Cautious optimism: Cougars' final scrimmage reveals strong points and areas of concern

PROVO — Almost ready.

That was the mantra following BYU's final major scrimmage of fall camp on Wednesday.

Bronco Mendenhall declared BYU football operations will now center on the season opener at Arizona on Sept. 2 following the Cougars' final major scrimmage, a situational set-up affair Wednesday in LaVell Edwards Stadium.

"We'll break down this film and make some final personnel changes and begin preparing with a scout team for Arizona on Friday," Mendenhall said.

On Wednesday, there were plenty of big plays by the offense and defense. But the most glaring mistake was a familiar one — a bad snap in the shotgun formation, with the football sailing over the head of starting quarterback John Beck. This happened in an overtime setup, on the first play.

John Beck said he's not worried about the miscues. Mendenhall said he absolutely is concerned. Both agreed the Cougars need plenty of polish in the next week.

The bad snap forced BYU's first offense into a second-and-25. Beck hit Zac Collie for a key long pass to get the yardage back and extended the possession with a pass and run to Fui Vakapuna. The overtime possession ended with a scoring pass to Jonny Harline.

That was a key rebound for the offense, and the only black eye for the defense on the day.

"(The defense) should have forced a long field-goal attempt but instead gave up a touchdown," Mendenhall said.

On the other hand, his defenders nearly had four interceptions. Linebacker Bryan Kehl recovered a Vakapuna goal-line fumble on a hit by Kelly Poppinga.

"I think we exposed our team to some situations and made it clear that there are some composure issues and situations we need to fix before Arizona," Mendenhall said.

The bad snaps?

BYU's coach said he is "substantially" concerned.

"My hope would have been that we wouldn't have seen any today," he said. "Yet they keep persisting one or two or three in every practice, always in critical times, always in team settings."

Beck said he has all the confidence in his starting center, Sete Aulai, who has yet to play a Division I football game after transferring and redshirting last year.

"Sete is a stud," Beck said. "I have no worry at all. When the time comes, he is going to step up and meet the challenge. We work on this, and it shouldn't be a concern."