Cougar defense serves offense big piece of humble pie

Bronco Mendenhall senta message to his team Saturday: There's work to be done before the opener against Boston College on Sept. 3.

After a dozen days of his BYU offense putting up four-touchdown outings in 11-on-11 drills that delivered media hype for its show value, there may have been a comfort set in that made Mendenhall uncomfortable — that the Robert Anae offense was on its way. Yippee.

Almost if by design by Mendenhall's staff, the defense administered a dose of humility to their offensive brethren during a scrimmage in LaVell Edwards Stadium on Saturday.

It didn't matter that an army of Cougar Club fans, who'd bought box seats, were present, chomping down barbecue hamburgers. Saturday's practice could have been designed as an entertaining show with lots of touchdowns and people leaving the Stadium giddy over big plays and wondering where the defense had hid.

Didn't happen. Mendenhall wasn't into window dressing for shoppers. He seeks results.

BYU's defensive front seven played, filleted and almost splattered the offense in the early going Saturday. The "D" administered a clear message: The secondary may be hobbling around with pulled muscles and guys missing practice, but up front, where it counts, the hammer is still in their hand.

On just the first series, the first defense pushed the pocket back like bulldozers, knocked down two John Beck passes and then sacked the junior. Message sent. Linemen Manaia Brown, Daniel Marquardt and Vince Feula joined Cameron Jensen and Justin Luettgerodt and blew up plays.

The defense ended up tipping another Beck pass. The rush was so potent, Beck was either running for his life or had hands in his face.

Center Lance Reynolds was so rattled, he hiked the ball over the head or past the hands of Beck on three occasions. Aaron Gordon, who prepped with Beck at Arizona's Mountain View High, returned one of Beck's early passes 20 yards for a touchdown.

Message sent from Mendenhall, and perhaps even Anae, who held out the best blocking back, Fahu Tahi, and receiver Matt Allen, used star Todd Watkins sparingly, and limited many formations and plays to a simple few on Saturday.

To what end?

Communication 101. I got the feeling there was a game being played within the game Saturday.