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Stats indicate '06 football team is one of BYU's all-time best |
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JaredCowley | Tuesday, November 14, 2006, 11:48 pm
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Brandon Judd
DAILY HERALD
In the house that LaVell built — or at least named in his honor for his Cougar feats as a head coach — things haven’t been pretty the past few seasons for BYU.
Cougar fans can thank the 2006 squad for reversing the trend.
From 2002-05, the Cougars went just 11-13 at LaVell Edwards Stadium, including just one winning season (4-2 in ’02) and embarrassing losses like 50-12 to Boise State and 58-13 to Colorado State in 2003. Prior to BYU’s 1-5 home record in 2003, the Cougars hadn’t had a losing home record since 1971.
But that has changed with this year’s BYU team, and in a big way. Following a 55-7 victory over Wyoming last Thursday, the No. 23 Cougars are now 5-0 in LES with the home season finale on Saturday against New Mexico. With a win, BYU (9-2, 6-0 in conference) would wrap up the Mountain West Conference title and its first undefeated home mark since 2001, coincidently the last time the Cougars won a conference title.
“No. 1 was facing the brutal facts when I became the head coach that we weren’t playing well at home,” said BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall. “We wouldn’t have a chance to reach our goals until we started to play well at home. And by not playing well at home, we not only weren’t honoring the tradition of this institution, but we weren’t honoring really the stadium in whom the stadium is named after.
“There were activities we did to help us re-link with that. Last year, I think we made some strides. But this year with the same emphasis in place over a longer period of time, we’ve seen our program perform at a higher level. Our players certainly acknowledge it’s a very special place to play. I think we’ve tied in to the significance what it means to win in LaVell Edwards Stadium.”
This success has the admiration of opposing coaches.
“BYU is as hot a football team as there is in the country right now,” said New Mexico coach Rocky Long.
But it’s the way the Cougars have won that is most impressive. In five home contests this season, BYU is averaging 48.2 points per game while giving up just 11. The Cougars have scored first in every game, and they haven’t trailed at home since the 3:51 mark in the second quarter of the home opener against Tulsa. That’s a string of 273 minutes, 51 seconds that BYU has led on its home turf.
Saturday’s contest with the Lobos will be the final home game for 26 seniors, a group that has had to endure the tumultuous past few years at BYU. Going out with a win would be a welcome ending to their Cougar careers at LES.
“It’s one of their goals and one of the objectives they’ve had in place from the beginning,” Mendenhall said. “There’s no way we can honor this program — the tradition here and the former coaches and players — better than having an unbeaten season at home. That’s something they feel strongly about in terms of re-linking our current team with the past.”
Offensively, the Cougars are using a balanced attack of pass and run while averaging 471 total offense yards at LES. Captaining the offense is John Beck, a Davey O’Brien Award semifinalist, who has thrown for 1,070 yards, 13 touchdowns and only one interception at home in four games this year.
“Beck is the best quarterback in the United States. No doubt about it,” said Wyoming coach Joe Glenn. The Cougar senior torched the Cowboy defense, previously fourth in the nation in pass defense, for 313 yards and two touchdown passes on Saturday.
Defensively, the Cougars have given up just seven touchdowns at LaVell Edwards Stadium. Of those, only three have been scored by opponents when the Cougars’ lead was less than 30 points.
Leading the defense is senior Cameron Jensen, who’s on a tear in the past four games. During this stretch, Jensen has 27 tackles (five for loss), two sacks, two fumbles recovered and one pass breakup.
“Cameron Jensen is the most phenomenal leader that I’ve ever coached,” Mendenhall said. “He’s the glue, he is the consistency, he is the motivation and he is the direction for our team and our players on that side of the football.”
This year’s team, especially at home, is beginning to look like the Cougars under the LaVell Edwards era. Since 1990, a season in which BYU opened its home slate with the program’s biggest upset ever (28-21 over No. 1 Miami), the Cougars have gone undefeated on their home field five times, in 1990, ’91, ’96, ’98 and 2001.
When compared to these other five squads, the 2006 team matches up favorably. With one home game to go, this year’s team is averaging the third-most points, the least points allowed and the second-least total yards to its opponents (291.2). The only statistic in which this year’s squad takes last in among the six is passing yards per game (278.2), but Beck is completing 76.9 percent of his passes at home this season.
It is play like this that has the Cougars on a seven-game winning streak — tied for sixth-longest in the nation — and ranked for the first time since early 2002.
“I think there are a whole lot of teams in the top 25 that wouldn’t want to play them,” said TCU coach Gary Patterson.
New Mexico doesn’t have a choice, and it will walk into a place Glenn said can be intimidating.
“It’s nice to have about 60,000 cheeks in the seats and fans going crazy,” Wyoming’s head coach said. “Bronco has done a great job rebuilding the team. He’s putting the swagger back in BYU. They are crushing opponents. You got to give a lot of credit to the coach.”
Bowl talk: Much of the talk around the MWC right now is centering around bowl eligibility. Three teams — BYU, TCU and Utah — have already qualified for the postseason, while New Mexico (5-5), Wyoming (5-6), Air Force (4-6) and Colorado State (4-6) still could become bowl eligible.
“No. 1, (going to a bowl) is a reward for players for putting forth a good effort during the season,” Long said. “Probably the biggest benefit is the extra practice time. For a young team like we have, it’s like having another spring practice.”
Patterson said going to a bowl also has other advantages, like allowing high school recruits the opportunity to attend bowl practices if they didn’t get the chance to during the regular season.
“I don’t think in the nine or 10 I’ve been to that I’ve been in a bad bowl game,” Patterson said.
A time for learning: It’s been a long season for first-year San Diego State coach Chuck Long and his squad. The Aztecs are just 2-7, including a loss to Division I-AA Cal Poly, and have had to endure several frustrating injuries, especially on offense.
But Long said he hasn’t let the rough times frustrate him.
“We knew it was going to be difficult,” he said. “It’s a team that hasn’t had a winning season or (gone to a) bowl in the Mountain West Conference. That’s the one goal when we got here is that we’ve got to be more physical. We’ve chipped away at that and we’ve gotten tougher.”
Patterson, who’s TCU team takes on San Diego State this week, said there is nothing that can prepare a coach for his first year at the helm of a program.
“I think being a head coach is like buying your first home, having your first baby,” he said. “Everyone can tell you how it’s going to be, but you never know until you’ve been through the first year.”
They said it: “There’s still a ton of motivation here in Laramie, even though it’s snowing sideways.” — Wyoming coach Glenn, on his team being 5-6 but still able to gain bowl eligibility with a win against UNLV this weekend.
Brandon Judd can be reached at 344-2571 or by e-mail at
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