October 2009 - Cougarsportsline - mailman.xmission.com

Cougar Sportsline, Vol. 30, Issue 12
by hb arnett 26 Oct '09

26 Oct '09

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Cougar Sportsline, Vol. 30, Issue 12
by hb arnett 26 Oct '09

26 Oct '09

HB Arnett's COUGAR SPORTSLINE 801 372 0819 hbarnett(a)fiber.net and hbarnett@xmission <mailto:hbarnett@xmission.com> .com 1391 West 800 South - Orem, Utah 84058 Vol. 30, Issue 12 - October 26, 2009 Click <http://www.cougarstreet.com/products/index.php?type-450&PCID=450:0:0:0:0> Here To Order Or Renew Your Subscriptions BYU LOSES GAME, BUT MAKES MONEY When a team like TCU dominates BYU like it did in the 38-7 shellacking of the Cougars last Saturday night in Provo, it is hard to find enough highlights to talk about. Here are the best two we could find.Money and Harvey Unga. Going into the Mountain West Conference showdown between the Horned Frogs and the Cougars, BYU had no chance of making a BCS bowl appearance. TCU did. The win over BYU makes it even more possible as TCU leapfrogged Boise State in the BCS rankings this week with its beating of BYU. That doesn't make BYU football players, coaches or fans feel much better, but it will make the BYU athletic balance sheet look better. Last year BYU received around $600,000 dollars for its part of the BCS payout generated by Utah's appearance in the Sugar Bowl. With it looking likely that TCU is BCS bound, the Cougars can expect another good payday to accompany the painful pounding of the loss. $1 Million In 2004 when Utah went to the Fiesta Bowl, BYU and all other MWC schools received close to $1 million. Utah of course received much more. The difference in payout for conference schools has to do with the new BCS payout for non-BCS teams. Now, not just teams from a conference who has a school playing in a BCS bowl get a payout. Money is also divided among schools of all other non-BCS schools. There. If you divide $600,000 by the 65,000 fans who sat through the thrashing delivered by TCU, it should make each person in attendance feel $9.23 better. We will have to check to see if you can write it off as a charitable donation. Except for Harvey Unga and his 122 yards rushing on 21 carries and BYU's only touchdown, what you can't write off is BYU's pathetic performance. Like a loss in the stock market, this one may be carried over for a few years. Statement Game There are statement games. Usually they involve winning. TCU and BYU both made statements Saturday. The Frogs said they are the cream of the conference. BYU said they still have defensive problems that haven't been solved and offensive difficulties against good defenses. A good barometer of the beating delivered by TCU is how many BYU players could be starting for the Frogs? We didn't see any Cougar defensive player that could make the two-deep for TCU. Offensively, the TCU system would be a tough fit for Harvey Unga and Dennis Pitta, but TCU coaches are good enough to find a way to make it work. Max Hall wouldn't fit the TCU system and it is debatable if Andy Dalton, the TCU quarterback, would be a good fit in the BYU offensive system. We don't think he is too unhappy about that. Hall completed 18-28 passes for 161 yards and had the one touchdown pass to Unga. He also had one interception. Dalton completed 13-of-24 passes for 241 yards. Three of those passes went for touchdowns. How Bad Was It? How bad was the loss? It gave us a third highlight. It was bad enough to finally make the much-maligned new turf at LaVell Edwards Stadium look good. The field held up better than BYU. The Cougars will get a week off before facing Wyoming in Laramie on November 7. They need to lick a few wounds and get ready to play some more real football. With Wyoming and New Mexico still on the schedule, winning games should happen again, but based on what was shown Saturday, BYU will have to play much better if they hope to win again at home against Air Force and Utah. TCU POUNDING PUTS PERSPECTIVE INTO PICTURE When it all comes crashing down like it did last Saturday night against TCU and earlier in September against Florida State, it is easy to take the pessimistic view that BYU football is just another Ponzi scheme. You know the routine. There are lots of early and consistent returns on investor's money until everybody is fully invested before it always and eventually comes crashing back to earth. In the last few years, there have been plenty of early returns with payouts against teams like New Mexico, UNLV and most of the other teams in the Mountain West Conference. There have been just enough wins over BCS teams to keep the investment fever going. Throw in a fantastic, but fluke win over a team like Oklahoma, and even the most prudent investors who have always practiced due diligence, want to know where they can send their checks. The euphoria always ends and rationality and reality return. The perceived collapses of Cougar football the last two seasons should have BYU football fans back to reality and the real world of college football. Frenzy It was the unrealistic hopes of Cougar fans that set off the frenzy. They all wanted to be fully invested into a program that doesn't, and likely never will for many more years, have the funding, recruiting foundation or coaching to make the consistent big payouts that are expected at the upper levels of the college football totem pole. We currently have a coach that is correct in espousing excellence and a quest for perfection, but it has led to unrealistic investment and return expectations. Excellence and the pursuit of perfection are some of the tenets of the football team's sponsoring institution. It gets fans excited about the prospect for greatness at BYU when it comes to football. While excellence, execution and a quest for perfection