BYU football: Bronco not losing sleep over his team

Nobody's painted it on a shirt or a poster, but BYU begins its fall football camp today with a "quest" to return as Mountain West Conference champions.

Sans a veteran offensive line and two starting receivers, the Cougars return the league's best quarterback, tight end and running back from an offense that led the league in total offense and passing last year.

Defensively, the Cougars returned eight starters until cornerback Brandon Howard decided to leave school. It's a decent defense hoping to be good, and in dreams, it hopes to return to the caliber of the 3-4 front, zone-cover unit that Bryan Kehl led two years ago, the one that gave up only a couple of touchdowns a game.

A club with a senior QB, a squad that will host resident "Big Three" MWC toughies Utah and TCU at home? Well, this Quest is certainly possible, albeit unlabeled as such.

It may have been a telling moment a few weeks ago at the MWC meetings when Bronco Mendenhall, after about 45 minutes of questions from a cadre of reporters, fielded one like this:

What is your biggest worry — what keeps you awake at night?

Mendenhall paused. He had just answered questions about Manase Tonga's eligibility, the departure of D-lineman Ian Dulan, the possible departure of noseguard Russell Tialavea to a mission (resolved now, he'll be back), Howard quitting, updates on the injured, the academically challenged, the junior-college transfers expected on campus, etc.

The pause was long; then he replied:

"I sleep pretty good."

A few sports reporters laughed.

"Here's the way to put it," he said.

"Whether four years seems long for you, it seems like 40 to me. I trust our players. I trust the type of players I've recruited. I think it will work out. Some way, somehow, someone will step up and the coaches will use their talent to the best of their abilities. Will we meet expectations? We'll see how it works out."

BYU enters Mendenhall's fifth season humbled and hungry. I'd compare it to the John Beck era, August 2006. Players then were anxious and eager to get some bile out of their system. They worked harder, longer. Back in those days, they had slogans and mantras like Band of Brothers, etc., to cement their chemistry.

This year, they have the memory of finishing last season 0-2 and watching Utah enjoy a lot of glory in the Sugar Bowl.

"We got humbled a little bit by TCU and some of those other teams, because we thought we were better than we were and we kind of got away from the things and the work that got us there," senior tight end Dennis Pitta said.

"You can't ever forget where you came from and how you got there. That's how you stay on top. So we learned a lot of valuable things last season that will help us this season."