BYU Sports

Not surprisingly, TCU coach Gary Patterson’s comments to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram about how BYU treated last year’s game didn’t take long to get back to the Cougars.
In case you missed a previous post, Patterson said:  “Last year before we played it was kind of a circus listening to BYU talk. So we’re not doing much talking. We’re ready to go play."
BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall said today that he doesn’t remember it that way.
“I don’t recollect us saying anything. But again, I don’t listen [to what outsiders say], other than just to my players in the meetings.”
Ask if the build-up seemed like a circus to him, Mendenhall said, “It certainly didn’t. It seemed like just another football game against a quality opponent, is what I remember.”

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

On a related note, Mendenhall was asked if BYU will play with more emotion in the game now that TCU has made it known that it considers the Cougars a major rival.
“You know, I think we acknowledge it, because they have clearly, I think, made it so,” he said. “From what I understand of having a blocking dummy in their locker room, with our helmet on it, etc. So I don’t think that happens unless there is some, respect is what I guess I will call it. But I was also asked by San Diego State’s radio people if we acknowledge that game as a rival game because they did. I have been asked that by Wyoming, I have been asked that by Air Force.
“So I think possibly just the tradition of the program being so good and over such a long enough time, has provided that target.
“To give the motive for each particular team on why, I couldn’t do that. I think to acknowledge it any further than that wouldn’t be wise.”

Although he acknowledges that “something is wrong” because a lot of people won’t get to watch Saturday’s TCU-BYU game on television due to the ongoing Versus/DirecTV dispute, BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall said it is a “positive sign” that ESPN GameDay has chosen to broadcast from the site of the game this week.
In his Monday news conference, Mendenhall said BYU and TCU have “earned” the appearance from the popular ESPN radio and television shows and called it another positive step in terms of recognition for his program.
More from the longest news conference of the year:
* Mendenhall said there are no “new” injuries to report from the SDSU game. He said he expects Manase Tonga, Russell Tialavea, Brandon Ogletree and Steven Thomas all to return to action this week. Asked if McKay Jacobson will play, Mendenhall said “good question” and noted that he will know more by tomorrow.
The coach acknowledged that several players were sick last Saturday, but played through it. He said “quarantined” might be too strong of a word, but that ill players were asked to room together in San Diego. “We have some concern it will spread,” he said.
* Told that TCU coach Gary Patterson said it was “a circus” listening to BYU talk before last year’s game, Mendenhall said he doesn’t recollect anything the Cougars said that would have riled up the Horned Frogs. Then again, he said, he doesn't read or listen to media reports.
He said he doesn’t use bulletin-board fodder and the like as motivational techniques, and doesn’t encourage it from his players. He said he takes down newspaper clippings, etc., if any are ever posted in the locker room.
* Mendenhall said he submitted two penalty calls from the film of the SDSU game for the league office to review, hinting that he believed they were blown calls, while not criticizing the officials who made them. Those plays were the unnecessary roughness call on Coleby Clawson and the holding call on fourth-down on a running play by R.J. Willing.
I will have more from the news conference later today and all throughout this week.

Couple of morning links for you as we get ready for BYU football’s weekly news conference at Legends Grille.
Obviously, the big news Sunday was that ESPN’s GameDay crew is coming to Provo on Saturday with its television and radio broadcasts, etc.
Here’s my look at that.
Also, TCU coach Gary Patterson apparently did a little talking about BYU talking too much last year in this article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Apparently, Patterson “isn’t doing much talking.”
OK.

As expected, BYU quarterback Max Hall is the Mountain West Conference Offensive Player of the Week. Hall led the Cougars to a 38-28 win over San DIego State on Saturday.
Wyoming’s Brian Hendricks is the Defensive Player of the Week and TCU’s Jeremy Kerley is the Special Teams Player of the Week.
It is the third honor for Hall this season, and seventh of his career.
Here’s the conference’s writeup on Hall:

Max Hall accounted for 393 yards of offense and four touchdowns in No. 19 BYU’s 38-28 win at San Diego State. Hall completed 27-of-39 attempts for a season-high 346 yards and three touchdowns through the air while adding a career-best 47 yards on 14 carries and one touchdown on the ground. The senior quarterback scored his rushing touchdown as time expired in the first half to give BYU a seven-point lead at the break. Hall connected on two touchdown passes on key third-down plays in the second half to keep the Cougars in front, helping BYU convert 15-of-21 third-down plays in the game overall. The Mesa, Ariz., native spread the ball around to nine different receivers and did not throw an interception for the second straight game.

Nice moment for BYU junior kicker Mitch Payne in the locker room after the Cougars beat San Diego State 38-28 on Saturday night.
Payne’s 42-yard field goal in the fourth quarter sealed the win for BYU, and his teammates let him know they appreciated the clutch kick. Payne has had just five field-goal attempts this season, because the Cougars have been so effective in the red zone. He’s made four.
“You will have to check the statistics, but I think going into the game he had the fewest field goal attempts in the country,” said BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall. “So to have very few attempts, and to be put in that situation, and then just act your routine and kick it, that’s what you heard the players celebrating for in there, was his coming through. It was really nice....They were chanting his name, and then they asked for a speech. I will let him tell you what he said.”

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

Mendenhall said Saturday night that BYU quarterback Max Hall is playing some of the best football of his career right now.
Having passed for three TDs and rushed for another, Hall is a good candidate to win the MWC Offensive Player of the Week award, which will be announced Monday morning.
“Max the last two weeks has played exceptionally. We are not turning the ball over, he’s running the football -- I’ve already made my feelings clear on that -- but he is staying healthy and getting first downs and the guy is a competitor.
“I thnk our offense played very well and I think our defense played well enough to win. So the combination, was, again, it was a MWC victory on the road and that’s something I am always happy to get.”
The coach said Hall seems to have a knack for avoiding big hits.
“We had some designed plays to run a little bit more with our quarterback this week. We were hoping to substitute to put Riley [Nelson] in to do that, but it is more effective if they don’t know you are subbing in quarterbacks to do it, and so there were some pretty critical moments where he ran for first downs,” Mendenhall said. “
"Again, I hate to see him take any hits, but when first downs are happening, it is a good thing.”