are good, here's another tenet of the sponsoring institution that never gets mentioned when it comes to BYU football and expectations. Live within your means. The means of BYU football are good enough to provide some very good seasons and plenty of entertainment with nice double-digit winning seasons, but they are currently not good enough to make an entrance into the elite strata of college football. Players and Coaches Money is an important part of the equation, but players and coaches are still the biggest factors. BYU's recruiting base is still the LDS Church. Even when recruiting goes beyond the LDS athlete, the honor code realistically reels in the scope to a pretty small casting circle. We have made a living the last 30 years feeding the fervor of recruiting. Hope always springs eternal that the next recruiting class will be the one that solves all problems. To date, it hasn't made BYU an elite program, but we all hang on to the hype and hope. Could this be the recruiting class we have all been waiting for? Maybe. While there are more LDS athletes from which to recruit that will make BYU a good team and good program. There still aren't enough quality athletes from that pool, however, to take them to the next level. That is our opinion. We hope to be wrong someday when it comes to recruiting. The sooner, the better. When it comes to coaching, it is still a matter of supply and demand. The supply of football coaches that can qualify ecclesiastically to be hired at BYU is extremely limited. The supply of qualified coaches who actually are good enough to be in demand by other programs is even smaller. Out-Coached We hear all the time that BYU coaches are out-coached, out- schemed, out-prepared etc. Until the LDS coaching pool gets bigger and the pay window opened wider, those assertions and assumptions and at times, realities, will still exist. If we are going to say that there currently aren't enough good LDS football players to take BYU to the next level, we have no problem also saying that there aren't enough LDS coaches good enough to do the same. As disappointing as the loss to TCU was last week, in political parlance, BYU football is still better off now than it was four years ago. Will it be even better in another four years? We don't know. We hope so, but it will depend on coaches and players. They only thing we can actually control is our expectations. They keep preaching from the pulpit that living within our means will make us happier and more content. As expectations for BYU football come closer to its actual means, when BYU does beat TCU again, it will make it that much exciting and entertaining. AFTER A TOUGH LOSS WHAT WE NEED IS SOME HOPE The beauty of recruiting is that there is always hope that the latest recruits will make it better. After a tough loss to TCU, it is time for some much needed hope and hype. There are plenty of BYU followers that say this newest class of recruits that will sign next February will be the best ever. This seems like a good week for a booster shot of hope. Current Cougar Commits Ross Apo...WR, 6-4, 195, The Oakridge School, TX Jordan Black, OL 6-7, 235, Alta HS, UT Algernon Brown, RB, 6-1, 205, Skyline HS, UT Tayo Fabuluje, OT, 6-5, 255, The Oakridge School, TX Alani Fua, LB 6-5, 210, Oaks Christian HS, CA Kori Gaines, DB, 5-9, 170, Grayson HS, GA Jake Heaps...QB, 6-2, 195, Skyline HS, WA Hauoli Jamora, DL, 6-2, 230, Kahuku HS, UT Jordan Johnson, DB, 5-10, 175, Brooks School, MA Tuni Kanuch...DL, 6-1, 285, Bingham HS, UT Bronson Kaufusi, DL, 6-6, 225, Timpview HS, UT Teu Kautai, LB, 6-1, 200, The Oakridge School, TX Collin Keoshian, LB, 6-2, 225, Santa Clarita Christian, CA A.J. Moore...RB, 5-10, 190, Murrieta Valley HS, CA Manu Mulitalo, OL, 6-3, 305, Granger HS, UT Joey Owens, LB, 6-2, 215, Pleasant Grove HS, UT Drew Phillips, RB, 6-0, 185, Boaz HS, AL Graham Rowley, OL, 6-4, 270, Waialua HS, HI Bryan Sampson, TE, 6-4, 210, Pleasant Grove HS, UT Kona Schwenke, DL, 6-5, 210, Kahuku HS, HI Zac Stout...LB, 6-2, 220, Oaks Christian HS, CA Sae Tautu, LB, 6-3, 215, Lone Peak HS, UT Travis Tuiloma, DL, 6-3, 290, Washburn Rural HS, KS Blair Tushaus, OL, 6-2, 270, Notre Dame Prep, AZ QUARTERBACK QUEUE Max Hall...The 161 yards passing against TCU were the lowest of Hall's three-year career as a Cougar. Riley Nelson...With the game out of reach, Nelson got in the fourth quarter for some action. He completed 2-of-5 passes for 26 yards. He also rushed the ball 4 times for 19 yards. James Lark and Jason Munns...Both are still serving missions. Lark is due back in January and Munns will return in May. Jake Heaps...He threw three touchdown passes in Skyline's 42-7 win over Redmond. The TCU debacle also heightens the hype and hope on Heaps that he is the answer that will finally put BYU into the big time. Tanner Mangum.When it comes to high school football, the Declaration of Independence does not apply. All teams are not created equally when it comes to surrounding players and coaches. Mangum, the sophomore qb, is better than his record and stats show. He is a definite D-1 prospect that BYU is watching and will recruit. That said, it was another loss for Timberline HS and Mangum last week, a 47-17 defeat by Mountain View. Mangum was 15-of-31 for 141 yards. Alex Kuresa...The junior threw for 279 yards, completing 15-of-28 with four touchdowns and two interceptions in a 38-17 win over Skyview. TELEVISION TIMETABLE BYE...Saturday, October 31 BYU vs. Wyoming Saturday, Nov 7 at Laramie Kickoff: Noon Mountain Time TV: The Mtn BYU vs. New Mexico Saturday, Nov 14 at Albuquerque Kickoff: Noon Mountain Time TV: The Mtn BYU vs. Air Force Saturday, Nov 21 at Provo Kickoff: 1:30 pm Mountain Time TV: CBS C BYU vs. Utah Saturday, Nov 28 at Provo Kickoff: 3:00 pm Mountain Time TV: The Mtn and CBS C

