PROVO - BYU will host Idaho on Saturday, Nov. 12, with kickoff set for 7:15 p.m. MT. The game will be broadcast live from LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo, Utah, on ESPN2, WatchESPN.com and KSL Radio 1160 AM, 102.7 FM and ksl.com.

BYU (6-3) vs. Idaho (2-7)

Game 10 Notes

• BYU (6-3) vs. Idaho (2-7, 1-4 WAC)
• Date: Friday Nov. 12, 2011
• Time: 7:15 p.m. MT
• Site: LaVell Edwards Stadium Provo, Utah
• TV: ESPN2, WatchESPN.com
• Radio: KSL Newsradio 102.7 FM/1160 AM and ksl.com
• Series Record: Idaho leads 2-1
• Last Meeting: 1955 (Idaho 49-6)

Series Snapshot ...
This is the fourth meeting between BYU and Idaho but the first time the two teams have faced off in 46 years. The Vandals hold a 2-1 advantage and beat the Cougars in 1955, the last meeting, by a score of 49-6 in Provo.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR

• This is the first year BYU has played two teams from Idaho in the same season. BYU has not played Idaho since 1955 when the Vandals won 49-6 in the two teams' only matchup of the series in Provo. Idaho leads the series, 2-1 overall.
• Coming off a bye week, BYU is 6-1 in six years under Bronco Mendenhall and has outscored its opponents 141-21 coming off a bye week in the last three years. The Cougars are 10-2 in the last 10 years in games following a bye.
• BYU is 4-0 this season and 27-1 in the last six years when scoring 24 points or more at LaVell Edwards Stadium.
• BYU kick returner Cody Hoffman has 680 yards on 28 returns this season, both marks good for 4th place in the BYU single-season record books. Hoffman needs just 186 yards and 8 returns to claim the top spot in both categories. For his career, the sophomore has 1,060 yards on 42 returns, good for 5th and 6th, respectively, on the BYU all-time list.
• BYU is 0-2 when playing on ESPN2 this season. This is the Cougars' eighth game this year on an ESPN network.

  BRONCO AND BOWLS
  Head coach Bronco Mendenhall has BYU to six wins again for the seventh consecutive year. He is currently one of only three FBS coaches to have his team bowl eligible in his first seven seasons along with Bob Stoops of Oklahoma and Mark Richt of Georgia. During Mendenhall's tenure, BYU is 4-2 with five trips to the Las Vegas Bowl and last year's trip to the New Mexico Bowl and a 52-24 victory over UTEP.

  1,000/1,000 CLUB
  BYU now has two members in its 1,000 career receiving yards and 1,000 career kickoff return yards. Cody Hoffman joins Austin Collie as the only two players to reach the mark. Hoffman now has 1,085 career receiving yards to go along with 1,060 career kickoff return yards. Hoffman caught four passes for 67 yards and returned seven kicks for a career-high 167 yards vs. TCU to cross over the 1,000 mark. Collie is BYU's career receiving yards leader with 3,255 yards and fourth in career kickoff return yards with 1,277 yards.

  ALWAYS IMPROVING
  BYU has been steadily improving throughout the season. After a low point in the season and struggling against Utah, the Cougars have seen a jump in their offensive output. After Utah, BYU was ranked 118th nationally in rushing with 48 yards per game, and now sit at 63rd with 156.33 yards per game. After the UCF game the Cougars had the 111th ranked total offense with 291.3 yards per game. Five games later BYU is ranked 65th at 387.1 yards per game. Scoring has also improved as well, going from 18.2 points per game to 26.9 points per game. With three more regular-season games to go, the Cougars will have plenty of opportunities to improve.

  THIRD DOWNS ... NOW AND THEN
  BYU is currently ranked No. 13 in the nation in third-down conversions, converting 49.61 percent. At the end of September, BYU was 78th in third-down coversions, converting 38.86 percent. In September, the Cougars converted 30 of 77 third downs, while in October BYU converted 33 of 50 third downs, good for the best mark in the nation for the month.

  200/50 GAMES
  Riley Nelson's running and passing skills have revitalized the Cougar offense. In all four starts, Nelson has thrown for at least 200 yards and rushed for at least 50 yards. BYU is 3-1 under Nelson when he reaches the 200/50 mark. All-time leading quarterback-rusher Virgil Carter started the trend during his time, accomplishing the feat three times and earning a 3-0 record in each 200/50 game. Current offensive coordinator and former BYU quarterback Brandon Doman did it four times in his career, earning a 4-0 record under those circumstances. Cougar great Steve Young is the king of 200/50 games, with 11 under his belt. Young amassed a 8-3 record when going 200/50.

