Experience is BYU's biggest gain

While Bronco Mendenhall's staff is scurrying around the country looking to sign defensive help for the Cougar football team by Feb. 1, there is strong evidence the other side of the line could have a watershed year in 2006.

Why?

Aside from receiver Todd Watkins, running back Fahu Tahi and offensive linemen Brian Sanders and Lance Reynolds, offensive coordinator Robert Anae will return a significantly more experienced, proven offense come fall when they open up against Arizona on a Thursday night game in Tucson to kick off the college football season.

How experienced?

Six months ago, trying to install a new offense, which was a hybrid of Texas Tech retrofit from BYU circa 1980, Anae had junior quarterback John Beck start against Boston College with receivers who'd basically never caught a pass in Division I football. The novices included Jonny Harline, Nathan Meikle, Matt Allen, Michael Reed, Zac Collie and Luke Ashworth. Only Daniel Coats and Watkins were veterans, and Watkins and Allen missed Anae's spring practice, where new schemes were introduced.

It was the third offense Beck had learned in three seasons. First was the Brandon Doman option spread, then the tooled-down straight spread, followed by Anae's schemes from Lubbock.

Still, that offense ranked No. 6 in passing and 13th in total offense. Against league defenses, the Cougars were 93 percent (40 of 43) successful in the red zone and converted 50.4 of third downs, all tops in the MWC.

After the Las Vegas Bowl, Mendenhall got a call from former Cougar coach Gary Crowton, the offensive coordinator at Oregon. Crowton told Mendenhall the Cal team that beat BYU 35-28 was one of the top defensive teams in the country, the best defenders in the Pac-10 and would be a top 10 team in 2006.

Only one football team drove the ball more than 90 yards on the Cal defense last year — until BYU. The Cougs did it three times. Top-ranked USC had a 13-play, 97-yard scoring drive on the Bears, the only Pac-10 team to do so. New Mexico State did manage a 94-yard kickoff return on Cal.

BYU had three scoring drives of more than 90 yards on Cal. These included a 15-play, 92-yarder; a seven-play, 91-yard drive; and a fourth-quarter 14-play, 96-yard scoring effort.

In short, in 2006, the Cougars may not face a better defense from front to secondary than the one they saw before Christmas in Las Vegas — and that bodes well for Anae.