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I couldn’t be more excited about tonights BYU game against #6 Wake Forest. I’m so glad that Wake Forest was willing to travel to the Marriott Center to face BYU.

As I’ve read through some articles on Wake Forest on stat stood out above the others. The Deacons lead the nation with 43.9 rebounds a game. They also lead the ACC (and rank fifth nationally) with a rebounding margin of plus 10.4.

Wake Forest’s rebounding margin is just scary when I think back to BYU’s previous games. The Utah State game in particular I remember BYU just getting worked over on the boards. BYU will have to find a way to manage the rebounding margin and work in the intangibles of playing at home to win the game.

I hope the Marriott Center isn’t like past BYU basketball games that have occurred over the break. The #6 team in the nation should be enough reason to pack the Marriott Center. Pack it in their like we’re playing the yewts.

In all of my reading of CougarBoard, the best BYU/Yewt post I’ve ever read has to be the following rules posted by IndyCoug.

1. No BYU fan should ever root for Utah. Period. There are 7 other conference members BYU fans can root for if they are truly concerned about SOS or the national profile of the MWC. It’s mathematically impossible for all 9 teams to be great each year, so there’s no shame, nay, it is even commendable to root for Utah to reside in that mathematically necessitated cellar-dweller position.

2. If BYU needs Utah to win a game in order for BYU to secure a conference title, BYU fans should not root for Utah, but merely against the team they are playing. Keep Utah out of the equation as much as possible.

3. BYU fans should not discuss the upcoming Utah football game more than their own upcoming football game (like this week on Cougarboard). Utah shouldn’t be a main topic of conversation. It should primarily reside in a dark, unspoken realm of disdain.

4. The only time Utah should emerge from a BYU fan’s dark, unspoken realm of disdain is when Utah loses. Only then is it permissible to briefly discuss the Ute’s sucking and discuss the manifold benefits of schadenfreude. Afterwards, the conversation about the Utes should be backburnered until their next loss.

5. Any time a Utah football player is particularly good (Alexis Smith, Widdle Weddle), no BYU fan should feel compelled or obligated to admit such, give credit to or show unabashed admiration towards. If you can’t say something bad about them, then say nothing at all. Please refer to points #3 and #4 if you’re confused about this.

If you have a problem with the above points, then maybe you need to take up a different team as your favorite collegiate team and dispense with the charade of claiming you’re a BYU fan.

I’m sure that many will be feeling the twisted emotion tonight when the Yewts face Oregon State. I believe tonight’s game fits with IndyCoug’s rule #2 above. We can certainly root against Oregon State.

I don’t see any way that Utah State can handle the freight train that is BYU. Certainly in basketball they’ve had our number a couple times, but football is just a different story. Especially this year. Most years this means that it will probably be a blowout game that won’t be as exciting to watch, but I’m still really happy we are playing Utah State.

Sure, the in state rivalry is nice. I love the storylines of BYU players from the Logan area headed back to battle their friends. It’s also nice to give BYU’s backup players a chance for some playing time. However, that’s not why I love Utah State on our schedule. I love it most, because it’s not under the lame Mtn TV contract and so BYU TV can broadcast it online for those around the world. Online streaming video of BYU and Utah State is great so I can watch the game sitting at my computer with the game on one screen and Cougarboard scrolling on the other.

I just wish that all those BYU alums at Move Networks would go and do some charity work by offering their great technology to the MTN, CSTV and Versus so we can watch all the games online.

After discussing Justin Sorensen’s ability to put a kick off 8 yards out the back of the end zone, Bronco Mendenhall said the following:

“I hope that’s what we’re practicing — running down and watching the ball go out of the end zone. We’ll practice doing that. That’s my hope.”

I think quotes are one of my favorite part of sports. So, you can expect to see a lot more of the best BYU football quotes.

Head coach Bronco Mendenhall announced the team captains for the upcoming 2008 season on Monday, as chosen by their teammates. Max Hall and Travis Bright will serve as captains from the offense, along with Jan Jorgensen and David Nixon, the captains from the defense.

The following are some of the responses to the selection:

“I like them,” said Mendenhall. “If I were choosing, those are the exact four I would have chosen. I don’t think the players could have chosen four better captains. These players are consistent, have good work ethic, are spokespeople and good examples. The more we as a coaching staff can hand over to them, the more our efforts can be focused on the game aspects.”

“This is a neat opportunity,” said Bright. “Hopefully coach [Mendenhall] will delegate more on us as captains and take less on himself.”