  GOING FOR A DRIVE
  BYU's 99-yard touchdown drive vs. Idaho State was the longest of the 2011 season. The long drive ties the longest since a 99-yard drive vs. Utah State in 2006. BYU had a 97-yard scoring drive at Texas. The Cougars' game-winning drive against the Utah State Aggies was 96 yards officially, although the team actually had to go 98 yards. Quarterback Riley Nelson lost two yards on his first rush of the drive, pushing BYU all the way back to inside its own two yard line. BYU is one of 8 teams that have four scoring drives of 90 yards or more.

  HOLDING THEM BACK
  A week after the BYU defense played its best overall game of the season against Idaho State, the Cougars held TCU below their season averages in passing yards, rushing yards and total yards. The Cougars held the TCU passing attack to 157 yards -- 76 yards below their season average of 233 ypg. BYU also prevented the TCU rushing attack from reaching their season average of 217 ypg by limiting them to 136 yards on the ground. The Cougars held the TCU offense, previously averaging 453 ypg, to 283 total yards.

  The performance against TCU was sparked by a dominant performance the week earlier against Idaho State when the Cougars held ISU to 20 rushing yards on 19 attempts. BYU also limited the Bengals to three points, the first time a BYU defense has held an opposing offense to three points or less since defeating Wyoming 52-0 in 2009.

  BEHIND ENEMY LINES
  BYU continued its streak of recording at least 4.0 TFL to five games against TCU. Four different Cougars recorded a TFL against the Horned Frogs and senior Jameson Frazier recorded the only BYU sack of the game. The Cougars spent the majority of the game against the Idaho State in the Bengal backfield while recording a season best 9.0 TFL for a total loss of 44 yards. Kyle Van Noy led BYU with 3.0 TFL in the game. BYU recorded 7.0 TFL for a total loss of 22 yards against Oregon State one week prior to setting the season best mark against ISU. The Cougars recorded 5.0 TFL against the San Jose State and 6.0 against Utah State.

  BREAK IT UP
  BYU defensive back Corby Eason currently has 11 pass breakups in 2011, tied for the second most by a BYU player in a single season since 2000. Eason is on pace to top the post-2000 mark set by cornerback Brian Logan in 2009 of 14 pass breakups. Eason is averaging 1.22 pass breakups per game. Fellow cornerback Preston Hadley is also on pace to top Logan's 14 pass breakups this season. Hadley currently has 10 pass breakups this season and is averaging 1.11 per game. This is the first season since 2000 that the Cougars have had two defensive players with double-digit pass breakups. The Hadley-Eason combination has led the Cougars to 54 pass breakups on the season which currently ranks fifth in the NCAA.

  EVERYTHING UNDER FIFTY
  BYU sophomore kicker Justin Sorensen is 12 of 17 on field goals this season, a 70.6% success rate. Three of his misses have come on kicks beyond 50 yards and he is 12 of 14 on kicks under 50 yards. His 85.7% success rate at kicks under 50 yards is the best mark for a BYU kicker since Jared McLaughlin went 12 of 14 (85.7%) on field goals under 50 yards in 2006. Coach Mendenhall Weekly Press Conference - Idaho

The following is a partial transcript from head coach Bronco Mendenhall's weekly press conference, including comments from linebacker Jadon Wagner, defensive back Corby Eason and offensive lineman Terence Brown.

I believe we had a really productive bye week. We had a great chance to assess a lot of our younger players. We had a great chance to heal and a great chance to do some quality work, ones vs. ones. We did a lot of work in self-scouting, finding what has worked for us offensively, worked for us on special teams and what has worked defensively and really hone in on those things to finish the year with.

On a sad note, Jordan Pendleton suffered an injury in the TCU game, a new injury to his knee that is season ending. He is seeing a specialist today and it has been a tough weekend for him and myself as we are dealing with him having played his last football game at BYU. After working so diligently to fight and come back and help us this season, we will keep him integrated as much as possible in terms of practice and maybe even help coach his position to keep him with us.

We are looking forward to channeling our efforts into our next opponent. We are glad to be at home again for the next two weeks and working now on the home stretch.

When did Jordan Pendleton come out of the TCU game?
I don't think he did come out. That is the amazing thing, we don't know which play it happened on and he doesn't remember a specific hit. The next day it became very sore, not where his previous injury was but was off to the side. After doing some research it is fairly common for this current injury to happen in relation to the other injury and the surgery he had. He can't remember a specific hit and there wasn't a time he came out of the game in relation to that play. It manifested over night and showed up the next day.

As for his future career, does this impact it?
I certainly hope not. There might be questions from NFL scouts because of the timing and the rehab it will take, he might miss some of the training sessions, etc. but he has done enough on film. He is an NFL player.

