PROVO - BYU will play at Texas on Saturday, Sept. 10, with kickoff set for 6:06 p.m. CT. The game will be broadcast live from DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin, Tex., on ESPN2, ESPN3D, WatchESPN.com and KSL Radio 1160 AM, 102.7 FM and ksl.com.

BYU at (21) Texas

Week 2 Game Notes

• BYU Cougars (1-0) at Texas Longhorns (1-0, 0-0 Big 12)
• Date: Saturday, Sept. 10, 2011
• Time: 6:06 pm CT (5:06 MT)
• Site: Austin, Texas (DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium - 100,119)
• TV: ESPN2
• Radio: KSL Newsradio 102.7 FM/1160 AM and ksl.com
• Series Record: BYU leads 2-0
• Last Meeting: 1988 in Provo (BYU 47, Texas 6)
• Kickoff Weather: Sunny, temps in the mid 90s

WHAT TO WATCH FOR

• BYU and Texas are facing off for the third time in history on Saturday, with BYU holding a 2-0 edge over the Longhorns. BYU took games in a home-and-home series in 1987-88, winning. The Cougars have a 12-14 all-time record against the Big 12.
• BYU last played and defeated a team from the Big 12 in its 2009 season opener against No. 3 Oklahoma in Cowboys Stadium, upsetting the Sooners, 14-13. The game was the first against a Big 12 opponent since BYU defeated Kansas State in the Cotton Bowl, 17-14, on January 1, 1997.
• The game marks the first-ever meeting between BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall and Texas head coach Mack Brown.
• The 2011 season marks the first in which BYU has played both an SEC and Big 12 team in the same season. BYU defeated Ole Miss, 14-13, last week. The Cougars also play two teams from the Pac-12 later this year.
• After the first week of play, BYU's defense ranks as one of the best in the country and is currently ranked in the top-30 in total defense (15th), rushing defense (20th), pass efficiency defense (25th), pass defense (26th) and scoring defense (30th).

  BYU-TEXAS SERIES
  This will be the third time in history that BYU faces off against the Texas Longhorns. The Cougars are 2-0 in previous matchups. The first meeting was in 1987 when BYU defeated the Longhorns 22-17 in Austin, Tex. The Cougars overcame being outgained 342-243 in total yards by forcing an incredible eight turnovers (four interceptions, four fumbles) for a school record. In 1988, the Longhorns came to Provo and were handed a 47-6 loss behind 402 passing yards from BYU's quarterbacks. A freshman Ty Detmer saw limited time but threw a 20-yard touchdown pass in the victory.

  HE'S KIND OF A BIG DEAL
  Senior captain and offensive tackle Matt Reynolds returns for his senior season after deciding not to enter the NFL draft despite a first round projection. Reynolds has been rewarded with several preseason accolades, including being named a preseason All-American by by ESPN.com, USA Today, Athlon, CBSCollegeSports.com, Lindy's, Sporting News and Phil Steele, among others. Along with those honors, Reynolds has recognized as an Outland Trophy Candidate, a Lombardi Award Candidate and a Lowe's Senior Class Award Nominee. BIG 12 FLASHBACK
  The last time BYU played at a Big 12 opponent's stadium was in 1987 when the Cougars traveled to Texas and defeated the Longhorns, 22-17. The last time a BYU team played anywhere against a Big 12 opponent was in 2009 against Oklahoma at Dallas Cowboys Stadium. It had been a while prior that matchup, facing off against Kansas State in 1997 on New Year's Day at the Cotton Bowl. The Cougars picked up another dramatic comeback, winning 19-15 after quarterback Steve Sarkisian found K.O. Kealauhi for a 28-yard go- ahead touchdown late in the fourth quarter. Defensive back Omarr "The Blanket" Morgan secured the victory, intercepting a Wildcat pass at the 12-yard line to kill the comeback effort.

  BYU vs. BCS AQs
  With the victory over Ole Miss, BYU has defeated a team from a BCS automatic-qualifying conference six-straight years, the third-longest streak in the nation. The Cougars have defeated at least one AQ school 15 of the past 16 years dating back to 1996.

  BEEN ON THIS ROAD BEFORE
  In its last two season-openers away from home, BYU has defeated a BCS school by the score of 14-13 in a fourth quarter comeback. In 2009, opening against Oklahoma the Cougars came back from 13-7 with a Max Hall touchdown pass to McKay Jacobson and a good extra point to take the lead and hang on to win 14-13. Last weeks fourth quarter heroics with a late touchdown and fumble recovered for a touchdown matched the score, getting the 14-13 win at Ole Miss.

