BYU's Monday morning press conference included coach Bronco Mendenhall and team captains Travis Bright and David Nixon.

A recap of some of the points Bronco touched upon:

* Linebacker Vic So'oto underwent surgery this morning for a broken foot. One doctor told Mendenhall that So'oto will be out four weeks, while another said eight weeks.

Snow College transfer Coleby Clawson will now get most of the reps at weakside linebacker. The coach said it will be determined this week who will get time when Clawson needs a break.

"There's quite a drop-off after Vic and Coleby," he said.

* He said the difficulty of playing UCLA for the third time in 370 days is alleviated somewhat by the Bruins' coaching change. Basically, it is the third coaching staff the Cougars will have faced, because Karl Dorrell was gone by the time the Cougars played the Bruins in the Las Vegas Bowl.

* He praised the play of running back Fui Vakapuna, not only for scoring the 11-yard touchdown, but for the way he picked up blitzes and acted as a lead blocker for Harvey Unga.

* Asked how the Cougars are leading the country in third-down conversions, nearly 80 percent, Mendenhall surmised that a lot of it has to do with offensive Robert Anae's planning. He said the Cougars have not been entertaining, but have been methodical.

* BYU hasn't allowed a sack in two games (Max Hall's fumble in the end zone against Northern Iowa was not ruled a sack), and Mendenhall said a big reason why is the job being done by line coach Mark Webber. "Washington didn't come close" to Hall, he said.

* Mendenhall said he isn't worried that BYU dropped from No. 15 to No. 18 in the AP poll. He said he hasn't watched, listened to or read any accounts of the controversy caused by the celebration penalty on UW's Jake Locker.

He repeated what he said after the game about that call not decided the outcome of the game. Rather, the blocked kick decided it, he said.

"It was a correct call made by an official within the rules," he said, and later added, "We do have rules for a reason."

However, he repeated that the ruling was "unfortunate" for Locker and Washington.

* Asked whether the controversy will harm the Cougars' standing in the BCS, he said he doubts it will matter if BYU keeps winning.

"The BCS is on everyone's mind, but hopefully outside of our team room," he said.

* Mendenhall acknowledged that the secondary's play the first two games is a concern. He said it seems like more receivers have gotten past BYU's defensive backs in the past two games than they did all of the last two seasons.

* He again praised Locker, saying it took all 11 of BYU's players to corral him at times.

* He said that he was impressed by UCLA quarterback Kevin Craft when Craft played at LaVell Edwards Stadium for San Diego State a few years ago.

* Asked if UCLA has an advantage this week because it had a bye last week, Mendenhall said he could see it both ways.

"If I were in their shoes, I would have rather played a game," he said.

* Asked about the two poor punts uncorked by punter C.J. Santiago against Washington, Mendenhall said the first one was a result of "too much leakage" into the three-man shield set up in front of the punter. The second one "was possibly rushed a hair" by Santiago.

* Finally, asked if he will wear the same dark blue warmup pants that he has worn in wins over Oregon, UCLA and Washington on Saturday, the coach was noncommittal.

"I'm not certain about that," he said.

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Linebacker David Nixon, ever quotable, said that he wasn't surprised the Cougars blocked the PAT because they work on it at least five minutes a day in practice.

He also said he isn't worried about the drop in the AP poll.

"A win is a win," he said. "Being 2-0 is a lot better than being 1-1."

Asked about playing against Kevin Craft again, Nixon said he remembered Craft having a great arm when he was on the run, but not being comfortable in the pocket.

So far, the players have received only one UCLA game to watch on DVD, the one on Labor Day against Tennessee.

Finally, Nixon predicted that Washington will turn out to be better than people think if Locker stays healthy.

"Washington is going to go on and win some games this year," he said. ------------------------------

Travis Bright said the offensive line thinks it played a good game but will still find areas it can improve on.

He acknowledged that the snaps from Dallas Reynolds to Max Hall were a little low at times, but said overall Reynolds has handled the move from left tackle to center magnificently.

He also said that Matt Reynolds, the new left tackle, has the potential to be the best Reynolds brother yet.

As far as playing UCLA for the third time in just over a year, he said he is just thankful to be facing a team of the Bruins' caliber again. He broke his leg in the Las Vegas Bowl against the Bruins, but said that means nothing now.

"We are different, and so are they," he said.

BYU quarterback Max Hall is the Mountain West Conference Offensive Player of the Week, the league announced this morning.

Hall led the Cougars to a 28-27 win over Washington, BYU's 12th-straight win, by completing 30 of 41 passes for 338 yards and three touchdowns. It was the second-straight week Hall has thrown for 300 or more yards.

During the Cougars' opening drive of the game, Hall completed 6-of-6 attempts for 80 yards, including a 38-yard pass to Austin Collie to give BYU an early 7-0 lead. In the first quarter alone, Hall completed 10-of-12 passes for 110 yards. And in the final quarter of the game, Hall completed another 10 passes for 140 yards, including the game-winning touchdown pass -- a 15-yard bullet to Dennis Pitta in the end zone. One of the most impressive elements to Hall's performance on Saturday was his efficiency during third-down situations. Hall led the Cougars to 12-of-14 third-down conversions by completing 10-of-12 attempts for 149 yards.

On the season, Hall ranks second in the nation with 824 yards passing. Averaging 412 yards per game, Hall is on pace to pass for more than 4,900 yards this season. He has completed more than 78 percent of his passes.
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BYU's block of a 35-yard extra-point attempt with two seconds remaining is candidate for the Pontiac Game Changing Performance award, along with three other plays from the weekend's college football game.

Fans can go to pontiac.com/ncaa to view the video clips of the four finalists and vote for their favorite.

Voting began Sunday and ends at midnight on Wednesday. ESPN will anounce this week's winner on Thursday night during the Pontiac G6 Halftime Report.

The winning university will earn a $5,000 contribution from Pontiac to their general scholarship fund. Additionally, the winning play will be nominated for the Pontiac Game Changing Performance of the Year award and the chance to win a $100,000 general scholarship contribution from Pontiac.
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BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall just wrapped up his Monday morning press conference. I will be posting a recap of that in an hour or so.

UCLA's big win over Tennessee last Monday apparently didn't resonate with AP voters, who dropped the Bruins from the Top 25. Maybe they just forgot about UCLA, which was idle over the weekend.

The Bruins aren't getting much respect from the oddsmakers, either.

BYU is a nine-point favorite over UCLA in this Saturday's game at LaVell Edwards Stadium, according to this Web site.
I figured the Cougars would be favored between four and six points, but what do I know? I think the betting public will got with UCLA, and wouldn't be surprised to see the point spread drop to around seven by game time.
By the way, Oklahoma is a 20-point favorite over Washington in a game that will be played at Husky Stadium. BYU was a 9-point favorite over the Huskies, and it could be argued that if Harvey Unga hadn't fumbled at the goal line, the actual final margin would have been close to that.

In what will be the weekend's top college game, USC is a 7.5 point favorite over Ohio State.
Utah is favored to beat Utah State by 25 in Logan.

