But, alas, miracles do happen.
Advertisement
The Cougars’ Week 1 comeback win at Nebraska, which ended a 29-game winning streak in season-openers for the Cornhuskers, ended with a Hail Mary touchdown completion that was replayed over and over again by media outlets across the nation. Will reality remind us that this team lost its best offensive and defensive players, that its freshman QB sensation Tanner Mangum still has missionary legs and is inexperienced, and that the Cougars have shown weaknesses on both sides of the ball? But guys just want to win.
“We simplified it a little bit, so we’ll just try to grow it week by week by putting in a few more concepts, or a few more formations, motions, whatever it may be”.
And, now, the stakes only get higher.
That can-do attitude is vital when heading into a hostile environment as the underdog against a powerful opponent like BYU faces when the Cougars play at No. 10 UCLA on Saturday night (8:30 p.m. MDT, Fox Sports 1). The Cougars are just 1-12 all time in road games against AP top-10 opponents. “We’re going to get it corrected”. “He’s got kind of those Johnny Manziel qualities – he runs around, slings it, and they come up with it”.
“It’s the next game in BYU’s independence”, Mendenhall said. Making proclamations after just two weeks into the season is like feeling good when you have a late lead against BYU, and we all know how that turns out. We have a very resilient team. He leads the Cougars with 16 tackles in the first two games of his senior season, including 11 last week in his first career start.
Furthermore, a punch to a Boise State player right in his groin, caught on film, clear as day, resulted in absolutely nothing for BYU lineman Ului Lapuaho, as BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall has said the issue would be dealt with by “Internal team discipline“, of course, resulting in no loss of game time for Lapuaho.
And so it feels fitting that BYU’s hero of the moment is a backup quarterback who is 22 years old and returned from a Mormon mission to Chile only three months before the season started. It will be interesting to see if Noel Mazzone and Josh Rosen have any success throwing the ball deep against this group. “[Mangum’s] got a certain maturity to him, which comes from those four years in life that he has that some of our guys don’t”. “His backup is senior Logan Taele (6’2” 293), who can also play defensive end. It is a strength of the team, there is significant depth, and the coaches like to rotate in a lot of players to keep the line fresh.
Advertisement
At least that’s what we’re thinking went through the minds of the people behind this celebration video for BYU football. By the time the Bengals return home on October . 17 against Eastern Washington, they will have played a pair of Big Sky Conference games. He also understands the unique challenge that exists in trying to crack college football’s power structure as an independent. How can I make such a bold prediction? it’s easy, really, for anyone who has watched their last two games or have seen ESPN’s top plays of the week – the 2015 team has already played two of the best games in BYU football history. We’re not interested in being part of a lesser conference.
