be tough.

This trip is everyone's least favorite road game. When we would go to San Diego or Las Vegas, we would stay at the JW Marriott, and they were awesome hotels! Just first class all the way! In Laramie, the hotel is like a Motel 6 basically. But it was funny, the dinner at the hotel on Friday night looked kind of suspicious, they had these fish fillets out that I wasn't sure if I would sick if I ate them, but I tried one out and they were actually amazing! It was like they just caught them in a river out behind the hotel or something! So that was actually a good surprise. Then in the morning we tried to do our walkthrough and it was so windy you literally couldn't hear anything anyone else was saying! The only thing I remember about our game up there was it was freezing and I scored 2 touchdowns.

The cold can have an effect on you, but only if you let it. Usually once you get going and get your blood pumping it doesn't bother you too much. The team that lets the cold affect them the most usually loses.

What I want to see this week from BYU are some big plays. If you've been reading my postings then you know I've been real disappointed with BYU's lack of playmaking, especially on defense. I want to see them flying around and creating turnovers.

This is a game that I don't think anyone expects Wyoming to win. What BYU has to do is avoid any kind of letdown, especially after having a bye and getting beat badly by TCU. They need to come back strong. Really I just expect them to dominate every facet of the game. They have the ability and Wyoming is not that great of a team. They scared Utah last week, but I still don't think they should be able to hang around with BYU. If BYU plays a good game, it won't be close.

But the thing is, does anyone care that much anymore about pounding a team like Wyoming? It seems like this season, with BYU getting everyone's hopes so high, and then letting them really come crashing down with 2 horrible losses, it seems as if everyone is thinking about what could have been. Even with a great win against OU to start the season, it seems a lot of people are disappointed with how this season is turning out. But we still have Utah to look forward to!

Question of the Week 2

2009-11-02T13:45:00.000-08:00

Sorry I've been running a little late on this one, I had some technical difficulties!

Laying Down Again

2009-10-25T08:39:00.001-07:00

I had a feeling this may happen. My official prediction was BYU would take the game in a close game, and I went with BYU because of the Oklahoma game, where I thought they could win but I didn't think they would. I decided to have some faith this time where I saw the odds against them and said they would step up to the challenge. I should have gone with my instinct.

I think this team drives a lot of people nuts. They win all the games they should win, but if someone steps up and challenges them they back down and take a beating. It's hard to watch. It's so frustrating as a fan because of that Oklahoma game. They were awesome! Why hasn't that team shown up against this year? Either Oklahoma wasn't that good or BYU isn't playing to their potential.

I think what this team lacks is real leadership on the field. They have plenty off the field, they were practicing as a team without coaches out there all summer. I went down to do a workout in July and they weren't just doing a 7 on 7, they had a whole practice with individual periods, 7 on 7 and team periods! But once they step on the field and someone punches them in the mouth (figuratively or literally), they don't really have anyone who steps up for them. Harvey and a few other guys always play hard and seem to do well, but they don't have any real playmakers. Someone to step up and make a big play to take the momentum back. Because once the other team gets momentum and starts rolling, there has not been anything to stop it!

Just like I put in my pregame post, 3rd down was where most of these plays needed to be made. It seemed like I would turn away from the TV for a second and BYU would be punting. And they were leading the country in 3rd down conversions. But that just goes to show, when they play a good opponent they seem to be only a shadow of themselves.

Anyway, it just drives me nuts. I don't care if they lose if they play well. But if they play well they should beat most teams, including a team like TCU. It's the way they lose. They get killed when they lose and they don't even put up a fight! It's very hard to watch. And I think they are just lacking someone or a few guys to make some plays to grab that momentum back and they can be a great team! Good thing they're playing Wyoming and New Mexico the next couple weeks so they can kill some easy teams who won't challenge them.

Question of the Week

2009-10-23T07:43:00.000-07:00

And no Dennis didn't actually write the question in, this is just silliness obviously

Looking back TCU 2006

2009-10-20T19:50:00.000-07:00

When you take a look at BYU football where it is today versus a few years back when we were a pretty mediocre team, for me, as part of the team that was able to make the transition, the biggest turning point was the TCU game in 2006.

In 2005 we had started to change things around. Our offense put up pretty good numbers, we learned how to move the ball consistently, but we didn't get to the point where we knew how to win every game. At the beginning of 2006, we were still in the same boat, losing to Arizona and Boston College and we were going in to face TCU at 2-2. At that time, they were in a position similar to where they are now, fairly highly ranked and on a winning streak, 13 games in a row, with a tremendous defense with great speed. It was definitely a tough road game. I remember coming out for warmups and just seeing how cocky they were, they definitely had some swagger. This and New Mexico's stadiums were the only ones where our bench was literally only about 10 feet in front of their entire student section and they could yell at us all they wanted.

