Cougar Corner Blog
Thursday, November 30, 2006
The Answered Prayer
On Saturday I had a tremendous experience, which is unlike any other I have ever had in my life. The experience came during the BYU - Utah football game. This is a football game with tremendous importance to football fans in Utah, and all over the world (during the post game show, listeners emailed in to talk about the game from Utah, North America, South America, Europe and Asia!).
BYU Started out it's usual dominating fashion, moving the ball at will in the first quarter and scoring 14 points while the defense handled the Utes. But then Utah came alive, and fight their rivals they did. They took their game up a notch, playing more physical and intense than they had all season long. They scored 24 unanswered points in the 2nd and 3rd quarters. BYU took the lead back in the 4th quarter by scoring two touchdowns. But with just 1:19 seconds left to play in the game, the Utes scored a touchdown. This put them up by 4 points. BYU's missed extra point from earlier in the game was proving to be costly now. BYU couldn't just hope to get in field goal range to tie it up, they had to go the length of the field and score a touchdown.
John Beck, BYU Senior QB huddled up with his players and told them, 'We're going to get this done. We are going to go down and score.' Beck and the offense may not have doubted, but thousands of fans were anxiously awaiting what the next minute would bring. BYU began it's drive, and behind the master Beck's arm went 64 yards, including converting on 4th down. With 3 seconds left in the game, BYU faced it's last chance from the Utah 11 yard line.
Beck snapped the ball, Utah dropped every defensive player into coverage except for 2, Beck rolled out to his left, visibly directing where his receivers should go with his hands. With 4 or 5 receivers and 9 defenders, it was quite a crowd in the endzone that play. Beck waited, trusting his receivers, while one Ute defender decided to come up to give pressure on an otherwise completely untouched Beck. Beck began to run to his right to avoid the pressure, as he did so, you could see a few pockets of blue surrounded by waves of crimson move to the right side of the endzone. Suddenly, just as the defender was on Beck he launched the ball across his body, back to the left, while running and being pushed to the right. Time slowed and hearts stopped, as the camera angle showed every player in the team to the right, but as the camera angle turned we saw salvation, as big Johnny Harline, completely alone in the left corner of the endzone dropped to his knees to cradle in a ball that while officially only went 11 yards, truly probably traveled 40 across the field and across the body of John Beck to float into Harline's arms for the game winning touchdown.
This was one of the most remarkable come back victories that has ever occurred.
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Digg This!The Answered Prayer
On Saturday I had a tremendous experience, which is unlike any other I have ever had in my life. The experience came during the BYU - Utah football game. This is a football game with tremendous importance to football fans in Utah, and all over the world (during the post game show, listeners emailed in to talk about the game from Utah, North America, South America, Europe and Asia!).
BYU Started out it's usual dominating fashion, moving the ball at will in the first quarter and scoring 14 points while the defense handled the Utes. But then Utah came alive, and fight their rivals they did. They took their game up a notch, playing more physical and intense than they had all season long. They scored 24 unanswered points in the 2nd and 3rd quarters. BYU took the lead back in the 4th quarter by scoring two touchdowns. But with just 1:19 seconds left to play in the game, the Utes scored a touchdown. This put them up by 4 points. BYU's missed extra point from earlier in the game was proving to be costly now. BYU couldn't just hope to get in field goal range to tie it up, they had to go the length of the field and score a touchdown.
John Beck, BYU Senior QB huddled up with his players and told them, 'We're going to get this done. We are going to go down and score.' Beck and the offense may not have doubted, but thousands of fans were anxiously awaiting what the next minute would bring. BYU began it's drive, and behind the master Beck's arm went 64 yards, including converting on 4th down. With 3 seconds left in the game, BYU faced it's last chance from the Utah 11 yard line.
Beck snapped the ball, Utah dropped every defensive player into coverage except for 2, Beck rolled out to his left, visibly directing where his receivers should go with his hands. With 4 or 5 receivers and 9 defenders, it was quite a crowd in the endzone that play. Beck waited, trusting his receivers, while one Ute defender decided to come up to give pressure on an otherwise completely untouched Beck. Beck began to run to his right to avoid the pressure, as he did so, you could see a few pockets of blue surrounded by waves of crimson move to the right side of the endzone. Suddenly, just as the defender was on Beck he launched the ball across his body, back to the left, while running and being pushed to the right. Time slowed and hearts stopped, as the camera angle showed every player in the team to the right, but as the camera angle turned we saw salvation, as big Johnny Harline, completely alone in the left corner of the endzone dropped to his knees to cradle in a ball that while officially only went 11 yards, truly probably traveled 40 across the field and across the body of John Beck to float into Harline's arms for the game winning touchdown.
