Mendenhall embraces challenge of short practice week before Houston


Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

This week’s coach’s broadcast of "BYU Football with Bronco Mendenhall" welcomed in week three of Cougar football just days after the team’s dominating victory in Texas. The Cougars gave the Longhorns a 41-7 beat-down in Austin — a victory Mendenhall says came down to maturity, preparation and a really good quarterback.

Taysom Hill received a lot of national attention after his performance Saturday with 99 rushing and 181 passing yards. Because BYU’s independence status gives it more visibility on a national stage, Mendenhall said, “it’s hard for someone not to take notice.”

Mendenhall mentioned that because the program is so visible, it’s important for the team to perform well against big opponents like Texas.

“I think for where we are currently as an independent … if you want to move up in what the world considers moving up, then you’re going to have to play those games, as many as will play you.”

This week the Cougars face a short week and a familiar foe in the form of the Houston Cougars. After an emotional win on the road, BYU will now have to immediately get back to work on preparing for a high-powered Houston team that put up 46 points against BYU last season.

“It’s a really good game,” Mendenhall said. “In terms of dynamic offense, Houston is athletic, and they’re fast, and they throw the ball really, really well. So, we have a challenge ahead.”

*******

Senior linebacker Michael Alisa was this week’s player guest, and he gave fans an idea of what the post-game celebration was like in Austin on Saturday night.

“The locker room was just mayhem,” Alisa said. “There was water and ice flying everywhere, Devin Mahina was holding up a trash can, and I was banging the drums on that. Guys were just jumping around … and someone was being pushed around in a laundry basket. It was nuts. Definitely a fun time with the team.”

While the Cougars are still riding the high of that dominating victory last week, Alisa says the shortened practice week means the team needs to focus on Houston, forget aches and pains and battle through to Thursday night’s home opener. So far, he says there’s been a lot of passion on the practice field.

“I like the pace. I like what we’ve been seeing in practice,” Alisa said. “Just guys going really hard. Today we had some guys going maybe too hard ….”

The senior linebacker was asked to expand on his last statement and responded by saying, “You know, everyone’s on edge, everyone’s trying really hard … every now and then, a brawl might break out.”

He then described a bench-clearing brawl that broke out between the starting offense and the defensive scout team in Tuesday’s practice.

“But I love that,” Alisa said. “Because our mindset is right, and we do have a good base. I think with the quick turnaround, you’ve gotta have guys that are tough, who are fighting, and fighting to get better.”

****

Here's some “quick hits” from the weekly audience question and answer segment:

This season, Mendenhall has extended an invitation to the single players on the team to have Sunday dinner at his house. He described how one evening, one of his horses had to carry Ului Lapuaho (333 pounds), Manu Mulitalo (373 pounds), and Juterrius Gulley (346 pounds). He said the horse needed two weeks to recover after that.

In a preseason visit with the team, President Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said that BYU football should represent “all that is good.” Mendenhall said it’s easy to get carried away with being “faith specific,” but with 20 percent of the team being non-LDS, he says he strives to impress on his team to simply represent “all that is good.”

With so many talented players, and depth at every position, Mendenhall says it’s difficult sometimes to make sure each deserving player sees adequate playing time, but he tries to make sure each player has a role that suits the team’s needs.

The head coach also said that the teams with the most talent aren’t necessarily always the best team. He says you can create a great team with a well-designed scheme and your most talented players at key positions in that scheme.

Most recent Sports stories

Related topics

SportsBYU Cougars
Sydney Carlson

    ARE YOU GAME?

    From first downs to buzzer beaters, get KSL.com’s top sports stories delivered to your inbox weekly.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast