801 372 - 0819 <mailto:hbarnett@fiber.net> hbarnett@fiber.net 1391 West 800 South - Orem, Utah 84058 Vol. 36, Issue 11 - October 19, 2015 Click Here To Order or Renew Your Subscriptions <http://cougarclicks.com/product/Order-Cougar-Sportsline?ID=3173> BYU 38 UC 24 Bearcat and Bear Scat; The Tale of Two Halves I looked up Bearcat to see what it really is. It is actually an arctictus binturong, which is native to South and Southeast Asia. For the Cincinnati Bearcats, it was a tale of two halves in the BYU 38-24 win over the UC. They could do no wrong in the first two quarters. They moved the ball at will, but only had a 17-10 lead at the intermission. The second half was a different story for the Bearcats. Like its generic name, binturong, everything that could go wrong, did go wrong for Tommy Tuberville and his team. The worst of the wrong for UC was the BYU defense getting mean, nasty and ornery in the last two quarters of play. In barnyard and bearcat lingo, BYU spent the second half kicking the scat out of the bear. Doing most of the kicking was the front seven of the Cougar defense. More specifically, Bronson Kaufusi was the biggest stat stuffer and scat kicker on the field. BYU had 8 sacks against UC's quarterback, and Kaufusi was credited with three of those. He was also involved and responsible for helping on the other 5. Bronco Mendenhall also got good play from his defensive secondary. They looked lost in the first quarter, but lustered up their play for the last three quarters. Mendenhall took blame for the poor defensive showing in the first quarter and said that when he finally figured out how UC was attacking his defense, he minimized his play calls and things got dramatically better. Getting dramatically better also is a good description of the play of Tanner Mangum from the first half to the second half. I also looked up hamstring pull to see what it is. The generic definition of hamstring strain or pull is: hurts like heck. Mangum was mediocre in the first half and only completed 5-of-15 passes for 83 yards and one deflected pick. He picked up dramatically in the second half while completing 14-of-17 for 172 yards and two touchdowns. While Mangum certainly heated up in the second half, so did the BYU running game. The Cougars totaled 197 yards on the ground and chalked up 3 touchdowns, two by Algie Brown and the other by Francis Bernard. Nick Kurtz also had a nice game. He led BYU receivers with 6 catches for 119 yards and also scored his first two touchdowns of his Cougar career. He had TD tosses from Mangum from 19 and 53 yards out. The offensive line also did a nice job of protecting Mangum. They gave up zero sacks. That is even more impressive when you consider that they did it with their two starting tackles out of the game. Ryker Mathews went out with an injury in the first quarter and was replaced by redshirt freshman Austin Hoyt. Ului Lapuaho is still recovering from his leg injury suffered against UConn. His spot was manned well by Brad Wilcox. BYU is now 5-2 on the year. Cincinnati falls to 3-3 on the season. Their losses have been to undefeated Memphis, 53-46, undefeated Temple 34-26 and BYU. Wagner Scoreboard and Stat Sheet Preview I'm not clairvoyant, but I have a pretty good vision of what the BYU scoreboard and stat sheets will look like when the Cougars play Wagner this Saturday in LaVell Edwards Stadium. Click Here <http://www.usdebtclock.org/> to see what I foresee for BYU's scoreboard and stat sheets. Click Here <http://www.silive.com/colleges/index.ssf/2015/10/wagner_college_football_te am_l.html> to see what Wagner coach Jason Houghtaling sees. Click Here <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFtbJloTdkQ> to see what you will see from BYU's quarterback play. Click Here <http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/833221/happyholidaysfrombronco.png> to see Bronco game planning for Wagner Click Here <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNPhUkmZRN0> for the best option for watching the game. Click Here <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1L5asJF5jQ8> for BYU fans' reaction if Wagner wins or Tanner Mangum gets hurt in the game. My Opinion Only AAC: Artistically Subtle and Artfully Demure Recently, a friend asked my opinion of Jarlsberg Cheese, I responded with a quote from a movie, the name of which I can't remember. I just remember that Woody Allen was in the film and described catsup as "artistically subtle and artfully demure." I've never looked at catsup in the same way since. Ditto for the demure when it comes to the AAC conference. After seeing BYU in the last two seasons face UConn (twice), East Carolina, Cincinnati, Houston, Central Florida and Memphis and after watching Memphis pop the SEC bubble with a win over Ole Miss last Saturday, I also don't see the AAC (American Athletic Conference) the same way I did before. Before, in case you have a short memory, was just a few years ago when Mike Aresco, the new commissioner of the AAC, was making trips to Provo and Boise to try and get the Cougars and Broncos on board as new conference members. Of course we were all sure that BYU was a lock for the Big 12 and thought the AAC was beneath us. At least I thought that way. I also thought that if the Big 12 didn't work out, why would we want to go back to a similar conference of no names from where we came? I was referring to the Mountain West Conference. I'm no Woody Allen, but to me the MWC is a catsup conference, just an ordinary and mundane condiment for Power 5 schools to use to enhance the taste of their won-loss records. I still hold out hope for a Big 12 invite, even if it is for football only, but those dreams are just like Jarlsberg cheese; they both have holes in it. The AAC has a built in advantage and disadvantage with the eastern media covering these teams as an advantage and east coast travel as a disadvantage. Still, I'm becoming