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Cougar Sportsline, Vol. 30, Issue 11
by hb arnett 19 Oct '09

19 Oct '09

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Cougar Sportsline, Vol. 30, Issue 11
by hb arnett 19 Oct '09

19 Oct '09

HB Arnett's COUGAR SPORTSLINE 801 372 0819 hbarnett(a)fiber.net and hbarnett@xmission <mailto:hbarnett@xmission.com> .com 1391 West 800 South - Orem, Utah 84058 Vol. 30, Issue 11 - October 19, 2009 Click <http://www.cougarstreet.com/products/index.php?type-450&PCID=450:0:0:0:0> Here To Order Or Renew Your Subscriptions BYU TAKES A 38-28 ANY WAY YOU CAN WIN OVER SAN DIEGO STATE If you were disappointed in BYU's 38-28 win over San Diego State last Saturday night, you need to watch more college football. Winning on the road is not easy, especially in conference games. BYU did what two top-ten teams couldn't. They won a league game on the road. Virginia Tech was ranked No. 4 in the nation last week, but lost to league opponent Georgia Tech on the road. Granted, Tech was also ranked at No. 19, but Ohio State, ranked No. 7 a week ago, lost to lowly and unranked Purdue in West Lafayette on Saturday. Bronco Mendenhall always preaches two things. Winning league games on the road is hard and he is always facing the world's greatest coaches. One out of two ain't bad. Winning on the road is difficult, but San Diego State is still San Diego State, even if Bronco's buddies are now drawing paychecks from the Aztecs. It was just a couple of years ago that Chuck Long was turning the corner at SDSU. The new mantra from Mendenhall is that with his former colleagues Brady Hoke and Rocky Long on the payroll, SDSU is tougher and more intense. Could be, but it looked like the same old Aztecs to us. They have always had great skill-position players, especially at QB and wide receiver. They just don't win. It was the same story last week. It was an interesting game, mainly because BYU is still BYU. They have never had great athletes in the secondary and still don't. They have trouble defending the pass against good QB's who are throwing to good and fast receivers. BYU won this game because it does what it always does. It had a better quarterback and great tight ends that were constantly making plays. Max Hall was exceptional and so were his two tight ends Dennis Pitta and Andrew George. They made plays when the game was being contested. With the win, BYU is now 6-1 on the year and 3-0 in league play. Hall had an exceptional day throwing the ball completing 27/39 passes for 346 yards, but his best play of the day was an improvisational one-yard scoring scamper with time expiring in the first half. Hall also hooked up with Dennis Pitta who made a nice NFL-quality catch in the end zone to keep SDSU at bay. George also responded to a SDSU score when he caught a 19-yard td from Hall. HOLIDAY INN, MOTEL 6 and TCU I have actually spent a couple of nights in a Holiday Inn Express. According to the television commercials promoting the national motel chain, that allows me to perform heart surgery, deliver babies and repair rockets. I always make a point of offering my services in those areas to the families to whom I am assigned to home teach. To date, I have had no takers. Consequently, I have now lowered my aspirations and hotel tabs by staying strictly at Motel 6. It's not obstetrics or rocket science, but here are my Motel 6 memos to Mendenhall and company on how to beat TCU. 1. Get Bryan Kariya the ball and let him run north and south. Harvey Unga is a great back and J.J. Di Luigi shows promise, but dancing in the hole and trying to get wide and outrun the TCU defense is not going to work. The Cougars tried running wide last year in Fort Worth and it was a disaster. BYU doesn't have the speed, but they should have the power to run straight ahead against the Frogs. 2. No matter what type of running scheme BYU comes up with, it won't be effective against TCU. Stopping the run is what the Frog defense does. That means the Cougar offensive line needs to protect Max Hall and allow him time to throw the ball. 3. BYU has put up huge offensive numbers the last two weeks. Against UNLV it was 611 yards of total offense and last week against the Aztecs of SDSU it was 512 yards. That won't happen against a TCU defense that is giving up an average of only 238 yards per game. This will be a field position, special teams and kicking game. I don't care how successful BYU has been on fourth down conversions, if they try to go for them in this game, they will lose. 4. Maximize Max. The senior quarterback is playing some of his best football right now. He won't be error free in this game and will likely throw a couple of interceptions. The Frog defense is too good, but if BYU is going to win this game, it will be Hall's play that does it. 5. Stop the run. BYU has to keep TCU from running wild on the ground. The Cougars can still win with Frog QB Andy Dalton throwing the ball effectively against them. San Diego State, CSU and Florida State all had success in the air against BYU, but just throwing it won't beat BYU. It was the 313 yards rushing by Florida State that cost the Cougars their only loss of the year. If TCU gets close to 200 yards on the ground, it won't be pretty. 6. Keep the turnovers under two and forget balance. BYU can't afford turnovers, but they can still win with less than two. More than two, and Cougar fans won't be happy campers (See my KOA reference below). Throw the ball and keep throwing it. Trying to show some kind of balance by running the ball just means you have less opportunities to throw it and score. Those are my Motel 6 keys to the game. My logical prediction for the game has it TCU 24 BYU 21. The Frogs are too good for the Cougars. Thank goodness for my latest lodging experience sleeping in a tent at a KOA campground. It defies logic. The ground and this game are both hard. I survived and so will the Cougars. BYU 27 TCU 24. DAVE ROSE USING BISHOP STOREHOUSE FOR RECRUITING Settle down. Now that we have your attention, we said Bishop storehouse, not Bishop's Storehouse. We are referring to the Bishop Gorman storehouse of players in Las Vegas. The top flight high school program has already given BYU one basketball player. That would be Jonathan Tavernari, the senior forward for the Cougars who has already been selected as a preseason first-team all MWC selection. It was actually two BYU assistants that helped deliver Tavernari. Walter Roese was a BYU assistant and Tavernari's uncle. He brought him to Provo where he played for Timpview HS. Because of his visa, Tavernari couldn't play beyond his junior year for the Thunderbirds. That is where another BYU assistant, Dave Rice, stepped to the plate. Rice's brother, Grant, is the head coach at Bishop Gorman. He was more than happy to take Tavernari for his last season of prep basketball. The 6-6 Brazilian then signed with the Cougars and returned to Provo. The BYU-Bishop Gorman connection is a good one. It should be with two brothers involved. The Gaels have been to Provo to participate in Dave Rose's team camp. We mentioned that Bishop Gorman gave BYU Jonathan Tavernari. Now BYU wants more players