Get the Black Out!

  

I've been asked on a number of occasions what I think about BYU's upcoming blackout against Oregon St.  I can't answer that in a short text message or in a brief conversation.  My wife would tell you I can't answer much of anything without it being lengthy.  I guess it's that attention-to-detail trait that I have and think everyone must appreciate.  Anyway, this blog provides plenty of space for my feelings about the black out.

First of all, I generally do not like tinkering with uniforms, especially uniforms I view to be traditional.  Oregon can do it all they want.  Alabama can't.  I am not a Yankees fan, but I'd hate it if they tried a black uniform with white pinstripes, even for one game.  Those pinstriped uniforms are perfect.  I love the classic, traditional look of the Los Angeles Dodgers, the St. Louis Cardinals, the Chicago Bears, the Boston Celtics, Penn St. football, Indiana basketball, etc.

I view BYU's uniforms to be traditional.  I understand they've been tinkered with right down to changing the shade of blue 13 years ago.  There was even the bib debacle in 1999 (maybe it was just me, but I thought Hawaii's uniforms last Friday looked a little bib-ish).  The frequent changing of uniforms a decade or so ago gave way to the obscure trivia question: Name the two BYU players who wore completely re-designed home uniforms each of the four years they played. (Answer later.)

My personal preference would be if BYU football and BYU basketball always wore these exact uniforms, only with the shade of blue from the basketball uniform being switched out to match the shade of blue from the football uniform.

Having said all that, I am intrigued when schools periodically have some sort of uniform switch to motivate the players and the fans (and to sell more memorabilia/gear).  Such was the case in 2009 against Utah when BYU donned the royal blue above.  Those rare cases should comply with the following Rules for an Alternate Uniform:

1.  It must never be done more than once in a season.  Unless you are Oregon and seem to switch uniforms at the end of each quarter.  I personally think special uniforms should be trotted out every few years, not every few games.  But NEVER more than once during a season.  By the time the Oregon St. game is over, BYU's previous 8 games will have seen them wearing a military/camoflauge look, having a white-out in the stands, wearing their blue tops on the road, wearing their all-whites (jerseys and pants, but okay because of the blue turf), having the fans wear white and blue in alternating sections, having the fans wear all white, and having a black-out.  Plus one game in there where everything was just normal.  Are you confused?  I am.

2.  The highest form of alternate uniform is the throwback.  You can throw back to almost any era, except the bibs.  My BYU Football Vault book even shows a year back in about the 40's or 50's when BYU had some orange in their uniforms.  Go with those, go with the royal blues, go with the silver helmets of the 60's, even go with the oval-less "Y" that Jim McMahon wore for a year.  Throwbacks are fun, especially if both teams are participating.

3.  White-outs look best in the day time (bright) and black-outs look best at night.

4.  White-outs work best when the home team is wearing white.  White-outs in the Marriott Center for basketball look awesome, as all of the fans match the team.  If it were a true white-out in football, the team should wear their white jerseys.

5.  A black-out should never be held against a team with black in its color scheme.

6.  Any form of military tribute is more acceptable when playing against a service academy.  Wearing names like "Honor", "Freedom", and "Duty" on the back of your jersey is just plain hokey.

7.  Mixing colors (blue jerseys and blue pants or white jerseys and white pants) is not encouraged, but allowed in certain circumstances (a white-out or playing on Boise St.'s blue turf).  It should never be done against Washington (see 1996).

As you can see, BYU has violated every one of these rules this year.  In my opinion, here's what the alternate jersey schedule should be:

2009 - Wear the royal blue throwback against Utah; smart move and it worked.
2012 - Have a white-out against Oregon St.  Have the players wear white jerseys and pants and ask all of the fans in the stadium to wear white for the afternoon game.  All that white might even wake up the "It's not in the afternoon anymore" guy.
2013 - Have a blue-out against Utah.  The players will wear blue jerseys and blue pants while Utah wears their white tops.
2015 - Have a black-out against Boise St.

2018 - Have a throwback day against Utah St. or schedule Wyoming or New Mexico for that.  Both teams would wear uniforms from like the 1940's.  This would be pretty cool.  Hey, maybe by 2018 the RB will be needing to be torn down and the game could be held at the site of the old field there.

