Cougars put the fun back in football

Something happened to the blue-and-white robots who walked out of University Stadium in Albuquerque last Saturday: emotional, spontaneous combustion.

It was all over the field, from sideline to center and cornerback to receiver, in BYU's 38-21 win over Air Force on Saturday at LaVell Edwards Stadium.

BYU players were hopping, jumping, slapping and screaming like scalded cats.

You'd have thought somebody gave them unlimited Visa cards.

You saw it when BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall jumped onto the field on Air Force's first fumble. He was pointing BYU possession like an airline terminal flagman.

You saw it when safety Andrew Rich returned an interception 39 yards and then body-jumped with defensive coordinator Jaime Hill.

You saw it when cornerback Brian Logan knocked down a third-and-long pass and had his helmet slapped like a ping-pong ball, teammates bumping and pushing him until linebacker Jordan Pendleton finally knocked him on his belly, a shot from behind when he reached the sideline.

You saw it when the Falcons missed a first-half field goal and offensive players mobbed the defense and QB Max Hall caught an errant slap right in his genealogical archives. It was a big enough hit that he doubled over and trainer Kevin Curtis had to ask if he was OK.

Mendenhall told reporters afterwards that he'd addressed emotion and playing for fun and playing for one another this past week after the Cougars played New Mexico with little more than a pulse.

Fun.

"We played for each other," said Hall. "It was as much fun as I've had playing in a game. Same as Oklahoma.

"They came out as a greased up, physical team, and their execution was exceptional," said AFA coach Troy Calhoun.

"Pulling together, playing as a team, supporting on one another and focusing on our preparation is what enabled us to play well today," said Mendenhall.

Air Force had four turnovers in the first half, this from a team that had just seven all season before Saturday.

"The turnovers were forced through hard hits and tackles," Mendenhall said. "Just the intensity and physical nature and how we were playing caused the turnovers. I think we overwhelmed them with the momentum and physical play with execution in the first half.

So, what's up?

"We worked on it," said one coach.

What was said and done is a team affair, not for disclosure.

But a key to it, according to a staff member, is that Mendenhall brought back the "Band of Brothers" theme this past week.

Only about eight players are on the team that became part of Mendenhall's campaign from 2005 when he tried to rebuilt broken spirits of a squad that had begun losing and forgot what fun football was all about.

"We gave them a refresher course," said linebackers coach Barry Lamb. "It was fun to see. The players responded."