How do you characterize his BYU career?
I think it shows a lot of determination and was very difficult. From his sophomore year being the highlight of health and production to then a real shift to just grit and determination and recovery. He has been instrumental in helping us play very good defense this year. His day-to-day example, when you hear him walking down the hallway you hear things clicking and popping, etc. He has fluids drained from his knee at least once a week and he keeps showing up to play so he has earned my respect and his teammates respect. He's helped us win a lot of games and I would say it was a success, not ideal with injuries but he has learned a lot along the way.

Fans might say the team won't be challenged in the upcoming home games, where do you challenge this program?
Any team we play is capable of beating us. I believe anywhere in Division I sports and on any given Saturday if you are not ready to play you can get beat. My focus isn't really on opponents nor has it ever been in my philosophical perspective. We can improve as a football team. We have three weeks left to do it in the regular season and I would like to see significant jumps.

With independence and tough November scheduling, do you think this is the kind of schedule you can expect year after year?
I don't. There are already changes that have manifested themselves next year and the year after and after. It is more difficult but it won't be to where there are only teams from a single conference we finish with already in place. There will be more diversity and with the way college football is shifting and changing some of our existing contracts might change too. It is more difficult middle to late in the year but this is our first attempt.

What have you seen from Idaho so far?
Idaho has had a lot of close losses. It was fun to see them pull one out against San Jose State with a nice finish. They have three or four games where they just didn't make enough plays. They are playing hard and physical.

About the landscape of college football, with reports about schools like Boise State and Air Force trying to convince BYU to follow them to the Big East, what is your relationship with them and are any reports true?
My relationship is strong with the head coaches. I really like Chris Petersen and Troy Calhoun and consider them friends. There is a push and there are conversations that are in place for the Big East to convince or to have BYU join that conference. I trust our athletic director and President Samuelson to deal with all of that. I have been informed along the way. At some point there will be a decision with what our intentions will be.

I don't know how fast nor do I think a time frame is relevant at this point. Certainly there are plenty of questions on our part that are in place but with the landscape changing, the main benefit I can see on a short term scale would be inclusion to the BCS system. That is up in two years and whether the Big East can hold that spot with the new teams going in, my guess would be yes. I can't speak as to what we are going to do other than just to verify we have been approached. I wasn't involved in anything else.

Just to clarify, BYU has been approached by the Big East?
Yes. And really I can't speak to the discussions any further than that is what happened. I have been informed but I wasn't there.

Have you made any decisions regarding punters?
We are still having our punters alternate in practice. We kept a nice record through practice last week and will do the same this week. It wasn't just punting it was the snaps as well. The first thing that happens on a punt is a perfect snap. Those have to be more consistent. We are working hard on it and we are addressing it probably more than any other special teams issue right now. There are a lot of good things happening on special teams as well. We have returned a punt for a touchdown, a kickoff for a touchdown and blocked a punt all in the same year.

Justin Sorensen's touchbacks have declined on kickoffs, is there anything going on with him?
Not that I know of. He complains that his leg feels tired. I am not sure if it is overuse, we manage the number of kicks in practice to where it wouldn't be. There is also a mission affect and that is tough to gauge what that is going to be. The easy answer to give would be the mission affect, whether that is the right answer or not I don't know. He is a very good kicker and a skilled kicker but there has been a drop off. Maybe the week off will help.

Linebacker Jadon Wagner
How hard is it to lose Jordan Pendleton for the season?
I just found a couple of days ago. Coach texted me and it's just sad. I feel bad for him and he is a good friend. I feel bad for him personally and for the team, he is one of our leaders on defense and one of our main producers on defense.

What has to happen to fill the void he leaves?
Whether or not we have the players to step up and do the job, we've already seen that last year and the defense continued to play well. There are guys that will step up.

Defensive back Corby Eason
What have you seen form Idaho so far?
They have a pretty good team. They have athletes that can beat you. They have a good quarterback, good running back and good receivers. It is another opponent. We aren't to worried about what they can do but we are worrying about what we can do and how we can improve our team and our defense.

Offensive lineman Terence Brown
What can you tell us about Idaho's defense?
I think they are pretty good up front and they are talented. They play really hard, especially up front with their defensive lineman. I followed their game this weekend and I know they came back to beat San Jose State so they are pretty comparable to them and maybe a little bit better even. We are excited and it will be a good challenge for us.

With a bye week after a loss does that help you going forward?
I was pleased with how we played for the most part against TCU. There were some mistakes made but we are more encouraged than ever I think. We have a chance to play Idaho this week and put the pads on again. We are excited.

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