This was one of the most remarkable come back victories that has ever occurred.
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Cougars to Play Oregon in Las Vegas Bowl
BYU, which accepted it's Las Vegas Bowl invitation Nov. 18th, after defeating New Mexico (pictured above), now knows whom it will be playing Dec. 21st in Vegas. None other than ex-head coach, Gary Crowton, and his Oregon Ducks.
Oregon who has ranked as high as #11 this year have finished their season at 7 - 5. Oregon currently holds a 3 - 2 all time advantage over the Cougars. 
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
BYUCougars.com - Mendenhall Named National Coach of the Year Finalist
BYUCougars.com - BYU Football Press Release
Mendenhall Named National Coach of the Year FinalistIn his second season as the head football coach at Brigham Young University, Bronco Mendenhall has been selected as one of nine finalists for the prestigious Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award by the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA).
After leading No. 20 BYU to a second-place finish in the Mountain West Conference during his first season at the helm, Mendenhall (40) led the Cougars to their first Conference Championship since the 2001 season with a perfect 8-0 record in 2006. Under Mendenhall, BYU finished the regular season with a 10-2 record, including a streak of nine straight victories to end the regular season. The Cougars' current win streak is the third longest in the country behind Boise State and Ohio State.
Definitely a worthy candidate for CotY.
BYUCougars.com - Beck Named National Player of the Week
BYUCougars.com - BYU Football Press Release: "Beck Named National Player of the Week"
After his gutsy performance against Utah, John Beck has been named the Walter Camp Football Foundation National Offensive Player of the Week."He came in the huddle and said, 'We're going to get this done. We are going to go down and score.' He was just cool, calm and collected. John Beck was a man in there."
After driving 64 yards in nine plays, the Cougars faced a first-and-10 from the Utah 11-yard line with just four seconds remaining. On the final play of the game, Beck took the snap and started to drift to his left, directing traffic. With only a three-man rush, Beck was eventually flushed to the right when senior tight end and Mackey Award candidate Jonny Harline broke free on the left side of the endzone. Running to his right, from the right-side hash mark, Beck flung the ball all the way back across the field to Harline who was wide open in the left side of the endzone. The last-second play capped a 10-play, 75-yard drive that took up the final 1:19 in the game and gave the Cougars their first victory over Utah since 2001.
The play, which took over 12 seconds to complete, was selected as the ESPN SportsCenter top play of the day.
Saturday, November 25, 2006
NCAA Football - Brigham Young Cougars/Utah Utes Recap Saturday November 25, 2006 - Yahoo! Sports
NCAA Football - Brigham Young Cougars/Utah Utes Recap Saturday November 25, 2006 - Yahoo! Sports
BYU beats Utah 33 to 31 on a last second score, touch down pass from John Beck to Johnny Harline.
BYU WINS!!!!
BYU WINS!!!!
BYU WINS!!!!
BYU WINS!!!!
BYU WINS!!!!
BYU WINS!!!!
BYU WINS!!!!
BYU WINS!!!!
BYU WINS!!!!
BYU WINS!!!!
BYU WINS!!!!
BYU WINS!!!!
BYU WINS!!!!
Saturday, November 18, 2006
Las Vegas Bowl
Las Vegas Bowl
With the BYU Cougars victory over the New Mexico Lobos the Cougars became MWC Champions. And with that victory the Las Vegas bowl was chomping at the bit to invite the Cougars to the bowl game.
After Craig Thompson (who was soundly and rightfully booed) presented the Cougars with the MWC Trophy the representatives from the Las Vegas Bowl invited the champs to the Las Vegas Bowl.
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Ifo Pili followup
As I posted previously, Ifo Pili had applied to fill the spot of Interim Mayor of Eagle Mountain, Ut. The City Council met the other night and have decided on a candidate, even though according to web polls taken of city residents Pili was the overwhelming choice, the Council made the choice for Don Richardson, a 46-year-old commercial loan officer for Central Bank.
Richardson and Pili do have degrees from BYU in common.
Monday, November 13, 2006
Ifo Pili trying out for Mayor
Ifo Pili, defensive line player for the BYU Cougars from 1998, 2000 - 2003 has retired from a career in the NFL. Instead, he's setting his sights on the Mayorship of Eagle Mountain, Ut.