The thing that stands out to me most about that game is that we executed at a high level and made big plays. On defense and offense it was one big play after another. David Nixon forced a huge fumble at the beginning that turned into our first touchdown. John Beck hit Matt Allen on a 4th and 1 for like 15 yards on that drive. I remember thinking that it was just as easy for us to complete a pass like that as it was to run the ball for a yard. All the receivers came up big. And especially on third downs. People don't realize how much work John put in with the receivers all summer and also after practice every day during the season. It paid off huge in this game.

Mike Reed also came up with a big touchdown down the sideline (where he totally pushed off! but hey it goes both ways). I wrote in my last post that BYU doesn't need to do anything super special to win this year, they just have to do the regular things really well and make plays. I can't think of a better example than this: We had a third down and John hit McKay on a post, the defender was right on him and there was just a tiny window. John put the ball perfect and McKay had to catch the ball with strong hands and we converted. That's exactly what I'm talking about when I say executing at a high level. There was just a small window and we hit it perfect.

I got to make some big plays that game too, a big third down catch on a seam route where I totally got my ribs bruised, and also a fade route for the clinching touchdown. I was so pumped by that one! We just had too many options for them. We ran the ball okay and we had 6 receivers to choose from.

It was the most rewarding game up to that point in my career for sure. When we won that game, I think it just clicked for our whole team that we were really good. Immediately. We knew when we went to the locker room that we had just taken the step we'd been trying to for a few years. I had always had a lot of confidence in myself, but it's different for a whole team to feel on the same page and have that confidence knowing that you're going to win. I remember telling my wife (at the time, my fiancee) that I was sure we would win the rest of our games. And we did, in fact, we didn't just win them all, but no one could even touch us, we killed them all! Utah was the only team who got close, and to be honest, even though I'm happy with how the game ended, we should have beaten them by 40 points too!

A lot of people ask me what changed from that 2005 season to the next, and I definitely think it was that game that gave us the confidence that we were actually a great team. That was the single biggest turning point in my eyes.

TCU Week!

2009-10-19T11:12:00.000-07:00

Finally we're done with the weak teams and ready for a challenge again! And it is a big challenge, TCU is a very good team and BYU has some serious work to do. It's hard to tell exactly how good they are because they haven't played anyone who is very good yet, but they've killed them all pretty much. But judging by last year's beating on BYU, the Cougars are going to have to play extremely well to win this one.

Another mobile QB. Somehow the defense is going to have to figure out how to put pressure on the QB and also keep him from scrambling, especially on third downs. He's not a mobile quarterback like a Michael Vick or something, but he's just kind of shifty and he gave BYU problems last year with his mobility. He reminds me more of the FSU quarterback, and we saw the problems BYU had trying to bring him down. Hopefully with BYU's improved defensive speed over last year, they'll be able to contain him and make some big plays on him.

They're going to have to contain Jeremy Kerley also. He ran all over BYU last year and I've been seeing highlights of his punt returns all morning on ESPN today! He is a big weapon and BYU will have to play great team defense to stop him.

On offense they have to be able to run the ball effectively. This to me is the biggest key to the game. If they aren't able to run, then Jerry Hughes is going to dominate again. He'll be able to play the pass and come of the edge hard. If they keep him guessing, they'll be able to pass the ball much more effectively as well. TCU's defense is very tough and BYU will have to execute with a lot more precision than they have in the past few games. They've done well, but TCU is a much better team and those openings are going to be smaller and will close down faster.

Overall, BYU will have to play an outstanding game, but that doesn't mean they have to do extraordinary things, they just have to do the ordinary things at a very high level. I think they'll have to play as good or better than in the Oklahoma game. I don't think TCU is necessarily better than Oklahoma, but I think TCU is a harder matchup for BYU in a few areas, one being that their QB is more elusive than Sam Bradford, which is why BYU was able to have so much success putting pressure on him.

BYU has some things in their favor too. They're playing at home and have the altitude advantage (which obviously didn't help them against Florida State, but it does make a difference!). The home crowd should help out too, Max has played much much better at home statistically in his career.

Another thing in BYU's favor is they are the underdog. This was FSU biggest advantage over BYU a few weeks back. They should be able to come out much looser and focused, just like they did against OU. Anytime you're favored and playing a team who is very good, you're in one of the toughest spots to be in sports. TCU is starting to get big time national recognition and BCS talk, which is the same spot BYU was in when they got smoked by FSU. Not to mention College Gameday will be in Provo on Saturday! Awesome! It will be a lot of pressure for TCU.

TCU will come out cocky and ready to play. BYU just has to be ready. They need to be able to at the very least, weather the storm of the initial emotion TCU will bring. At best they need to start fast to put the pressure on TCU right off the bat.

