We Made It!

Congratulations Cougar fans everywhere! The long offseason of college football officially came to a close late Saturday night (though not as late as I stayed up to watch the USA gold medal in men's basketball). That's when "game week" officially started. Any week of the season, the "game week" for a particular opponent begins once all of the college games for the week prior have concluded. So if I say that the "season" doesn't start until the first game next Saturday, I'm technically cutting my college football season short by a week. And it's already short enough, so I don't want to do that.

The season officially starting means such things as making an extra effort to live right (remember, magic happens), religiously refusing to wear the colors of the week's opponent (or red at all from now until after the Utah game), finally starting to learn about the next week's opponent (I refuse to breakdown Northern Iowa's 2nd string offensive linemen 6 weeks before the game), hitting KSL on the radio dial on Wednesday nights (the Bronco Mendenhall show), and planning laundry so that my one blue BYU T-shirt is available for home games (maybe I should break down and buy "The Quest" T-Shirt for $5).
The only problem with getting "The Quest" T-shirt is if BYU loses a game, doesn't the shirt become somewhat obsolete? It definitely can't be worn the week of the Utah game or anytime you might be seen by our Young Men's President, who would never let you live it down. By the way, doesn't the shirt also become obsolete if BYU wins all of its games (and thus fulfils its Quest).

Speaking of "The Quest", there has been much debate regarding the appropriateness of it (the slogan, not the T-shirt). In fact, I think it may be the most controversial team slogan since Bobby Bowden used "Let's Roll" soon after September 11 popularized that phrase. Many people feel that speaking of a "Quest for Perfection" violates Dealing With Sports Media Rule #1 - "Never, never, never actually speak to the media about what you are really trying to do in sports (WIN!)." Doesn't every team want to win every game? Isn't every team beginning its "Quest for Perfection"? So I have no problem with the slogan.

Now if we can all unite in our Quest for Perfection, we will be living right and magic WILL happen. (Be sure to remind your Ute friends of that.)

These are a few of my Favorite Things

Yesterday's post felt like a little bit of a downer. Today I want to list only good things - things that really make me happy. This list gets a little long, but bear with me, I think you'll agree with the list.

-BYU's 2007 football radio promotional advertisements. These simply consisted of Greg Wrubell's call of "Beck to Harline" followed by a deep-voiced announcer saying, "once in a lifetime moments...happening again this season at LaVell Edwards Stadium". (I'll forgive the one flaw of the commercial - Beck to Harline didn't happen at LaVell Edwards Stadium. Nevertheless, the point is the same.) This commercial was priceless for 2 main reasons: 1) We got to keep hearing that play over and over ("Caught for the Touchdown! Caught for the Touchdown! Caught for the Touchdown"); and 2) Utah fans in the radio market had to hear that call over and over as well - an important reminder that Harline is still open.

-BYU's new and improved website. From better video player to a photo blog to better access to the athletes, things are much better now at www.byucougars.com . Welcome to the 21st Century, guys!

-Greg Wrubell's CougarTracks blog. This one may be in part because I secretly wish I had Greg Wrubell's life (at least his professional one). I love the name of the blog, the logo, the style, and the content. In fact, unless there is something specific I want to read up on at another website or blog, my daily BYU-related internet rounds are limited to CougarTracks and www.byucougars.com .

-The now-annual BYU-Utah golf tournament. This event is held each summer at the precise point on the calendar when football still seems hopelessly too far away. The venue is Thanksgiving Point (a very neutral location between the two schools). The day consists of famous alumni, coaches, players, etc. playing in the morning representing their team. Their team scores carry over to the afternoon when the fans (at least the rich ones who can afford it) take their turn playing. The best overall team gets major summertime bragging rights, while some charity or the schools (I don't really remember which) get all of the proceeds. Great idea. Fun event. Keep it up.