That's five alternate jerseys in 10 years.  Sounds about right to me.

Whatever BYU does, it should do well.  If the game is to be a white-out, make everything white - the uniforms, the fans (might even have to give out some white t-shirts), the main theme of the scoreboard and ribbons, etc.  If it's a black-out, give fans plenty of time to get their gear and be excited to come in black.  If the idea is to alternate sections, make it look more like West Virginia this past Saturday than BYU this past Friday.

If we're going to do something just because everyone else is doing it (which is probably the second main reason after reaping the benefits of apparel sales), we might as well do it better than everyone else.

I'm not entirely against the black uniforms and the black-out.  But after eight different variations in the last eight games, and having a black-out in the afternoon, against a team whose colors are orange and black, I am against it.  One other drawback of black, in the 4th quarter when the band starts playing "Popcorn Popping", it's going to look like a lot of burnt popcorn bobbing up and down.

So, the short answer to what I think about the upcoming black-out is best described in the short lines of Dr. Seuss:

"I do not like it!  Not one little bit!"

Trivia answer:  Fahu Tahi and Chris Hale wore different uniforms in 1999, 2003, 2004, and 2005.

Why 2012 will be a Special Year for BYU

My first thought is to wish everyone a Happy Gameday, but as we all know, Everyday is Gameday.


Recently I've felt an itch to post something on this blog again, if for no other reason than to give me something to go back and read someday. Plus, I've got to get this down on a permanent media like a blog, in case I'm right about the 2012 season for BYU.

It all starts with a lyric from Jonny Biscuit’s famous Tysman Rap. “Provo’s kind of sleepy ‘til about September 1st”. September 1st must be a special date. Here’s what’s happened over the past 30+ years when it fell on a Saturday (BYU record that year in parenthesis):

1979 (11-1) BYU starts the year off beating nationally-ranked Texas A&M in a nationally televised game then goes undefeated during the regular season and narrowly misses a perfect season when Brent Johnson misses a field goal against Indiana in the Holiday Bowl.

1984 (13-0) Undefeated, National Championship, obviously the best year in BYU football history.

1990 (10-3) Beat #1 Miami, Ty wins the Heisman Trophy, BYU ranked as high as #2 early in the season and again as high as #4 late in the season.

2001 (12-2) BYU wins 12 straight games and is ranked as high as #8 and in discussions for a BCS bowl before the Hawaii game, Luke Staley wins the Doak Walker award.

2007 (11-2) BYU goes undefeated in the MWC capping off a second straight year of beating every conference team, ends the season with the nation's longest winning streak (10) and ranked in the top 15, plus you had "Magic Happens"/Manumaleuna's block to end the season.

That means over the past 38 years, whenever September 1 falls on a Saturday, BYU’s season record is 57-8, an astounding 87.7% winning percentage. They also won a National Championship, a Heisman Trophy, and a Doak Walker award in those years. Besides 1990 (when the longest streak was just 6 games), each season included a double-digit winning streak. Every year was a double-digit win year. With September 1 falling on a Saturday in 2012, this could be a special year.

(By the way, if somehow Leap Year in 1996 could have been moved to 1997, then September 1 would have fallen on a Saturday that year as well and we could have included a 14-1 season with a New Year’s Day Bowl on the list.)

So there you have it. Pencil BYU in for at least 10 wins, probably more. Look for a long winning streak. And count on something special happening this season.

Often I will end an email or blog post with "Go Cougars!", but that is too ambiguous for today. 

Go BYU!

The Buzz is On

During a short walk around our neighborhood tonight, I encountered two neighbors, both of whom offered an unsolicited "How about the Cougars' rankings?" People around here are paying close attention to this little Top 10 team from Provo.

