Cougars are own biggest concern

PROVO — BYU offensive coordinator Robert Anae is very acquainted with the 3-3-5 defense deployed by Tulsa, the Cougars' next opponent Saturday in LaVell Edwards Stadium. He saw it all last year from his boss, head coach Bronco Mendenhall.

"The scheme is a multiple-front scheme. Fortunately, we had a lot of that training from our defense," Anae said. "We've had some background going against it. They are good and experienced. They have invested a lot of games in those players and they are well-coached. It will be a big challenge, just like last week at Arizona."

Anae said he is more concerned about what his own Cougars do in cleaning up execution this week after miscues cost the Cougars drives and points in a 16-13 loss to the Wildcats in Arizona Stadium.

"Our focus is mainly on us. We need to improve," Anae said. "Although we are preparing for a good scheme against a well-prepared and well-coached opponent this week, our focus is on us."

Asked to explain what details he tried to focus on with the Cougar offense this week, Anae said "assignments and technique."

He said the Cougars got away from assignments and techniques on the road in the first game. "Clearly the focus is on us."

In Mendenhall's weekly press luncheon on Wednesday, he said he is more concerned with the execution of the offense — over any predictability it may present to a defense.

"Back in the days I was at New Mexico, we knew what plays BYU would run and could predict what they would do, but the key to the success was how well they executed, and that made it difficult to defend."

When asked about BYU's deep pass attack and lack thereof in the Arizona game, Mendenhall said there is a price to be paid for stacking the box defensively against the Cougar offense and he expects BYU will make defenses pay.

"That has been addressed," he said.

MATURITY FACTOR: Tulsa coach Steve Kragthorpe used to live in Provo when his father, Dave, coached with LaVell Edwards and is very familiar with BYU's older players. When asked Monday about BYU's older players, he said, "It's not just football, it's life. When you're 19 and you're 24, that five years is a big difference in terms of the maturation process. A lot of those guys are married. I'm not sure how many now, but in my dad's last year in '79, they had 31 married players. It's a very mature group of guys. A very understanding group of guys that understands what it takes to be successful."