Notre Dame just another game for Mendenhall

PROVO — After two straight wins and now this week's trip to Notre Dame, BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall expects his team to prepare for the Fighting Irish with the same formula — he expects improvement Saturday in South Bend.

Praising better execution by the defense and offense, Mendenhall said the Cougars have definitely done so at a higher level and with more frequency in wins over New Mexico and Colorado State.

Because the Cougars played a tough September schedule going against ranked Boston College and TCU, the competition level has fueled a sense of urgency the past few weeks. BYU's opponents have a combined 25-14 record, a 65 winning percentage. San Diego State (3-4) is the only Cougar foe who has not won more than lost.

Now that the Cougar offense showed a productive run attack the past two weeks, (274 yards rushing against the Rams) Mendenhall expects it will be tougher to rip off runs in weeks to come — and not just because one of the opponents is Notre Dame. It's a reaction to success.

"It should be harder," Mendenhall said. "CSU put more men in the box and tried to stop the run, but they missed some tackles."

What will happen, Mendenhall told reporters Monday, is teams will now prepare for the run and it will show in how they defend the Cougars. "The good part of that is that they have to spend time and work on in preparation for us — it's more preparation."

Mendenhall said BYU can certainly get better at running the football. While he was not impressed with how his receivers blocked downfield, he did like the effort in which "they tried to block their assignments."

Said Mendenhall, "If receivers would have blocked more effectively against CSU, Mendenhall said 12- or 15-yard runs would have gone for 30 or more.

Defensively, Mendenhall realizes injuries have cost his squad. But it's also opened up opportunities and he sees players stepping up making plays with the chances.

"In the game-changing situation, the execution has improved, but the effort level hasn't changed at all. After two weeks, I see more confidence in how they take chances with their assignments. In the 50-51 loss to TCU, we had nine players go down and were forced to put players in. With the repetitions nine others got the past few weeks it gave them an opportunity to sustain the level and energy of play we're accustomed to and like without a significant drop off. But we still have a lot of work to do."