My initial thoughts were that this could be an FSU repeat and that BYU could get beat down like they did last year against these guys, but I think they will play a lot better. I didn't have much hopes that they would win the OU game and they came out and surprised me and made me proud, so I'm going to go with BYU in a close game for the win. I want to see a big game from Harvey, who's always ready to play. And if he's running the ball well, we also have to see Max spread the ball around. That was key for us when we went down to beat TCU in 06. If he focuses too much on Dennis, then it will be nearly impossible for them to be successful. The receivers are going to have to make plays, and someone will have to step up because as far as I know McKay is still out. And we've got to see the defense pull together to play an outstanding game like they did against OU. If all they can do these things, I can see them coming out with a win.

Jonny Harline

Guest Blogger

2009-10-14T18:48:00.000-07:00

Hey we've got a guest blogger today to weigh in on the upcoming SDSU game. My friend Lawrence Nai was a fullback for BYU in the early 90s on some very successful teams. But his biggest claim to fame he told me earlier today was coaching a junior high football team to a second place finish in their league this year ha ha! Here's his take:

Late Recap and Preview

2009-10-14T11:44:00.000-07:00

Sorry for being so late this week! We've been moving into our new home! I didn't even get to see much of the game on Saturday, but the I was happy with the outcome. They should have won big and they did. Apparently UNLV's coach is on the hot seat right now. And like I wrote last week, probably for good reason. There's just something not clicking with that program. Of all the programs in the Mountain West, UNLV and San Diego State have the most attractive locales, but neither have been very good for a while. I can see kids not wanting to go play in Laramie or CSU, but any kid would love to go to college in either of those places. Anyway, there just hasn't been much good coming out of those programs and something has to change it seems.

I had a few people asking me about if they thought their coach being under the gun a little bit would make a difference in the game. I didn't think it would, simply because you can't change they type of team you are overnight. You can have all the outside motivation in the world, but none of it means anything once you line up across from your opponent. All that matters is that moment and what you've done to prepare yourself for it. If I was a player in that that game, I would look at the guy guarding me and think their coach being in trouble is the least of this guy's worries right now because I'm about to smoke him.

I was happy to see that BYU won the game in a big way because that's exactly what they should have done. I expect the same this week against SDSU but I think it will be a tougher game.

Playing SDSU at home and playing them in San Diego were two completely different worlds in my experience. My junior year we played them down there and it was a horrible game. We were still a fairly mediocre team ourselves that year. It was a night game and everyone sat around and watched TV at the hotel all day. By the time we got to the stadium, everyone seemed very flat. SDSU was ready to go, they had some pretty good players on their defense and we struggled and ended up losing the game. I just remember everyone seemed so zoned out, I don't know if it was the watching TV all day or what, but for some reason it was so hard to get up for that game. It was really strange.

Then our senior year we played them at home, and I thought it would be a tough game based on the year before. They were so soft and didn't have any enthusiasm, we beat them like 55-7 or something. It was a completely different team than the year before, but I guess we were a completely different team too.

My two keys for this game are a fast start and win the turnover margin.

Fast start because SDSU will come out fired up. If BYU lets them hang around, they could be in for a fight the whole way. If they come out and put out SDSU's fire right off the bat, and grab the momentum, then they can ride that through for a smooth victory.

Wining the turnover margin is always a key. In a game like this, SDSU will thrive only if they have the momentum. If they cause turnovers and big plays, they'll get that momentum and it will make it much tougher for BYU.

All in all, I think BYU should put up another big win, but I think it will be a bit tougher than last week.

Jonny Harline

2009-10-07T19:40:00.000-07:00

So all season long every season college football fans have to endure analysis and debates about who is actually the best team! The whole picture has become so atrocious that I swear one day they'll have to switch the bowl system around. But if last year didn't change anything, I don't know if anything will. There were 6 teams that in my thinking had good arguments to be in the national championship game! Florida, Oklahoma, Texas, USC, Utah, and Texas Tech.

It's so frustrating to me to watch every day during the season as the "experts" try to determine rankings and strength of schedule and all that. College football is the only sport I can think of where almost every year the champion is controversial! Sometimes they even have co-national champions-even dumber!

In every other sport all that matters is getting to the playoffs (which is determined only by wins and losses) and then winning the championship. You have to win a tournament! Take a couple years ago, the Patriots were 18-0 and lost to the Giants (who barely made the playoffs) in the Super Bowl. No one would argue that the Patriots were the champions, all that matters is who wins the game!

Another thing that's dumb about how they manage the bowl games is they're so far after the season is done! We had an early bowl (Vegas Bowl on Dec 21, 2006) and I had enough time to get married after the Utah game and be back before we started practice for the bowl game. It totally takes away from the momentum of the season. It's even worse now the at the national championship game is like the second week of January now. I've noticed that usually teams come out jittery a lot, I think because of all the time off. They're out of a rythym.

But I'm not one to just complain and not offer solutions! Yes it's true, I have the solution! We need a way to come up with a tournament that also allows colleges to benefit financially from bowl games.