“To have your teammates nominate you as a team captain is an honor,” said Hall. “To have them trust you with this responsibility is a great feeling.”

Every great leader knows that delegation is the key to success. Looks like Bronco is doing his best to delegate as much as possible to the captains. I work at a university and I’m always sad when the students are treated as if they’re children. Sometimes I think it’s hard for us to realize that students are adults too (even if some of them try to prove us wrong). Seems like Bronco realizes that student athletes are adults that can be trusted to do extraordinary things.

Time to kick back into high gear here on Crashutah. With only 16 days and counting it’s time to start posting a bit more on the prospects for the upcoming football season.

However, before I start blogging about BYU’s football season I have to share with all of you the funniest story coming out of fall camp. Basically it involves a verbal altercation between defensive coordinator Jamie Hill and redshirt freshman Jordan Pendleton (currently playing at safety).

Tuesday, Hill was a more central figure in sending — or was it accepting? — some heat.

He angrily told redshirt freshman safety Jordan Pendleton to keep moving to the locker room and not talk with reporters after practice. Something about not having “earned” that privilege. The impromptu policy didn’t mesh with the program’s usual all-access generosity with media.

The player chucked his helmet and, according to a couple of media members, muttered that Hill was off his Christmas card list. Or something like that.

Got to love BYU. Most places a few four letter words would be spoken along with a bit of chest bumping or some other display of manliness. BYU sticks to more simple things like taking people off their Christmas card list. Is there any question that BYU is a different culture than most Universities?

UPDATE: Here’s another take on what happened during the altercation. Still absolutely hilarious that this is news.

- The juicy news came after practice ended, when defensive coordinator Jaime Hill snapped at redshirt freshman defensive back Jordan Pendleton for doing an interview with the Tribune’s Jay Drew. With David Tafuna not practicing due to a head injury, Pendleton saw time with the first-team defense. Drew sought him out after practice – following BYU’s standard procedure – and began the interview when Hill yelled out Pendleton to get in the locker room. Hill, who also serves as the secondary coach, told the former Bingham High star that he needed to earn his keep on the field before being interviewed. According to Drew, Pendleton then called Hill a prick and went into the locker room.

I think every cougar fan is ready for BYU to finally win a tournament game. We could all certainly complain about the #8 seed, but that’s really no excuse for BYU to lose. Sure, a 5, 6 or 7 seed would probably be a little easier game. However, getting a #8 seed isn’t nearly as bad as when we should have gotten a #10 seed and got a #12 seed. At least we’re playing someone who is ranked below us. Now it’s time to show everyone that we should have been ranked higher. UNLV did a good job today representing the MWC. BYU needs to do the same.

It’s pretty easy to say that the second half is going to be important for BYU. We’ve been normally playing quite well in the first half and then just fall apart in the second half. I hope Lee gets a bunch of early second half touches. I think he’s going to be a hard match up for the Aggies.

A quick video analysis of the 2008 MWC conference finals matching BYU vs. UNLV.

Thanks to the nice blowout game I just experienced at the Thomas and Mack, I had to enjoy watching the game for other reasons. Everyone knows about Trent, Lee and JT or the big 3 as there sometimes called. Certainly it’s a promising trio for the future assuming Trent doesn’t leave for the NBA. However, a few other things have really been quite unexpected this season:

-Burgess attacking the basket is a thing of beauty. He has a quick first step and is a strong finisher. I love seeing him blow by someone and go hard to the basket.
-Jimmer is as promising a guard as BYU has had. I love his scorer mentality and he’s provided a number of big lifts as a freshman. Many more good things to come from him.
-Archie Rose phenomenon. Try asking a BYU fan why we love Archie Rose and I think you’ll find them speechless. I don’t know why he’s so loved, but I get as excited as anyone seeing him on the floor. Especially with his new mask.
-Chris Miles. Chis always had the length, but I think everyone was surprised that he played better in the first UNLV game than Trent did. Showed me some real signs of promise. Today at the game I was able to be down close and Chis is looking pretty beefy. He’s not the same stick that he was before that could easily be pushed around. I was scared Chris would be a shorter Shawn Bradley. After today I think Chris has a very bright future at BYU.

The ESPN Game Flow Chart pretty much says everything about the BYU and Air Force game tonight.

Too bad so many sweet sounding plays couldn’t be seen on any station. It should have at least been on BYUTV. BYU needs to do something with this contract.