As soon as I saw Washington on the schedule I was taken back to 1996 and the one blemish on our record that year. I remember watching that game and just dying at how they blew the game early and couldn’t recover. The difference this year is Washington is not nearly the same team. They are dead last in the Pac-10 in total defense, points scored and points allowed, and they are number nine in total offense with a whopping 242 yards. Pitta had almost that many by himself.

While I am not nearly as worried this year, the four fumbles last week sure didn’t instill any confidence. On the other hand, Washington got stomped pretty good last week by Oregon, and this is not the Oregon with Dennis Dixon. This game should be a nice step up from last week without being overwhelmed, but being a road game is the x-factor with BYU teams of late.

Every year it seems like there are 3 things we don’t have to worry about as BYU fans. Our running game will be sketchy (especially in the blue zone), we don’t have anyone explosive returning the ball and we’re going to stress in every part of the kicking game.

For some odd reason, it seems like this year is different in all three areas.

Run Game
As a BYU fan I usually hate getting inside the 5 yard line. Mostly because in the past I’ve rarely ever trusted that the run game could get it done and get it in the end zone (Staley may be the exception here). I much preferred BYU to be at least 10-20 yards out, because then we can run a pass play for a touchdown. Something that’s much harder when you have less field to work with.

This year so far I’ve felt very different. When BYU was down close to the end zone, I felt complete confidence in BYU’s run game. I felt like the combination of a killer O-line and Unga that we could run it straight at them and have a great chance at the score. In fact, Unga did just this a few times. Of course, this was a D-II team (yes I know it’s a new name now) so it will be fun to see if I feel the same against Washington and UCLA.

Return Game
No offense to Collie who is a nice return guy, but honestly I never felt like Collie was going to really break it for a really long run. Beyond Collie I can’t think of a great return guy since somewhere back into somewhere in the Lavelle years. Either BYU just didn’t have that type of talent or the coaches just liked someone safe and reliable at that spot. I will admit that I enjoyed watching Reno Mahe return the ball, but I mostly was just surprised how he could allude tacklers.

This year no one can argue with Chambers speed. He looked great returning the ball. The excitement when he gets the ball is almost palpable. I can see why he guaranteed the coaches he’d return one for a TD. My biggest fear with Chambers is whether he can stay out of Bronco’s dog house. I personally think Chambers made 2 boneheaded plays in the game. I’m sure he’ll never fair catch a ball on the 5 yard line again. However, his running backward, jumping in the air, 7 yards in the end zone return is not something I bet Bronco will look on lightly.

Let’s hope Bronco gives him the benefit of the doubt and that more importantly Chambers has learned some good lessons, because the guy is exciting to watch.

Kicking Game
Every year it seems like the kicking game is a major fear. Ok, I’m still not completely over this fear after an extra point was blocked, but it’s better this year than any year before. Sending the kickoff out of the back of the end zone is great. The option to take a 65 yard field goal if needed is a wonderful option. Having a nice reliable punter is even nice. We’ll see how the kicking game does crunch time, but I’ve never been happier with the options available to Bronco.

This was obviously not a game for the ages, but there was definitely a lot to be excited about. First of all how about Dennis Pitta? How do you stop someone like that? Gaining 200 yards all by yourself is a good couple of weeks in college.

Max Hall had a great start. A quarterback rating near 200 and almost 500 passing yards is not a bad way to start the season.

The scary thing about the offense is all of the fumbles again. It is starting to remind me of last year a little bit. What is reassuring to me is that fumbles can be fixed with a little bit of hard work. At least they weren’t interceptions.

All in all I think the defense did a good job, but just like the fumbles, it was a little bit like last year: play stellar defense, but give up a huge play or two that really ruin the stat line. I realize that stats are not everything, but when people start looking at your unit rankings it is important that they be solid.

This was the perfect start to the season from a long term perspective. First, and foremost, you get the win. Second, no major injuries. Finally, you did a lot of good things, but you still have some obvious and definite things you need to work on. It is really frustrating as a coach when your team is not playing to their potential, but you can’t figure out exactly what is wrong, or what to do about it.

I found this interesting video talking about Max Hall as a potential Heisman candidate. Sure, I’m as excited as anyone for Max Hall to have a great year. However, the best part of this video for me was watching some great BYU football. Talk about the perfect way to get me excited for tomorrow’s game.

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.

Today I came across this post today titled “I Say Under-rated by Your System”. Before reading the post, I was already prepared to read a post by a BYU homer that’s disgruntled about the BCS system and the coverage on ESPN. While I won’t argue whether the post is by a BYU homer or not, I must admit that the post was well done and Herbstreit did do a horrible job trying to talk about BYU.

Here’s a quote from the blog post:

Herbstreit slammed the AP rankings in this ESPN piece as he preceded to give reasons why BYU is overrated and should not eve be talked about as a BCS bowl consideration until, at the earliest, week 9. He continues to point out that Fresno State is a better team then BYU, but even they shouldn’t be talked about as the next “Boise State” yet.

The thing that gets my panty hose all bunched up is that Herbstreit doesn’t want us even talking about BYU as a BCS contender until week 9. Seriously? Does he really think it shouldn’t be talked about? BYU has done a ton of good things to merit the discussion of the possibility as much as any other team.

Plus, if Herbstreit thinks that BYU is overrated, then how about he gives us some reasons why he thinks they’re overrated. The big problem is that Herbstreit doesn’t have any reasons since he doesn’t know much of anything about BYU. If he did, he could easily run off a list like the following:
-Inexperienced walk on secondary
-Haven’t been successful on road out of conference
-Losses/Injuries at Running Back
-Injury to leading wide receiver
-Injuries and graduating players at Linebacker

That’s just the start. If Kirk new anything about BYU he’d have no problem talking about these challenges, but all he knows is his BCS schools. I wish for once he’d just say that he really doesn’t know much about BYU and so he can’t give an honest opinion. Certainly that will never happen so we shouldn’t expect the commentary on ESPN to get any better when it comes to BYU.

Also, don’t assume that I’m down on BYU this year. Just call me a realist. Every year you could easily make a long list of challenges and concerns about every team. This year is no different. The above was a list of my fears. I could just as easily have listed my hopes:
-Crazy good offensive line
-Amazingly strong deffensive line
-Can you say Unga?
-A guy named Max
-Perfect schedule

When all’s said and done. This is going to be an exciting year to watch BYU. Just don’t expect ESPN analysts like Herbstreit to be able to analyze it.

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.

Tomorrow night Real Salt Lake (RSL) will be taking on BYU men’s soccer team in an exhibition match.

The Deseret Morning News had the following quote:

“It’s a privilege for our guys to be able to play against some of Utah’s best competition,” said BYU head coach Chris Watkins. “This is also a great opportunity for fans to see the two best teams in the state compete against each other.”

The game is at 7 p.m. and will be at BYU’s South Stadium.

I think this will be an interesting matchup, because BYU could just beat Real Salt Lake. Would that make them the best soccer team in Utah? Probably not definitively, but it sure says something about the progress of BYU’s mens soccer team. They’ve come along way that they are now able to play with MLS clubs. Although, I must admit that RLS is the bottom dweller of the MLS league. They’re right there next to soccer power house Toronto.

Does anyone think it’s possible that BYU could improve enough to join MLS? I don’t know if that is legally or politically possible, but everyone has to look at admiration with what BYU has done with its mens soccer team. They’ve definitely taken things to a whole other level.