Eight team playoff. Take the teams with the best records. An 8 team playoff is 7 games. Use the 4 BCS bowls, (Orange, Rose, Sugar, Fiesta) and add 2 more to get to the championship game. The rest of the bowl games, play like normal. An 8 team playoff would only be 3 games to win the championship. It doesn't add a ton to the season, and they could start it earlier so the players could stay in game mode throughout December, and then have the championship on New Year's (I don't know about everyone else but I don't like how they drag the championship to the 7th or 8th now. I liked it when all the games were on New Year's when I was growing up).

I think it's a great plan! I'm just sick of having to watch debates when it's seems so simple to solve the problem the obvious way-by who wins the games! And don't even get me started on the BCS conference tie-ins! So stupid! Anyway, who's with me? Let me know if you guys have any ideas on how to improve the system.

Jonny Harline

UNLV

2009-10-05T18:31:00.000-07:00

Well, it's another game that BYU should win. And I think they should win big no doubt about it. UNLV is a program that confuses me. I think they should be a really good team, but year in and year out they struggle. I would think that it would be a great place to recruit. You should be able to get more great players to come play in Vegas, but they only seem to get a few good players each year. I just think it could be a great program, but on some level, it's not getting done. Either the university, the coaching staff, I don't know, something is going wrong because they're never that competitive.

That being said, BYU can't have a letdown. As in any week, turnovers kill. In 2004 right after I got back from my mission, we actually lost to UNLV even though I thought we were WAY better and outgained them in yards by a ton, because for some reason we kept fumbling! We had something like 7 fumbles and we lost in the last minute. So there can't be any letdowns.

UNLV has a talented and mobile quarterback which has always been trouble for BYU's defense as we've talked about before in FSU week, and we saw what happened there. He's going to have to execute and move the ball, because their offense has got to keep the ball out of BYU's hands, because UNLV's defense is going to have a hard time keeping BYU out of the endzone.

Overall, with all respect to UNLV, BYU should beat them down. I want to see them grab the momentum right from the get-go and keep it all game long.

Jonny Harline

Game Day Friday!

2009-10-02T06:47:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy week! Game day Friday snuck up on me! So the question was asked, what are the advantages USU has? Not many, but they have a few very good players, especially at RB. Here's my take on USU's outlook.

For USU to stay in the game and have a shot to win a few things have to happen. First of all, they've got to play like they expect to win! They have to have the so-called chip on their shoulder. You could see it when BYU played Oklahoma. When no one expects you to win, you can play 1 of 2 ways. You can either buy into everyone else's expectations and hope you play well enough to stay in the game, or you can go out to prove something to the world! That attitude needs to have been created from the beginning of the week, because it needs to translate into execution in practice before you can do anything in the game. In the game, they would need to run the ball effectively, which is where they have their most talented players, at RB. Keep the ball out of BYU's hands as much as possible and eat up the clock, taking away BYU's scoring chances. They need to execute in the red zone (or blue zone or green zone, everyone has a different color for it now I can't keep track!). If they kick more field goals than score touchdowns it's over.

Their defense has to force turnovers. I can't see them stopping BYU's offense without turnovers. They just don't have the athletes to be able to stop BYUs execution.

Overall, if both teams play well, BYU will still have the advantage because overall I think they do have better players and the better team. If USU plays very well, it will still be BYU's own fault if they lose, they will have to play poorly. As a player, I would go into the game with the mindset that if we execute, play after play, then the scoreboard will take care of itself.

Jonny Harline

Utah State Week

2009-09-28T18:38:00.000-07:00

Well I haven't seen much of Utah State this year, I saw a bit of the game when they played Utah though. I got the impression that they had some great athletes, but weren't very disciplined. I remember watching them drive the ball down the field pretty easily but they got to the red zone and self-destructed. They had a couple of penalties that kept them out of the endzone. It's a lot easier to drive down the field than it is to actually get the ball in for a touchdown. Good teams will score more touchdowns than field goals.

There's no question BYU should win the game. A couple things to watch out for:

Put Utah State away early. Same as last week, any time you let a team hang around, it gets their confidence way up and it can turn into a dogfight. Last year the game was a lot closer than most expected and Utah State's fans seemed like they were happy just to be close.

In a game like this, you can expect to win, but only if you know you've prepared right for the game during the week. It's a short week, the game is Friday, which takes a day off of practice. They need to focus with the time they have. Understand, I'm not saying they can take the game lightly, you can't take anyone lightly, ever. Utah State will be ready to play, and I guarantee they will come out with a ton of energy.

My mindset as a player going into the week would be to take it one day at a time. Focus in, get your work done so you're ready to play. And I would know that if I did my job, and my teammates do theirs', that we'd be ready to play. I'd expect to win, but I would know that we'd have to earn it. They shouldn't even know who they play next week. Honestly as a player I literally never even knew who we played the next week, except for Utah, and that was just because it I knew it was the last week of the regular season and we'd played everyone else.

Upset Saturday?

2009-09-27T07:41:00.000-07:00

Every year there are a ton of so called upsets in college football right at the beginning of the season. I think there's a couple reasons for that.