from that program. Two Offers The Cougars already have two offers on the table for Gael players. Anson Winder is a 6-3 senior guard. He has offers from BYU, Nevada-Reno and Idaho. He also has his own web site, www.ansonwinder.com <http://www.ansonwinder.com/> . You can check it out to see his profile and highlights. Here is one profile of Winder by Scouts, Inc., which is different and not to be confused with scout.com. Winder possesses a nice frame with long arms and overall solid length for the 2-guard position. He is a Division I sleeper who needs some polish in terms of skill development. He plays with great effort at both ends and thrives in transition where he can attack the rim. His frame allows him to draw contact and finish as well. He is a streaky player who plays in spurts and needs to be more consistent to draw D-1 interest. He can knock down the 3, but his shot is streaky and a tad flat in its trajectory. In addition, he is much more effective in a catch and shoot situation than pulling up in transition where he has a tendency to get off balance. Winder has the tools, he just needs to mature as a player in both skill and savvy. BYU also has offered another Bishop Gorman player without ever seeing him play varsity basketball. We are talking about Rosco Allen, a 6-7 sophomore, who will be playing his first year of varsity basketball this season for the Gaels. He played last year on the junior varsity, but was seen by a lot of college coaches who would come early to the school to get a look at Allen. He also received a lot of looks and offers this summer while playing on his AAU team, the Las Vegas Lakers. Allen has been offered by BYU. He also has offers from UNLV, Arizona, Arizona State, USC, Washington State and Santa Clara. We mentioned a few weeks back that current Cougar guard Michael Loyd, Jr. has a younger brother playing at Bishop Gorman. BYU has not offered the 5-9 Johnathan Loyd, but he does have offers from Cal Poly, Northern Arizona, SMU and UC Riverside. While we are talking about early BYU offers, Dave Rose and his Cougars have an offer on the table already for Jabari Parker, the ninth grade LDS player from Chicago. He is at Simeon HS. It is going to take a lot of chairs for the Cougars if they hope to have a seat at the recruiting table for this kid. In addition to BYU, he already has offers from Illinois, Washington, Northwestern, DePaul and Baylor. His most recent offer came from Kansas. We said he was a 6-3 guard, but most services and schools list him at 6-6. As we said last week, his older brother, Christian is a redshirt freshman at College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls and Dave Rose and his staff have been making stops there. In case you missed it, Christian Parker signed with BYU-Hawaii out of high school, redshirted as a frosh in Laie and then served a two-year LDS mission in Atlanta before enrolling at CSI. QUARTERBACK QUEUE Max Hall...His passing numbers are going up. He was 27-of-39 for 346 yards and three touchdowns. The TD tosses were to Bryan Kariya (1-yard), Andrew George (19-yard) and Dennis Pitta(9-yard). Hall also ran in from one yard out with time expiring in the second quarter. For the second week in a row, Hall had no interceptions. Riley Nelson...He helped the BYU football budget by not sweating or getting his uniform dirty against San Diego State. His uniform did not have to be washed as Nelson did not play. James Lark and Jason Munns...Both are still serving missions. Lark is due back in January and Munns will return in May. Jake Heaps...The BYU-bound senior quarterback from Skyline HS in Seattle accounted for 4 touchdowns in a 42-0 blowout of league rival Issaquah. Heaps threw two touchdown passes and ran it in twice more from 1 and 10 yards out. Tanner Mangum...Again, it was another loss for Timberline HS, where the sophomore LDS signal caller plays. This time it was a 28-14 setback to Boise HS. Mangum completed 21-37 for 264 yards and one interceptions. Alex Kuresa...A big, big day for the junior qb. He threw for 450 yards and 5 TD tosses in a 57-22 win over Ogden HS. FOOTBALL FLUFF AND STUFF BYU is still recruiting a running back. They would like to sign Joshua Quezada, a 5-11, 210 pounder out of La Habra HS in California. He has had a couple of good weeks running the football. Two weeks ago he rushed for 247 yards and 3 touchdowns on 30 carries in a win over San Clemente. Last week, because of a 62-0 blowout of Buena Park, he only touched the ball 11 times, but still had 136 yards rushing and another 3 touchdowns. There is a BYU connection here. The head coach of La Habra is Frank Mazzotta. His brother Casey played safety for BYU a few years back. His dad, also named Frank, is the long-time head coach at Cerritos JC. That is a school that fed BYU a lot of players during LaVell Edwards' tenure as coach. When it comes to stats and penalties, BYU has committed 50 infractions in seven games that has cost them 457 yards. We are sure BYU keeps track of which players are responsible for those penalties, but there are no public stats indentifying the culprits. If there were, our bet would be that the top two penalty guys are Nick Alletto and R.J. Willing, two of the starting offensive lineman. That is normal. Most offensive penalties on most teams are generated on the offensive line. Most of those calls, from our observation and opinion, are for holding or illegal procedure for getting started too early. That said, the BYU offensive line is performing extremely well. What should be noted, is that the name of Matt Reynolds is seldom called. This guy really is a big-time player. While we are talking offensive line, Braden Brown, the redshirt freshman tight end/offensive lineman, saw significant action at right tackle against SDSU. He also saw time against UNLV two weeks ago. BYU thinks he will be the next in line for tight end, but he is talented enough to also be a very good offensive lineman. He wears No. 75 when playing offensive line and No. 89 when seeing other action. The official BCS rankings came out Sunday night. BYU is ranked No. 16. TCU, the Cougars opponent this weekend is ranked No. 8. Utah is ranked No. 20. For a non BCS team to be invited to a BCS bowl, they have to be rated in the top 12 or No. 16 or better if there is a team from a qualifying conference that is ranked below No. 16. In a first for BYU, the ESPN "Game Day" television show will be hosted in Provo. The crew will be in town to feature the TCU-BYU matchup of MWC ranked teams. What makes the appearance by the national network team even more unusual is that ESPN will be promoting a game that will be shown on another network. The game is set to be televised by Versus. TELEVISION TIMETABLE BYU vs. TCU Saturday, Oct 24 at Provo Kickoff: 5:30 pm Mountain Time TV: Versus BYE Saturday, Oct 31 BYU vs. Wyoming Saturday, Nov 7 at Laramie Kickoff: Noon Mountain Time TV: The Mtn BYU vs. New Mexico Saturday, Nov 14 at Albuquerque Kickoff: Noon Mountain Time TV: The Mtn BYU vs. Air Force Saturday, Nov 21 at Provo Kickoff: 1:30 pm Mountain Time TV: CBS C BYU vs. Utah Saturday, Nov 28 at Provo Kickoff: 3:00 pm Mountain Time TV: The Mtn and CBS C

