Cougars, Utes invading Pac-10 country today

PALO ALTO, Calif. — The mystery of the quarterbacks.

That's the storyline in tonight's Stanford-BYU game — the first-ever visit by the Cougars at Stanford University for football. Kickoff is at 8 tonight. The game will be broadcast live by KUTV Ch. 2. The Cardinal is favored by 3.5 points.

Both starting quarterbacks who debuted last week for BYU and Stanford may not be on the field tonight.

Sophomores John Beck (BYU) and Trent Edwards (Stanford) were injured in season openers last week and saw limited practice time heading into today's contest.

That will leave the work to BYU's 2003 starter Matt Berry and Cardinal redshirt freshman T.C. Ostrander, who finished Stanford's game — a win over San Jose State — if Edwards does not play.

BYU head coach Gary Crowton started the week preparing Berry to start, giving his most-experienced quarterback work with the first unit, execution with the game plan and needed repetitions afforded Beck the week before.

"I think Matt has done a good job," Crowton said. "I was worried about how he'd come out after what happened last year and what he went through with the broken hand in terms of getting his confidence."

Beck suffered a grade-one shoulder separation in the first quarter of BYU's 20-17 win over Notre Dame. At the time of his exit, the Cougars led 10-3. Berry started slowly as Crowton went conservative to get Berry used to the game atmosphere and speed.

Berry responded with a 42-yard touchdown pass to freshman Austin Collie and a key first-down pass to Todd Watkins to seal the victory. However, Berry also had an interception returned for a touchdown that brought back memories of the Cougar offense a year ago.

Edwards got sacked three times last week, working behind a young Stanford offensive line that features four sophomores. Ostrander finished the game and drew praise from Stanford coach Buddy Teevens.

"T.C. came in and made some good decisions," Teevens said. "He made some nice throws. There are things that he missed and things that he learned just from being in that environment. It was nice to have a chance to get him into the ball game."

Whether Ostander or Edwards, Stanford's quarterbacks must have a better passing game than a year ago in Provo when the Cougar defense limited Edwards to 25 yards passing. Key late turnovers by BYU, however, enabled Stanford to rally at the end for a win last year.