  NO POINTS
  After allowing 13 points last week against Ole Miss, BYU has never allowed an opponent to score more than 20 points or two touchdowns under Coach Mendenhall in season openers.

NOWHERE TO RUN
After holding Ole Miss to 64 total rushing yards, the Cougars have now held seven straight opponents to 100 yards or less on the ground. The last time a BYU defense allowed a team 100 yards rushing was on October 16, 2010 in a 31-3 loss against TCU.

NO TOUCHDOWNS ALLOWED
The BYU defense held the Ole Miss offense out of the end zone for the entire 60 minutes, allowing just two field goals for six points. It marks the first time the Cougars have held a team without a touchdown since they beat Tulane 54-3 on September 12, 2009.

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER
With 14 points in the fourth quarter, the Cougars have scored in the fourth quarter in seven-straight games. During that stretch BYU has scored 53 points, notching seven touchdowns and two field goals.

TEXAS TWO-STEP
Lining up to catch passes for the Cougars in 2011 will be two former Texas High School stars in McKay Jacobson and Ross Apo. Jacobson was the Texas 5A state Player of the Year and caught over 1,600 yards and 19 touchdowns his senior season of prep football. Apo was ranked as the No. 13 wide receiver in the country by Rivals. com his last high school season at The Oakridge School and averaged 19.1 yards per reception throughout his prep career.

HOFFMAN KEEPS IT GOING
As a top target and leading receiver in 2010, sophomore Cody Hoffman received a lot of attention from the Rebel defense at Ole Miss. Hoffman caught just one pass for nine yards but with the catch he extends his streak to seven games with at least one reception and 13 of 14 career games.

200 AND COUNTING
Jake Heaps has finished his last six games dating back to UNLV of 2010 with at least 200 passing yards. In that span the now sophomore signal caller has thrown for 294 against UNLV, 242 at Colorado State, 231 vs. New Mexico, 228 at Utah, 264 in the New Mexico Bowl vs. UTEP and most recently, 225 at Ole Miss.

Quotes from Bronco Mendenhall's weekly press conference

Opening comments
We are anxious to play again in another great venue. We are facing another really good coach in Mack Brown. I think he is one of the leaders in college football and he is one of the most successful coaches in college football. Our team came out of Oxford relatively healthy, I gave most of you the injury report yesterday and today begins our practice so we can get ready to go play.

Does Coach Brown and Texas know you don't practice on Sunday and what has been their reaction to that?
I'm not positive that they know or not, normally with head coaches I don't really make a point to say specifically, but if I am asked we certainly don't shy away from it. We don't give much away about our program in terms of strategy and other things involved.

Can you assess the performance of the secondary at Ole Miss?
The strength was they tackled well, I think they concentrated well in terms of play action pass. In terms of things they could improve, I think Corby Eason had both hands on a ball and I'd like to see more footballs knocked down and a few more incompletions just based on coverage. I think our coverage in general can be a little tighter than it was. In summary I was pleased with the tackling but the coverage is still a work in progress.

You had a goal of picking up at least 100 yards on the ground, which you accomplished (111), what does that say about your offensive line and are you going to stretch that goal?
Any statistic we have on the ground, not only rush defense but the amount of yards we rush for is in relation to statistics we think will help us win the game. None of the statistics ever overshadow the ability to win. Any of our statistics are to make sure we give ourselves the best chance to win. When you control the ball you can control the clock, you can control momentum and you have a great chance to win the game. Ultimately we did win the rushing battle which helped us win the time of possession and we ultimately won the game by one point so it was very close.

Can you talk about what you are expecting from the overall experience playing in Austin?
There is a lot of history and it will be a great experience for our players. I've been to Austin once as a player; I know BYU has been at least one time that I can remember. When you consider that in the world of who are the "haves" and "have nots" in college football in terms of the glitter and the budget, etc. you probably think of Texas and Oregon. It will be fun for our players to not only have heard of the things Texas has and their reputation and tradition but to see that and measure themselves against the players and see if those things match.

Looking back at the Ole Miss game, what did you learn about your offense and what needs to improve?
I learned they are capable. The number of drives that were put together that had some momentum maybe exceeded that of what I thought, but the number of drives that were finished were not what I thought. I thought we would finish more drives. It's just simply the consistency and the execution. Once the volume of plays gets from around seven to 10 plays, that's when we started to make mistakes. We just need to sustain drives longer and finish drives. That leads to more efficient execution, more repetition that just takes more time.