-BYU's (and specifically Bronco's) annual Women's Football Clinic. This is held on precisely the date that guys need to start making their plans to go to a road football game (their wives get back from the Clinic all fired up and ready to say yes to a September trip to Seattle and a January trip to Tempe). I admit at first I was skeptical of the Clinic and its potential success. It's turned into a great thing and really ensures the next generation of BYU football fans (not to mention recruits - isn't this the earliest recruiting tool Bronco has?) will be in good hands. One good thing about this year's Clinic (the 4th, by the way) was that only 17 men were arrested for impersonating a woman. This is a record-low, and for the first time didn't include Kyle Wittingham.

-The fireside that Bronco, his wife, and the team put on the night before each game. The idea to do this on the road was good, yet maybe predictable. The idea to have one somewhere in Utah the night before home games was absolutely brilliant. You better believe I'll be taking our Young Men's group to the August 29 fireside - somebody's got to do it, the Young Men's President is a Ute fan. Read this statement from Bronco, and tell me he's not a genius, "Football is simply the vehicle we use to help others come to a knowledge of what really brings joy and happiness to our lives. Football is not the priority. Some people don't understand that. These firesides are a way for all of us to help consider our priorities through understanding the purpose of life." (By the way guys, read that quote to your wife and you've got one more road trip for the year!)

-Along those lines, I love that MAGIC HAPPENS!
What other things about BYU football make you happy?

Success Breeds...Nervousness

I'm not sure if this is a characteristic of Cougar fans only, or if it is common to all sports fans, but when our team has success, we start to get nervous. I don't mean nervous for the next game. Nervous for the future.

Like, what if BYU fulfils its "Quest" this year and goes undefeated? What if they end up in the Fiesta Bowl as this year's BCS Buster? What if they go in to the Fiesta Bowl ranked #5 and knock off #4 Texas? With all of their skill players just juniors and sophomores this year, with a relatively young defense, with one of the game's hottest coaches, and on the heels of such a highly successful season, what if the Cougars entered 2009 ranked in or close to the Top 5? What if they ran through the schedule again undefeated (including a win over Florida St.)? Would they legitimately have a shot at the National Championship in 2009?

These are questions I ponder and start to get excited about. BUT. BUT. But, then I get to thinking what if Max Hall rides a high Heisman finish and fantastic 2008 in to the NFL draft?
What if Austin Collie wants to get paid, rather than risk injury in a senior season? What if Dennis Pitta decides to follow BYU's long line of tight ends in the NFL? What if Harvey Unga pulls a Luke Staley? What if Jan Jorgensen succumbs to the temptation to try and record a sack against Tom Brady or Peyton Manning? And what if some BCS school lured Bronco away from Provo? These are also questions that I ponder.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not out on a ledge worrying about these things. But I do worry about them. I just hope Hall, Collie, Unga, Pitta, Jorgensen, and Mendenhall can foresee the possibilities that could be in store for 2009 the way I do. After all, I think I could live with a National Championship every 25 years or so.

1,000 Days and Counting...

1,000 sunrises. 1,000 sunsets. 1,000 calendar pages turned.

That's what we've experienced since BYU last lost a conference game, back on November 19, 2005. That's pretty remarkable. However, it's not the first time BYU has gone this long without losing a conference game.

Between a 39-38 loss to Air Force on September 25, 1982 (the inagural kickoff in the expanded Cougar Stadium) and the 23-16 nighmare at UTEP on October 26, 1985, 1,127 days elapsed. BYU would need a third consecutive undefeated season to accomplish that (in which case they would shatter the record and get to at least about 1,400 days).

All of this got me thinking about how much Bronco stresses consistently winning within the conference. Even though the team has BCS aspirations and dreams of national prominence, Bronco is always quick to point out that in the National Championship year of 1984, BYU completed its 9th consecutive conference title. Especially in the non-BCS conferences, you've got to prove dominance over a number of years. And BYU did that in the 70's and 80's. Here's the conference loss totals from 1976-1985: 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, and 1. (I promise that's not some sort of binary code - they never lost more than 1 game in a season.) That's 7 conference losses in 10 years. Pretty amazing. Then during the next 11 years, BYU only lost 16 conference games. So 23 losses in 21 years (1976-1996). That's dominance. (By comparison, Gary Crowton lost more than half that many - 12 - in just 3 years.)

Bronco is right on in putting the emphasis on winning, and dominating, the conference. The Cougars have done it two years straight. Here's to one more.