What a weekend it was - and BYU didn't even play. Here's to more Top 10 upsets (as long as BYU is immune). After seeing all of the scores last night, I knew BYU would move up, but I thought only to 10, maybe 9. I was thrilled to check earlier today and see #8 and #7 in the Media and Coaches polls, respectively. Now we get to start playing that game of seeing who the teams ahead of the Cougars are facing each week. Here's what's on tap for the first weekend in October:

#1 Oklahoma @ Baylor - Sooners all the way.
#2/#4 Alabama vs. Kentucky - Barring a Georgia-like letdown, should be Roll Tide Roll.
#3/#2 LSU is on BYE.
#4/#3 Missouri @ Nebraska - The Huskers had looked tough until Saturday's loss to the ACC (VT).
#5 Texas @ Colorado - The Buffaloes had looked tough until Saturday's loss to the ACC (FSU).
#6 Penn St. @ Purdue - JoPa vs. JoTi (former Wyoming head man, Joe Tiller who has announced his retirement after this season...and the Cowboys will probably be coach-searching...hmmmm).
#7/#8 Texas Tech @ Kansas St. - The Wildcats are not who they were a decade ago. Neither are the Red Raiders.

I could see any of those last four home teams securing upsets, but given the quality of competition, even one would be fortunate. Besides cheering for the Cougars against the Aggies on Friday night, I guess we're all big Bears, Wildcats x 2, Cornhuskers, Buffaloes, Boilermakers fans.

Poked Around

I know I've mentioned this before, but I mention it again since I happened to be in Laramie again this past May. I'm shocked that Wyoming can recruit a football team to compete on the Division I (sorry NCAA...the FBS) level. Laramie in May was cold (but not snowing like it was in June the previous time I was there), brown, and extremely windy. Like 70 MPH windy. And there doesn't seem like there is much to do there (as is probably evidenced by the Wyoming fans' behavior at games in Laramie). So I'm impressed that Wyoming can get decent players to come spend 4 years in Laramie. It reminds me of LaVell Edwards' old quote, "I'd rather lose and live in Provo than win and live in Laramie". Speaking of Coach Edwards, we saw him up close and personal on Saturday.

One final thing about Laramie. I always hear the Utah media complain about the hotels and lousy accommodations on their trips to cover the Cougars/Utes there. They need to stay in the Hampton Inn. That's where we stayed and it was fantastic. Clean, comfortable, a great continental breakfast, and thick walls to shield you from the wind. Definitely the place to stay in Cowboy country.

Having said all that, some probably look at BYU's 44-0 trouncing of Wyoming and think, "Wyoming is able to compete at the Division I level?" Fair point. But the Pokes actually played better than the score indicates (and better than UCLA, too, for what that's worth). For example, Wyoming was marching down the field quite well on their first drive, until an incomplete pass (that ended up being a backwards lateral) fell innocently to the ground. BYU's Scott Johnson recognized it wasn't a pass and scooped the ball up. Sixty-four yards later in the endzone, Johnson had given BYU a lead and had deflated Wyoming. Their defense held up okay to start the game, but that was mostly because of the rustiness that Max Hall and Company had to shake off. Once they did, it was another 2 1/2 quarter day and the only suspense was whether or not a second straight shutout could occur. (It did.)

Speaking of shutouts, I think the best part of these two shutouts are that it gives the 2nd and 3rd string something to play for. They've got to try their hardest to keep the opponent out of the endzone to keep the scorelessness going. Plus, it will give the entire defense a reason to try against Utah State. Here's to a third straight shut out.

I arrived at the Wyoming game early. Early enough, in fact, to go to part of the pregame "tailgate" party. I'm not sure that it should be called a "tailgate" party when the nearest tailgates are like 70 yards away. It is true...BYU fans do NOT know how to tailgate. That's okay, though. They do know how to have their real estate investment, noni juice, and nail care businesses set up booths and have football tosses for prizes. And then call that a tailgate party. I was less than impressed at the tailgate party. In the spirit of Bronco's focus of turning the football program into a beacon for the Church, it seems like the Athletic Department could turn the "tailgate" party in to some sort of large scale service project. Can you imagine the humanitarian impact of dozens of quilting table frames set up in the west stadium parking lot surrounded by hundreds of blue-clad BYU fans holding needles and tying quilts for cold, suffering young children in Laramie? Seriously though, it seems like with so many people gathered together, they could perform some good of some sort. And if Bronco got behind it, fans would flock to help.

Here's a remarkable fact about BYU pregame tailgate parties. I have only been to 3. Ever. In my life. Saturday was the 117th game* I have been to at the Stadium, and I've only been to 3 tailgate parties. Once was when I was a freshman and thought, "Hey I live close enough now I can walk to the stadium and spend all day there." The other time was before BYU played Miami, and that was only to get my own official Heisman Ty.



