Sunday, September 20, 2009

When the Cougars lost 32-7 at TCU last year, the best words I could use to describe the team were "utterly devastated."

Heads were hung low, there were some teary eyes, and even coach Bronco Mendenhall seemed shell-shocked.

After yesterday's 54-28 loss to Florida State -- a loss that could ultimately prove to be far more damaging than that TCU loss in the national scope of things -- the Cougs were disappointed and frustrated, but didn't seem to be flat-out devastated.

That's just my take, but there didn't seem to be the doom-and-gloom attitude that prevailed last year. I think it is all part of Mendenhall's plan to subdue expectations this year so one loss doesn't throw the team into a tailspin.

BYU did rebound after the TCU loss last year with wins over UNLV, Colorado State, San Diego State and Air Force, but the team was never really the same. Its defensive swagger was gone.

Talk about rebounding was a major focus of Mendenhall's postgame news conference last night.

Here's a transcript of what was asked and said:

Opening comments:

"By way of opening remarks, I congratulate coach Bowden and their football program. They were very well prepared, both technically and schematically, [and] also emotionally. I thought they played hard, I thought they played physical and I thought they sustained it from beginning to end. I was very impressed with their preparation.

"A frustrating loss for our football program. Our inability to make critical stops on third down, due to the way Florida State was playing.

"Their quarterback did an exceptional job, not only executing on third down but scrambling where appropriate and making the key throws. Underlying that, they won the physical matchup in terms of being able to run the football, and run it effectively from the beginning of the night through the end of the night. I thought those factors were the biggest difference in the game -- prohibiting our offfense from having enough snaps and being on the field frequently enough to give us the balance we were hopeful for."

Q -- What did you tell your players in the locker room after the game?


"Basically, what I just shared with you. I was very honest in saying that Florida State played more physical tonight. I think they played with more hunger, meaning more desire. Many plays were stopped at the point of attack, but I think hey continued to play longer and harder than we played.

"So with that, we had some weaknesses exposed and with those weaknesses now comes a lot of work. We have seen them, and now we can address them, where maybe the first two weeks they weren't exposed, nor did we see them the way we saw them today. And I certainly didn't foresee them, especially tonight.

So I talked to them about consistency and learning."

Q -- How good was FSU's offensive line?

"I was impressed through the week in their athleticism. I was impressed today that they were more physical than I anticipated. They were very athletic in the first two football games in terms of getting downfield on their screen passes, and cutting. Their size is more like defensive linemen, as you watch them. So they are very athletic.

"I didn't think they would be able to move us off the line of scrimmage. And not only did they do that, they did it consistently, beginning to end. And that was the biggest surprise to me of the game. And I have to give them credit.

Because I believe Oklahoma's offensive line was a very good front, and I think that we were capable of more. Yet, they, from beginning to end, ran the football and it wasn't a lot of elaborate schemes. It was basically zone blocking which was their men against our men."

Q -- What does this loss do to your program, given what was at stake and what you had going?

"I think it depends on the perspective. To me, I have always been with the idea of improving our program.

"When you compare the loss to previous years, we have won two conference championships starting 1-2, and put the nation's longest winning streak together, and sometimes your losses are where you learn the most, and you improve the most, and that's what I intend to do with this one.

Really, what else was at stake, I have done my best not to acknowledge that, even though it has to be acknowledged, because of all the attention. But I have tried to have our football team focus on each game, and each opponent. And the rest of that will take care of itself.

So I don't think it changes a thing, other than we learn one more lesson and we keep moving ahead.

Maybe the timetable is different, to be the undefeated team, or to be this, or to be that. But I never really professed us to be that, and am anxious just to improve our program."

Q -- What were some halftime adjustments you made to stop their offense?

"Really, when it comes down to the adjustments made -- and this will sound maybe less than what you hoped to hear, it really comes down to gap integrity, and each player doing exactly what they are supposed to do. And when you run zone schemes, someone is losing at the point of attack, or someone is getting cut off, and losing their gap. And that is where seams develop.

"Basically, man for man, Florida State's run offense was better than our run defense this evening. And when you start taking chances and bringing pressure -- and we brought more today than probably in any of the previous two games, maybe all of last year, in trying to help them make plays, but even then Florida State handled that well."

Q -- Please comment on Harvey Unga's game -- did you use him enough?