Playing Hooky

Today, about 567 friends and I took a "long lunch" and headed out to the BYU Practice field to watch fall camp's only open football practice.

I had thought to bring my camera and shoot a few photos to install here, but thought better of it mostly because I don't like carrying a camera around and partly because Jeff Reynolds and the BYU Sports Information staff have done such a great job of providing us with good photos (and more) of this year's camp.


One photo taken by Jeff Rey-nolds was taken right below where my friend Justin and I were standing on the Student Athlete Center balcony. We were literally "looking over Bronco's shoulder" at this point of the practice.

Once I got to the field, I also would have been deterred by the signs asking people to not take any photos or video or to post anything on the internet. I know I'm technically violating that last item, but I know little enough about the terminology, nitty-gritty, etc. of football plays and playbooks that I'm no threat to giving anything away. (Just in case that's not really true, I have a quick message for all of you Ute coaches out there reading this - Max Hall has been converted into an option QB and BYU now runs all of its sets out of the wishbone. So prepare for the triple option wishbone attack. Got it?)

The tradition of opening practice to the public began in 2004 when Gary Crowton needed to throw a bone to the Cougar fans. This was right on the heels of two losing seasons and the now-infamous freshman "party" at University Villa. Crowton tried to win some fans back by inviting them to practice.

The excitement has grown each year since (it's not a coincidence that the team has improved each year since). Last year there were four open practices, with attendance ranging between about 500 and 1,200 at each one. I'll bet close to 3,000 folks watched practice last year.

This year the team officials were very hush-hush about the open practice. Other than Greg Wrubell's brief mention in a couple of blog posts, I never saw anything about open practice. And I consistently and diligently checked the new-and-improved byucougars.com website for the past few days. Nevertheless, I attended, just as I have every other year (except 2006 when I couldn't make it down from my job in Salt Lake). Here are a few observations:

- The defense that everyone is worrying about looked pretty good. Even the DB's. The cornerbacks had a number of nice plays.

- The offense only scored once and it was basically against the 3rd string defense. The 3rd team played until the offense had the ball inside the 10 yard line. Then they put the 1st string in, but they couldn't prevent a Max Hall-to-Harvey Unga TD pass.

- Max Hall is a pretty fiery competitor. The loudest yell towards another player came from him - not from any coach (who all seem to be well-endowed in the vocal chord department).

- Justin Sorensen had some nice kicks, but none of the jaw-dropping kind he's been fabled to have.

- New center Dallas Reynolds (just moved there in the absence of injured Tom Sorensen) had a few miscues snapping the ball. Hopefully he and Max spend a lot of time practicing that shotgun to be in a good rythm come the first game.

- Michael Reed is quietly one of BYU's best players. With Austin Collie catching only tennis balls while he rehabs a stress fracture, Reed is by far the best wide receiver out there. He blocks, catches, and runs real well.

- The coaches really rely on their upperclassmen to teach. In one instance where a second-string linebacker missed an assignment, Coach Lamb shouted over to David Nixon (who was watching from the sideline with the 1st team) to make sure he went over the missed assignment with that LB. Collie, Reed, and Jan Jorgensen were all observed doing a similar thing.

- Look for Bronco to actually be out there playing on the punt coverage team. During that drill, he was the only one running down toward the player catching the punt.

- Luke Ashworth (WR) and J.J. DiLuigi (RB) both stood out today, despite on easy drop each. Ashworth is just off a mission and he got the biggest cheer of the day as he made a diving catch right in front of the fans.

- Defensive players that stood out include Scott Johnson (DB), Brandon Bradley (DB), and Shawn Doman (LB).

- Ty Detmer was on hand at the practice.

- Cosmo was also out there looking like he was in midseason form as his "fall camp" consisted of getting some video footage shot out on the practice field (presumably for his next "Cosmo Reloaded" series).

All in all, it was just good to get back out and see some football again. It was fun to watch and sure beat being at work for the hour and a half. This one practice will have to hold us over from now until kickoff in 22.5 days.