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Cougar Sportsline, Vol. 30, Issue 10
by hb arnett 12 Oct '09

12 Oct '09

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Cougar Sportsline, Vol. 30, Issue 10
by hb arnett 12 Oct '09

12 Oct '09

HB Arnett's COUGAR SPORTSLINE 801 372 0819 hbarnett(a)fiber.net and hbarnett@xmission <mailto:hbarnett@xmission.com> .com 1391 West 800 South - Orem, Utah 84058 Vol. 30, Issue 10 - October 12, 2009 Click <http://www.cougarstreet.com/products/index.php?type-450&PCID=450:0:0:0:0> Here To Order Or Renew Your Subscriptions PUBLIC RELATIONS, POLITICS AND PUMMELING UNLV When it comes to football and public relations, winning still solves all problems and perceptions. The last ten days have not been the perfect primer on public relations for Bronco Mendenhall. The local press has been banging on the BYU head football coach pretty good. One columnist said Mendenhall owed all BYU fans a public apology for calling Cougar fans uneducated in the intricacies of football. Others in the media claimed that the Cougar coach was either a liar or incompetent, depending on when or what he knew about Shiloah Te'o's alleged DUI in late August. One columnist even claimed that Mendenhall was fostering a culture of snitches. We never thought that BYU football could be like partisan politics, but when Mendenhall dismissed Te'o, the sophomore backup safety, from the team early last week, Bronco gate was burning brightly. At least that was being portrayed by some in the media. Beleaguered Bronco So what is a beleaguered Cougar coach to do? He could have called a press conference and given out his private cell phone number for BYU fans to use in order to become less dumb by discussing game plans and designing plays with him. He could have ordered a side car for his Harley Davidson motorcycle and allowed media members to jump in and get closer to his ride and rationale. Forget firesides. How about a Home Evening with the BYU coach? Everyone is invited Monday night to Mendenhall's house for cookies and coach talk. Public relation gurus would advocate for more openness, candor or a more contrite attitude. Instead, Mendenhall took the proboscis approach to public relations. He went and beat the snot out of UNLV. Even the dumbest fans and the Mensa media understand 59-21, the final score last Saturday night against UNLV in Las Vegas. Winning solves all problems, public relations or otherwise. Nothing gets Shiloah Te'o off the front page of the sports section and calumny out of columns like 611 yards of total offense and 59 points on the scoreboard. Mendenhall Muted While Mendenhall may have muted some of his critics for another week with the win, there is still some public relations work left for Max Hall. His image and public perception among some Cougar fans as an ordinary quarterback that throws too many interceptions and can't win a big game took a hit last week against the Rebels. UNLV is certainly not a big game, but how dare Hall not throw an interception? Even the biggest proboscises don't get picked all the time. As the newly designated Max Hall apologist, please accept our apology on behalf of Hall for not living up to his image with a pickless proboscis performance. He is on his own, however, when it comes to the rest of his passing stats against UNLV. He completed 21-of-27 passes for 320 yards and two touchdown passes, a 35-yard completion to Dennis Pitta and a 15-yard scoring strike to J.J. Di Luigi. At the risk of becoming as annoying as a nasal drip, we still need to mention Harvey Unga and his nose for the end zone. He scored three touchdowns against the Rebels. His TD runs included 33, 1, and 52-yard scoring jaunts. For the season Unga now has accounted for eight rushing touchdowns. Against UNLV, Unga rushed for 149 yards on 20 carries. Productive J.J. Di Luigi also had a nice productive night in the rushing department. He racked up 67 yards and one rushing touchdown on just 6 carries. Defensively, the Cougars had a nice solid outing. They allowed the Rebels to rack up 337 yards of total offense, but 75 of those yards came on one play when UNLV scored on a defensive mismatch between a BYU linebacker and a Rebel wide receiver. The Rebels also scored on a 94-yard kickoff return. The final UNLV tally came in the waning moments of the game against BYU second and third unit defenders. Scott Johnson was a big part of the defensive effort with his two interceptions. With the win, BYU is now 5-1 overall and 2-0 in Mountain West Conference action. The Cougars are now ranked No. 18 in the AP poll and No. 19 in the USA Today/Coaches poll. AZTECS UNDEFEATED AT HOME That sounds like a scary headline, but it is less frightening when you realize that San Diego State's two home wins this season came against Southern Utah and New Mexico State. Holding on to that home winning streak for the Aztecs should be much harder this Saturday when BYU shows up. The Cougars will take their revved up offense and match up with Rocky Long, the new SDSU defensive coordinator. Long was employed as the head coach at New Mexico for years, before resigning to take the coordinator job with new Aztec head coach Brady Hoke. Long is not only a good defensive coach, he has a great sense of timing. He got out of Albuquerque before the program imploded. Coaching and timing will be a big issue for BYU Saturday night. Long will try and keep Max Hall from having time to complete passes. Long will bring pressure and use his 3-3-5 defense to try and get to Hall and confuse him. Hall has seen this defense for the last two seasons at New Mexico and won't be surprised. We expect to see BYU to try and remain balanced in their offensive attack with Harvey Unga getting at least 20 touches on the ground. The Aztecs are coming off a bye week so there should be some new wrinkles employed by the Aztecs, but if the Cougars don't go overboard with the turnovers, this is a game that BYU should win. We call it BYU 41 SDSU 21. BYU BASKETBALL STARTS PRACTICE This week will mark the official start of practice for BYU basketball for the 2009-2010 season. The Cougars were selected as the prohibitive preseason favorite to repeat as Mountain West Conference champion last week at the conference media gathering in Colorado. BYU returns four starters from last year and also the preseason selection as conference player of the year in Jimmer Fredette, the junior guard from New York. Also returning is Jonathan Tavernari, another first-team preseason selection by conference followers. Tavernari is coming off a very nice summer where he was the only non-professional to make the Brazilian National team. The other two returning starters include Jackson Emery and Chris Miles. Dave Rose will be looking for a way to replace Lee Cummard, but will have a smorgasbord of selections to choose from in returners Noah Harsock and Charles Abouo and new incoming freshman Tyler Haws. You can get your first look at the Cougars in a couple weeks. The annual Cougar tipoff is set for Wednesday, Oct 28. BYU will play two exhibition games in early November. Trinity Western is set for Thursday, November 5 and Central Washington will be the opponent on Tuesday, November 10. That game will be shown on BYUTV. The first regular season game is against Bradley in Provo on Friday, November 13. That contest is set to be televised on the Mtn. Recruiting While this season has yet to get