One reason (probably the biggest reason) is because the top-25 rankings at the beginning of the season are garbage. No one really knows who the best teams are at that point. I'd say not until at least halfway through the season can you get a good idea of what teams are actually the best in the country. It's just a guessing game, and some programs are always highly favored. Some justifiably so, others, not so much. Teams like USC and Florida usually deserve their high rankings, but what other team besides Notre Dame can go 7-6 and then be ranked in the top-25 in the preseason rankings for the next year? Ridiculous. Like I said, it's just a guessing game. And it's just there to generate hype and it's fun to talk about, but you can't put any stock in it until later in the season.

The other reason why there are a lot of upsets is because it's hard for a lot of players to handle a high ranking. I wrote about this the other day in regards to the BYU-FSU game. Usually the underdog feels they have more to prove, and the favored team has so much more pressure on them. Even though the favored team might be the better team and usually wins, this situation can be a tough one. Especially this year, a lot of the teams that have lost are teams that are not used to being ranked quite that high. BYU, Cal, Oklahoma State are somewhat new to top-10 rankings.

Anyway, a lot is made of upsets, but early in the year, I don't see why people get so surprised.

Postgame: CSU

2009-09-27T07:10:00.000-07:00

The story was definitely the fast start and turnovers. That was the difference in the game. Take those away and it would have been a lot closer.

It was kind of a good news-bad news game for the defense. The good news was they came out right out of the gate and made big plays, and caused turnovers. They had a lot more fire than last week, you could tell.

It's still a little concerning to me though, that CSU moved the ball so easily down the field for most of the game. They didn't defend the pass well. There was not enough pressure on the quarterback and he was able to find guys wide open 15-20 yards down the field often. It's strange to me, because against Oklahoma's offense (I can't help but keep comparing to that game because it was so good!) they were unbelievable! There was so much pressure on the quarterback that game, and it was hard for OU's offense to drive, let alone score points. In yesterday's game, though, the bottom line is that the D came up with big plays and that was the difference in the game.

Thanks to those turnovers, in a large part, the offense got off to a huge start. But give them credit too, they didn't kick field goals. Any time you score 42 points, the offense has played well. They got the ball in the endzone to go up 21-0 in the first quarter, and the game was basically over.

Of course they could have played better, you can always play better, but they beat a pretty good team (and a confident team) 42-23. Overall, great job. They did exactly what they needed to to win the game.

Game Day: Colorado State

2009-09-26T06:40:00.000-07:00

Saturday Morning!

I think one key for BYU will be a fast start, which they haven't really had this year. One thing I've noticed is that BYU has been deferring to the second half on the coinflip. That's a change from what we used to do. Just about every game we elected to receive. We got the ball and scored a touchdown. I think if BYU goes out and establishes the pace right away, it will be a much easier victory. If they let CSU hang around for too long, it will be a tough fight all the way to the end.

If they don't get a fast start, turnovers will play a key role. If it's close, whoever wins the turnover margin will win the game. This was a huge focus for us in 2006, ball security. After practice ended, we'd do a couple ball security drills before heading in for the day. I would assume they still do it, but I haven't been down to a practice yet this year. But it was a huge problem in the FSU game.

Overall, if I were playing in the game, my mindset would be that we're going to go out there and execute, play by play. You have to just focus on what's right in front of you. You don't think about the whole game and who will win. You just control what you can control, and you can only control your own performance and making sure your assignment gets done. But I would be confident that if we did that we would win the game, because I always felt like we were the better team.

I think BYU has the better team and if they play the way they can and should, they'll win the game big. If they have some breakdowns, they'll be in for a fight. But I just can't see CSU matching up with them if BYU plays really well.

Jonny Harline

BYU and the BCS

2009-09-25T20:26:00.000-07:00

So I was on the John and Hans Show this morning on 1280 and an interesting topic came up that we didn't get to go over for too long, so I wanted to add a few things.

The question was if it is fair to expect BYU to continually have 10-11 win seasons, win conference championships, and at least every 5 years or so, make a run to get in a BCS game.

I guess the first thing is that BYU needs to get to a BCS game, which we have not done yet. The next thing (hopefully in the same year) would be to win a BCS game. BYU has only had one undefeated season in like 87 years or something. So I think first we have to get there, and then worry about making regular appearances there.

I also think it's definitely attainable, though very difficult. Both Boise State and Utah, who are in situations just like BYU, seem to be doing it. Utah won the Fiesta Bowl in 2004, and the Sugar Bowl last year. Boise State won the Fiesta Bowl in that amazing game against Oklahoma, and they seem like the most likely "BCS Buster" this year, although there's still a lot of games left. There's no reason why BYU couldn't do the same thing.

