Jorgensen family's allegiance has changed

PROVO — A native of Helper, Jan Jorgensen grew up a Ute. His older brother, J.D., was a Utah tight end. How things have changed — Jan Jorgensen is a starting defensive lineman at BYU. "I've seen both sides of this rivalry, definitely," he said with a smile.

Even J.D. has switched allegiances. "He's a Cougar," Jan said. "He backs his little brother."

Jorgensen was recruited by both schools and orally committed to Utah and former coach Ron McBride. But when the school fired McBride, Jorgensen decided to sign instead with Kentucky. While serving a mission, he re-examined his decision and looked at BYU, Utah and Boise State, eventually picking the Cougars.

"I went back and forth over the years, from the time I was in high school and while I was on my mission. It was an interesting recruiting battle, to say the least," Jorgensen recalled this week. "I just looked at it as a whole and looked at all of the teams that were involved, BYU and Utah among others. As I looked at the good for me, BYU was the best fit. Not that Utah wasn't great, because I was seriously thinking about going there. I have a lot of respect for coach (Kyle) Whittingham and what he does. But BYU was the best fit for me. It's been good for me, and I've been able to start since I was a freshman."

Jorgensen said most of the bitter feelings produced by the rivalry come from fans, not players.

"The hatred between players really is not there. I'm sorry to disappoint people," he said. "I have friends who play for Utah. We don't have that hatred. We just know it's a big, competitive game because we know the people over there, and we want to beat our friends.

KICKING GAME WOES: BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall said his team is paying special attention to the special teams again this week. The Cougars saw two field goals blocked by Wyoming last Saturday.

"We had a replacement in our PAT/field goal protection," Mendenhall said. "A player got hurt and another came in as a backup. My job is to get every player that sees the field ready. There was significant drop-off from one player to the next. In a game where every play and every point does count, as it does in every game, no matter who it is, it's a point of emphasis that we need to get fixed."

In last year's game, Utah blocked a BYU extra-point attempt.

PICKING ON CRIDDLE: Somehow, the cell phone number of Cougar senior cornerback Ben Criddle wound up on the Internet, and he's been the recipient of numerous crank calls and text messages from Utah fans. One of the messages was simply a recording of the Utah fight song.

Criddle attributes it to fans being fans. "I just laugh," he said.

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