-------------------------------

Northern Iowa, the team BYU beat 41-17 in Week 1, rebounded Saturday with a 24-13 win over South Dakota State before 12,904 fans at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls. A couple of reports I read called the victory sloppy and a bit disappointing because of the Panthers' turnovers. Sound familiar?

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The Washington safety who was injured Saturday, Darin Harris, was released from Harborview Medical Center today. Tests showed he had no spinal injuries, just a concussion. Yes, that was his mother (Valerie), who sprinted across the field to check on her son while he was being attended to by medical personnel close to the BYU sideline.
Before he talked about anything else after the game, BYU coach offered his support and prayers for Harris, which I thought was a classy move.
"I am not certain how bad of shape their player is in. It didn't look good," Mendenhall said. "So first of all, our support and thoughts and prayers go out to [him] and his mom -- I believe that is who that was, running out there. And our hope is that he's OK."
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Here's one AP voter who didn't drop the Cougars on her ballot this week. Molly Yannity of the Seattle Post Intelligencer listed her ballot on her blog and wrote the following about BYU, which she ranked 15th:

"BYU didn't look like a top-20 team against Washington, but I have a few voting rules and one of them is teams that win on the road don't fall - even if the win is ugly. A win on the road is a win on the road. BYU's offense is good and next week's meeting of a good UCLA defense should be fun to watch."

The Cougars may have won a nonconference game on the road Saturday at Washington, but they apparently lost favor with the media members who vote in the AP Top 25 poll.

BYU (2-0) dropped three spots, from No. 15 to No. 18, in the poll that was released this afternoon.

The Cougars remained at No. 15 in the USA Today college football coaches poll.

Obviously, there is going to be a lot of speculation as to why the Cougars dropped when they won a game. As has been covered here and elsewhere, natonal media reports on BYU's 28-27 win focused on the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty issued to UW's Jake Locker and how it could have cost the Huskies a shot at taking the Cougars into overtime.

Did those reports influence voters to drop the Cougars? Who knows.

By the way, the three teams that leapfrogged BYU were East Carolina (unranked to No. 14), Oregon (No. 18 to No. 16) and Penn State (No. 19 to No. 17).

South Florida also dropped, from No. 17 to No. 19, despite winning.

The University of Utah remained at No. 22 in the AP Poll and moved a spot from No. 23 to No. 22 in the coaches poll.

UCLA, BYU's opponent this Saturday, would be No. 26 in the AP and No. 27 in the coaches poll if they extended that far.

Well, it is the day after.

And regardless of what those talking heads on ESPN, Fox Sports Net, etc., said last night, BYU's 28-27 win over Washington still stands.

On the way out of town, I grabbed a couple Washington newspapers, mostly to see what kinds of headlines they had come up with (the articles are easily obtainable online, but sometimes the headlines differ).

The Tacoma News Tribune had "UW Death By Ref" in its masthead on A-1 with the subheads, "Flag Ruins Thrilling Moment," and "Coach Says Call Was Good."

The main headline in the News Tribune's sports section read: "Officially Devastated" with the subhead "Controversial celebration call costs UW shot at OT."

The Seattle Times' A-1 masthead proclaimed, "A Brutal Call Jolts Huskies." Its main sports section heading went, "Nothing To Celebrate" and underneath that, "Locker's controverisal penalty precedes extra-point miss," somehow missing the fact that the kick was actually blocked.

Columnists in both papers railed on the referees, with the New Tribune's John McGrath and the Times' Steve Kelley saying the Pac-10 officials deserved a penalty.

Both papers ran the large photo moved by the Associated Press that shows BYU lineman Jan Jorgensen busting through the line and blocking the kick.

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Couldn't work these comments from Max Hall and Dennis Pitta into our coverage in this morning's paper:

Hall on BYU's drive after Harvey Unga's goal-line fumble:

"I think we knew we could move the ball on them," he said. "I think we figured out things in the second half that were working for us and we focused on that. We had a great drive, and Harvey [Unga] is our guy. I'd have no one else running the ball, but the guy got a good hit on him and he fumbled the ball. So for us to bounce back and have another long drive and go down and score says a lot about our offense and a lot about our guys on the O-line. I was proud of how they played and proud of how we drove the ball, and I'm glad it worked out for us."

Pitta describing the game:

"It wasn't an easy win, we gotta give credit to Washington. They're a good football team. They came out and they played us tough. We made some mistakes, especially out on that goal line, that we can't be making, shooting ourselves in the foot. We had a chance to put away the game and we didn't take advantage of it. We knew we deserved that win, we knew we played hard, and we never doubt ourselves when it comes down to one play. We know we're going to give it our all, and we were able to come up with a big play at the end."

Naturally, postgame talk after BYU's 28-27 win over Washington on Saturday focused on the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty assessed to UW quarterback Jake Locker and the ensuing blocked PAT.

Here's what Washington coach Tyrone Willingham said about the call:

"It's unfortunate, but it's one that they almost have to call. It really should be a no-call, but it's one that they have to call when they see it.

"The game is an emotional game. We cannot play it without emotion, and therefore we are going to celebrate. The key is trying to manufacture the right celebration that does not belittle the game or the sportsmanship that should be part of the game."

Although the PAT that was blocked appeared low and probably would not have made it past BYU's line surge from any distance, Willingham said it the extra length made a difference.

"It changes everything. I don't think there's any question about that. It made a difference, but it's still one that we count on ourselves being able to protect and get off the kick."

Willingham praised BYU for being physical and aggressive.

"That is a good football team. That running back they have (Harvey Unga) is very difficult to tackle. He's a big man that runs well. He's nifty, he catches the football. Their tight end (Dennis Pitta) obviously posed some problems. They are big tight ends that move well and catch the football."

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Pac-10 referee Larry Farina's official statement on the penalty is on our Web site, but in case you haven't found it there, here it is:

"After scoring the touchdown, the player threw the ball into the air and we are required, by rule, to assess a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. It is a celebration rule that we are required to call. it was not a judgment call."

The official quoted Rule 9, Section 2, Article 1, which states:

"There shall be no unsportsmanlike conduct or any act that interferes with orderly game administration on the part of players, substitutes, coaches, authorized attendants or any other persons subject to the rules, before the game, during the game or between periods.
Specifically prohibited acts and conduct include:
2. After a score or any other play, the player in possession immediately must return the ball to an official or leave it near the dead-ball spot.
This prohibits: (a) Kicking, throwing, spinning or carrying (including off of the field) the ball any distance that requires an official to retrieve it.
(b) Spiking the ball to the ground [Exception: A forward pass to conserve time (Rule 7-3-2-d)].
(c) Throwing the ball high into the air.
(d) Any other unsportsmanlike act or actions that delay the game.

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The Cougars were already thin at linebacker, and it got worse Saturday with the injury to Vic So'oto. A BYU spokesperson said the initial diagnosis was that So'oto broke his foot in the first half.

More will be known after an evaluation Sunday or Monday, but the converted tight end is probably going to be out for six weeks, maybe longer.