So it was a historic day on Saturday, arriving early enough to "tailgate". The best part of the pregame happenings outside the stadium is hearing/seeing the marching band march down the street and into the stadium.That just has college football pageantry written all over it.

I mentioned the idea of some sort of service at the tailgate party. Maybe 5 years down the road, that will come to fruition, just as my idea from about 5 years ago has come to fruition this season. BYU has sponsored a fan commercial contest. Fans were invited to make a commercial about BYU football and the winners would be played at the stadium (and on the byucougars.com website type "football fan commercial" in the search box at top right of the page to view these). My idea was to let students make short films and have the winners shown at halftime. A little bit different, but still the same concept. You can't underestimate the creativity of BYU students/alumni. So I'm glad they are capitalizing on that to make gameday a better experience at the "Y".

The best reason to go to a BYU game early is to get to watch the players warm up. I've done this many times. I don't know why it is so fascinating to watch guys run 10 yards down the field, turn around, and catch a ball, but it is. I got to do that for a few minutes then headed over to see the team come out onto the field after their final locker room chat. As has been done for many years, the team is led onto the field by people holding giant BYU flags. When Bronco became the head coach, he began having one of his players, elected by teammates, carry the flag onto the field. This year, the Cougars have started a new tradition - a second flag (that actually goes out first before the players' flag) carried out by a former BYU player or coach. It is a way to honor BYU's outstanding football past. Coach Edwards carried out the flag before the first game of the season. Saturday, it was Ty Detmer's turn, accompanied by the widows of 2 of his offensive lineman while at BYU (who both died prematurely from two different diseases that I'm too lazy to look up right now).Ty is behind these two ladies (in their husband's old uniforms) wearing a tan ball cap. I love this tradition and it is another reason Bronco is a genius. Seeing the current players come out with their flag is nothing short of electrifying.(By the way, notice the new video scoreboard in the north endzone, as discussed after the UNI game.)

All in all, it was a great pregame, a great game (or at least a great 2.5 quarters of a game), and another great win for the 4-0 Cougars. This coming week they will certainly record another shutout against BYE.



*This may be for my benefit only, but BYU is 88-29 in games I have attended, a 75.21% winning percentage. Since the stadium was expanded in 1982, BYU is 123-35 at home, which is a 77.85% winning percentage. I guess I'm bad luck for the team.

59-0!!!

Wow. Is there any other way to describe BYU's drubbing of UCLA last Saturday? That was an unbelieveable game. More specifically, that was an unbelievable 2nd quarter at Saturday's game.

I arrived just a little bit late to the game and had just heard BYU's opening touchdown on the radio (following its 29th consecutive time of not allowing a TD on its opponent's opening drive - a phenomenal achievement). As I walked into the stadium, I commented that here is where we'll see if BYU has learned to put the hammer down, or if it will allow a team to hang around, as it did with Washington the week before. Well, we had that question answered.

As the first quarter ended, BYU was up 7-0, had the ball, and was driving in the "Blue Zone" (great job by Bronco, Greg Wrubell, etc. for this slight, but important, modification on "Red Zone"). Suddenly, just 5 minutes and 18 seconds later, BYU led 35-0. Game over. I have never seen a series of quick turnovers and quick touchdowns like that little stretch. Boy did the Cougars answer my question about putting the hammer down. They answered it with about 10 exclamation points!!!!!!!!!! In fact, I had my answer on the TD that put BYU up 21-0. Jan Jorgensen had just caused UCLA's QB to fumble and BYU recovered. BYU's offense came out and on the very first play, Max Hall hit Austin Collie in stride for a TD. That was the hammer. By the end of the first half, the scoreboard said it all:
Probably my favorite play of the 2nd quarter, however, was the blocked field goal. The Bruins, though clearly shell-shocked from the barrage of touchdowns that they were hit with, managed to put a drive together and march down the field late in the 2nd quarter. BYU's defense stiffened and forced a field goal. I'm sure it was running through the UCLA's kicker's mind, "The last time I kicked against these guys, they blocked my Las Vegas Bowl game-winning field goal attempt. And the last time they line up in kick defense position, they blocked Washington's 35-yard extra point try." Well, BYU brought the house and blocked that 2nd quarter attempt as well. That pretty much guaranteed the shutout, as they were in the kicker's head, evidently influencing his 4th quarter field goal attempt (wide left to preserve a shut out). Way to get in the kicker's head.

