BYU Sports

The three or four team leaders who spoke to the media after BYU’s 24-19 win over New Mexico  all said the Cougars’ confidence is still strong, despite playing their worst game of the season (given the competition) on Saturday.
That’s the topic of this article in today’s newspaper as the Cougars get ready to face Air Force.
BYU is an early seven-point favorite in the game at LaVell Edwards Stadium.
Here are some thoughts from defensive end Jan Jorgensen on how New Mexico managed to stay in the game.
“It seemed like the first half, it took us a minute to get going. It seemed like we got the ball rolling, and we were going the way that we should have, and we were getting the ball in the second half, and it seemed like we were going to come out and score right away, and kind of put them away,” he said. “But when you let a team hang in a game like that, they just keep fighting and fighting and fighting. They had a lot of fight in them. We just let them stay in it too long, and they kept fighting, and we didn’t do much to keep the momentum away from them the second half, and we just had to keep clawing and clawing away.”

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

Coach Bronco Mendenhall will conduct his news conference this morning, and one of the topics will likely be the health of the offensive line. The unit did not play well against the Lobos, especially when it came to run-blocking. BYU picked up only 44 net rushing yards.
“A couple guys were nicked up, a couple guys were dinged, Nick Alletto was kind of dinged,” said Max Hall. “Guys like Braden Brown and Moose [Marco Thorson] got in there more than usual. And I was proud of how they battled.
Maybe they were a little off-synch today. It was not the offensive line’s best performance.  I wouldn’t trade those guys for the world, and I think they are going to battle and they are going to recover from it, and do what they have to do.
They know they could have played a little bit better today. But we won and we will fix it.”

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

As previously detailed, Hall believes the Cougars need to start with the ball first if they win the coin toss. When going against teams such as New Mexico, he said, it is important to jump on them early and take hope away quickly.
“The funny thing about football is that so much of it is momentum,” he said. “They got a couple of stops, and then scored, and did a few things, and had some momentum going. They were able to put points on the board in the second half, and make it a close game
Other than the one drive in the second half, we didn’t have a lot of momentum going, and when we did have momentum going, we would lose it with penalties, or something like that happening.
It is just tough, but you gotta battle through it.
Lucky for us, the defense came up big on that last series, made a stop, and won us the game.”

Mike Sanford has been fired as head football coach at UNLV, but will be allowed to coach the Rebels’ final game against San Diego State.
UNLV announced the firing tonight, but here’s a link to a story about it in the Las Vegas Sun.
Sanford was Utah’s offensive coordinator under Urban Meyer, and offered BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall the chance to be UNLV’s defensive coordinator before Mendenhall got the head job at BYU.

Here are most BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall’s comments to the media following the Cougars’ 24-19 win over New Mexico on Saturday.

Opening statement:

“Great football game today. I was really encouraged and excited to see New Mexico’s kids play that hardand make as many critical plays as they did.
It is really what this place is about -- I am talking about Albuquerque.
It should be difficult to come in here and win a football game. I was proud of our guys and how hard they fought.
And the heart and determination they showed. They played well enough, again, to help us win a football game. I think that gives us every road game we have played this year, with a victory.
None of them are easy. Some look easier than others. But I was proud of them for that. I like who they are.”

How does it feel to go undefeated on the road?

“It is not easy, regardless of whom you are playing and where. It usually reflects maturity and shows I think determination, and usually execution.
Some games are cleaner than others. But it is not easy to do, otherwise it would have been done [before] 1984 and now.
I think it is worth  dwelling on just for a second, and I am proud of them for that.”

Why did you take Harvey Unga out of the game?

“He just didn’t look quite right to me. He was trying hard, but as you watched him, it just didn’t seem that he was 100 percent, and we have J.J. [DiLuigi] healthy and Bryan Kariya healthy, and so I trust them.
So it seemed like the wiser decision at that point. Not that Harvey didn’t want to play. It just didn’t look like to me that he was capable of playing at the level a healthy player would be.”

Why couldn’t you carry the momentum and the sharpness from Wyoming over to this game?

“Maybe New Mexico had something to do with it. I think they drew a line in the sand, and were really motivated to play a good football game today, and to their credit they did.
When it comes to momentum, we did win the football game. And that to me is something I will dwell on most, and how hard they played to win the football game.
That’s is a positive thing in my eyes, and that is what I am going to dwell on.”


What did you think of the sacks at the end?

“Critical, when the game is on the line. I think we sacked them three of the four downs. I thought I heard a whistle on the last one -- but obviously not.
The pressure with four, in that situation, allowed us to, if they make plays we win the game, if they don’t we probably don’t win the game, which you gotta give them credit for that. It was really a nice job.”

Overall, are you disappointed in the play of your defense?

“I am excited for them stopping them when they had to to win the football game. Only giving up 19 points, which will win most games when you only give up 19 points.”

What do you think about Max tying Ty Detmer for most wins in school history?

“It is a great thing. Max has helped us win a lot of football games, and while there will be those that look for things he didn’t do well, he has helped us win a lot of football game, and that is kind of where my focus is today. I was proud of him today.”

Have you ever seen a game feature three balls off the uprights?

“Not that I can remember. I am sure he is disappointed and frustrated. But their whole team, they fought really hard. They just fell short in execution. Every critical moment, when it finally came down to all the critical plays, our team made the critical plays and they didn’t.
So it was close, but it is unfortunate for them. But it is a great lesson for a team that is really trying to get over the hump.”

How do you build on this performance?

“It is really easy, because we won the football game, and then you can see the things we can certainly improve, and we can see the things we did well. So the idea of any game is to take what you are doing well, leverage it, prove what you are not [doing well], and try to apply it to the next opponent.”

It is a challenge to play against a winless team?

“It is a unique challenge -- a different kind of challenge. Even though our philosophy, and what I shared all week long, is this is about our performance, our improvement, regardless of who we play. I can’t say that the reality isn’t that there could be an edge that came off, or there could be a sense of, I don’t know if uninspired would be the right word. You know, more methodical and just  showing up to play the football game.
Fortunately we were good enough to respond in the critical situations. But it is a difficult challenge.”


What is your evaluation of your team’s performance?

“There were moments where there was excellent execution, and moments where [there were] key breakdown here or there. What I believe this team has done, to this point, has been very consistent. Today.....there were glimpses of both, here and there.
Collectively, we made more plays than our opponent, but it wasn’t nearly as clean as a week ago.
As much as I would like to say it is only us, I was impressed with how the Lobos played today, on both sides of the ball. I told coach Locksley that after the game. I think he has a lot to be proud of, the way they fought today, coinsidering an 0-9 team, or 0-8 or whatever they were, and to play like they did today , and fight to the end, I think there is a lot to build on, even though it might not show in their win coluumn. I was impressed today.”

BYU’s too-close-for-comfort win over winless New Mexico didn’t hurt the Cougars in the national rankings.
The Cougars were No. 22  in the AP Poll, the USA Today Coaches Poll and the BCS standings entering the game.
Now they are No. 19 in the AP poll and No. 18 in the coaches poll.
The BCS standings will be released later today.
TCU remained at No. 4 after pounding Utah, 55-28, because the three teams ahead of the Frogs -- Florida, Alabama and Texas -- all won on Saturday.

It’s about time to board our flight back to Salt Lake City, but here’s some Sunday reading provided by a columnist for the Colorado Springs Gazette after the  Air Force Falccons pounded UNLV 45-17 on Saturday.
He’s already looking toward the BYU-AFA game this Saturday in Provo.