Mendenhall: Great Game This Upcoming Week

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BYU Head Coach Bronco Mendenhall

Opening Remarks

I was excited about the way our team played against the Air Force Academy. I thought we executed very well on both sides of the ball. I think our special teams play could have been improved so we will target that at a little higher level this upcoming week. I really liked just the emotion that our team played with, I liked the sense of unity we played with; it was fun to play at home – a lot of positive things. I look forward to a great game this upcoming week. It’ll be fun and I think it’ll be another great football game, another game to celebrate amongst the stadium.

The Jordan Wynn quarterback situation appears that Kyle has brought him in to attack the back end defenses. With the San Diego State game they kind of did that to protect. Can you talk about protection versus coverage?

I think that your perception is accurate. Again, I haven’t watched all their games and I don’t know can I speak for their staff on why the quarterback change was made, but I can speak from the games that I have seen. And what I have seen is that their quarterback does throw the ball accurately, he does throw the default especially well, he has certainly enough mobility to run their offense in addition to that. If the game ends up being a game where they choose to protect and attack our back end, then we will certainly have to modify and make sure our zones can’t be out-run as they were against San Diego State, or that we can get enough pressure in attacking maybe extra protection schemes to make him throw a little bit sooner than that. So that could be one

of the keys of the game as you go back and forth and see how far those zones are being stretched, are we getting any pressure on the quarterback at all.

Bronco, your career has pretty much run in tandem with Kyle Whittingham’s. What are you most impressed with what he’s been able to accomplish while at Utah?

I think consistency. I think on a year-by-year basis they are improving and playing good football. So from the on-the-field perspective, I think they’re teams executes well, I think they play hard; I think it’s very similar to what has happened down here.

Except for the last two years, home-field advantage in this rivalry hasn’t meant much. Why do you think that is?

You know, I’m not certain. I think possibly if you’re able to go on the road, it might be more of an ‘us-against-them’, ‘us-against-the-world’ mentality, and sometimes that – especially when there is so much attention on any given game – maybe that gives the team an edge. I think probably both of us would rather play at home if we had the choice, but that certainly hasn’t dictated the outcome as you just mentioned, so I think it’s just what your team and your coaches and your organization makes of it in terms of it being an advantage or not.

Have you received any additional information on the unfair tactics and conduct. Does that play just get tossed out of the playbook now?

Yes, it will be tossed out until I hear otherwise if that’s the way it’s going to be interpreted. I haven’t heard anything else yet. We submit the plays for review today, and so it usually takes one day or a day and a half, so I should hear tomorrow as to what happened. I did see the memo that the official was going off of, and he did receive that memo that does specify that they are to call that play. What rule it’s violating, I still don’t understand that, but that might be my mistake, not theirs. So I am anxious to see exactly what the interpretation is.

You said you were pleased with your team’s emotion in this game against Air Force. In the past, the Utah game in controlling the emotion is something you have been concerned with. How do you control that?

I think just the perspective. I’m not sure you’re ever able to control the first couple of plays. I think sustaining it or maintaining whatever level you’re playing with after that is really the most important part. But really, what you do in terms of the emotion prior to the game isn’t necessarily what is going to help you – but can you manage it in a game setting like you’re talking about, and it will really come down to just execution as it always does. And then, teams pulling and supporting for their players while they’re out there on the field and trying to make sure they stay unified in pretty hostile environments. I think the emotion of it after the first couple of plays, I don’t notice it so much and I don’t think our team does either.

You’re going into this game with a senior quarterback and Utah is going in with a freshman quarterback, you’re on your home field. Do you feel like there is more pressure on BYU to win the game this year than Utah?

I really don’t. I think that those scenarios are what you make of it and if you dwell on it. Certainly, if I had my choice, I’d rather have a senior quarterback than a freshman quarterback on any team that I’ve coached just by experience. But we’re playing a good team. And so really, the focus is just on how well I can help our team get prepared, how well I can get them to execute, how well I can frame this opportunity for them to really have a great time. But in terms of acknowledging the rest of it, I don’t think it’s relevant.

Coach, each year this game takes on a different feel, depending on how each team has done. You guys have been kind of parallel coming up to this last game. What is your feeling this year on this rivalry and this matchup?

It’s going to be a great game. You have two teams that are having great success. Two teams that are in the top-25 in the country. Again, two teams that are 35-whatever miles apart and a state championship on the line with two teams that have played very good football over the last four years, so I think it’ll be a great game.

Riley was kicking the ball well and for touchbacks until very recently then Mitch has been kicking a few. Is Riley banged up at all?

Not banged up at all, just the past couple of weeks, I can’t even remember two weeks ago, but this past game it wasn’t landing where we had hoped it would land in terms of where our coverage was designed to cover the kick. It wasn’t really a matter of distance, it was more of accuracy on the kickoff and so that’s why we went with Mitch. Riley will still have a chance to be our kickoff guy again this week and sometimes practice doesn’t indicate what’s going to happen on game day, so we try to make that decision as best we can.

In your four games with Utah, they have been turnover free in three of the meetings. What is the value in playing a clean game in this particular game?

It is a huge element of it, especially when you consider the other things that are pressing on the organization and the additional attention and if you can hold onto the ball you have a great chance to win. I don’t think that’s any secret, not only for this game, but for the entire season and so I think our team looks forward to the opportunity to hold onto it.

In terms of sideline animation from coaches and teammates on the sidelines, I don’t think we saw what we saw Saturday since maybe the Oklahoma game, in terms of that energy. Do you think guys feed off of that?

I think they feed off of it if it is sincere and not orchestrated, and I don’t think it was orchestrated. I think the team was just anxious to play football, to celebrate the chance to play another football game in our stadium. It was the most fun that I’ve had in a long time and I think our players would probably say the same.

Can you give us an update on injuries, in particular, Harvey Unga and how he’s doing?

Harvey will be, my guess to this point and what I’ve been told is that he will be probably the next tier advanced from what he was this past week. So you saw at New Mexico where he played a half very effectively and then there is kind of a point of diminishing return with the number of carries. This week, I think it was through the three-quarter mark, maybe a little bit shy of that, but we saw him maybe starting to slow down a hair. So you’ll probably see, if the trend holds three and a half quarters, hopefully a full game, but we’ll rest him as much we can, allow him to practice Thursday and then get as much out of him as we can on Saturday.

Any other injuries?

No. The first time this season as the trainer gave me no names to report of, so it’s a good thing.

You’ve been very consistent and we hear from the players every week that you treat each game the same. Is that in any way possible with this one?

It is for our organization, but I am not sure it’s possible for anyone else. For us, there is an x amount of work that you have to get in - in terms of number of plays watched, number of games looked up, number of cutups watched, number of practice plays that you have to see. So the structure, we actually put that in place to again, try to win every game and try to play the best that we can week in and week out. So, that’s in place to help our team succeed. All that really changes now is the attention of the game, so our focus will be just on the process as much as it can be.