Pili, who has been working for Eagle Mountain City for the last several months has thrown his hat in the ring to be the next Mayor after the previous Mayor, Brian Olsen resigned amid allegations of misuse of public funds.
You can view his application here (PDF Format).
BYU Ranked in Every Major Poll
AP Poll: BYU 23
http://www.sportsline.com/collegefootball/polls/ap
Coaches Poll: BYU 24
http://www.sportsline.com/collegefootball/polls/coaches
Sagarin Poll: BYU 21
Sagarin's Predictor Rating: BYU 8
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/sagarin/fbc06.htm
CBS Sportsline 119: BYU 20
http://www.sportsline.com/collegefootball/polls/119
Harris Poll: BYU 24
http://www.sportsline.com/collegefootball/polls/full/harris
BCS Poll: BYU 25
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/...polls/2006/bcs/
Friday, November 10, 2006
Pictures from the Game
It's always nice to start out with a little Cosmo, working the tailgating party prior to the game.
Looks like the scouts are out to look at a couple senior Cougars. I watched him pretty closely, and it looked as if his main focus was on John Beck, Harline and Curtis Brown.
Here he is watching Beck.
Scoreboard speaks louder than words.
Congratulations BYU Cougars on a completely dominating performance!! 55 - 7
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Bring your coat
BYU takes on Wyoming tonight at 6pm at LaVell Edwards Stadium. It should be a great matchup between #1 and #2 in the MWC championship race. It should also be an excellent night for football. Make sure you bring your coat. Temperatures should be in the upper 30s with a small chance of rain.
BYU 30
Wyoming 12
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Answers about the MTN
Someone's finally done it, setup a "Fire Craig Thompson" website.
Craig Thompson has been running the MWC for the last several years. He's had some problems along the way, including his inability to contract with quality bowls and of course the MTN debacle.
It's a real tough situation, because our deal with CSTV seemed like such a great deal. A channel, available nationally, that would carry BYU and MWC games. Not only that, we'd be making double what our last contract with ESPN got. Most people were pretty enthusiastic, even after a terrible production at the Stanford game for CSTV's maiden launch.
Then word leaked out about CSTV spinning the MWC off onto a newly created subchannel, the MTN, and selling half it's interest to Comcast. Now, this great national channel, CSTV plays exciting high school games and Jr. High flag football extravaganza while MWC games are held hostage on the MTN.
Whats wrong with the MTN? We're still getting a lot more money, and ESPN was trying to lowball the MWC with a weak offer that included slashed money and the requirement of playing on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. All that is true, ESPN was trying to pull a fast one over on the MWC because they were the only game in town. But the problem with the MTN is that it's not available. Comcast has the channel, in a few of their markets (Utah) but not nationally. Not even regionally. If Comcast doesn't even have enough faith to put their own channel on their systems nationwide why would any other cable or satellite provider? They haven't, and they wont. Not anytime soon.
So half the people in Utah can watch the games, but no one else. This will hurt recruiting, game attendance, # of fans, and more. BYU, as leader of the conference, needs to make something happen. If we can, then we will all benefit from a very unique product. But until that time the MTN goes on in obscurity.
Monday, November 06, 2006
Cougars Storm AP top 25
The Cougars have entered the AP Top 25 Poll for the first time since the 2001 season with their win over CSU on Saturday. The Cougars who dominated the Rams 24 to 3 broke into the AP poll at #25.
"We appreciate the recognition of being considered a top-25 football program," BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall said. "When you look back at the great tradition of BYU football, being ranked on a weekly basis is very much a part of that tradition. As we continue to improve and make progress, we expect this type of recognition for our program to continue. I'm very pleased with the direction this program is heading; however, we have a very important game this week. Our focus this week, as it is each week, will be on playing our next opponent."
Read More:
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,650204715,00.html
http://www.byucougars.com/Filing.jsp?ID=8370
http://kutv.com/sports/local_story_310094559.html
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=294&sid=620542
Cameron Jensen honored as MWC Defensive Player of the Week
Cameron Jensen, LB for BYU has been named the MWC defensive player of the week coming off of a dominating performance where the Cougar Defense held the CSU Rams to only 3 points.
From the BYUCougars.com website: PROVO, Utah (Nov. 6, 2006) -- After leading BYU to a 24-3 victory over Colorado State on Saturday, BYU senior linebacker Cameron Jensen has been named the Mountain West Conference Defensive Player of the Week.
