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Between game prep, travel to Seattle and a trip downtown for tonight's Yankees-Mariners game, I haven't had much keyboard time until now... so here are a few random late-night offerings, with kickoff about 12 hours away...
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BYU fans are all over the place--from my flight, to the team hotel, to Safeco Field and back... I can't go 10 feet without running into a BYU logo of one sort or another. Based on anecdotal evidence alone, I would be surprised if the BYU contingent isn't substantial and very vocal at Husky Stadium.
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Spent some time with Matt Berry at Jackson Emery's wedding reception last night (double name-dropping points). The former BYU QB reminded me that when he left for his LDS mission, he was ahead of Brandon Doman on the depth chart. When Berry played his senior season, Doman was his position coach. Interesting but true!
Berry, by the way (from nearby Redmond, Washington) will be at Husky Stadium for the game Saturday. Matt told me of throwing back home during during his BYU off-seasons, and having a 5th grader by the name of Jake Heaps hang out with Berry while he threw. Fast forward, and you can now add Nebraska and Tennessee to the list of high-profile teams (Notre Dame, Washington, Cal, ASU, and of course, BYU) to have offered Heaps--the stellar junior QB from Skyline High in Issaquah.
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The Collie crew congregated in the Hyatt Regency lobby tonight. Austin's brother Zac and folks were up from Northern California for the game. Zac hopes Austin gets in a groove early against the Huskies.
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By the way, Zac played last NFL preseason with the Philadelphia Eagles, where one of his teammates was former UW fullback Zach Tuiasosopo. Zach is the brother of former UW QB Marques, and both are the brothers are Seattle Mariner Matt Tuiasosopo, who tonight made his big league debut against the Yankees--and got a double off of Andy Pettitte for his first major league hit. The Tuiasosopo brothers are the sons of former UCLA and NFL (Seahawks, etc.) LB Manu Tuiasosopo. Uncle Manu's nephew Trenton is currently a backup middle linebacker for the Huskies.
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Speaking of tonight's Yankees-Mariners game, it was a pretty amazing night. Marc Lyons and I attended, joined by Nate Meikle and his lovely wife, Keshia. We saw M's pitcher Brandon Morrow make his first major league start and no-hit the Yanks for 7 2/3 innings. Add that to Tuiasosopo's first big league hit in his own backyard, and it was a special evening at the ol' ballyard.
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Punahou HS LB Manti Te'o's team plays at Qwest Stadium as part of the "Emerald City Kickoff" here in Seattle on Saturday night (versus Central Kitsap HS). The BYU-UW game time will allow a BYU coach or two to check out Te'o in person tomorrow...
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I've been the interview guest of three Seattle radio hosts this week. I was surprised that BYU's 1984 national championship came up as frequently as it did. UW fans really haven't forgotten that the Huskies felt they had a claim to that national crown. Ty Willingham, when asked who should have won the national title in '84, this week replied, "obviously, Washington."
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The Northern Iowa game snapped a streak of 12 straight games with at least one interception by the BYU defense.
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Last season, UW actually outscored its opposition by 30 total points in the first half. In the second half, the Huskies were outscored by 61 points. Last Saturday at Oregon, UW trailed 14-10 at halftime. The Huskies were outscored 30-0 after the break.
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The average score in Bronco Mendenhall's home games is 37-18 in favor of BYU. The average score in his road games is 29-24 in BYU's favor--that's a two touchdown spread from home to road games.
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Since 1972, BYU has won 90% of the games in which it scores at least 24 points. BYU has also won 84% of games when allowing 24 points or fewer.
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