Mendenhall: We're Eager to Play Our Next Opponent

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BYU HEAD COACH BRONCO MENDENHALL

Opening Remarks:

Good morning. After what I thought was a very spirited practice yesterday, our team is optimistic and eager to play our next opponent. For the second time in as many weeks we’re on the road. I know the last game was at a neutral site, but it felt like a road game with as many people that were there. It’ll be about an hour flight longer, but again our team is anxious and eager and ready to play and I think we’ll have a fantastic week of practice. I think their mindset will be right to continue to improve and that will be our goal.

How are you going to keep the team focused after this big win over Oklahoma?

I think it shouldn’t be too difficult to keep the team focused since it’s only our second game. The magnitude of the win – I’m not sure if anyone knows what that was or what it is yet. We considered it a fantastic game and we really enjoyed it all the way to Monday, but once Monday started we have moved on to Tulane and I am not sure that this team will allow themselves to think about anything else other than getting ready for our next opponent, considering it’s only the second week of the season.

When you are facing a team that you do not see regularly you have varying degrees of familiarity either through coaching with or against or other associations with both coordinators and the head coach for Tulane – does that assist you, and to what degree?

Oh certainly. We don’t know their personnel well because we don’t see them on a yearly basis, but when you consider familiarity, Bob Toledo is someone that I have known for quite some time, if not personally, by reputation and what schemes they run. There have been plenty of opportunities to study offenses that he has coached whether it be at New Mexico or UCLA, etc. His philosophy is very sound and has always been productive – that hasn’t changed much from university to university. The core remains the same but the personnel can be used a bit differently. Dan Dodd [Tulane’s offensive coordinator] was the offensive coordinator for New Mexico when I was there for five years, so he and I know each other very well. And now Steve Standard is the defensive coordinator, who was the d-coordinator at New Mexico State when I was at New Mexico, and at Colorado State for the last couple of years before Larry Kerr arrived. And so the scheme uncertainty isn’t nearly the same as what those might think against a new opponent, but personnel is something we don’t know quite as well.

You did a national radio interview at the beginning of the season about things you didn’t like about college football – the control you give the quarterback in the offense, can you talk about that in regards to what you did against Oklahoma?

Maybe without even addressing the scheme, I think there is a principle that goes beyond that. I believe our goal as coaches and educators is to help these young men be more prepared for what happens after football. Interesting because most likely I won’t be able to standing there with them as they get ready to sign a house loan or make an offer on a house and then they can look at me and think, ‘Can I do it? How much? Etc.’ At some point they have to educate themselves through hard work, through being mentored and make decisions and learn from those decisions. It seems strange sometimes that we wouldn’t trust them to make those kinds of decisions. Why does the coach have to call every play based on seeing the exact defensive set, wait for the last minute to see what changes we made and then signal another play in to make sure he’s right. And I think that’s what it is. I think the young men aren’t benefiting nearly as much from the chance of making decisions, having leadership, and doing that in real time under stress as maybe the coaches are – and this is hopefully about the kids, and so philosophically this is where I stand on this.

Talk about Colorado State and what they have done in addition to what you have done to gain more respect for the Conference.

Whether there is respect for the conference or not, I’m not certain. I think we’ll find that out as we continue to move forward and as the year reaches an end and see if that respect remains if that’s what it is. I didn’t see any of Colorado State’s game, I just saw the score, but I send Coach Fairchild just a quick note and it’s great for the league. When you consider inter-state rivalry and open your season that way that makes it even sweeter. As you’re with these coaches in meetings you get to know them a little better. Other than when you’re playing against them, they are your allies and we’re all working very hard to make the conference perception increased to a higher level. If you look at the coaches now in this league and how they are preparing their teams, it’s starting to show regardless of who we play, and that’s positive for everybody.

In regards to the polls, do you think your players are more equipped for being in the spotlight?

