Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
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BYU closed practice today and went through a crisp, helmets-only workout before a series of walk-throughs Friday and Saturday prepare the Cougars for their season opener Saturday.
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WR Matt Allen was practicing and catching passes with his injured finger protected by a cast. This morning, Bronco reiterated Allen's participation will be a gameday decision.
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In the last few days, Bronco has used the word "bored" to describe his players. The coach and the Cougars really, really need to suit up and play a game at this point.
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So much for the "big boys" from the Pac-10. Watching the Utah game as I write this, I am struck by the ineptitude of the Oregon State offense. There's still more than a half to go, but 7-0 is looking like an insurmountable Utah lead at this point.
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I only saw the replay once, but even I could see Matt Asiata's right leg basically snapped. Why did the TV commentators from FSNW not see the same thing? Even after a commercial break to watch the replays in the booth, they came back as clueless as they were prior to the break.
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Later in the quarter, the TV guys were caught up by the rule change that allows receiving teams to tack opponents' penalty yardage on to the end of the kick return.
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Just now, a third dropped pass by an OSU receiver. TV guy says he hasn't seen an Oregon State receiver drop a ball in 3 years. That would be, like, a record or something.
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4th dropped pass. I guess they're making up for three years' worth of perfect catches.
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Fast Facts:
-BYU was one of only 3 teams last year to rank in both the top 10 nationally in scoring offense and scoring defense. LSU and Ohio State were the others.
-The last 3 BYU quarterbacks to make their 1st career starts in season openers have lost those games (Sarkisian in 1995, Shoemaker in 1997, Engemann in 2000). Max Hall is only the 7th BYU QB in the last 35 years to debut in a season opener.
-Arizona has gone 15 consecutive games without a running back fumble. BYU has one running back fumble in the last 14 games (Tonga v. SDSU)
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Touchdown Oregon State. So much for insurmountable. 7-7.
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Brian Johnson has injured his shoulder. Will the Utes become the "Grady Bunch" tonight?
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Gary Crowton's LSU offense put up 45 at Mississippi State tonight. Gary is now 2-0 in Starkville. In his last trip to MSU, Luke Staley suffered a nasty leg injury in the waning moments of a BYU win, setting up the season-ending tailspin that concluded the 2001 season.
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UNLV keeps the MWC from suffering a black eye tonight in Logan, coming back for a 23-16 win at Utah State. It was UNLV's first road win since a victory at BYU on October 8th, 2004. Speaking of that game, BYU turned it over 5 times that night, losing as many fumbles in that game (4) as BYU lost in all of the 2006 season..
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Fourth quarter of the Utah game now, and Oregon State will have done just enough on offense to win this one, it would appear (leading 17-7). Losing Asiata and Johnson should prove too much for Utah to overcome.
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24-7 Oregon State, 11:30 remaining. And the list of the MWC's potential "BCS Busters" shrinks by one.
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I hope some of you have noticed that Zac Collie is still with the Philadelphia Eagles, and not only that, he had the Eagles only touchdown tonight and led the team in catches and yards as Philly lost to the Jets on a last-second field goal.
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Zac was my intern at KSL last fall, so I'm like a proud father. His actual father, Scott (former BYU receiver), and brother Austin (current BYU receiver) are probably even prouder.
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Zac's sister, Taylor, is on the golf team at UVSC.
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