Coleby Clawson, who split time with So'oto the first game, will now become the full-time starter at the weakside linebacker position.

I just got near a television for the first time since I left Husky Stadium, flipped on ESPN and there's college football analyst Mark May calling the ruling on Jake Locker's celebration at the end of the BYU-Washington game "horrible" and "inexcusable."

Other TV announcers are having a hey day with the call, too.

I've got no problem with that -- it's their opinion.

Couple of things, though.

I was standing about 15 feet away from Locker when he scored the touchdown, and to say that he merely flipped the football in the air, or tossed it over his shoulder, is inaccurate.

The television replays I've seen don't show it, but unless my eyes were deceiving me, it got some pretty serious altitude.

He threw it 25-30 feet in the air with sort of a rolling-the-wrist motion that caused the ball to spiral. He threw it high enough that I instinctively thought to myself, "He could get flagged for that," and I glanced toward the nearest official.

Also, announcers on the highlight shows are saying the ruling kept the game from going into overtime.

Well, not exactly.

The blocked PAT -- regardless of the length -- kept the game from going into overtime.

I'm not sure the kick would have made it from the normal extra-point length. It was low, and the player whose arm it hit, BYU's Jan Jorgensen, said he broke through the line so fast that he's not sure his arm was even raised when the ball hit it.

Did Ryan Perkins change the trajectory of the kick because he was 15 yards farther away than normal? Only Perkins knows for sure, but I can't imagine it would make that much of a difference. A kick from 40-50 yards away, maybe so.

Yes, the Cougars got a break today on that particular call. But to say it altered the outcome of the game -- that's a stretch.

Just a quick post before we leave the stadium and head back, with the promise of more later from the thrilling college football game here at Husky Stadium.

Forget how the game ended, or that BYU won by just a point for the second time in three games.

The Cougars played more than well enough to win, it what turned out to be quite a hostile environment. Husky Stadium got loud -- really, really loud -- in the second half, despite the presence of 10,000 or so Cougar fans, and the Cougars still had the poise and grittiness to pull off the road win.

Aside from one interception he threw just before halftime, Max Hall was again sensational. He completed 30 of 41 passes for 338 yards and three TDs.

And what can you say about Dennis Pitta? It looks like BYU has another NFL-type tight end on its hands.

Sure, there were some mistakes. Punter C.J. Santiago averaged just 27.5 yards on two punts. The good news is that the Cougars' offense was so dominant, Santiago wasn't called on in the second half.

BYU's offensive line was fantastic. Hall was not touched the entire game, and Harvey Unga rushed for 136 yards.

All in all, a very positive step for the program, although coach Bronco Mendenhall wrapped up his postgame address to the media by saying, "We have not arrived, but I think we are making progress, and we are learning a lot more about this year's team."

Resiliency, for one thing.

It's halftime at Husky Stadium, with the score deadlocked at 14-14 apiece.

Washington will get the ball first in the third quarter.

The Cougars have to be a little disappointed with how the first half went, because they probably should be ahead by a touchdown or more.

They were driving at the end of the half, but Max Hall slightly underthrew a receiver who was covered and Washington's Mason Foster picked off the pass to end the threat.

At the half, BYU has 228 yards of offense and Washington has 157.

The Cougars have kept UW quarterback Jake Locker in check, although he ran for a 13-yard touchdown and threw a 48-yard TD pass on third-and-14.

On that drive, the Cougars seemingly had the Huskies stopped on third-and-23 from the UW 8. However, Locker threw a pass that David Tafuna seemingly had a bead on, only to have it pop out of his hands and into the waiting arms of D'Andre Goodwin for a 25-yard gain.

The Cougars are also killing themselves with penalties, although a few have been questionable, including a late-hit call on cornerback Scott Johnson.

BYU has also dropped a few passes. Austin Collie caught a 38-yard touchdown pass on BYU's first possession, but has struggled since then. He dropped two passes on the possession that BYU eventually scored its second touchdown on. He might have been looking into the sun, though. We will have to ask him after the game.

The Cougs have been penalized five times for 40 yards, while Washington has been flagged once, for 5 yards.

Washington is in a situation similar to where it was last week. The Huskies trailed Oregon 14-10 at the break, and was outscored 30-0.

Will it happen again?

A few pre-game thoughts:

* If the Cougars really are a Top 25 team, they should roll today. They're healthy, they've got confidence and a game under their belts. There are no excuses.

* Just met up with a friend I grew up with and went to Bingham High with, Craig Frantz, down on the concourse and had a littlle chat. Craig lives in Washington now and is a big Huskies fan.

He admits he wouldn't mind seeing the Huskies lose today, if it leads to the firing of coach Tyrone Willingham. I wonder how many folks in the stands are thinking the same thing.

* That said, I think it is a must for the Cougars to score first today and take the crowd out of it. If it is close in the fourth quarter, this place could get deafening.

* Been reading about BYU's losses on the road the past few seasons to UCLA, Tulsa, Boston College and Arizona. Sure, the Cougars could get stung again, but this just seems like a different team -- more confident, and more determined, knowing that one misstep could derail their BCS goals.

Well, Cosmo won't have to worry about being chased by a dog today.

There's a report in the Seattle Times today saying Washington's canine mascot, "Spirit," has ben placed on the disabled list with a shoulder injury.

Seriously!

It seems Spirit was chasing a squirrel and stepped into a hole, injurying his shoulder in the process. No word yet on how long the Alaska Malamute will be out.

Spirit has been the school's mascot since 1999 and was scheduled to retire at the end of this season.

------------------------

We are about 30 minutes away from kickoff, anda large group of BYU players just came out of the locker room and into the view of the crowd. A big roar went up.

My guess that there would be a few thousands BYU fans here appears really low. Gotta be at least 5,000, maybe more.

The Cougars are wearing their dark blue punts with a white stripe on the side, whith their white jersey top.

Justin Sorensen just made a 55-yard field goal, with a few feet to spare.

Reading the Seattle newspapers this morning, there's a sense of desperation here for the Huskies. Generally, the theme is "Coach Tyrone Willingham better win this one, because Oklahoma is up next."

Both major Seattle newspapers are picking the Cougars to win.

Molly Yanity of the Seattle Post Intelligencer picks BYU to win, 31-24.

Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times picks it BYU 38, Washington 34. -----------------------------

Looking around the stadium, there's a "scoreboard" in the northeast corner that tracks defensive statistics.

It includes takeaways, sacks and tackles for loss. Then there's something I've never seen before, a column that tracks "three and outs."

Well, we're settled in here in the press box at Husky Stadium. A Little League football game is going on way below us -- and I mean waaaay below us.

The setup here for the media reminds me of what they have in a lot of hockey-only arenas around the country, such as HP Pavilion in San Jose.

It feels like we are looking straight down at the field.

Already, there are dozens of yachts and boats just east of the field on Lake Washington. What you don't see on television, if you have never been here, is that there's a softball field and a soccer field between the east end zone and the water.

They say it is going to get above 70 degrees today, but right now it is cool and cloudy. No rain clouds in sight.

Kickoff is about 90 minutes away.

