Please give me the opportunity to vent. I posted very little after losing to TCU. It took me a week to finally post my thoughts. This is to keep everyone grounded so thier expectations don't run ahead of the teams ability.

Responses to comments from article in Daily Herald

"Mendenhall admitted this week that he's been wrong more often than he's been right when it comes to guessing how his team will perform on any given Saturday."

What- Oh you mean you don't know how to get the team motivated for big games.

"I sit in the locker room and look and I have no idea," Mendenhall said. "I can usually tell in the way we practice if we're prepared or not. The games I've been most confident in haven't really gone the way I thought. I think this week the team is well prepared because of the way they've practiced. But to say that I know what's going to happen? I never know. I haven't known when we're going to win big, lose big or in between."

Try preparing for your opponents strenghts and weaknesses- instead of the same old game plan for each team. It was the coach who said "we were so impressed with our first two games we didn't see a need to change anything".

"But this year's Wyoming team, under new coach Dave Christensen, has different schemes and a new energy."

Means BYU will still run the 6 basic plays plus thier 7th play called a "turnover"
Wyoming could announce they are starting Bret favre and BYU will still approach the game
with the same scheme- you all know it. 3rd and 6 or longer drop 8 guys, put them all in a zone and give the QB plenty of time to find a reciever who breaks open. 3rd and 5 or shorter put 5-6 guys on the line

"The program is running so efficiently and the kids are working so hard, I go into most games optimistic."

we're so efficent we don't concern ourselves with individual teams. Each team is just another
game on the schedule. If they are mediocre or less we will win. If they are a better team than most we'll see whsat happens.

"We struggled a little bit in our offense," Christensen said.

So we're looking forward to playing BYU it's an opportunity for us to have a break out game


"It's not a secret that when you play top-20 teams in the country and top defenses in the country week in and week out, there will be some struggles, especially when you have the youth that we have."

so this week won't be too challenging

Freshman quarterback Austyn Carta-Samuels has given the Cowboy offense a shot in the arm, though Wyoming has only scored 10 points in the past two weeks against Air Force and Utah.

that's why they need a breakout game

"They've got a lot of good athletes and their quarterback has been really good with his feet and his arm," BYU junior safety Andrew Rich said. "We're gonna have to be able to contain him and stay alive in their routes, because once he gets out of pocket, you never know if he's going to run or throw."

Yeah that is BYU's weakest link containg a QB who can throw on the run.

"The return of sophomore wide receiver McKay Jacobson, who missed the past four games with a hamstring injury, should inject some new life into the Cougars' offense".

So could Ahmad Rashad

"I've talked with our guys, and sticking with a top-20 team is not a moral victory," he said. "In our program, losing is not acceptable. That's not what we are out here to do."

wonder if this coach would make any adjustments at half time??

"I always enjoy playing in hostile environments, that's what it should be," Rich said. "People in Laramie shouldn't like BYU, so we're looking forward to it. They are a good football team and we're excited."

Whoa- I thought LES was hostile and BYU looked forward to playing on the road. get the story straight


Out: BYU lost three special teams players to injury this week. Tucker Lamb (hamstring) and Carter Mees (foot) will miss the Wyoming game. Landon Jaussi had shoulder surgery on Thursday and is out indefinitely.

Big deal- maybe coverage wil be better. don't like to see anyone get hurt but doubt speical teams will miss anyone. Can't kick the ball out of the endzone, can't kick a fg, can't cover the return men- so is this suppossed to be a blow to the special teams

More wins: A victory today would give quarterback Max Hall a total of 28 career wins, only one game behind Heisman Trophy winner Ty Detmer, who currently tops the BYU record list with 29 wins.

wins the conference as a So. second place as a JR and third as a Sr. I'm not blaming him. I actually feel bad for him. Seems the big games are the games the coaches let him down.


Good support: Mendenhall said having former Cougars Poppinga and Shaun Nua on the coaching staff has been a big plus.
"It's so much fun now to have players that wanted to come back and coach, that they were inspired by their experiences here and want that again," Mendenhall said.

former players want to help- they can see the team needs help- they're embarassed. hold out your hand and accept the offer