BYU Sports

Wednesday’s football practices are using long and somewhat grueling for the BYU Cougars, but the one earlier tonight was rather short and sweet. The team went in shells for a little over an hour, is all, and then hit the weight room.
The schedule is different, obviously, because of the bye week last week. Coach Bronco Mendenhall said the team gained an extra “Tuesday” practice last Friday.
“So it was kind of two Tuesdays, a Wednesday, and two Thursdays,” he said, if you are following along at home.
Mendenhall confirmed that the Cougars have not been in full pads for a practice since fall camp.
He said the three special teams players -- Tucker Lamb, Landon Jaussi and Carter Mees -- will all miss Saturday’s game against Wyoming. Jaussi will have shoulder surgery Thursday.

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As for receiver McKay Jacobson, Mendenhall said he looks good.
“It is hard to remember what 100 percent looks like. But he certainly looks ready to play.
I think we will make an assessment after the game, whether he was 100 percent or not. But he looks pretty good to me,” the coach said.
Freshman Brett Thompson (who has received his mission call to Louisville, Kentucky) got most of the reps in Jacobson’s absence. However, Mendenhall doesn’t expect his role to change.
“It is hard to say,” he said. “I don’t see that role changing as much because we like the fresh bodies and the distribution. So I think Brett’s role will be about the same as what it has been.”

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By the way, Mendenhall’s favorite cookie is peanut butter. I know that because I was dispatched by our newspaper’s foods section to find out for an article they are doing on the favorite cookies of all the state’s college football coaches.
If you want the coach’s favorite peanut butter cookie recipe, you’ll have to wait until the article comes out.

With the Cougars having a bye last week and Utah beating Wyoming 22-10, the big news locally has been the Utes’ quarterback switch. Freshman Jordan Wynn replaced starter Terrance Cain at halftime and led the Utes to the victory.
I asked the state’s other high-profile college quarterback, Max Hall, what he thought of the ol’ switcheroo.
“I was surprised,” he said. “I  don’t know why they did that. I didn’t notice it until I was watching film on Wyoming's defense, and then like halfway through the third quarter I was kind of like, wait a second, that guy’s skin is a different color.”
Hall said he watched bits and pieces of the game on TV, but didn’t realize the Utes had made the switch at the time.
“It is very tough, especially to do it that late in the season,” he said. “It is tough because the one guy hasn’t had a lot of reps and they are not used to him, and the other guy, I think it hurts his confidence a little bit. But I am not worried about it. I will let them figure it out.”

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Hall’s initial take on Wyoming:
“I think Wyoming plays hard. I think they have a certain swagger about them, which is good. So we got to go in there and play tough. It is really the same guys we have played against the last two years. And so we just have to execute.
They do a few things differently. Their defensive coordinator was their linebackers coach before, so I mean it is pretty much the same with a few new things thrown in there. But like I said, they are going to play us hard.”

I wrote for today’s paper about BYU’s offense, after having given coach Bronco Mendenhall’s analysis of the defense on Tuesday.
BYU quarterback Max Hall wasn’t able to participate in his weekly teleconference Tuesday afternoon, so I wasn’t able to include Hall’s take on the offense in that article.
Hall did talk to reporters after practice on Tuesday night, however, and he was typically upbeat, positive and congenial.
One thing, though. He said he was done talking about the TCU game.
“I don’t want to talk about it. I mean, it’s over,” he said, when asked why the Cougs struggled to move the ball against the Frogs. “It is what it is. We have learned from it and moved on. We had the bye week, and we’ve moved on. I am putting all my energy on Wyoming. To go into that environment and play is going to take all our focus. So that’s what we are focused on.”
Hall said the bye week has given the offense time to put in a few wrinkles.
“Yeah, we have a few things that we are going to do, a few things that we are fixing, and a few things that we just have to get better at.
It was a good time to have a bye week and fix those things.”
Generally, Hall said there’s no chance the Cougs will fall into a funk like they did after losing to TCU last year.
“I am still excited about our team. I love coming out here and being with my guys. We got four games left. To go 10-2 and go to a bowl game is not a bad season, so you can’t let a loss ruin everything,” he said. “I think that’s what happened last time. That loss ruined everything. We are having fun still, and we are excited about our next opponent.”

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In case you missed it, the Tribune had a story today about the attitudes and makeup of Utah sports fans, including Cougar fans. Check that out here.

Thanks to the bye week, the Cougars have been more physical in practices this week, coach Bronco Mendenhall said after Tuesday’s session, although the team was still in shorts and shells.
“It was good, physical, high-spirited, aggressive. I was impressed,” Mendenhall said.
The coach said he hasn’t worked the team any harder than normal because of the big loss to TCU, or because or what happened last year after the TCU loss in Fort Worth.
“Didn’t have to,” he said. “These guys have always liked to practice, they’ve always liked to compete. The practice structure has been more physical than it usually is, but we had a bye, and we had a few extra days to recover. There hasn’t been much done differently.
I would have [done it differently], if I thought they needed it. But I have been impressed by the way they’ve practiced.”

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The coach said three special teams players are injured and could miss the Wyoming game.
Running back Tucker Lamb has a hamstring issue, defensive back Carter Mees has a foot injury and defensive back Landon Jaussi injured his shoulder and will have surgery on Thursday.
Receiver McKay Jacobson went full speed on Tuesday and will definitely play against Wyoming.

Remember Jacob Bower?
He’s the quarterback from Idaho who was ticketed to perhaps replace Max Hall -- or even battle Hall -- in the Cougar quarterback rotation. Bower transferred to San Bernardino Junior College in California, then on to Tulsa.
Last Saturday, he saw his first significant playing time for the Golden Hurricane.
Bower relieved ineffective starter G.J. Kinne and was 9-for-22 for 206 yards and two TDs, but Tulsa lost 27-13 to SMU.
Turns out, Kinne had suffered a concussion earlier in the game. He is expected to return this week against Houston. However, Tulsa coach Todd Graham spoke favorably regarding Bower’s play.

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Looks like the Cougars have lost out on a junior college safety they were hoping to lure to Provo to replace the departed Shiloah Te’o. Check our recruiting blog for more on that.