My former boss at The Tribune, Kurt Kragthorpe, once told me that sports writers should never complain in print about their jobs. He also said they should never gloat about the good stuff, either, because it turns off readers.

I'm going to break that little piece of advice.

I almost saw a no-hitter tonight by a pitcher making his first Major League start -- against the New York Yankees, no less.

While most of the Cougars were participating in a fireside at an LDS Chapel in Kent, Wash., a lot of the Utah media members here to cover the game went over to Safeco Field to catch the Mariners-Yankees game.

Brandon Morrow took a no-hitter into the eighth inning for the Mariners, but pinch-hitter Wilson Betemit doubled off him with two outs. The Mariners won, 3-1.

Former Cougar Nate Meikle was there with his wife, Keisha(sp), and he said his radio cohorts, Greg Wrubell and Marc Lyons, were also there. Former Tribune BYU beat writer Patrick Kinahan, now a radio talk show host, also caught the game.

I saw dozens of people there wearing BYU attire, too. It will be interesting to see how much of the crowd of 70,000 or so tomorrow is made up of BYU fans. Couple thousand, perhaps?

Back at the hotel, BYU players were scattered throughout the lobby, still decked out in their white shirts and ties. I ran across linebacker David Nixon in the elevator, and he reported that the fireside was one of the best yet. The chapel was packed, and talks were given by Spencer Hadley, coach Bronco Mendenhall and his wife, Holly, and one other player -- Bryan Kariya, I think.

I drove by Husky Stadium to and from the baseball game. Tomorrow should be very, very interesting.

Talked with a few BYU fans on the flight over here, and the discussion turned to which team tomorrow has more to lose, BYU or Washington.

In my opinion, there's much more pressure on BYU.

Why?

Because expectations for Washington are low, while it is just the opposite for the Cougars. Besides, the Huskies have already lost a game -- a conference game at that -- and are really just playing for a .500 record and to save coach Tyrone Willingham's job, if they care that much.

BYU is playing for a BCS berth and national respect. It is as simple as that.

Anyway, I did a little internet surfing and I found these comments from Willingham about the importance of the game and how much it means. I got them from the Seattle Times' Washington football blog:

Asked if Washington's players understand how important the game is to BYU, Willingham said:

"Yes. I think we understand and I think we put it in a form that they can understand. We really didn't talk about the Utah game. But when you listen to the BYU people, you hear that Washington, UCLA, they kind of believe that if they can get these two ball games, then it's smooth sailing to the Utah ball game and that will come out the way it will. We understand the importance that they are placing on this football game. And for us, it's a really important game. It's our home opener. We believe we have a lot of things going and we didn't show them last week. We want to get back to being a football team that we think we are."

Asked if Washington's receivers can take advantage of BYU's inexperienced secondary, Willingham said:

"You have to remember, BYU doesn't exactly let you get to mismatches. That's not their system. Their system is to kind of play over the top and force you to beat them with consistency. They're not going to be in-your-face, or at least we don't think. They may change up now. We may come in here and all of a sudden, the only thing we see is bump and run. But we don't anticipate that being the case. They're going to force you to beat them in their system. I think you heard me say earlier in the week, both offensively and defensively, they believe in their system."

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Just passed two big buses with BYU football logos in the window in the parking lot outside and got into my hotel room here in Bellevue. I flipped on the television news just in time to catch the sports and the weather.

They say it is going to be 66-68 degrees and sunny at game time (noon local, 1 p.m MT) tomorrow.

Channel 5 here in Seattle didn't say much about the game, only that it starts at noon. Instead, their sports broadcast focused on the Seahawks making the trip to Buffalo for their NFL opener on Sunday, and some features about the opening of the high school football season here tonight.

Tonight, most of the Cougars will be participating in a fireside at an LDS Chapel in nearby Kent, Wash.

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The No. 16-ranked BYU women's volleyball team downed Siena in four sets today (25-13, 24-26, 25-9, 25-20) at the Texas A&M Invitational in College Station, Texas. The win improved the team's record to 4-0.

Just landed in Seattle and wanted to get an update in before I headed out to Bellevue, where the Cougars are staying.

It is overcast and about 68 degrees here, although the sun occasionally breaks through.

Of course, there were a lot of BYU fans on Delta's 3:10 p.m. flight out of Salt Lake City, including Scott Bell, a Salt Lake City attorney, who was an intern at the Tribune way back when.

Bell went on to BYU after the internship, then graduated from Duke law school before getting a job for considerably more pay back in SLC.

Bell and some guys in his office pick one BYU road trip a year to go on. They went to UCLA last year.

Me, I am looking forward to checking out Husky Stadium from the inside. I've driven past it five or six times, but never been to a game there.

Earlier this week, I talked to three or four Cougars about what they were expecting at a stadium many have said is one of the top 10 in college football.

Here's a sampling:

Max Hall: "We get a chance to go and play in their stadium, and it is a sweet stadium, from what I've heard. They are a team we can beat, so we have to prepare and make sure we are on top of our game."

"Coach [Brandon] Doman has told us a little bit about BYU's history with Washington, and so wouldn't say it is a big-time rivalry or anything. But we have a past with them and we've played each other several times. I know they've beat us more than we've beat them. I know it won't be easy."

Coach Bronco Mendenhall: "I was the defensive coordinator at Oregon State [the only time he's been to Husky Stadium]. I think Corey Dillon was the running back [for Washington]. And it was close for about three quarters. I don't remember the final score, but we didn't win."

Brandon Doman: "Washington, we compete against them all the time in recruiting. And we've played them and we've had some success, and they've had some success against us. The rivalry will get really heat up [in the future], because we play them four times in the next five years, or something like that. What a great place to go play. It is an unbelievable stadium, and a beautiful city, and they've got a good football team."

Jan Jorgensen: "I am excited. I hear it is a great atmosphere with the lake right there in the end zone. So I am excited to go out there and play. It's an early morning game [noon in Seattle], so I will have to get up early to go out there and do it, but I am excited to go player there."

Blaine Newnham was a highly respected sports columnist for the Seattle Times from 1982 to 2005, so when a Washington sports information department employee suggested I call him to get a feeling for what the Huskies think about BYU, I was all over it.

Newnham turned out to be a great source for information -- although I interrupted his viewing of Sarah Palin's speech at the Republican Convention -- and I quoted him in my article today about Washington coach Tyrone Willingham being on the hot seat.

I also used some of Newnham's insights for an article we will run Saturday about the history between the two programs, which exploded in 1984 when BYU was voted the national champion and Washington finished No. 2 in both major polls.

"It's been a really good rivalry," Newnham said. "If you think about it, there are very few rivals in the West for Pac-10 schools outside their own conference. I think BYU would be the school most point to as their biggest rival. Maybe Boise State, with what they've done lately. And Utah might get a little consideration. But BYU is the team....When you play BYU, I think people understand you are going to have a game on your hands."

That said, Newnham said that if the Pac-10 were ever to expand, he doubts BYU would be invited -- for a bunch of reasons not entirely related to sports (Sunday play, etc.) that have been bandied around for decades.