underway, Dave Rose and his staff are already recruiting and evaluating for the coming seasons. As mentioned last week, Kyle Collinsworth, the top prospect in Utah and a nationally noted recruit, has agreed to sign with the Cougars in November. Last week we mentioned that BYU is already looking down the line at ninth grade prospects Nick Emery of Lone Peak HS in Utah and Jabari Parker, of Simeon HS in Chicago. Dave Rose was at College of Southern Idaho a week ago on a recruiting jaunt. We don't think it was a random visit. Christian Parker is a guard on the CSI squad. He is a redshirt freshman and is also the older brother of Jabari Parker. He signed out of high school with BYU-Hawaii and redshirted as a freshman. He then served a two-year LDS mission to Atlanta, but decided that he wanted to give Division I basketball a look and is hoping that somebody will show interest while he is at CSI. Parker is only 6-0, but the Cougars will be looking for a replacement for backup point guard Lamont Morgan, Jr. Morgan is a senior and will be gone next season. We will see how it all shakes out. If BYU is indeed recruiting Christian Parker it means Dave Rose was able to get an official in-home visit in the Parker home in Chicago. That would be good for current recruiting and future recruiting. We are pretty sure that we have given the Parker background before, but here it is again. Sonny Parker, the father of Christian and Jabari, was a former first round NBA pick coming out of Texas A&M. A 6-8 forward, who played two years at Mineral Area JC in Missouri before becoming an Aggie, he was selected by the Golden State Warriors. He had a six-year NBA stint. He established the Sonny Parker Youth Foundation and is a fixture in basketball and multi-cultural programs for inner-city children in Chicago. Parker is not LDS, but his wife is. Lola Parker, is Tongan and a returned LDS missionary. She and her husband have seven children. She is also relative of the Moeaki family of Warrenville, just outside of Chicago. She is the aunt of Keilani Moeaki, a current BYU women's basketball player. There also were two other Moeaki's that played football for the Cougars a few years back. QUARTERBACK QUEUE Max Hall...Picky, Picky, Picky. Hall didn't have any against UNLV. Halls is currently No. 6 in the nation in quarterback efficiency leaders with a 162.6 rating. The top five are Jimmy Clausen, Notre Dame, Kellen Moore, Boise State, Tim Tebow, Florida, Bill Stull, Pitt and Riley Skinner, Wake Forest. Despite the high qb rating, Hall's approval rating among Cougar fans has suffered because of his penchant for throwing picks. He has ten so far this year to go along with his 13 touchdowns. His fan-based approval rating should get a little bounce this week because of his pick-free game against UNLV. Riley Nelson...Because of the blowout, he did not throw a pass, but had four carries for 17 yards. One of those was a 2-yard touchdown run after O'Neill Chambers returned a kickoff 97 yards. Nelson scored on the next play. What should have excited BYU fans for the future was what Nelson did late in the game. On third and long, he ran a quarterback draw for eight yards and a first down. He then took a knee twice to end the game. In case you forgot the play, Nelson actually juked a UNLV defender out of his shoes on the carry. It has been a long time since BYU has had a quarterback that can make plays consistently with his feet, but that is what Nelson will bring to the table next season. It is unfair and unreasonable to make assumptions based solely on mop up and limited action, but since we gave Max Hall's passing efficiency numbers, here's Nelson's passing stats for the year. He is 5-for-5 for 73 yards and one touchdown and no interceptions. That gives him a current QB efficiency rating of 288.6. James Lark and Jason Munns...Both are still serving missions. Lark is due back in January and Munns will return in May. Jake Heaps...It was another blowout for Heaps. Skyline HS defeated Eastlake HS 43-7 last week. Heaps was 14-29 for 270 yards and 4 touchdowns. Tanner Mangum...Another week, another loss for the sophomore qb from Timberline HS in Boise. He was 11-31 for 125 yards in a 48-0 loss to Rocky Mountain. Alex Kuresa...The junior qb completed 14-of-17 passes for 198 yards and 3 touchdowns as Mountain Crest defeated Logan 42-21 last week. Football Fluff and Stuff Peyton Manning, the Indianapolis Colts quarterback, would have been a perfect fit as a BYU quarterback. Based on what we have seen the last two weeks, he is the prototypical BYU QB who can't see the entire field and never looks off defenders. How else do you explain the All-Pro quarterback's penchant in the last two games for locking on to Austin Collie? When did Robert Anae start calling Colt plays? This Collie connection for Manning has to stop or sales of Manning jerseys in Provo will be in a steep decline. Collie's career, in this his first season in the NFL, seems to be ascending quite nicely, thank you very much. For a fourth-round pick, he has put up some first-round type numbers in his last two outings. Two weeks ago, in a 34-17 win over Seattle, Collie had six receptions for 65 yards and his first professional touchdown. That TD catch was good enough to get plenty of highlight mileage on most of the NFL coverage that day. Yesterday, Collie was even better. He had 8 catches for 97 yards and two touchdowns in a 31-9 Indianapolis victory over Tennessee. The performance was seen and commented on nationwide. No longer is Collie a nice human interest story in Indianapolis because of his Mormon faith and missionary service, he is now just a very good rookie receiver for the Colts. In case you missed it, here are the basics of the Shiloah Te'o story. It was announced early last week that the sophomore backup safety was dismissed from the BYU football team by Bronco Mendenhall for a violation of team rules. Te'o subsequently withdrew from school. He will not be returning to the team or school. In late August, Te'o was arrested in Provo on suspicion of DUI. According to Mendenhall, he had heard reports of possible involvement by BYU players and called Te'o in to quiz him on the matter. Again, according to Mendenhall, Te'o denied anything had happened. Public records show that Te'o was arrested on suspicion of DUI and two other traffic violations Aug. 29. Charges weren't filed, however, until Sept. 18. The Bronco brouhaha then came about when the local media wanted to know how much Mendenhall knew and when he knew it in reference to Te'o. Mendenhall says that the decision to boot Te'o from the team was more a result of having a player lie to him than the actual infraction. In our opinion, there is no muck to rake up on Mendenhall. If there is going to be some kind of cover-up, you don't spend time and effort on covering up something done by a special teams player who sees only limited action on the field. Mistakes were made by the player and maybe Mendenhall in being too trusting, but its time to move on and wish both parties well. TELEVISION TIMETABLE BYU vs. San Diego State Saturday, Oct 17 at San Diego Kickoff: 4:00 pm Mountain Time TV: The Mtn BYU vs. TCU Saturday, Oct 24 at Provo Kickoff: 5:30 pm Mountain Time TV: Versus BYU vs. Wyoming Saturday, Nov 7 at Laramie Kickoff: Noon Mountain Time TV: The Mtn BYU vs. New Mexico Saturday, Nov 14 at Albuquerque Kickoff: Noon Mountain Time TV: The Mtn