Really they just need to figure out how to put together an undefeated season. It's a lot tougher than it seems, football season can be an emotional, physical, and mental roller coaster. And it's a bunch of 20 year old kids playing who may not know how to handle some situations. They were in one of the toughest situations for young players to handle mentally and emotionally last week vs FSU. They were in a spot where they were heavily favored, but against a very good team. That is a very tough position to win in because there is so much expectation and added pressure. I'm definitely not making excuses for them, because going into the game I thought they had the maturity to handle that situation. I'm just pointing out from my experience that that is a reality and is a tough thing to overcome. But to accomplish what they want to, BYU has to be able to handle the toughest of situations.

Anyway, I don't want to ramble on too much about it, let's hear some of your thoughts and questions on the issue.

Jonny Harline

First Look at Colorado State

2009-09-22T11:26:00.001-07:00

Well Colorado State is undefeated and has a ton of confidence coming into Provo on Saturday. You better believe they expect to beat BYU too, all the hype for BYU is out the window, and they barely beat CSU last year. It's different playing conference opponents than non-conference. Even if BYU had beaten FSU last week, CSU could still say, hey we had a chance to beat these guys last year. The intimidation factor isn't there because you play these guys every year, you know them. Whereas when you go outside the conference against teams and players you've never faced, you don't know exactly what to expect. I'm sure BYU expects to beat the Rams too, but they'd better be ready for a tough game Saturday.

I think a big key for the Cougars this week will be getting out to a fast start. CSU has outscored opponents 38-0 this season in the 1st quarter. If BYU can get out to a quick lead it will put the Rams in a position they haven't been in this year.

How will the defense rebound after making it looks easy for FSU to score 54 points? They'd better be ready to bring some big hits and stop CSU right from the get-go. Their offense has a ton of confidence right now that they can move the ball and score points, and that's dangerous. But for a team like CSU that's just getting used to being able to do that, it's also fragile. If BYU really hits them in the mouth and stops them right off the bat, it will shake that confidence pretty quickly.

CSU's defense also caused 5 turnovers last week. Turnovers are always a battle that must be won. BYU can't be careless with the ball. I don't think they'll win the game if they lose the turnover margin.

Overall it's absolutely a winnable game, and not just winnable, but I think BYU should win the game. I think they have to really bring the heat against CSU and have the ability to make it a big victory. They were embarrassed last week and need to show they're still the team to beat.

Jonny Harline

Last Florida State Post

2009-09-21T20:03:00.001-07:00

Well I had planned on putting last week behind us and getting onto CSU, but I had a lot of people asking more questions about the FSU game today, so we'll cover those and then put this one to bed.

Obviously BYU didn't play as well as they can. To me they looked very flat, and the main question has been: how could they come out so flat in such a big game? It's a very good question. A lot of people speculated that they were overconfident from their ranking and the national recognition they've received the past couple weeks. It could be, but I honestly don't think that's what happened. I'm sure they know by now that teams are not just going to lay down for them, and I'm sure it was addressed by the coaching staff. I think it's more likely they were trying to keep their cool because of the pressure of how big the game was, and in staying calm, they were too flat. Let me explain a little more what I mean.

I had to always find a happy-medium in my game preparation. There are two things you have to avoid, being too flat, and being too full of nerves. You can definitely get too wound up for your own good, even in football. It's a fine point because everyone's a little different, so it's difficult to coach as a team. On gameday I always tried to just stay as relaxed as I could. We'd get to the stadium and I'd still relax. We'd get dressed then go out for warmups. I would just focus on getting my body ready to go, get loose and stretched. Mentally, I still relaxed. Then we'd go in, wait 15-18 minutes, still relaxed. Then, when we'd go out to the field for the game, I'd get fired up and it was on! That worked great for me, but lots of my teammates were different. But whatever the most of the Cougars did Saturday didn't work at all.

You have to find that middle ground where you're so focused in, but still loose enough to perform. As a player, you do your best to treat each game the same, but you're kidding if you don't think the BYU players knew the significance of that game. I think it's very likely that in such a big game, they wanted so badly to keep their cool that they didn't get up enough. I think that's definitely a possibility on why they were so flat.

Bottom line is you have to be ready to play. You have to know as a player, personally, how you perform at your best. I was so impressed by how mature the Cougars were in week 1. I was surprised to see they weren't mentally ready to play this game.

Tomorrow we'll take our first look at Colorado State.

Jonny Harline

2-1

2009-09-19T21:17:00.000-07:00

Well as inspiring and great as the victory was in week one, this one was just as disappointing! It's made even worse by the expectations built up since then. I feel for the players, I never could stand losing, and this was a heartbreaking one.

I put five things down to watch for, and BYU only accomplished one of them. They ran the ball effectively. Harvey had 10 carries for 97 yards or something. That's 9.7 yards a pop (tough math, I know)! The problem was they had to play catch up.

Slow start. The 'Noles scored easily their first possession. Then BYU turned it over and got down 13-0. Bad spot to start out.

