Comments about ‘BYU football: Cougars give San Diego St. the runaround’

Coach Mendenhall's personal interventions that started with his firing of Hill last Saturday and the emergency Sunday morning meeting with his coaching staff that followed has paid great dividends -- the turnaround has begun. While I am certain that we will be spanked hard by TCU next week, I expect us to have little trouble with the following four opponents (Wyoming, UNLV, CSU and New Mexico), three of which we play at home with a bye week thrown in. Finally, with continued exponential improvement and BYU's coaches working seven days a week, I predict a surprisingly comfortable victory over Utah on Nov 27. We finish 7-5 and make another trip to Las Vegas in December.

Big turning point to the season. I'm not saying they are going to win the rest of their games but that attitude was completely different. For the next 3 years this team is only going to get better and better.

It is going to be fun to watch.

Go Cougars!

Shock the world and Hook those Horned Frogs! I know BYU is not favored to beat TCU, but I think that it might be a time to buck the losing trend against them. Of course, certain receivers and tight ends need to step up and make catches. Also, some more fortuitous give aways (special teams, turn overs) need to happen, but on any given Saturday...

Go Cougars! Go bowling with a rebuilding team!

Tradition, spirit, honor with growing true freshmen! And a few banged up seniors, too.

Cougs!

A great game by winning on the ground! This was a solid performance, only a few mistakes, and it showed the potential of what this team will develop into.

Obviously the coaching staff understood what needed to be done and it was communicated AND recieved by the team. Good job Cougars! It was fun to see you guys play to your potential!

Good to see the OC didn't try to make Heaps win the game and used his best play maker effectively. Next week the defense BYU faces will be much better as will the offense. Still a long way to go but this is more like it.

I may have trouble pronouncing and spelling their names....but was sure impressed with the 3 running backs today. Remember, this is against a Rocky Long
defense. I have a lot of respect for Rocky.

Offensive line play is where it starts and they had a much better day.

Smash mouth football carried the Cougs, thank you Offensive line you bubbua's smashed the mouth all day long. And to the three running backs that carried the rock JJ, Bryan & Josh you three stepped up, over and through a Rocky Long "D" terrific job, strong , strong work. I know the TCU game will be a huge test but at least the "O" shined this weekend.
Good Luck ! Rise a little and shout..

"POLY" Cougar Nation.

I love it when the offensive line takes over the game. Enjoy it today and I will take a moral victory next week. I have no illusions about TCU. They are fast, strong, and hate BYU because of the conference thing. Gary Peterson will make this personal.

Bronco was a great defensive coordinator in Provo and Albequerque. I just question his head coaching skills.

Hook the Frogs?

Well, we're not the Texas Longhorns, so we're not going to "hook" the frogs.

But we are the Cougars, so it would feel really good to claw them in the face.

I'm getting really tired of their arrogance and snide towards BYU. BYU has always had respect for the Frogs but for some reason they've had none for us, even when we were beating them. But in all reality this TCU team is too good for BYU to get a win next week. They have killed our good teams the past two years. They may even be too good to keep the game respectable. If BYU can keep the game within 2 touchdowns, I will honestly consider that a success.

I might chime in I was very impressed with the running backs. I hope to see that kind of play every week. I would be tickled pink to see it next week but it probably won't happen to that same level. BYU needs to be able to stretch the field or it won't be close against TCU. They just need to be able to stretch the field period. Come on WRs!

TJ2407,

Here you go. And, a great question from you. Glad to answer or compare any of these combos.

Last ten years:

Texas Tech
TCU
Texas
290 WINS 91 LOSSES
.7611 RECORD

Boise State
UTAH
BYU
279 WINS 97 LOSSES
.7420 RECORD

Florida
Florida State
Miami
265 WINS 107 LOSSES
.7123 RECORD

Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Nebraska
261 WINS 124 LOSSES 68%
.6779 RECORD

Virginia Tech
West Virginia
Virginia
250 WINS 130 LOSSES
.6578 RECORD

All include head to head.

Sorry it took me so long to get this information out. Great win by UTAH anyway you look at it. Super win by Boise State. Good win for the Cougars.

You can see that we who treasure our boys in blue and crimson are on a winning team. Glad to see so many posters who enjoy riding the wave of success with the threesome combo.

Very obvious that the three best teams in the west are BYU, UTAH, and BSU, and when they are looked at as a package, they are 2nd the nation.

Great when one, two, or three of these teams have a win on Saturday.

Hopefully, someday we can include USU in the combo.

A variation of this game plan can beat TCU.

However,

1. Heaps will have to handle the blitz well.

2. Heaps will need to burn TCU long a couple of times.

3. The defense will have to put pressure on Dalton. He throws interceptions under pressure and is very inaccurate. Van Noy could have a big game.

4. BYU will need to cut down on TOs.

5. Special teams, especially the punter will have to play well.

6. The TEs will need to be more productive and the WR will have to stop the drops.

A review of the ORState and SMU game films would be helpful.

JJ and Q are somewhat similar to the Rodger Bros. They can be effective against TCU if the BYU line blocks well.

Jacquizz Rodgers has 96.2 yds per game with 4.4 yds per carry. JJ has 84.7 yds per game with 5.8 yds per carry.

The key to beating TCU is not signaling the play to TCU. The last 2 games TCU has known what BYU was going to run before the snap.

That has to be fixed or BYU has no shot.

Anae knows how. Do it.

TJ2407

Geographical areas. Sure it is a stretch to say my three are in the same area. Really, these three were chosen for a couple of reasons.

Which three teams do not get any respect nationwide. These three teams. Which have the best win/loss record in the west? These three teams.

These teams are in the same boat as far as respect. Remember when BYU was undefeated going into the last game, and the bowl selection committee announced BYU would not be playing in the championship game even if they won their last game? That is where these three teams still are. They have this in common, even more than geography.

And, lastly, you can look at the top records since 2000, BSU is #1. Putting BSU with other top teams since 2000, the only teams available are UTAH and BYU. All these reasons put BYU, UTAH, and BSU in their combo. Again:

Last ten years:

Texas Tech
TCU
Texas
290 WINS 91 LOSSES
.7611 RECORD

Boise State
UTAH
BYU
279 WINS 97 LOSSES
.7420 RECORD

Florida
Florida State
Miami
265 WINS 107 LOSSES
.7123 RECORD

GO UTAH, BSU, and BYU. What a great group of teams.

Funny, the freshman Heaps had a very similar game to what we saw from the rookie Max Hall today. Decent throwing %, missed a few 3rd down passes, 1 int and no TDs, but play well enough that the running game and defense win the game.

And they should both continue to improve.