Whether they are or not, I’m not certain. They will still be learning lessons because a lot of the team members are different this year. I am more equipped and I think our coaching staff is more equipped – not a perfect chance – but a better chance.

How do you feel about starting your season in two NFL caliber stadiums?

One of the things I think I have mentioned before in terms of scheduling besides the opponents we play, trying to give our players a fantastic experience. Many of them have not been to the New Orleans area since any of the storms have hit. They will be now playing in the super dome that was housing so many of those people. It will give us a chance to talk about the things that we have – blessings and the opportunities that we have to serve others – and see an area that was hit hard by natural disasters. It’s not only a football game, or to play in the Super Dome, but this is a chance to have life-lessons going with it. And to talk about the Dallas Cowboys’ Stadium, it was something that I’m sure the young men and maybe I will remember forever. That is a great reason you need to play a game, but if you can play a game like that and have success in that setting it makes it even more memorable.

BYU QUARTERBACK MAX HALL

Talk about how the last few days have been.

It’s been a lot of fun. It’s something that we just want to soak in and really enjoy. The whole town of Provo is excited and the students are excited – the whole feeling in this town is a good feeling and it’s a great place to be. This game won’t be worth as much if we don’t keep winning, and especially if we don’t win the next one. Coach Anae made a good point to us yesterday that we had a good time this weekend, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves and let’s not forget about the game this week. But I like the feeling of our team – we practiced hard yesterday and we are hungry still. We want to win football games.

Explain how it was having Coach Doman on the field and Coach Anae up in the booth.

I thought it went well. I thought Coach Anae called a really good football game. He is a very emotional guy and can get really fired up on the sidelines and I think being up in the box really helped him. There were a bunch of times when they were blitzing us and he really coached us through those situations. And then it worked well to have Coach Doman down on the field to keep me calm when I threw an interception and then he kept me level headed when we were doing well, was perfect. I think what he said to the team and the mindset he brought to the game helped us. After the game many people talked about Sam being hurt and they replacing their whole line and how Gresham didn’t play. But they forgot that we replaced four of our five offensive linemen and that Harvey Unga didn’t play, and we went in there and our defense shut down their offense pretty much to give us a shot to come back in the fourth quarter.

Can you take us through that fourth-quarter drive and what needed to happen to score?

We made a couple of adjustments at halftime so we stuttered a little bit in the third quarter and we weren’t able to drive the ball as well as we could and we kept finding ourselves backed up in their territory and we weren’t really able to get that full drive down the field. So what we decided to do was to go into a two-minute mode for a hurried-up offense to see if we could catch them off guard a little bit – and it’s what we practiced all through fall camp. That’s what we did and things opened up. I remember Steve Young talked to me on the phone before the game and he told me that when he watched Joe Montana he stayed as composed in the fourth quarter as he was in the first quarter. And so that’s what I tried to do – take a deep breath and take my same reads and don’t try and force anything down field and just make a big play when I needed to. I think I did that on a third down to Dennis and fourth down to Dennis – those were very crucial plays to win the game. As a kid you dream about throwing a game like that in the Dallas Cowboys Stadium against Oklahoma and it happened and it was an amazing thing.

In regards to your offensive line, you mentioned four of your five making their first start of their careers – I know you were confident coming in with them, but at what point of the game did you realize that they could hold their own against your opponent?

Yes, I was confident and I think they did well. R.J. had a great game and they went against the best front four in college football. Braden Hansen came up to me before the game and asked me how my first start was. I told him it wasn’t that bad, but I wasn’t going against the best defensive line in the nation, but I think you’ll be fine. I think when I realized that we were going to be fine was in the first drive when we moved the football and made some good running plays. You could see Bryan Kariya blasting through the linebackers and knocking them backwards to push the first downs. I was thinking, ‘We might be more physical than them right now.’ We prepared for them and we deserve it. Those guys did a phenomenal job – say what you want, but those guys are warriors and they battled and are the reason why we were able to score.