How many times did Ponder run for the first on 3rd down? Time after time! I thought they'd be able to contain him but I guess I was wrong. It's devastating for the defense to give up one third down conversion after another. This is where I was way off in my initial assessment, I thought FSU would be the ones to wear out if BYU made them drive down time after time and wouldn't be able to keep up!

Big plays and turnovers. You can't win any game if you lose the turnover margin -5. It was hugely disappointing to see silly turnovers and bad decisions in a game like this. Florida State's D wasn't really stopping BYU's offense. If you look at total yards, they were pretty close. You take those 5 turnovers and turn them into 5 touchdowns, and instead of 54-28 that's 63-54.

The defense as a whole did not play with the same passion and killer instinct as against Oklahoma. I have a hard time believing that Florida State's offense is that much better than an Oklahoma offense that scored 55 points a game last year, even if they lost some players. It's kind of an oxymoron, but I believe the best defenses play offensively. They have to force their will on the offense. I did not see any big hits or forcing the 'Noles into any mistakes or turnovers. They did nothing to discourage FSU from driving the ball right down the field every time they got the ball! Most of the time FSU was moving the line of scrimmage back towards BYU which is a sign of death for the defense right off the bat.

As a whole, it's just too bad. Really disappointing loss, I feel for the players definitely. The biggest thing is the turnovers. Especially when the defense is struggling like they were, it's just giving the game away, and I felt like overall that ended up being the difference in the game.

Anyway, I'm sure I'll have some more thoughts tomorrow.

Jonny Harline

Halftime

2009-09-19T17:44:00.001-07:00

Not looking good! The offense can't be stopped unless they turn it over! Turnovers will kill you everytime! The defense is not playing like they did in the first two games. Against Oklahoma and Tulsa, they enforced their will on the offense. A good defense plays offensively, they have to be the aggressors. BYU has been the reactors not the enforcers on D. Obviously if there are not huge changes for the D, it's not going to turn out good.

The offense must keep moving the ball and not turn it over, other than that they haven't been stopped!

Game Day!

2009-09-19T11:50:00.000-07:00

There's nothing quite as exciting for fans or players than game day! I don't know about you guys but I'm pumped up for this one! Nothing like a beautiful early fall day for a great football game. It's the funnest thing in the world to go out there and play a game you love in front of so many people. Here's some things I'm looking for from BYU today:

A fast start. This was always our focus in '06. Every game we put the heat on right from the start. The first drive of the game I want to see BYU drive down and put it in the zone right away. As an offensive player, a field goal is a failed drive. A touchdown right off the bat puts so much pressure on your opponent to do the same.

A strong running attack. When you are running the ball effectively, and are able to gain 5-6 yards a pop at least, it makes it so easy to move the ball and score touchdowns. Florida St.'s probably going to play more man-to-man than most MWC teams play, their receivers will have to work a little harder to get open rather than sitting in holes. Running the ball effectively will take a ton of pressure off the passing game. It just opens everything up. I can't tell you as a player how much difference it makes when you aren't locked into having to pass, or having to run. When you have the option to do either, it's so easy to score touchdowns!

Containing their quarterback on D. I've mentioned before how mobile QBs have given BYU trouble over the years. I can't tell you how many times we got right where we want to be, in a third and long for our opponents, and their quarterback scrambled to keep the drive alive. It can be frustrating.

Containing big plays. I think because of the athleticism of the Seminoles, they rely quite a bit on big plays rather than consistent execution. On both sides of the ball, I think if BYU can limit Florida State's opportunities to make big plays (like interception returns for touchdowns, punt returns, long bombs, long runs for touchdowns) then they'll put themselves in a great spot to win the game. The kind of players who play for a team like Florida State are very opportunistic. If they get a chance to make a big play they will, but I don't think they are a team who is used to consistently and methodically moving the ball down the field. If BYU can make them do that, then I don't think they can keep up. Especially as the game goes on and as the altitude gets to them it will make it so tough for them to stay in the game.

Win the turnover margin. This goes along with the big plays. Florida State will look to make interceptions and fumbles for touchdowns. The Cougars have to control the ball and take care of it.

If they do these things, I definitely think they will win the game. Florida State is not what they were in years past (they were one of my favorites as a kid!) but they are a great program and BYU will have to play very well today to win the game, and I think they're ready for it. Go BYU!

Jonny Harline

Florida St week

2009-09-14T19:52:00.000-07:00

I've been asked by several people how do I think BYU will handle the Seminoles' speed. I'm sure everyone's heard the expression, speed kills. Florida St has some great athletes as they always do. But again, as I put in my post about Oklahoma, a lot is made of the difference in athleticism between Mountain West Teams and SEC, Big Twelve, Pac-10, and also teams like Miami or Florida St, who play in the ACC, which looks like a pretty weak conference this year. In my experience that comparison is just greatly exaggerated. On paper it looks like a big difference, but I always found that once I got on the field with them, it usually wasn't anything special.