a believer that the AAC will be included in the big boy club if and when the big boys see an implosion of the Big 12 as so many are now predicting. I'll wait and see on that one. All I'm saying that BYU needs a Big 12 fall back option. And to use a reverse take-off on former Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen's retort to Senator Dan Quayle in a 1988 vice presidential candidate debate, "I now know the American Athletic Conference, and Mountain West Conference, you're no AAC." In case you don't know, here are the members of the AAC in the West and East divisions with their current football records and the same for the MWC: AAC West Houston 6-0; Memphis 6-0; Navy 4-1; Tulane 2-4; Tulsa 3-3; SMU 1-5 MWC West San Diego State 4-3; San Jose State 3-4; UNLV 2-5; Nevada 3-4; Fresno State 2-5; Hawaii 2-5 AAC East Temple 6-0; East Carolina 4-3; South Florida 3-3; UConn 3-4; Cincinnati 3-3; Central Florida 0-7 MWC Mountain Utah State 4-2; Boise State 5-2; New Mexico 4-3; Air Force 3-3; CSU 3-4; Wyoming 1-6 For a little more insight on the current status of the AAC, click to read the following: The Next Power Six? <http://www.nhregister.com/sports/20150804/malafronte-aac-commissioner-mike- aresco-still-striving-for-power-six> There are now some saying that BYU to the Big 12, in football only, might be an option in 2017. I don't see it, but BYU to the AAC in football only and the WCC in all other sports at least intrigues me. The Cougars could play an 8-game AAC schedule and still play two other big name schools plus Utah or Utah State and another patsy each year. With the rest of the sports in the WCC, travel for the Title IX sports wouldn't the financial burden of all sports belonging to the ACC. Just thinking out loud here, but if BYU's Big 12 bubble bursts, I'm offering up the AAC as an "artistically subtle and artfully demure" alternative. For those still holding out hope for a Pac-12 invite, here's another Woody Allen quote: "The talent for being happy (as a BYU football fan) is appreciating and liking what you have, instead of what you don't (and never will) have." And in case any of my old high school buddies, Danny Arkelian, Richard Klamian and Ross Garabedian show up for our 50th year high school reunion next fall, this Woody Allen quote is for me and them. "He was so depressed, he tried to commit suicide by inhaling next to an Armenian (or Arnett)." That, and the AAC, in my opinion, is much better than the suicidal football scheduling that BYU has on tap for the next few seasons. Speaking of Scheduling. After BYU's win over Cincinnati last Friday night a local columnist wrote an interesting piece about BYU's remaining football schedule. You can read that column by clicking here. <http://www.sltrib.com/home/3068451-155/monson-byu-saves-new-hope-for> Those words didn't sit well with one of my subscribers who articulately expressed his displeasure with this email sent to me and others. Here are some of his salient sentences. For a few years he's been pushing the narrative that BYU, as an independent, is irrelevant and plays an indifferent schedule, particularly in the second half of the season. Today, in a column inanely titled "BYU Saves Hope for a Meaningful Season," he writes: *****[if BYU had lost to Cincinnati], there's no guessing the depths the Cougars might have plumbed, losing to one of the few quality - such as it was - programs left on the schedule. If September was a gauntlet for BYU, featuring the big names, what remains has to be defeated to give the season meaning. ***** Here are the facts. After the first six games of the year, BYU has played the 4th toughest schedule in the land, per Sagarin. That won't change much after the seventh game--BYU's win over Cincinnati--is factored into the strength-of-schedule numbers. And September is far in the rear view mirror. What's left on the schedule for BYU? Who are these patsies that "have to be defeated to give the season meaning"? One of the patsies is Missouri, which has won its division of the SEC two years running. BYU has to play that game in Missouri. Missouri finished last season ranked 14th. Another patsy that must be defeated to give BYU's season meaning is Utah State, which just trounced ranked Boise State. That game is in Logan. BYU also has to play at San Jose State. Ha ha - says Monson. Is that the best BYU can do as an independent? Well, San Jose State is ranked about the same as Oregon State, one of the teams left on Utah's schedule. Playing San Jose State on the road won't be easy. And BYU will play Fresno State. Utah and Utah State have already played the Bulldogs. Is it only a joke when BYU plays them? The one gimme on BYU's schedule is New York City's Wagner, next week. That's one game, and when the season is over the record will show that BYU has played one of the toughest schedules in its history, and one of the toughest schedules in the history of any school in the State of Utah. If BYU goes 10-2, it will hardly be a wasted season. I'm not counting on BYU going 10-2, but if the Cougars can run the table they will deserve to be ranked, and they will be ranked. Name withheld at author's request Television Timetable BYU vs. Wagner Saturday, October 24 at Provo Kickoff: 1:00 pm MDT TV: BYUtv BYE (Football) Saturday, October 31 BYU vs. San Jose State Friday, November 6 at San Jose Kickoff: 9:30 pm MST TV: CBS Sports Network Saturday BYU vs. San Francisco (Women's Soccer) Thursday, October 22 at San Francisco Start Time: 8:00 pm MDT TV: TheW.tv (streaming on line) BYU vs. Santa Clara (Women's Soccer) Saturday, October 24 at Santa Clara Start Time: 2:00 pm MDT TV: TheW.tv (streaming on line) BYU vs. Pepperdine (Women's Volleyball) Thursday, October 22 at Malibu Start Time: 8:00 pm MDT TV: TheW.tv (streaming on line) BYU vs. Loyola Marymount (Women's Volleyball Saturday, October 24 at Los Angeles Start Time: 1:00 pm MDT TV: TheW.tv (streaming on line)