"The offensive play calling and just what we could have done in general, could have been quite different, especially early on if we were able to play well defensively on third down. And as the score started to move away, especially in the second half, we pressed a bit -- a few key turnovers -- and then obviously our plan was quite a bit different. But I was happy with the offensive play through the first half at least, and I thought Harvey was used appropriately then."

Q -- What caused Max to throw interceptions in the second half?

"I think probably just pressing, trying to make plays in a shortened time period to help us get back in the football game and win it. And I haven't talked to Max about it. That was just my assessment -- trying a little too hard to get us back in, outside of the system rather than just, you know, let the plays take their course."

Q -- Why couldn't you stop FSU's offense no matter what?

"I think Florida State was more prepared in general than we were tonight -- really from beginning to end. And otherwise you don't have the number of points scored, nor the success especially on third down that they were having. So I think their preparation exceeded ours."

Q -- Will you make any personnel changes defensively?

"Um, I really don't think so. We played with basically the same personnel as we did in the first two weeks, other than Russell T. went out early, early on, as you saw, most likely with an ACL. And we played without Scott Johnson tonight at free safety.

So hopefully we will get Scott back. But the players were basically the ones who we knew were capable and who had earned their starting positions.

We will look at the film and see if there are any personnel things that might need to be tweaked, but my guess is probably not."

Q -- Your feelings on not winning at home and having streaked snapped?

"Disappointed that the streak certainly stopped, but just more disappointed that we didn't play at the caliber I was hoping we would play. I was really asking our team, and had hoped that we would play our best games at home. And I don't think we did that today by any means."

Q -- Are you better equipped to handle these losses this year?

‘"Anytime you find yourself in the spotlight, or on the stage more, which we certainly are. If we don't , then we didn't learn a thing from a year ago.

"And so I think only time will tell, but I am more determined than ever to keep improving our program and to think that this one particular loss will change what I think we are capable of, I really don't. But it certainly exposed some things we need to work on, that's for sure."

Q -- What role did turnovers play in the outcome?

"I think they were critical. It is one of the things that we focus on. As you know, most teams win if they are at least plus-one, in terms of turnovers in any given game, and we certainly weren't that today, and so that contributed to our chance to fight to return to competitiveness in this game, and possibly to getting it to even. But when there were a few turnovers and a few field position changes, and when we weren't playing strong defensively, that made it to where it got out of hand quicker."

Q -- What was difference with defense from today and Oklahoma game?

"I am not sure exactly. If I knew exactly I would have seen it coming. But I believe we were fundamentally sound in the first two. I believe we had the right personnel on the field. I believe we had the right schemes, which were basically the same schemes we played in Week I and Week 2. But our execution was just not the same, nor was our urgency to finish plays the same. And that to me was quite a bit different today.

The urgency to finish plays and rally to the ball and really looking to take over the football game -- I didn't sense that and that's something that will have to be addressed and worked on as we can assess where it came from."

And again I think it needs to also say a lot about Florida State and their preparation. They were very well prepared and they played a clean football game.

And again, their quarterback in my estimation made a lot of really nice throws. But then when the throws weren't open, he was able to scramble for first downs, and break pressure in the pocket.

That in and of itself was very frustrating, and something we didn't face in the first two games.

Then he had some nice designed runs for himself as well. So if anything, I think we underestimated maybe what he was capable of. Not only throwing the football, but how he could run it. And I thought he really played a nice football game and did a nice job leading their team."

Did their constant third-down conversions kill your spirit?

"Possibly, yeah I think it tests your resolve and it can effect your confidence and I think it just effects your love of playing the game. You are talking now about a defense that I don't think has played more than 58 plays in the first two games, gettng out and being very good on third down, and now it was basically the opposite.

And not quite as much fun when the drives continue to go and it forces you to test your resolve. And I think in and of itself, that could be the biggest benefit that came from this game this evening."

Were you helping out Jaime Hill on third-down calls at all?

"Not until about the third quarter. And basically everything we had planned and prepared, we used. And none of which was very effective. Our zone pressures weren't working in terms of getting to the quarterback. We had some man pressures that also weren't effective.

And base zone and even dropping eight [wasn't effective]. So execution ultimately was their execution was better than ours."

Was FSU QB Christian Ponder's ability to run the big key?

"Yeah, If I were to say there was one difference from our previous two football games to today, it might not seem as big to maybe the observer, but the quarterback's ability to scramble for first downs and run the football was a big difference in the football game today."