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When Bronco Mendenhall was hired as the head coach at BYU i wasn’t sure how it would work out. I had high hopes because of the success of his defenses while at BYU. The hussle and heart that they exhibited on a regular basis was truly commendable.

Looking back now I am so grateful he is the coach. I am sure Kyle Whittingham would have done a decent job too, but I would much rather have Bronco. I came across a quote in another article that gave another prime example of why I love Bronco.

The hope by Mendenhall is the Cougars meet Arizona with a heightened sense of awareness and resolve.

“If our team chooses to take that approach, and if they don’t, many times it could get worse before it gets better. That doesn’t happen by chance but by choice. And so if we don’t play cleaner and at a higher level — not chance but choice — where they haven’t been quite humbled to the depths where it needed to be to really make changes necessary where it needed to be.”

Then Arizona will be another humbling loss.

“I can point it out. I can impose demand,” said Mendenhall. “But until it comes from personal recognition, choice will determine the outcome. We’ll know at the end of the game if they’ve taken that challenge or not, not to absolve myself, I’m responsible for all of it.

“But when we truly choose to learn the lessons, the program will get better.”

I love this personal accountability that he demands of his players. He takes the ultimate responsibility as the head coach, which is right, but he also puts the players on the spot because it is their effort and execution that lead to the final result.

I know he refuses to say how long he will stay, except that it won’t be as long as Lavell, but let us hope it will be a long long time.

I decided to go over and watch the BYU vs. UCLA game at my coworker’s house. This isn’t the normal coworker. He’s an 86 (give or take a year) year old pharmacist. The guy is absolutely hilarious and I had a wonderful time watching the game. Of course, it was made even more wonderful watching BYU just clobber UCLA.

This 86 year old man couldn’t stop talking about how wonderful it was to watch BYU’s offensive line at work. Maybe in his short life he’d never seen a BYU offensive line.

All of that stuff aside, my favorite part of the BYU drubbing of UCLA was the first time that UCLA attempted a field goal and blocked it. I leaned over to my coworker and told him that BYU was going to block the field goal. I told him BYU had been practicing it and I just felt like BYU needed to prove the mess that was last week’s BYU vs. UW blocked extra point wasn’t an abnormality.

I couldn’t have been happier than I was at that moment as BYU in some small way seemed to vindicate themselves by blocking that first UCLA field goal.

Looking to Wyoming
Mendenhall took issue with a reporter’s premise that the Cougars should “cruise” past 2-1 Wyoming on Saturday, saying “I don’t think that ‘cruise’ and our philosophy here match.”

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.

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.