Overall I do think that the Seminoles' team speed is probably a little faster than BYU's but I don't think that's going to win them the game. I watched them against Miami last week, and they seem to rely more on their athletes making big plays rather than consistently working the ball down the field. They were just inconsistent with their execution. I think that BYU's discipline along with their sharper and more consistent execution is going to win them the game. Coach Mendenhall told us a few times (vs TCU, Oregon) in '06 that he thought that talent-wise we were on the short end of the stick, but both times, he said, I believe you guys are the better team. And we were.

One other thing that will play to the Cougars advantage is the altitude. I used to hear people say it was hard to come play at high altitudes and I thought it was just an excuse. But a couple years ago, I was training at sea level for a while and I was in great shape. I was working out at least twice a day, sometimes three times. And I came back to Utah and played in a city league basketball game with some of my friends. I about died! I'd never been so tired and unable to perform the way I wanted to before! It was so frustrating because we lost the game. I can't stand losing, especially something stupid like a pointless city league game! I just hit a wall and my body wouldn't respond.

So I no longer think it's just a myth. When the Seminoles come to town Saturday, I can tell you they will be huffing and puffing because the altitude really makes a difference.

Jonny Harline

Week 2 vs. Tulane

2009-09-13T13:27:00.000-07:00

The Cougars did what they needed to in this one. In week one they answered a lot of questions for me about improving on last year. This week I wanted to see if they would put a team like Tulsa away and do it big, which is another spot where they often had some trouble.

Any win is a win. But in college football you can win against a mediocre opponent sometimes even if you don't play particularly well. However, those kinds of win indicate letdowns in focus and are signs of weakness in a team. You have to eliminate those kinds of letdowns. I thought there were way too many of them in '08 for BYU. There wasn't enough killer instinct shown by really bringing the hammer down on their opponents. But Saturday against Tulane there was plenty, and when you have it going it's like putting the other team on a slippery slope. It's like magic when things just start rolling your way and you don't let up.

The only thing that could have gone better was that they didn't start the game as well as they could have. They winded up kicking field goals rather than scoring touchdowns on their first drives. A lot of people don't realize how much more difficult it is to score a touchdown than to drive the ball down the field. Once you get inside the twenty, it gets much harder. Some may say the defense digs in a little bit more, and I think there's something to that. However, I think the bigger factor is that the offense has less space to work with. There's no deep threat, they can sit on passes that were open before, like Tulane's safety did when he lit up my fellow tight end Andrew George over the middle! As an offense you've got to know that you have to execute with greater precision once you get there. They kicked a couple field goals, it doesn't worry me greatly because of how they finished, but when you can go up 14-0 rather than 6-0 right out of the gate, it really puts the heat on the other team.

Like I said, a win is a win, and BYU won the game the way they needed to, by dominating. 2-0! Good start.

Jonny Harline

Week 1 vs. Oklahoma

2009-09-13T11:25:00.000-07:00

I want to start out by going back to the big opener against Oklahoma.

Going into the game I was hopeful, but somewhat doubtful. Based on my experience, the difference between the conferences and teams that are hyped up and those that are considered less competitive is hugely exaggerated. There is some difference in talent level and depth, but that difference is not as great as many people think.

The main thing that separates some programs like USC, Florida, Texas, and Oklahoma, teams that continually have great success, and teams that win 5-10 games a year is really their expectations. They expect to win every game, whereas some teams hope to win any games. Those expectations lead to better focus and performance in practice which translates into greater execution in games, which is what ultimately wins games.

So going in I knew that BYU had the talent and ability to win the game, but they were going to have to overcome a lot. My doubts were whether they had the expectation of themselves to actually go out and take the game from Oklahoma, because Oklahoma wasn't going to give it to them. And in 2008, most teams laid down for BYU. Every game where their oppenent fought back, the Cougars didn't know what to do.

This game showed that their mentality has greatly matured and improved. They were so mentally tough I couldn't have been prouder. The defense was awesome the entire game. The offense executed when it mattered. They won the game, but the great thing is, they could've played a lot better. They had a few turnovers and they were missing a couple of their best players, Harvey Unga and Matt Bauman.

It was just a great game to watch, I was so nervous (I only get nervous when I watch, when I played I hardly ever had any nerves) and that made it even more fun. Hopefully they'll keep up that mentality and have that killer instinct all season long. It's a great start, but there's still a long way to go. Feel free to add your questions and comments!

Jonny Harline

Welcome Cougar Fans!!!

2009-09-12T18:15:00.001-07:00

Welcome to my BYU Football '09 blog! Like everyone else, I'm pumped up by how the Cougars have started out the '09 season. So I decided to start this blog to follow the team through the season, and give some of my views and comments along the way. I want to make this an open forum where anyone who wants to can comment or ask questions so there can be interaction between myself and fans and friends as much as possible. I'll be checking the blog daily (I hope to be on it at least twice a day when possible), and I'm planning on getting some of my teammates to post as well. Welcome again and go BYU!!!

Jonny Harline