BYU football: Hall's next move

PROVO — Inside the visitors' locker room at Rice-Eccles Stadium on Nov. 22, moments after BYU's 48-24 loss at Utah, Cougar quarterbacks coach Brandon Doman made his way over to Max Hall.

Neither were in a chatty mood in the wake of a crushing defeat and Hall's nightmarish six-turnover — five interceptions and a fumble — performance. Doman's visit with the junior QB was brief, and he had only one question: "What are you going to do now?"

Hall has had three weeks to ponder that question. He'll have the opportunity to answer it on a national stage in next Saturday's Las Vegas Bowl against Arizona.

Knowing Hall like he does, Doman, who is a former Cougar quarterback himself, is confident that he will bounce back in a big way.

"What this game teaches is to face adversity and test yourself to the core," he said. "I believe Max Hall will respond with a great resolve, like the champion he is."

Naturally, the junior from Mesa, Ariz., is looking to redeem himself.

"My last showing wasn't a very good one," he said. "I know I'm better than that, and I know I can play better than that. This is a chance for us — one more time to play on national TV and show everybody what our program's about and play well ... I'm going to be the most prepared I've ever been for a game for this game. I'm going to make sure I'm ready to play."

The 2008 Las Vegas Bowl also offers Hall a chance to accomplish something that only one other Cougar quarterback has — win two bowl games. Jim McMahon did it back in 1980 and 1981.

After throwing seven touchdown passes in a 59-0 trouncing of UCLA early in the season, Hall suddenly became a Heisman Trophy candidate.

But that hype pretty much ended when the Cougars lost at TCU, 32-7, in mid-October. Then came the debacle at Utah.

"Obviously, it was tough to take. What was kind of weird for me was, I think I took the TCU loss harder than I did the Utah loss," Hall said. "Both of them were tough, but it takes a couple of days to emotionally and mentally get over it and move on. You find out who your true friends are and you find out the people who really care about you after a game like that. You also realize that you have a long ways to go to reach your potential and for this team to reach their potential of what we could be. There's a lot of work on, a lot to learn from."