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Cougar Sportsline, Vol. 30, Issue 9
by hb arnett 05 Oct '09

05 Oct '09

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Cougar Sportsline, Vol. 30, Issue 9
by hb arnett 05 Oct '09

05 Oct '09

HB Arnett's COUGAR SPORTSLINE 801 372 0819 hbarnett(a)fiber.net and hbarnett@xmission <mailto:hbarnett@xmission.com> .com 1391 West 800 South - Orem, Utah 84058 Vol. 30, Issue 9 - October 5, 2009 Click <http://www.cougarstreet.com/products/index.php?type-450&PCID=450:0:0:0:0> Here To Order Or Renew Your Subscriptions AGGIES HAND BYU ANOTHER "FEEL BAD" WIN Since 1994, BYU is 10-0 in the win-loss column against Utah State when the two teams have faced each other in football. Domination and dynasty are a few words that come to mind. Yet, despite the latest 35-17 victory over the Aggies last Friday night in LaVell Edwards Stadium, some Cougar fans choose to use words like disappointment and downer in describing BYU's fourth win of the season. After a quick check in the official BYU Football Media Guide, we were unable to find a "Feel Good", "Feel Bad" category describing the BYU-USU football history. Thank goodness for the internet, chat rooms and message boards. That is where football is like figure skating and games are like gymnastics. The scoreboard is now obsolete. What really counts are what the judges post as to artistic content and presentation. A missed Lutz landing is now worse than a loss. A solid floor routine can't have any fumbles or other foibles less the judges deduct points on their score cards and pollsters punish teams for lack of difficulty in their dismounts and schedules. Never has one team made BYU so dominant in the last decade and BYU fans so despondent. Win-Loss When it comes to the Aggies and the win-loss column of the last ten years, BYU is 7-0. In the fan's "Feel Good" - "Feel Bad" column, BYU is just 1-4 against Utah State. The other two games of the last decade were redacted from the record when the judges from Romania and Ruwanda couldn't agree on whether the Cougars had run it up enough against the Aggies. Here are some of BYU's highlights against Utah State. Hopefully, they won't make some of us "feel too bad". The BYU defense held USU to just 322 yards of offense. The Aggies came into the game averaging 489 yards of total offense per game. Until a late-game drive of 73 yards in the fourth quarter against BYU's second unit, the Cougar defense had man-handled the Aggie offense. They also shut down heralded USU running back Robert Turbin. He came into the game averaging 127 yards rushing per contest. The Cougars held him to just 47 yards on 17 carries. Harvey Unga rushed for 118 yards against the Aggies on 21 carries. For the game, BYU rushed for 213 yards. Brace yourself. Max Hall, the ultimate BYU "feel bad boy" for some Cougar fans, did his best to live up to his reputation. He threw two interceptions. Bad, Bad, Bad. Oh yeah, he also threw three touchdown passes. It could have been worse. He could have thrown four touchdowns passes. Instead of "feeling bad", we would have felt "really bad". Aggies Give it to the Aggies. They make us long for the good old days when we had "feel good" quarterbacks and wins. What we wouldn't give to have a quarterback that doesn't throw interceptions. Wouldn't it be nice to have Ty Detmer back? Oops, he threw 28 picks during his Heisman Trophy year. Winning football games is okay, but feeling good about winning is so much better. It's just around the corner. Interception-free football is on the horizon. Riley Nelson, Jake Heaps, Jason Munns and James Lark have never once thrown an interception in a Cougar uniform. We feel better already. BYU'S Next Opponent REBELS REELING AND ODDS RISING Las Vegas is a city of odds. According to oddsmakers, BYU is a 14 1/2 point favorite over UNLV this coming Saturday night at Sam Boyd Stadium. We also find it odd that Mike Sanford is still coaching in that same stadium. His record as the head coach of UNLV after 52 games at the Rebel helm is 13-39. When it comes to handicapping head coaches in the Mountain West Conference, we defer to Joe Glenn and Chuck Long. Barring a win over BYU on Saturday, the dismissed duo from last season has Sanford as an odds-on favorite to join them playing golf next fall. If they are looking to add a little "punch" to their foursome, Mike Locksley, may not be far behind. So far the New Mexico head coach only has one win on his record. It came via a TKO against his own assistant coach in a staff meeting a few weeks ago. He stamped himself as a contender in the ring, but a pretender in coaching circles. Back to football and UNLV. This game looks too easy for the Cougars. That is why we expect it to be a close game. Sanford is coaching for his job and he still has enough players on his side that will play hard for him in order to keep him employed. The only team to defeat the Cougars this year was Florida State. They did it by running the ball down the Cougars throat. That is how UNLV will have to do it if they also hope to defeat BYU. This game will be determined by the ground game. The team that is better rushing the ball will win the game. Both teams will throw the ball and move the chains while they do it, but it is on the ground that the outcome will be determined. Based on UNLV's most recent defensive effort last week, it would appear that the Cougars will have no problems running the ball. UNLV gave up 559 yars rushing last Saturday to Nevada-Reno. BYU won't come close to those numbers, but they do have to get at least 150 yards rushing if they expect to win. That is what we see happening and call it as a close game, but also a Cougar win. We see it BYU 31 UNLV 24. ONE-WAY TICKET OUT OF TOWN Hold on Hotwire. Pause on Priceline and take a deep breath and exhale before you log on to Expedia. Before you call for a one-way ticket out of town for Max Hall because he is throwing too many interceptions this year, lets couch the Cougars in economic terms. When it comes to interceptions, Hall is in a quarterly downturn, but he is far from reaching the recession levels of interceptions that Robbie Bosco and Ty Detmer had in their prime. Nobody called Greyhound inquiring about one-way tickets out of town for those two BYU quarterback legends. Based only on the criteria of interceptions thrown, both Bosco and Detmer should have been shown the same door that some Cougar