BYU vs Utah Slideshow

Found a nice slideshow of some of the highlights of the BYU/Utah game…

http://utahphotojournalism.com/2009/11/byu-vs-utah/

http://photo.byu.edu/video.php?cat1=Slide%20Shows&cat2=Sports&cat3=2009&cat4=09FTB%20vs%20Utah

Enjoy!

Stupid

It’s too bad that a fun exciting game and thrilling victory ends up being marred by isolated bad behavior by some fans :(

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

Wow

I’m still stunned, not quite believing it… I honestly thought that there was little to no chance that BYU would win tonight (also figured the score would be higher).  Glad to be wrong.  Way to go Cougars!  More later on the game…

Some initial thoughts:

hoping the byu win doesn't get overshadowed by the bradford injury...still a little bit in shock#byufootball
http://twitter.com/mdclement/status/3793605845

now on to tulane. wonder how long bronco will let them celebrate :)#byufootball
http://twitter.com/mdclement/status/3795040934

Fall Camp for the rest of us

If you’re like most of us, then you either aren’t allowed into practice or, even for the few open to the public, can’t take off work to go to go or are not even in the area.  The way I’ve found to keep in the loop with what’s going on is to use Greg Wrubell as my “eyes and ears” as fall camp progresses.  If you haven’t already, go check out his Cougar Tracks blog on KSL’s website!

We are BYU

September 5th can’t get here fast enough…

I once again hope to post more this season… we’ll see if that happens!

Hype and Hope

Image by Getty Images
via Daylife

I started to write this post back in July but I think a lot still applies.  BYU was receiving a lot of attention and hype (and some nay-saying which, to me still counts as hype... any talk about BYU in the preseason is good).  I had hope that they would live up to that hype, but had serious concerns that all the hype would go to their heads.  Bronco is a great leader and coach, but he can't be with the players every hour of every day to help them stay grounded, especially during the off season.

As much as Bryan Kehl was a great player and team leader, the chant "January start today" that I believe he originated at the beginning of last season bugged me a little bit as, to me, it violated some of the key components of Bronco's philosophy (like win the games, let the rest take care of itself).  And I don't know if that particular phrase specifically caused them to lose focus early in the season, but I do know that you're not likely to win games today if you're focused on the post-season already.

Which brings us to this season.  Say what you want, but getting a lot of national media attention and especially getting put on Heisman watch lists after a blow out of a PAC-10 team has got to mess with your head a little bit.  And I think that's what we saw during the first quarter of Wyoming, whether Max will admit it or not.  It took a score by the defense to ignite the team.  Hopefully the memory of his performance will scare him back to earth for future games (it certainly seemed to get him back in a "win this game" frame of reference in the second quarter).  TCU, Utah and others aren't going to give Max the chance to easily recover from early miscues like Wyoming did.  Hopefully he can remain grounded so that the Cougars can live up to the hype.  And while I'm very optimistic about this season, I've been burned before so I'm going to take it "one game at a time".

Summer Shutdown

It seems that most Cougar sports blogs tend to shutdown during the summer.  After the Blue and White game (which I skipped this year) and before Fall Camp, there's not a whole lot to talk about.  Not to say that there aren't other sports, but the Deseret News, KSL and BYUCougars.com cover those fine.

In any case, I meant to blog better last fall, but for a variety of reasons didn't take the time to do so.  So now I'm thinking forward to next fall.  What I'd really like to do is provide decent quality photos from the homes games.  I fancy myself an amateur photographer but sports photography is both tricky and expensive... and especially so from the stands.  In any case, I'd like to try to do a better job with the blog.  I'll probably rework the look of the site too...

So look for better coverage in the fall, but probably nothing major until then...

I Still Believe in Bronco

After the Tulsa game, I wrote a post entitled My 2007 Motto: Believe in Bronco. I clung to this motto fiercely during the waning moments of the Las Vegas Bowl this year. Unfortunately, may others did not. The people behind us constantly questioned the play calling throughout the game and then LEFT as UCLA was setting up for their field goal attempt in the final seconds. Definitely goes in the "Cougars Behaving Badly" group.

As we go into the off season, I hope that fans can stay "Fully Invested". It's easy to cheer for a winning team. I'm glad that we were given a few opportunities to weed on the True Cougars from the pretenders.

And I still believe in Bronco!

Going Bowling

I'm meeting my family in Las Vegas to go to the bowl game together this weekend. I also have my TiVo set so I can replay the game later as necessary :) I'm really excited since we went two years ago (mental note: post photos from that game) and it was a little disappointing to lose even though it was still a good game and fun to watch. Unfortunately we weren't able to go last year which would have been fun even though it was a blowout.

Watch for photos in the days after the game. If you have photos posted somewhere, leave a note in the comments as I'd love to see them and share them with others!

And as much as I hate to say it, I was happy to see the Utes win tonight and help represent the conference with a bowl victory. It would be awesome if the MWC could go 5-o in their bowl games which, given the match ups, is very doable. So Go Falcons, Horned Frogs and Lobos!

But more than that, GO COUGARS!!!

Broncoism: If you're not writing about him

"What I think is a tribute to him [Corby Hodgkiss] is, no one has noticed. Not to take anything away from Dustin Gabriel or David Tafuna, but if he wasn't playing well, everyone would know," Mendenhall said. "Because he is playing well, no one has made a point of it. It's just simply him doing what he's supposed to do and helping our football team. Maybe the highest compliment that can be paid to him is that you're not writing about him. In the secondary, if you're not writing about him, it's usually a good thing."

from BYU's Hodgkiss stepping out of shadows

"Corby has played solid the entire year," Mendenhall said. "I haven't heard one word that our secondary suffered because Corby is playing. He's simply been inserted and we've moved right along."

from Cougars know there is room for improvement

I thought it was hilarious that as soon as Bronco says that they aren't writing about Corby Hodgkiss, there are suddenly mentions about him in both the Deseret News and the Daily Herald. Of course the interception returned for a touchdown probably had something to do with it, but I still found it funny.

Broncoism: She made some popcorn

"This weekend was the first time I have watched a Mountain West Conference game. My wife wanted to watch it," he said. "It was Air Force vs. UNLV and I would have never done so unless Holly was up for it. She made some popcorn."

from BYU hopes to avoid recent upset bug

Photos from Tulsa

My brother recently moved to Dallas and traveled with his ward up to Tulsa for the game last Saturday. He took some photos and videos of the campus and the game and gives a little commentary about the game and the fans on his blog. They aren't professional by any means, but they give a "raw" view of the game.

Trip for BYU at Tulsa (photos and videos)