Although there's an article in today's Tacoma News-Tribune that rehashes the whole 1984 national championship controversy (I will do it tomorrow), Newnham says he doesn't remember that many people in the Northwest being all that grumpy about it.

"It was a surprise that Washington even had a shot at the national championship because it lost to USC in the Rose Bowl," he said. "They ended up in the Orange Bowl as a heavy underdog to Oklahoma. All of a sudden they win that game and there's nobody else that is a candidate [for the title] except them and BYU. For me, it wasn't a big deal. BYU was the only undefeated team in the country."

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One interesting element in the aforementioned News Tribune article that I did not know was that last season, then-UW athletic director Todd Turner said he would consider the UW's 1984 team's claim to the national title and perhaps choose to have the university officially recognize it. Apparently, that was belatedly done with UW's 1960 team.

Can't imagine BYU fans would be happy with that. -------------------------------------------------------------

Speaking of reviewing past games, The Tribune's Gordon Monson takes a close look back at the 1996 BYU-Washington game in his column today. Monson says this year's contest is looking eerily similar to that one, which became BYU's only loss in a 14-1 season.
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Saturday's game is a "marquee match-up" according to the people who hand out the Davey O'Brien Award to the nation's top quarterback, because it pits BYU's Max Hall against Washington's Jake Locker. Both players are on the O'Brien preseason watch list.

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Couple more links from the Seattle newspapers:

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer says that if Washington can beat 9 1/2-point favorite BYU, it would be the Huskies' first win over a Top 20 opponent since they beat No. 8 Washington State in 2003. But it will take more than one victory to save coach Tyrone Willingham's job.

The Seattle Times’ Bob Condotta explores the notion that teams improve the most between their first and second games by looking back at past Washington seasons. His conclusion? Uh, not so much.

A byproduct of their woes against nonconference road opponents the last few years for the BYU Cougars is that they've gotten off to bad starts.

The Cougs have gone 1-2 the past four seasons, mostly due to road losses.

Quarterback Max Hall said starting the season better has been a theme for the team almost since the time spring camp began.

"I think it is important for us right now to just get our first nonconference road victory, get us over the hump in that regard," he said. "It is important for our team to keep winning ball games and keep playing like we can. Again, it is important, but we are not trying to make it too much of a big deal."

Hall said the Cougars didn't change their approach much in the offseason; rather, they believe another year of maturity and experience will serve them well.

"We are just focusing on what we are doing now," he said "We are not going to let what has happened in the past bug us or haunt us at all, so we're looking forward to this season and the things we can do right now."

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He went 6-2 with his Pac-10 picks last week, so ESPN.com's Ted Miller obviously knows what he's talking about. BYU fans hope he's wrong on this one though: Miller is picking Washington to beat BYU 33-27 in Saturday's game.
Then again, he says Oregon is going to beat Utah State 70-3, so maybe he's going for the shock factor. Here's the link.

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The road struggles continued for BYU's women's soccer team on Thursday night. The Cougars lost 4-1 to William & Mary at Williamsburg, Va.

Freshman forward Lauren Anderson scored the first goal of her career, but the Cougars couldn't keep up with the Tribe and lost big.

BYU now travels to Wisconsin to face Marquette on Saturday.

I've got some good news and bad news, depending upon which side of the BYU-Utah aisle you sit on.

Tyler Haws, the Lone Peak High basketball star who is ranked as one of the top 100 senior prep basketball players in the country, has narrowed his choices to two schools.

One of the Utah schools is on the list, the other isn't.

Check out our Recruiting Trail blog for more.

I know, that's teasing and a tacky way to drive some traffic to my other blog.

Sorry, I won't do it again.....for a week or so.

BYU's young and inexperienced linebacking corps -- with the exception of senior David Nixon -- with get tested severely Saturday when the Cougars take on Washington at Husky Stadium because, of course, UW has one of the top dual-threat quarterbacks in the country, Jake Locker.

I talked to Nixon on Wednesday about who will be responsible for containing the redshirt sophomore from Ferndale, Wash.

"We are going to give him lots of different looks," Nixon said. "You watch the Oregon game and almost every play they put two guys on him, to try to contain hm. He is their offense. If he gets rolling, we could be in trouble."

Nixon said Locker reminds him of former Oregon quarterback Dennis Dixon, whom the Cougars faced in the 2006 Las Vegas Bowl. BYU held Oregon and Dixon in check, allowing just 260 yards and a fourth-quarter 47-yard touchdown pass in that 38-8 win.

But the Cougars think Locker is a better runner that Dixon, and perhaps a slightly better thrower.

"Locker poses a whole new threat to us," Nixon said. "He has a decent arm, but his speed is unreal, so we put some schemes in hopefully to corral him, contain him. The biggest thing right now is to make sure he doesn't get out of the pocket, because that's where he really gets dangerous."

A veteran who has been in a lot of these types of battles in his career, Nixon is telling his teammates that the Huskies will be giving it all they've got because they were embarrassed last week, "and a team that has been humiliated is a very, very dangerous team."

Nixon said he isn't sure why BYU has struggled to win nonconference games like this one on the road the past several years. Maybe it is the big setting in front of big crowds, he theorizes.

"If I could put a finger on it, it would have been solved by now," he said. "Obviously, some [nonconference] teams we play are just tougher than the Mountain West Conference teams we play. Washington will be, I'm pretty sure." ------------------------------------------------

BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall concurred with Nixon that Washington will play much better this week because its pride has been stung.

"My guess is that they will make significant improvement Week 1 to Week 2, like most teams do," Mendenhall said. "We do as well."

However, as he is wont to do, Mendenhall again expressed that the Cougars spend precious little time thinking about the mindset of their opponents.

"Our focus can't be on what anybody else is doing. It is only on us," he said. "It has always been about us, our execution, our position mastery, our preparation. And the more we start worrying about what they are going to do, the less we are thinking about us."

Asked after Wednesday's practice whether he is concerned or not about the fact that Saturday's officiating crew will come entirely from the Pac-10 -- as is customary in all Pac-10 home games -- BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall downplayed the matter, saying "I try not to make a big deal about it." Almost every other conference in the country , if not all, use a combination of officials from a variety of leagues to make up their officiating crews, especially in out-of-conference matchups.

"It isn't [being addressed], and it really doesn't do any good to address it," Mendenhall said. "I try to prepare our team at fall camp, especially when the offense has the ball [with quick whistles and strict officiating] just to overwhelm them with bias, maybe it will help us in this game. But we never expect, nor does any team that goes on the road, to get favorable calls. I mean, that's just part of the game. "

Later last night, after being asked about the Pac-10's arrangement on his weekly radio show on KSL AM 1160, Medenhall called it "wrong" and said he believes it may give the league an unfair advantage.

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It was suggested to Mendenhall on Wednesday (not by me) that Washington didn't give a great effort in its 44-10 loss at Oregon, to which the coach responded rather sharply, "I think they gave a great effort in their first game. They didn't execute perfectly, but I think they will try hard, just like they did in the first game."