Texas will likely be the largest crowd BYU has ever played in front of, perhaps twice as many as at Ole Miss, how do you prepare your team for that kind of environment?
Not really any differently, just tell them that it is going to be a big crowd and enjoy it and go play the game. Besides warmups and maybe when you come of the tunnel when you notice the crowd, the rest of it there isn't much of a difference for 60, 80 or 100,000 for players and coaches. You notice it more before the game.

Texas ran the ball effectively; do you think that's one of the keys to the game, to stop the run?
Texas had a good plan against Texas, I think they ran it for 200 or so and threw it for 200-something, and over 500 yards of total offense. Under a new offensive coordinator that is pretty impressive. They had great balance. Not only do they run the ball between the tackles but they have a nice plan to try and run around you. Most of their big play-yardage came from going around the opponent, not through them. We have to make sure our edges are secure. A lot of their running game is similar to what we saw at Ole Miss with fly sweeps and a wildcat player back at quarterback. They just happen to be more advanced currently in play action and multiple formations.

What does this past week say about your team in terms of resiliency knowing they can come back on the road and win?
It was probably one of the most gratifying victories since I've been the coach. It was the largest deficit we have overcome since I have been the coach and that's six years and one game going back to an 11-point comeback to New Mexico my first year. It as much if not more than any of the victories we have had. There wasn't a lot of panic on the sideline even until the end and it think that will show a deeper commitment and the right kind of mindset collectively as a team that will battle to the end. A game like that one or two plays can make difference and we able to make them.

Does that change the way you frame improvement to players?
Sure, coaching is nothing other than teaching. Teaching requires teachable moments and people that want to be taught. A lot of times based on the team that you have after a win, players are actually less teachable than they are after a loss. There is always a fine balance going in that if you win how teachable will players be? When you win coming from behind in sort of the last hour of the game, that teachable moment is still there and you get the best of both worlds. You get a great victory and you know what defeat could have tasted like because you were behind most of the game. There is a sense of relief in that you are glad you won, but there is a lot we can improve on. Our focus has been telling the players great job in terms of resiliency, heart, grit and determination.

Jordan Pendleton
Is that the best way to start a season?
I think so. We got tested early in a close game. It's good to get one of those out of the way. Our team never gave up even though we were down in the fourth quarter. I think that's the largest comeback since Coach Mendenhall has been here. Its good to get a close one of the way and we know we can battle until the end.

The next test is at Texas, that's got to be a dream?
Oh yeah I can't wait. We are all really excited to go out there. It's one of those teams that have been a national powerhouse in the NCAA so we are all really excited and it will be a new test for us.

Do you expect a really physical game again?
I think so. Their offensive line isn't as big as Ole Miss but I think they are going to be quicker. It will definitely be physical. I wouldn't have it any other way, that's why we play this game.

How gratifying was it for the defense to win the game?
It was just awesome. We held them to field goals. We always tell ourselves if they can't score touchdowns they can't win the game and it held true. It was just a battle like that all game and then scoring on the defensive end at that time we needed it was awesome.

How does that carry over into preparation for Texas?
We just have to keep working. Even though we played really well and held them to 64 yards rushing we found things we can do better on and that's our plan every week.

Terence Brown
What sort of things did you see after watching film from last week?
There are a lot of little mistakes, mental errors here and there, bad snaps from myself. There are things we can fix definitely and we'll do it this week. Hopefully it will show on Saturday.

Do you think the team will need to score more than 14 points to beat Texas?
I think we will have to score for sure but I think our defense will play great. They played great last week and only gave up two field goals to Ole Miss, so I expect the same effort from them. Hopefully we can put up enough points to win.

McKay Jacobson
Can you describe how big Texas football is in Texas?
A lot of the big-time recruits will go to Texas. There is a lot of tradition. They have been very successful for many, many years. Texas is a great program.

You were recruited by Texas, what was that like?
Through the whole recruitment process you have different things you do. You have a junior day and different camps. I have a lot of memories down there and I am excited to head down there.

What does the team need to do to win?
We really need to do well to have a chance against them. We know they are going to be very athletic. Really we just need to match their intensity and play hard. Overall one of the things we need to fix is our tempo as an offense. We moved the ball but we need better tempo. We can go and execute more, be more aggressive. It comes down to execution and knowing our assignments.

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