BYU football: Cougars look to go perfect on the road
ALBUQUERQUE — Heading into its final road game of the season, BYU is on the brink of accomplishing something it hasn't done in 25 years.
The Cougars are 5-0 on the road this season. The last time BYU went undefeated on the road the entire season was when it won the 1984 national championship.
The last time the Cougars posted a 6-0 record on the road was 2001, but they finished 6-1 after a 72-45 loss at Hawaii.
This year, including the season-opening victory over Oklahoma in Arlington, Texas, BYU is outscoring its opponents on the road by an average of 43-13. Today, No. 22 BYU will look to finish the season 6-0 on the road when it visits winless New Mexico (noon, The mtn.).
"We're playing well on the road, which is kind of odd, because usually we lose games on the road and this year we've lost a couple at home," said quarterback Max Hall.
Why has his team been so successful away from home this season?
"On the road, the turf's not flying up," Hall half-joked, referring to the new, unstable turf at LaVell Edwards Stadium.
University Stadium in Albuquerque is the site of BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall's first road victory as a head coach, and it still goes down as one of the biggest road wins of his career.
In 2005, the Cougars were 1-3 when they visited New Mexico. Mendenhall, in his first season at the helm, and his team desperately needed a win, especially after coming off a 31-10 loss at San Diego State.
"I remember a two-minute drive, with Matt Allen making a catch in the end zone, and then us making a stop at midfield, and hugging my wife in the locker room," Mendenhall said this week. "It was emotional. That time for us wasn't easy. I remember it well."
The Cougars won, 27-24, and went on to post a 6-6 record, snapping a run of three straight losing seasons, and received their first invitation to the Las Vegas Bowl.
Four years later, BYU is rolling on the road.
"We have a good time on the road. The fans that travel are solid," said BYU linebacker Matt Bauman. "We usually travel well and they're excited to see us. It's just that it's just us out there. We have some fans, but not as many as at home. We rely on each other, and it's always fun to go into someone else's house and whip up on them."
Mendenhall said the approach with this year's team isn't much different from his previous teams.
Recent comments
The definition of football in USA, about 12 guys on each team, at the...
Rachel | Nov. 22, 2009 at 4:23 p.m.
By now, you probably know that the game is close (closer if the...
Re:Re: It will be 5-1 | 9:44 p.m | Nov. 14, 2009 at 3:04 p.m.
Being perfect on the road doesn't mean anything if you can't defend...
GET REAL! | Nov. 14, 2009 at 11:44 a.m.
- Today on TV 12:49 a.m.
- Wanted: Bank robber with bad breath 12:40 a.m.
- Philippine police clash with clan 12:28 a.m.
- Officer responding to call killed 12:28 a.m.
- Editorial: Fine-tune state workweek 12:18 a.m.
- Let's keep energy money in the U.S. 12:18 a.m.
- How to pay for the war 12:17 a.m.
- Feast of Guadalupe nourishes soul 12:17 a.m.
- Obama's strategy is a road map 12:17 a.m.
- Letters: 'Political priestcraft' 12:17 a.m.
- Y., U. to learn bowl destinations
- BYU and Utah's bowl games
- BYU professor remembered
- The forgotten ship: USS Utah
- Branch president without a congregation
- Utahns want health care reform bills
- BYU basketball: Cougars crush Dons
- Kurt Bestor: Joy for the world
- Jazz upset by Wolves
- Urn of baby rests with sailors
- Letters: Liberal because LDS
257 - Y. profs: Beck not all-knowing
214 - Hate not limited to 1 in-state rivalry
189 - Aggies shoot past Cougars
179 - N.Y. Senate rejects gay marriage
130 - George lost in rivalry hatefest
113 - TCU to play Boise in Fiesta Bowl
110 - Unbeaten BYU takes trip to Logan
105 - Ed Smart 'appalled' at testimony
97 - Harpring's NBA career is over
95
The San Francisco Chronicle is reporting (perhaps speculating) that Utah...
I got some e-mail from Aggie fans regarding a column I wrote last week...
Sorry earlier I meant to say that tracks seems to travel at 35 miles an hour...
'Peter Frumhoff, the director of science and policy at the Union of...
The Non-BCS crowd ought to create their own title game...their own brand, and...
That's the whole of your defense of GOP resistance to badly-needed ethics...
Your criticism should hardly be focused on Bennett alone. What about all the...
'Wired's Threat Level blog reported on November 20 that Gavin Schmidt, a...
The reality of climate change is supported by multiple lines of evidence and...
I had the priviledge of staying in the LeBaron home on severl occasions as I...
So the unemployment rate has dropped to "just" 10%, huh? I wonder what that...
Ahh for the love of money...what money can buy!!!