Speaking of the kicking game, I really like BYU's recent emphasis on blocking kicks. I always viewed Virginia Tech and Air Force, perennially two of the nation's best at blocking kicks (and at special teams in general), and thought they used this strength as a great strategy - one that was a result more of effort than talent. I'm glad Bronco has realized this and begun to emphasize it. Now if they can do the same on kick returns.

One other thing on kickoffs. Late in the 3rd quarter after BYU scored its eigth and final TD, Justin Sorensen (a local hero in Provo despite this kick) shenked the kick and it flew out of bounds and landed right smack dab in the middle of a group of BYU Cougarettes huddled together. They scattered faster than rats in a subway.

I heard two stats (from my hero Ralph Sokolowsky via Greg Wrubell) about that 2nd quarter that I loved. UCLA's average starting field position for the quarter was its own 33-yard line (a bit of concern, actually as they had some pretty good kickoff returns) and BYU's starting average field position for the quarter was the UCLA 35-yard line. A two yard difference in starting field position. The other stat was that during that historic stretch, Max Hall hit on 7 of 8 passes, including 4 TD's. You don't see that everyday.

You also don't see 7 TD passes every day. In fact it has only happened twice before at BYU - once by Jim McMahon and once by Marc Wilson. It's been nearly 30 years. It caused a very interesting, and maybe somewhat troubling, thought. What if Max Hall ends up in the discussion for greatest BYU quarterback ever. In my mind Ty Detmer has had a firm grip on that spot for nearly 2 decades. McMahon is solidly in 2nd place. But if BYU keeps winning, Hall may end up with the stats and the winning percentage that rivals those two. I always thought that Detmer was and always would be BYU's best. I never considered that someone could even approach his greatness. Maybe Hall will. That's probably its own blog topic for another day.

Speaking of stats and Cougarettes, I calculated that the Cougarettes performed 307 legs kicks. More impressively, the ROTC had to do 307 push-ups on the day.

A couple of other anecdotes from the game: this was only the 3rd time in its history that BYU has shut out a team currently in a BCS conference (Kansas St. in 1977 and Arizona St. in 1935 were the other two)....This was the 3rd time in 1 year and 4 days that BYU and UCLA have battled. It was a fun little three game series....Former BYU quarterback Ben Olson finally got to take the field at LaVell Edwards Stadium. Too bad it was in street clothes and just for the coin toss....We left the game in the middle of the 4th quarter. Walking out, we passed two female fans wearing UCLA shirts, walking back toward the stadium as they finished their smoke break. I guess that's what this game drove them to.

Finally, in the past week and a half, I've had two opportunities to hear Bronco Mendenhall speak in two very differnt settings, but in both cases, I've been left feeling proud to be a Cougar fan. The first was two days before the UCLA game at a Cougar Club luncheon. Bronco used his time to primarly let us know what goes on in a daily team meeting. He showed a slide show that the outside linebackers had put together (and shown to the team) on Christ and His Atonement. He then read two letters that were read to the team, one from a player currently on a mission, and one from two military members in the Middle East who find inspiration from BYU's Quest. It was a unique look at a unique program. I'm sure some critics would be appalled that it was more of a Sunday School feel than a pep talk feel. The other time I heard Bronco was this past Wednesday as he was a guest on the Jim Rome Show, a nationally syndicated radio program. Rome seemed enthralled with Bronco and his descriptions of the kinds of kids he recruits, the Honor Code, the fact that football is BYU players' and coaches' 4th or 5th priority, and the team's Quest for Perfection (on and off the field). Most of it was not new to Cougar fans, but was new to Rome (and most of his audience as evidenced by later emails and texts to the show). He represented BYU and The Church well. There is a link to hear the interview if you click here. Bronco is also appearing on ESPN's College Game Day this morning.

So the ball is rolling. A 59-point blowout of a big-name team is exactly what BYU needed to get positive national exposure. Let's hope the Cougars can keep it going. It continues today with the Cowboys.