Mendenhall has defended embattled Washington coach Tyrone Willingham at every turn this week, a topic I will address in an article in tomorrow's Tribune.

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Lots of great stuff about the Washington-BYU matchup out there today. In Seattle, both major newspapers focused on BYU today.

The Seattle Post Intelligencer takes a look at the evolution of BYU's offenses under Mendenhall and offensive coordinator Robert Anae.

The Seattle Times delves into BYU's Quest for Perfection, and what that entails with some interesting comments by tight end Dennis Pitta.

In the Tribune, we have a story about BYU's struggles to win nonconference road games, and how if the Cougs can't get it done Saturday, their next chance (other than Utah State on Oct. 3) won't be until next year, at Tulane, perhaps.

Also, The Tribune's Kurt Kragthorpe has an insightful column about how Utah and BYU need each other this year.

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I am not computer/internet expert, but the good people in our online department have set up something called a twitter feed for our BYU web page. Go here for the link to set it up.

Backup safety Andrew Rich cracked a bone in his right hand at practice a few days ago and is wearing a cast, but will still see action Saturday against Washington, coach Bronco Mendenhall said after practice Wednesday.

"It won't effect his reps, or playing time at all," Mendenhall said. "It is for protection. It really doesn't need to be casted to protect it."

Rich broke the hand in practice on Monday.

Aside from him, Mendenhall said the Cougars are healthy and ready to play.

"Nobody's hurt......so it is good news."

Offensive guard Ray Feinga joined practice midway through the session with a black stocking-like wrap around his right leg, but participated in the drills and will be ready to play. He even got into a slight skirmish with Justin Blackmore, a scout team player and freshman from West Jordan.
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Overall, Mendenhall said Wednesday's practice -- the last one of the week that's open to the media -- was "a little sloppy."

"I liked it yesterday [better]," he said. "I think maybe the combination of [practice] and the second day of school caught up with them. The intent was right. The execution was not what I would have liked to have seen."
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There are late-arriving crowds, and then there is late-arriving crowd noise.

The guy with the speakers and stereo system designed to play crowd noise showed up with only about 15 minutes left in practice Wednesday.

"We actually would have preferred to have it during the whole team period," Mendenhall said, speaking diplomaticall. "Another thing to manage. Maybe we will be on time tormorrow with it." -----------------------------------------
Mendenhall said Austin Collie will be used as a punt returner on Saturday, but not for every punt. He probably will not be used on kickoff returns.
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At his weekly press conference, Northern Iowa coach Mark Farley delivered some interesting lines about the Panthers' experience traveling to Provo and playing the Cougars.

Here are a few excerpts from an article written by Jim Sullivan of the Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier:

* Mark Farley fielded one final question before leaving the podium Tuesday afternoon.

"Would you do it again?" someone asked, referring to Northern Iowa's season-opening trip to Brigham Young. Farley, grinning, gave the question some hang time before letting it drop.

"I'll leave that one out there," said the Panthers' head football coach. "Thank you."

* A few players, among them starting quarterback Pat Grace, are not 100 percent as Saturday's home debut against South Dakota approaches. In spite of the wounds, emotional and physical, Farley believes he has a handle on the 2008 Panthers one game into the season.

"We will be a good football team," said Farley. "Our team is more confident today because we know we did not get outrun by the fastest team we'll play, and we know we matched them hit-for-hit. We got hit, but so did they."

* Grace left the BYU game three times after taking hard shots from the Cougar defense. He participated in part of Tuesday's practice. The UNI coach would not say that Grace suffered a concussion last weekend. While labeling his status "questionable," he believed the quarterback would be ready for the UNI-Dome debut.

"We did get the dog beat out of us," said Farley. "It was a very physical game. But I think (BYU) is probably pretty sore, too."

The little punishment the Cougars conducted after Tuesday's practice in which a bunch of freshmen had to roll around the practice field for 10 minutes or so because they did not know the school song is already paying dividends.

As they congregated around the south end of the practice field before Wednesday's 3:50 p.m. practice, several freshmen -- led by big offensive center Nate Hartung -- belted out the song. Let's say this: they are picking up the words faster than the tune.

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The first-team offense started practice by working on a play or two that we haven't seen before. We will leave it at that.

There are at least four pro scouts here today, but perhaps the best NFL prospect on BYU's roster, guard Ray Feinga, isn't. Haven't seen big No. 76; He was at practice Tuesday, but didn't participate.
Update: Feinga joined the team 30 minutes into practice and is now practicing.

Austin Collie was working with the quarterbacks at the start of practice, but is now over with the punt returners.

More after practice.

A couple of former BYU quarterbacks, Brandon Doman and Robbie Bosco, disagree on whether BYU and Washington are rivals.
The Cougars face the Huskies for the seventh time since 1985 on Saturday at Husky Stadium, but the first time since 1999 (the year Chris Hale caught a TD pass with 1:16 remaining for a 35-28 win).
After Saturday, the teams will also hook up in 2010, 2011 and 2012.
Now BYU's quarterbacks coach, Doman was a third-string quarterback/wide receiver on the 1999 team and says there is a rivalry because of some past games and lingering feeling's over BYU's 1984 national championship. Washington fiinished No. 2 in the major polls to BYU.
"I think anytime BYU goes into any Pac-10 stadium, they feel like it is a rivalry against us,' he said. "Washington, we compete against them all the time in recruiting. And we've played them and we've had some success, and they've had some success against us. There's no question that we feel a rivalry towards them.
"Maybe not quite like they would feel against Washington State or Oregon, or us vs. Utah, but we definitely look forward to playing those guys."
Bosco, who led the Cougars to the 1984 national championship and then beat Washington 31-3 in 1985 at then-Cougar Stadium, said the schools haven't seen enough of each other to declare themselves rivals.
"I don't think so," he said. "Six games, I don't think that's a long enough history to be counted. Once we start playing them a lot more, it could turn into something good. I don't know that we've played them enough to make it much of a big deal."
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You gotta love Max Hall, who will go down as one of the most quotable BYU quarterbacks ever. He doesn't ramble on like John Beck did, and he's far less controversial than Jim McMahon. Maybe television is in his future, a la Steve Young.
Hall has been asked dozens of times already about Washington quarterback Jake Locker this week, and he always seems to have a different line about his counterpart this Saturday.
"He's just an athletic dude, man, and he makes plays," Hall said. "That's what I admire about him. He's a scrapper and runs around and does a lot of good things. You can tell he's the leader of the team, and that's what a quarterback should be."

During the Mountain West Conference football coaches teleconference Tuesday morning, a reporter from the Everett (Wash.) Herald asked BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall if there was a chance the Cougars would enter Saturday's game against the Huskies overconfident.

"There isn't. We won't," Mendenhall said.

Anyone who knows BYU's history in nonconference road games the past few years knows that.

Frankly, I am surprised that BYU is favored by almost a touchdown or more in the game. The service The Tribune uses for the lines it publishes in its scoreboard section still has not posted a point spread, but Danny Sheridan of USA Today lists BYU as a six-point favorite.

