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Franchuk: Cougars refuse to play 'What if?' game |
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JaredCowley | Friday, November 10, 2006, 7:45 am
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Jason Franchuk
DAILY HERALD
Another ridiculously dominating win could leave BYU with one tinge of regret. Make that two.
What could’ve been possible if the Cougars never started 1-2, if they could’ve stormed out of the chute with, say, 75 percent of the confidence and accuracy with which they have played the last seven games.
Head coach Bronco Mendenhall won’t allow himself, or his team, to wonder what life would be like to be undefeated, even though the concept in hindsight seems quite plausible.
Those two rough Saturdays in September, he says, shaped his coaching and the team’s preparation and play. And without them, it’s doubtful a 55-7 win against Wyoming on Thursday at LaVell Edwards Stadium would’ve ever occurred.
“Play by play, day by day,” is how Mendenhall rhythmically regarded BYU’s rise from the losing start that threatened to spoil another season.
The Cougars couldn’t start the season with a win at Arizona, a team that wouldn’t stay within four touchdowns of the Cougars today.
Two weeks later, BYU’s offense still hadn’t perfected such cutthroat efficiency, nor had the defense and special teams arrived at such resoundingly impressive improvement and belief in their abilities. BYU would beat Boston College right now, even in Beantown.
Since their last loss Sept. 16, double overtime in Massachusetts, it’s the same team, whole different feeling.
The last seven games have left BYU 8-2 overall, and 6-for-6 in league play with what should be another easy two to play. A tie for the Mountain West Conference title was clinched Thursday night, but getting the whole shebang is merely a formality at this point. No one’s even close.
New Mexico’s 60-minute funeral comes next Saturday. The one caveat left to a slice of perfection is that Nov. 25 closer at Utah. That’s the last lingering mental block these reborn Cougars have left to face.
Can this success eat at them a little bit? The Cougars look at the national rankings, which they’re a part of, and must wonder why they can’t be much higher.
Tough truth: Two losses say so. Especially that one to Arizona.
Quarterback John Beck conceded a little frustration in what continues to be a brilliant senior year. Last Saturday, after dominating Colorado State despite a somewhat sloppy performance (by the standard of the last two months’ play), a Colorado-based reporter asked Beck if he thought much about his team’s rough start.
It was a little hard, Beck admitted, to be so close to experiencing something even bigger than what the Cougars are enjoying now.
The Cougars, to their credit, don’t play with that kind of pent-up disappointment. They have not replayed a game yet, and that’s been molded into their character after getting blindsided more than once the last few years by reliving mistakes.
“What if” are the two most poisonous words in love, and record books.
There’s no point holding any regrets, because it’s doubtful the Cougars would be where they are today without experiencing some wicked hurt much earlier. Mendenhall says as much.
That’s why his team plays so hard, even though it leads 38-0 midway through the third quarter against Wyoming.
It’s why the Cougars ferociously snuff out a fourth-and-1, leading 41-0 to start the fourth.
The effort wasn’t to rub it in the Cowboys’ face, but merely an expression of how the Cougars have been taught how to play — hard, humble and appreciative.
As rocker Steve Miller said: “You know you got to go through hell before you get to heaven.”
There’s a good chance this year could’ve been even better, but the present is still divine, right?
Yes, no looking back. Except maybe once in a while to the 1980’s, the program’s era of supremacy which BYU’s current domination is admirably starting to resemble.
Jason Franchuk can be reached at
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