Coach Mendenhall Press Conference - Air Force

The following is a partial transcript of BYU Head Coach Bronco Mendenhall's weekly press conference:

Well, we’re looking forward to our first conference game. We’re also looking forward to our first road game of the season. In the current context, Air Force looks to be a formidable, very good football team. They always seem to play very well, especially early in the season. They’re difficult to beat at home so we have our work cut out for us and we’re ready for the challenge.

How much do you rely on your captains and seniors to teach the young kids?

We’re going to have to rely on them a lot. I probably spoke more with them about an opponent than I ever have before at the end of our practice yesterday. Hopefully to give them cues and insights to let them know what it’ll be like to travel and things, but there’s no way you can prepare for a road game at a higher level without experiencing it first. So I’m hoping the older players can share their stories and what it was like when they first traveled. Without that we won’t have our best chance to be ready for the game. As a coach you can definitely prepare with schematics and on-the-field preparation, but that’s as far as we can go, so I think the rest will have to come fro the players.

You played all five of your inside linebackers in that game on Saturday. What was your evaluation of how that went?

Quite a few different things emerged from that. Probably the best combination of both athleticism and speed, after just week one, was Brandon Ogletree who not only played fast but also played his assignment. We were definitely encouraged by that but the evaluation will still continue. The most impressive and most consistent overall from the first game was Shane Hunter. One of the things that we’re going to have to look at, when you play at Air Force, the week is never long enough and the more you divide reps between multiple players, the worst your execution is sometimes.

Question regarding beating Air Force at home.

I like the types of players we have for this game. You have to be smart to play Air Force, you have to be physical to play Air Force and you have to be consistent. If you can do those three things, you have a chance. The kids that play at BYU give us as good a chance as any.

The dual quarterback seemed to work out well. Can we expect to see something similar?

I would say I don’t know at this minute, but you’ll probably see the exact same thing on Saturday. We reserve the right to switch to one or another based on how a quarterback is playing, just like any player, but I was happy for both of them that they were able to perform that well in their opener. They made really good plays with the football with no turnovers and I think both were able to highlight what their strengths were within our offense and that makes it difficult to defend. The most successful running plays and running schemes we had on the day were involving our quarterbacks and so, defensively you have to prepare for an excellent thrower and, our normal run game.

Do you feel a little more at peace with the decision then?

I’m not sure I’m more at peace with it, but I’m gratified to see the kids succeeding. That’s what’s fun. It hasn’t changed my mindset about what we were doing, I was already comfortable with that decision before, but it’s always fun to see the plan come to fruition in one week. And that’s what we’re talking about, one week, not the season.