fans want to hold open now for Max Hall. Hall is going to have to hurry if he hopes to match interceptions thrown by Bosco and Detmer. After five games this season, Hall has thrown 10 picks. In Ty Detmer's Heisman Trophy winning season in 1990, he threw 28 interceptions. BYU fans were happy to have him back the following season for his senior year. In 1985 Robbie Bosco threw 24 interceptions. He is still drawing a BYU paycheck and was put on a pedestal despite those picks. Hall would have to throw another 20 interceptions this year, for a total of 30 picks this season, if he is to eclipse the 55 interceptions Detmer threw during his last three seasons at BYU. Going back 45 years, Hall isn't even in the top 12 of BYU quarterbacks based on interceptions thrown during one season. Here is the list with year and interceptions thrown. Ty Detmer, 1990...28 Robbie Bosco, 1985...24 Gary Sheide, 1974...19 Gifford Nielsen, 1976...19 Steve Young, 1982...18 Jim McMahon, 1980...18 Marc Wilson, 1980...18 Steve Lindsley, 1986...18 Virgil Carter, 1966...16 Ty Detmer, 1989...15 Marc Wilson, 1979...15 Kevin Feterick, 1999...15 John Walsh, 1993...15 Matt Berry, 2003...14 Steve Sarkisian, 1995...14 John Walsh, 1994...14 Bob Jensen, 1987...14 Max Hall, 2008...14 Ryan Hancock, 1992,...13 John Beck, 2005...13 Marc Wilson, 1978...13 Steve Sarkisian, 1996...12 Max Hall, 2007...12 In contrast, here is another list of BYU quarterbacks. Hall could end up being on top of this chart by the end of the current season. This list details Cougar quarterbacks and the number of wins they generated during their careers while starting for BYU. Ty Detmer...28 wins Marc Wilson...28 wins Max Hall...24 wins and counting. If Hall stays healthy and BYU wins 5 of their remaining 8 games, which assumes BYU will have a bowl game this season, Hall will be the winniest BYU qb in history. Jim McMahaon...23 wins Robbie Bosco...23 wins Kevin Feterick...23 wins John Beck...22 wins Steve Sarkisian...21 wins Steve Young...19 wins John Walsh...16 wins Gifford Nielsen...15 wins I am not an attorney, but I have watched a lot of Ben Matlock on television. I know a strong case when I see one and I have no trouble defending Max Hall as one of the best BYU quarterbacks ever. FOOTBALL AND BASKETBALL FLUFF AND STUFF Last week we mentioned a high school running back from Nampa HS in Idaho. He rushed for 362 yards and we surmised he was LDS because his name was Mohonri Bostrom. Turns out that his full name is Mohonri Moriancumr Bostrom and yes, he is LDS. He is aveaging 200 yards per game. He has a brother who currently is an offensive lineman at Auburn by way of Bakersfield JC in California. Jorell Bostrom is 6-3, 353 pounds and is Polynesian. The younger brother and running back is 5-9, 180 pounds and is African American. According to the reports we received last week from Nampa, all the siblings are adopted. In the running back resume department, BYU currently has verbal commitments from three prospects. They include Algernon Brown, of Skyline HS in Salt Lake City, A.J. Moore of Murrieta Valley HS in California and Drew Phillips of Boaz, Alabama. Brown has racked up 428 yards on 49 carries so far this season for an 8.73 yard per carry average. He has also scored 7 touchdowns. Moore has carried the ball 62 times for 481 yards and a 7.76 yard per carry average. He has rushed for 6 touchdowns. Phillips rushed for 213 yards on 32 carries last week in a 24-22 loss to Fort Payne. He now has rushed for 1137 yards on 175 carries after six games. That is an average of 6.4 yards per touch. As expected, Kyle Collinsworth has said that he will sign an early basketball letter of intent with BYU and Dave Rose in November. The commit is a huge one for the Cougars. Collinsworth was a national-caliber prospect who earned real recruiting interest from USC and Virginia. He has the potential to play any of three spots for the Cougars, but most teams recruiting him like him at the point. He has size at 6-7 to go along with guard skills. What he can do is get to the rim when he wants to. Before heading out on an LDS mission, he will play one season next year with his brother Chris Collinsworth who returns from his mission in Australia. Don't be surprised if Dave Rose and his staff don't take a recruiting look at Johnathan Loyd this year. Loyd is a senior point guard at Bishop Gorman HS in Las Vegas. The 5-9 guard averaged 14.2 points per game and 6 assists per game last year. BYU has some connections here. The Bishop Gorman coach is Dave Rice's brother. Rice is the lead assistant at BYU and Dave Rose's right hand man. Loyd is also the little brother of current Cougar basketball player Michael Loyd, Jr. When it comes to recruiting, BYU already has identified the top LDS basketball prospects that are in the ninth grade. Here are the ninth grade novas and shooting stars that BYU is already into. We have been talking about Nick Emery, a 6-1 guard and freshman at Lone Peak HS for a couple of years. He is the younger brother of current Cougar Jackson Emery. Here is another ninth grade name to follow. Jabari Parker is a freshman at Simeon HS in Chicago. He, like Emery is also LDS. He is currently a 6-3 shooting guard, and if his father, former NBA player, Sonny Parker, is to believed, Jabari is a little bit of Magic, some Charles Barkley, with Lebron James thrown in there too. We shall see. QUARTERBACK QUEUE Max Hall...Completed 16-of-23 passes for 218 and three touchdowns. Also had two interceptions. Touchdown tosses were for 6 and 13 yards to Dennis Pitta and a 48-yard strike to Luke Ashworth. Riley Nelson...Had one touch against his former team, Utah State. Rushed for 13 yards on a quarterback draw. James Lark and Jason Munns...Both are still serving missions. Lark is due back in January and Munns will return in May. Jake Heaps...In a ho-hum blowout, Heaps threw two touchdown passes in a 55-0 win over Garfield HS. Tanner Mangum..The sophomore qb from Timberline HS in Boise completed 18-39 for 244 yards. Had one TD pass and one TD run in 34-20 loss to Eagle HS. Alex Kuresa...Team had a bye TELEVISION TIMETABLE BYU vs. UNLV Saturday, Oct 10 at Las Vegas Kickoff: 8:00 pm Mountain Time TV: The Mtn BYU vs. San Diego State Saturday, Oct 17 at San Diego Kickoff: 4:00 pm Mountain Time TV: The Mtn BYU vs. TCU Saturday, Oct 24 at Provo Kickoff: 5:30 pm Mountain Time TV: Versus

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