A Win is a Win is a Win

Despite last Saturday’s BYU-Washington game being on Fox Sports, I didn’t see any of the game. I was too busy building shelves in my garage. But Greg Wrubell, Marc Lyons, and Nate Miekle were there to keep me company. I did see the highlights that evening, so my thoughts will be relatively brief and mostly the result of hearing the game.

First let me say that I have added Washington’s Husky Stadium to my list of stadiums I really need to visit. Greg and Marc raved on and on what a beautiful setting it was. They even referenced some national writers (including Kirk Herbstreit) who have ranked it as one of the Top 5 or 6 places to watch a college football game. I’ve always liked that you can travel to the game by boat (Wrubell informed me that Tennessee is the only other stadium with that feature). I also found it interesting that the field runs east-west, instead of north-south like virtually any other football field. I wonder how they get away with this and I can only think that it is usually so cloudy up there maybe the sun isn’t much of an issue. One thing I’ve never liked about Husky Stadium is the loud horn they blare whenever Washington scores a touchdown. My disdain for this started in 1986 when BYU played up there and lost by a score of something like 52-21 (off the top of my head). That horn just kept going off again and again. Other than that tradition, I think I’d like the stadium and hope to get there when BYU plays there again in 2011.



The game ended with me having only one major concern for the offense. And it’s not the turnovers per se. The problem I see is that they weren’t able to throw down the hammer on Washington when they could have. After BYU methodically marched down the field for a touchdown on its first drive, the defense forced a 3-and-out. BYU got the ball back and if they could have produced another long drive, would have gone up 14-0 and used up nearly the entire 1st quarter. Instead they ran 3 plays and punted back to Washington (who went down and tied the score). Late in the game, BYU was knocking on the door for a touchdown that would have put them up 28-21 when Harvey Unga fumbled into the endzone. Washington recovered and got the ball back. The defense held and BYU scored on its next possession, but had Unga punched it in, the second score would have given the Cougars an unreachable 35-21 lead. They just need to seal the deal when they have the opportunities.

There are more concerns on the defense, but in one case my concern is similar to that of the offense. I believe it was early in the 2nd quarter when Husky QB Jake Locker (great football name, by the way) fumbled and the ball rolled toward the BYU endzone. Despite having a player with the best chance to recover the fumble, BYU failed to do so. It set Washington up with a 3rd down and 23 yard to go scenario – usually a sure stop for a defense. Instead, David Tafuna had a Locker pass go right between his hands and into the arms of a Washington receiver for a first down. Opportunity squandered. My other concerns with the defense are how open Husky receivers seemed to always be. Greg and Marc sounded like a broken record, “Locker overthrows his receiver again, but AGAIN the receiver got behind the BYU defense.” A more accurate QB will make BYU pay if they don’t fix that problem. Also, BYU’s depth at linebacker is a concern. The starters are fine (David Nixon and Colby Clawson on the outside and Matt Bauman and Shawn Doman on the inside), but behind them there is not much experience. Let’s hope for good health and lots of pressure on the QB from BYU’s outstanding defensive line. A few years ago, Bronco switched his defense from a 4-3 to a 3-4 since he had more depth and talent at linebacker. Is it too late in the season to switch back now?

So BYU got the win, and a win is a win, but they should have won by much more. Hopefully they can get these wrinkles ironed out and have a big win against UCLA on Saturday. I have faith they can.

(Notice I made it through the entire post – until now – without mentioning “The Call”. I think much more has been made of it than needed to be. I can’t really decide if it was a good call or bad rule or both. My take: I thought it was basically an inconsistent enforcement of a rule. Utah had a player throw the ball seemingly just as high after a TD against UNLV the same day and did not receive a flag. There needs to be some consistency so that players really know what the consequence of their action will be. But no game, win or lose, can be blamed on one call. Especially when there is one play after the call. And it was a play on which BYU outplayed Washington. Nevertheless, that play certainly was affected by the call. The bottom line is that both BYU and Washington should be grateful for all of the national publicity they have received as a result of the call. Remember, there is no such thing as bad publicity.)

BYU vs. UNI

It was a valiant effort. But in the end, You and I just couldn't compete against Brigham Young. He was too much for the two of us (you and I) to handle.