I've heard that some sportsbooks have BYU favored by as many as 10 points.

My skepticism that BYU will pound Washington stems from two stats: 1) BYU has lost nine straight nonconference road games, a streak that I will focus on in my story in tomorrow's Tribune. The Cougars have not won a nonconference road game outside the state of Utah since 2001, when they beat Mississippi State. 2) BYU struggles mightily to run the ball against BCS conference teams, as was detailed in a Tribune story this morning. Twice against UCLA last year, BYU rushed for 44 and then 34 yards in 25 and 28 attempts.

Yes, they did put up 173 rushing yards on Oregon in the 2006 Las Vegas Bowl, but I have a feeling that Washington will be a little more interested Saturday than the Ducks were back then.

We will see.

------------------------------------------------

According to various Washington newspaper reports, Washington has sold just more than 65,000 tickets for Saturday's game. UW is about 100 season tickets shy of last year's total (43,516), but it has sold 1,600 more student tickets this year compared to last year. -------------------------------------------------

Much of the responsibility of keeping Washington defenders off of BYU quarterback Max Hall will fall on the shoulders of redshirt freshman left tackle Matt Reynolds.

The former Timpview High start said he "took a bad set" on that play last week that enable a UNI defensive end to hit Hall from behind in the end zone, causing a fumble. Reynolds, who was praised by Hall and others for playing an otherwise stellar game, said he hopes to learn from the miscue and move on.

"I feel like we played as a whole very well," he said. "I feel like I played OK, except for that one play. It is something we can correct and improve on."

Reynolds said the Cougars won't be intimidated going into Washington, but won't be overconfident, either.

"I think we know that we are a very talented group. But we also realize they are a very talented group. too, and we respect their group," he said. "There are some things we need to work on to secure the ball, obviously. We need to make sure we don't have any lapses in our concentration and focus -- give them nothing to take advantage of. And then we have to take advantage of their mistakes."

Memo to incoming BYU football players: You better know the school fight song, or it could cost you.

After this afternoon's practice, all of the freshmen had to roll around on the ground for a good 10 minutes or so because they didn't know the words to "Rise and Shout."

Sort of a Cougar tradition on the first day of classes, I guess.

As far as the practice went, not much news to report.

Offensive guard Ray Feinga watched the practice and had his helmet with him, but did not participate in any drills. He has a slightly sprained ankle that caused him to miss a few plays in last Saturday's game.

Safety David Tafuna practiced and looked fine after skipping Monday wiith a sprained ankle.

Receiver Austin Collie returned punts today, the first time I've seen him do that since fall camp opened.

Running back Fui Vakapuna was back at it -- after missing Saturday's game because he didn't practice in the days leading up to it -- and looked sharp. He even caught a pass one-handed.

Linebacker Dan Van Sweden, the reserve player who broke his leg in one of the scrimmages, watched practice from the benches at the south end of the practice field, a big cast on his right leg.

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Shawn Doman, the inside linebacker who is rotating in each series with Matt Ah You, said the defense's focus as it prepares for Washington has obviously been on Huskies quarterback Jake Locker and his elusiveness.

"It is not going to be an individual on him the whole time, shadowing him and things like that," Doman said. "It is more of a team kind of thing."

Doman, the projected starter at buck linebacker when fall camp began, said the rotation system with Ah You is working well.

"I don't mind, because I'm a team player," he said. "But I like to play, so it isn't easy to watch when I'm not in there."

One of the big themes this week will be BYU's inability to win a nonconference road game the past four seasons, and whether the Cougars can break through at Washington.

At his press conference this morning, BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall was asked if he would consider it a "milestone victory" if the Cougars won.

Not really, he said, in his own distinct way.

"I would like to continue to improve to as a head coach. I would like our program to continue to improve. That could possibly be one of the signs that we've found a solution [to the road woes]," he said.

"I am hesitant to say [it would be a milestone] for the program. In considering that each team we've had the last couple of years is different. Each opponent has been a little bit different, as this one will be. But the fact can't be lost [is] our early road games haven't been possibly our best ones. So I am anxious to see if the model we have in place has addressed that at a higher level. Not so much as a program -- victories, so to speak -- but maybe just on a personal level, in trying to help these young men prepare earlier in the year [to win] on the road."

-----------------------------------

The Cougars are practicing right now, and as far as I can tell, every starter is practicing except offensive lineman Ray Feinga. Safety David Tafuna is practicing, after missing Monday with a slightly sprained ankle.

Not sure what is wrong with Feinga; will have an update after practice.

--------------------------------

Tribune photographer Trent Nelson has been assigned to cover BYU photographically all season. The great part about that, for BYU fans, is that Nelson has his own blog in which he posts a lot of his photos that do not make it into the paper. In addition, Nelson is quite the wordsmith, and he often provides some interesting texts along with his photos. Check out Nelson's blog here.

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BYU outside hitter Bryn Porter is the Mountain West Conference volleyball player of the week, her second career honor.

Porter, a 5-11 senior from Camarillo, Calif., helped the Cougars go 3-0 and was named Tournament MVP at the recent Molten Classic. She had a 10-kill performance against Utah State, among other highlights.

BYU moved up a spot in the Associated Press college football poll -- sort of.

The Cougars, who entered the week ranked 16th in the poll, are now tied with Arizona State at No. 15.

The Cougars (1-0) and Sun Devils (1-0) received 672 points apiece.

Kansas is spot ahead of BYU and Arizona State at No. 14, while South Florida is at No. 17.

Utah also cracked the poll, as expected, after its 25-23 win at Michigan. The Utes are No. 22.

USC is the new No. 1, replacing Georgia, which is followed by Ohio State, Oklahoma and Florida.

The Cougars jumped from 17th to 15th in the USA Today Top 25 Coaches' Poll that was released this morning after their 41-17 win over Northern Iowa on Saturday.

Utah also cracked the poll, landing at No. 23 after being unranked in the preseason poll.

Also of note, UCLA, BYU's opponent on Sept. 13, is at No. 26, just outside the Top 25. And Fresno State, which defeated Rutgers of the Big East 24-7 on Monday, is at No. 21, up from No. 25.

The Associated Press Top 25 poll is due out later today.

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BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall wrapped up his weekly press conference a little while ago.

The coach said he has now watched 11 of Washington's games on film from the last two years, and with each viewing his admiration of UW quarterback Jake Locker grows.

"I haven't seen anyone run him down," Mendenhall said, and added later, "He would be the fastest player on our team." Asked which teams that Washington has faced recently are most like BYU in terms of the defenses they play, he said Stanford and Boise State.

Among the other revelations:

* Running back Harvey Unga had " a little bit of an ankle" sprain or soreness against Northern Iowa.

* The Northern Iowa game will "not serve a lot of value" to the Cougars as they prepare for UW because Washington is such a different team.

"It's almost like playing our first game," Mendenhall said.

* BYU also brought in team captains Jan Jorgensen and Max Hall for interviews.

Both players said they watched the UCLA's big win over Tennessee on Monday night, but both reiterated that their focus is squarely on Washington.

