Lightning delays players' celebration, not their concentration

PROVO — While thousands of fans headed for the exits during the 53-minute lightning delay in BYU's 49-24 victory over Tulsa on Saturday, the Cougar players and coaches sat in the locker room and waited.

And waited.

Coach Bronco Mendenhall kept his team game-ready. BYU led at the time, 42-17, with six minutes left.

"I told them to remain focused on finishing the football game," he said. "It was difficult not to have a celebration during that time. It was pregame-like."

"We kept our minds on the game," said quarterback John Beck. "Coaches kept telling us, 'You can't think that it's done because it's not done.' In the time I've been here, we've had a number of games where teams have come back on us like the TCU game last year, when they came back. It was a weird situation to be in the game, then have to be in the locker room and be still in your pads and have to go out."

Mendenhall praised the few thousand hearty souls who braved the inclement weather and remained to the end of the game.

"I was coaching at New Mexico against BYU in Albuquerque (in 1999) and there was no one in the stands," he said. "So I really appreciate our students staying and watching the end of the game."

TAFUNA STARTS: Safety David Tafuna started in place of Quinn Gooch, who suffered a quad contusion against Arizona. Mendenhall said Gooch was a late scratch from the game.

"I hadn't expected Quinn to be out," he said. "We thought all week that he might recover. When it came time, it just wasn't responding. It gave David Tafuna a chance to start and play the entire game back there. It wasn't my decision to hold (Gooch) out. He simply wasn't cleared to play."

Offensive guard Jake Kuresa, who sustained a sprained knee against Arizona, did play Saturday.

"I was expecting the reverse, that Quinn would play and Jake wouldn't," Mendenhall said. "It played out just the opposite of that."

Wide receiver Michael Reed suffered a sprained ankle in the first half and did not return to the game. His status for next week is not yet known.

GADGET PLAYS: BYU coaches reached deep in their bag of tricks on Saturday, though without much success. Running back Curtis Brown threw a halfback pass to Zac Collie in the end zone that Collie couldn't hold onto.

Later, on a kickoff, McKay Jacobson handed off to Manase Tonga, who picked up more than 50 yards, but that play was called back due to a holding penalty.

"They reflect philosophy and aggressiveness," Mendenhall said of the trick plays. "There were a few more aggressive things we put in the game plan simply knowing that field position and points would be imperative."

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