Every time Greg Wrubell referred to "UNI" on Saturday, I couldn't help but think "You and I". Then I had that Eddie Rabbitt and Crystal Gale song "Just you and I, sharing our love together..." in my head the rest of the day. And when I saw, UNI in print, I wondered if any of their fans thought that ESPN.com's "Uni-Watch" was a feature dedicated to Northern Iowa.

But in regards to the play on the field (instead of the play on words), BYU began their Quest for Perfection with a less than perfect showing. What else would have been expected though? As I prefer to do, I'll say very little of the actual plays, statistics, or game action. I will have more comments on the atmosphere, stadium, etc.

Much of the talk this week is about BYU's relatively inept 3rd quarter where they didn't score and where 2 fumbles led to 2 Northern Iowa TD's. Add 2 other fumbles to that and some fans/media are concerned about upcoming games against PAC-10 teams. Here's my take: BYU's defense was 2 big plays away from pitching a shutout - the long run UNI's QB made to set up the short field goal, and the trick play after Wayne Latu's fumble near the Panther 20-yard line. UNI's only other TD came on Max Hall's fumble in the end zone. So I had no problems with the defense. The offense's big problems were the four fumbles. Two of the fumbles were by backups who will not see much time when a game is on the line, at least when Fui Vakapuna is eligible to play (technically he was eligible, but he hadn't practiced all week due to some academic reasons, so Bronco rightly held him out when he became eligible late-Friday). One of the fumbles was a bad snap while Max Hall was in shotgun. That will get ironed out soon (remember, the center is Dallas Reynolds who is new to the position) and even until it does, it seems like fumbled snaps actually end up as turnovers less than 50% of the time.

The Max Hall fumble is a little more concerning. When I first saw the play live, I thought, "Oh no, here we go again with Hall fumbling the ball on a blind-side hit." Seeing the replay made me realize the fumble was because he had started his throwing motion, not because of ball protection. However, I still can't believe Hall can't be aware of the guys coming, especially when he is standing in the end zone. So that (and the fact that a UNI got that free to hit Hall like that) bother me. The two teams best suited to exploit that weakness are probably UCLA (but their best pass rusher from a year ago graduated) and Utah (thankfully, BYU has some time to fix the glitch).

Overall, I thought the game was about what could be expected. Northern Iowa is decent, but not in BYU's class. Max Hall was very good and Dennis Pitta was awesome, but the rest of the team I thought was pretty average for the opponent.

By the way, how bad were the Cougars' kickoffs this year if one of the game's outstanding performers was Justin Sorensen who had touchbacks on 5 of his 7 kickoffs?

A couple of notes about the stadium:

-On the back of the south scoreboard, BYU has put up a large "Y".This is an awesome addition to campus (that type of "Y" anywhere but the helmets is starting to grow on me) as it can be seen from almost the entire campus. What a great use of blank space.
-On the outside of the west stands (facing the large parking lot and the intramural field) BYU has put up three long banners, each with a word at the bottom (Tradition, Spirit, Honor). One has a photo of Max Hall, one has Jan Jorgensen, and one has Bronco Mendenhall. It's a nice touch. I'll shoot a photo sometime soon and include it in a future post.
-The north endzone now has a video scoreboard. The video screen is smaller than the south scoreboard, but has a more crisp picture. Gone now is the tradition of the entire south stands turning around in unison to watch the replay of a controversial call.
-I knew going into the game that the grass might not look as incredible as it usually has, thanks to a note in Greg Wrubell's blog (about halfway down the page). Greg uses the word "patchy" and I would agree. While most of the grass looks superb, there are a few places where the green isn't quite as brilliant. I'd never noticed this in past season openers, but I have noticed the field seemed wear down more quickly over the course of a season than in year past. It looks like BYU has got an extra 20 years or so out of the grass, though. I'm excited to see what it looks like next year. By the way, I didn't know I'd need to replace my sod every 5 to 7 years. Maybe I'll install field turf.
-The 4:00 start time was perfect for an August game. The temps were pretty hot to start with, but weren't really too bad for most of the game.

So BYU is 1-0, but hasn't really proved much yet. Washington this week should be a pretty good barometer game. I only wish I were going.