----------------------------------------

A half hour or so after he was finished with the local media, Mendenhall participated in the MWC teleconference and answered questions about Max Hall's condiition, the new clock rules change, the difficulty of stopping Jake Locker, how hard it is to involve a tight end in an offense and whether Saturday's game is a must-win for BYU's BCS hopes:

* On Hall, Mendenhall said, "He's in great shape and he will be at 100 percent on Saturday."

* The coach said the Cougars have "adapted the best possible way they can" to the clock rules change and have moved on.

* He said the closest player in the MWC the past few years that can compare to Locker is former San Diego State quarterback Kevin O'Connell. "But I haven't seen anyone like Jake Locker."

* He said it wasn't difficult to get Dennis Pitta 11 catches for 213 yards because of what Northern Iowa was doing. The Panthers took away the running game and the outside receivers but had no answer for Pitta.

* He said the Washington game "is no more important to me than the the Northern Iowa game" and reiterated his oft-heard philosophy that the Cougars don't place more importance on some games more than others.

* Asked about Utah and BYU in the rankings, Mendenhall praised Utah coach Kyle Whittingham for taking his team into Michigan and beating the Wolverines. "Coach Whittingham has done a great job at Utah," he said.

Good morning, everyone.

It should be a busy day today for BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall, with his weekly news conference at 10 a.m. today, followed by an appearance at 11 a.m. or so on the Mountain West Conference teleconference with the league's other eight coaches.

The Cougs practice at 3:50 p.m. today, presumably outside, because it is a gorgeous, cool, sunny day along the Wasatch Front.

Of course, after he watched nine Washington games on Monday, Mendenhall is probably eager to do something different.

Also today, the new Associated Press Top 25 poll will be released. It will be interesting to see whether the No. 16 Cougars move up a spot, with No. 9 Clemson having lost. Also, the Cougs could have some instate company. Was Utah's 25-23 win over Michigan enough to vault the Utes into the Top 25?

---------------------------------------------

Along with watching all that film on Washington, Mendenhall said after Monday's practice that he also reviewed the tape of BYU's game against Northern Iowa.

"I was encouraged, maybe more than I was on Saturday," he said. "You are able to narrow it down a little bit more, some of the turnover issues, when you consider relative youth J.J. [Di Luigi], number of touches in Wayne [Latu], and the sack given up in the end zone by Matt Reynolds [who[ is a freshman.

"So we were able to narrow in a little bit more on who needs work and where some of those [turnovers] are coming from. But overall, I was encouraged and I think we have a good football team."
---------------------------------------------
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper asked me to write a 125-word report about some aspect of BYU football for their weekly "Outside Voices" segment they run on game days. I decided to go with a little tidbit on how Dennis Pitta and Max Hall are brothers-in-law, and how many BYU players are married because they are older, many having gone on LDS Church missions.
Just curious, what would you have focused on? Email me your responses and perhaps I will post a couple here.

September 13 just got a whole lot more interesting, folks.

BYU's stiffest first-half-of-the-season test on its trek to a potential BCS bowl berth figured to be this week at Washington -- where the Cougars have never won -- but it just might be the second Saturday of September when the UCLA Bruins come calling to LaVell Edwards Stadium.

UCLA just knocked off No. 18 Tennesse 27-24 tonight at the Rose Bowl in Rick Neuheisel's debut. Of course, it was also the debut of former BYU offensive coordinator Norm Chow as UCLA's O.C., and the ol' master made some fantastic halftime adjustments tonight to help the Bruins pull off the upset.

Quarterback Kevin Craft, who played against BYU in 2006 for San Diego State, threw four first-half interceptions. But he went 18-for-25 for 193 yards and a touchdown in the second half without an interception.

Now, the Bruins don't play again until their trip to Provo, giving Chow and Neuheisel plenty of time to come up with a plan to derail BYU's BCS dreams. ---------------------------------

For those of you who follow such things, a reader has alerted me to the fact that USA Today oddsmaker Danny Sheridan has established BYU as a six-point favorite over Washington.
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More odds and ends from Monday's practice:

* Fullback Fui Vakapuna practiced after missing Saturday's game and is good to go, coach Bronco Mendenhall said, noting that the Cougars really need the senior's experience.

"He is very important when you consider that two or the turnovers happened without Fui in there. When you have Harvey [Unga] in there at the running back spot, not only to catch it, but to run it, there's a lot of security. What Fui does is [he] gives you one other layer of experienced players befre you reach some of the youth that we saw in the third quarter when Harvey was out getting taped. So, one more body for that position is important because we need depth there."

* Mendenhall said the extra point that was blocked after BYU's third touchdown Saturday was not a protection issue.

"Mitch [Payne] just didn't get the ball up high enough," he said. "The player that blocked it didn't even jump. And so that was more, I think a missed kick [because of] trajectory, rather than a protection issue."

* Mendenhall said he watched nine, yes, nine, Washington games on tape today. His overall impression?

"Their quarterback [Jake Locker] is probably one of the best athletes in college football. He's big and he's fast. I've been very impressed with him. I just think their team is well-coached. Coach [Tyrone] Willingham has a ton of experience and a great track record. But their quarterback, clearly, Jake Locker, he is one of the best players in college football I think."

* Asked whether it was good or bad for BYU that Washington got walloped 44-10 by Oregon last Saturday, the coach said it didn't really matter either way because teams change so much in their first few games.

"If you look at the score, there's always different stories. [It was] 24-10 for a long time there, and then a few plays get away from them at the end. But most teams from Game 1 to Game 3, there's a lot of things that happen in terms of personnel, in terms of correction and in terms of how they play. I am not sure you can read too much into any of the first game experiences for any team and I think maybe by the time three games are done or four you will have a lot better idea of what the teams are."

* Mendenhall said the last time he was at Husky Stadium, he was the defensive coordinator at Oregon State and had to devise a scheme to stop running back Corey Dillon. "It was close for about three quarters. I don't remember the final score, but we didn't win," he said.

* Fourth-string quarterback Stephen Covey, one of the fastest players on the BYU team, is the scout team qb this week playing the role of Locker. Covey's speed has been especially helpful, Mendenhall said.

"There's no one that I've seen that catches Jake [Locker] when he's out in the open field and he's running over and through and around anyone he's playing against," Mendenhall said. "Stephen is certainly not the right size, but his speed is similar and that gives us at least a point of reference to see if our angles and leverage and pursuit are going to be OK."

* The coach said the plan is still in place to use highly touted juco transfer Bernard Afutiti at defensive end, although Afutiti did not get in Saturday's game.

"We would like to play him. Sometimes your plans going into the game don't really happen as you get into the game. Coach [Steve] Kaufusi took a look at Matt Putnam instead. [Afutiti] could possibly play this week, if not, he still will play this year. We are counting on him."
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Finally, a non-football news item: BYU's women's soccer team defeated Arizona 1-0 tonight at South Field. Coach Jennifer Rockwood's team improves to 3-1-0 with the win while handing the 2-1-0 Wildcats their first loss.

Kassidy Christensen scored the lone goal after taking a cross from Lauren Anderson.