10th Anniversary? Team

Have you ever heard anyone brag about their "Mountain West Conference" education? You know, like an "Ivy League" education? If you haven't, there's probably good reason. The Conference itself can't even count.

Right now the MWC is celebrating it's 10th anniversary and honoring an "All Decade" team in each sport. While I think such a celebration and honor is a great idea, I think they jumped the gun. You see, the embryo known as the MWC was conceived on May 26, 1998 (in a Denver airport, if I remember correctly). The new conference was officially born on July 1, 1999 - just over NINE years ago now. The first season of competition occurred in the 1999-2000 season. I know. I was at the first football game ever in the new conference - a 34-13 BYU victory over Colorado St. on September 16, 1999 in Cougar Stadium. (Plus, I still have my white ESPN hat proving I was at that game.) Now, starting with that season, let's count forward football seasons:

Season #1 - 1999
Season #2 - 2000
Season #3 - 2001
Season #4 - 2002
Season #5 - 2003
Season #6 - 2004
Season #7 - 2005
Season #8 - 2006
Season #9 - 2007

How can you have an All-Decade team that doesn't cover an entire decade? Now, true, the MWC is entering its 10th year of competition. But that's like saying that after you have been married for 1 year and 1 day that you are going to celebrate your 2nd Anniversary since you are entering your 2nd year of marriage. Let just call it fuzzy math.

Nevertheless, despite the MWC's apparent inability to count correctly, I still dutifully filled out a ballot online and voted for the All-Decade Football team. Here are a few of my favorite aspects/quirks of the ballot in a random stream of consciousness format:

-Four of the eight quarterbacks on the ballot were BYU quarterbacks.

-Didn't DonTrell Moore play a full decade (not a baker's decade)? That's what it seemed like. Still, though, props to him for being the only 4-time All-MWC player in MWC history

-It is a little sad that BYU averaged nearly 3 starting wide receivers per year and only 1 starting quarterback per year, but had 4 QB's nominated compared to only 3 receivers.

-On second thought, after Gary Crowton's QB juggling act, maybe BYU averaged closer to 3 starting QB's per season as well. Ha!

-How did Ben Moa get nominated? He played for a school and in a system that employed the tight end as a sixth blocker or a sideline clipboard holder. Moa had one good play - that little "jump shot" pass on a 2-point conversion to beat Air Force. How does one play get you the chance to make the All-Decade team?

-Now, in regards to the All-Short-Name Team, Moa is a first teamer. So is Max Hall.

-The offensive line is where we'll see which school ended up having the most voters vote online. Like anyone is going to vote for any offensive lineman besides their own favorite team. Other than 3 stinkin' Utes (one of whom is a brother of 2 BYU players), I've never heard of any of those non-Cougars. I haven't even heard of Matt Johnson who evidently played for BYU in 1999.

-I can't believe that female kicker who missed a PAT for New Mexico in a bowl game a few years ago wasn't nominated.

-How about Brady Poppinga being nominated at 2 positions. He'll probably end up as a co-defensive lineman and a co-linebacker.

-If it seems like Utah QB Brian Johnson has been around awhile, he has. In 2000 and 2001 he suited up on New Mexico's defensive line.

-You don't realize how pedestrian BYU's cornerbacks have been recently until you see that you have to go back to Jenaro Gilford in 2001 to get an all-conference performer there.

-Okay, I'll admit it. I voted for Eric Weddle. But only because he went up and congratulated John Beck after Beck-to-Harline.

-Matt Payne is definitely in my Top 3 favorite kickers/punters BYU has ever had along with Lee "Barefoot" Johnson and Brad "The Mad...Punter" Hunter. Leonard Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is a close 4th. I've never seen a kicker hit like Payne. Unfortunately, there was one period of time in the Crowton years that I was pretty sure Matt Payne was the best special teams, defensive, and offensive weapon on the team.

-How come no All-Decade Coach to vote for? Wait, I take it back. I really don't want the Urban love fest to start again.

Well, there you have it. Click here if you haven't seen the official results yet. It's a fun little thing to help keep us occupied until the season starts. Only 26 more days!

In the meantime, maybe more of the the mtn television programming time should be devoted to things like math and counting. And capitalization.