Jensen led the Cougars with nine tackles, including seven solo takedowns. He was also credited with two sacks for a combined loss of 15 yards.
Jensen sacked Caleb Hanie for a 10-yard loss, forcing CSU to punt from its own seven. His second sack of the night was a five-yard takedown on second-and-10 at the Colorado State 35 yard line.
The Jensen-led defense held the Rams to just 151 yards of total offense, including just 26 yards rushing.
Jensen leads the Cougars with 72 tackles on the season, including 39 solo takedowns. He has been credited with 4.5 tackles for a combined loss of 18 yards and two interceptions. The 6-foot-2, 247-pound senior has also totaled two pass break-ups and three fumble recoveries on the season.
Through nine games, Jensen and the BYU defense rank 11th nationally, allowing just 14.2 points per game.
Saturday, November 04, 2006
BYU rolls over CSU
Despite the team suffering a little from the flu, the Cougars still rolled over the CSU Rams. Beck who looked a little off today, making only 73% of his pass attempts, and ending without a touchdown for the first time in 15 games. The Cougars did get into the endzone 3 times all on the ground.
The defense completely dominated the Rams offense. Allowing only 3 points on an extremely short field. Other than that, the Rams couldn't get anything going, not converting a 3rd down play until well after the game was ultimately decided.
The Cougars play Wyoming on thursday, if they can pull off the win at home against the Pokes, the Cougars will have clinched a portion of the conference championship.
Notes for the game.
Beck is now less than 50 yards away from passing McMahon as the 2nd most prolific passer in BYU history.
BYU guaranteed a winning season this year for the first time since the 2001 season.
Friday, November 03, 2006
Unitas Golden Arm Award Finalist, John Beck
John Beck, standout quarterback for BYU has been named as one of 5 finalists for the 2006 Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award. The award will be presented to the nation's top senior college quarterback by the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Educational Foundation. Beck is joined by Houston's Kevin Kolb, Notre Dame's Brady Quinn, Ohio State's Troy Smith and Michigan State's Drew Stanton as finalists for the award. All of which were selected by a committee of football experts from across the United States.
According to BYUCougars.com:In his final season at BYU, Beck has led the Cougars to a 6-2 record through eight games, including a perfect 4-0 mark in league play. Sitting atop the Mountain West Conference with a two-game lead in the standings, Beck is the league's all-time touchdown completions leader with 67, including a league-high 20 TD completions this season. He also leads the MWC in passing with 2,068 yards and ranks fourth nationally with a 295.43 yards-per-game average -- the highest per-game average of any senior quarterback in the country. He is also the nation's most accurate senior quarterback, connecting on 70.87 percent of his attempts.
Beck, who will graduate in December with a degree in communications., has been named the Mountain West Conference Offensive Player of the Week four different times this season, including after last week's 33-14 win at Air Force. Beck completed 23-of-31 attempts for 258 yards and three touchdowns against the Falcons. He posted a completion percentage of 74 percent en route to his fifth three-touchdown performance of the season, including his fourth straight game with three or more touchdown completions. The Beck-led offense engineered points in six of the seven drives he played on the day, including a 14-play, 81-yard drive to mark the fourth straight game BYU has scored on its opening drive.
"He's the best I've ever played against--and that goes against Cal's old quarterback (Aaron Rogers) and (former Utah quarterback) Alex Smith," Air Force safety Bobby Giannini said. "He looks you off, he knows defenses and he's just an excellent quarterback."
Following the Cougars' 52-7 victory over UNLV on October 21, Beck was named the Cingular All-America Player of the Week. He connected on 18-of-23 attempts for 250 yards and four touchdown passes in just three quarters of play. A week earlier, Beck completed 16-of-21 attempts for 267 yards and a season-high four touchdowns in under three quarters of play in BYU's 47-17 win over San Diego State. He finished the game with a career-high efficiency rating of 245.9, marking the highest rating by a BYU quarterback since Steve Sarkisian posted a 260.8 rating against Rice in 1996.
San Diego State head coach Chuck Long said his secondary was tested against the Beck-led offense.
"We were facing a great quarterback and an excellent offense," Long said after BYU's 30-point win. We had a lot of you secondary in there. What a baptism that is--playing against one of the best QB's in the country."
On October 2, Beck was named the Mountain West's top offensive player after guiding the Cougars to a dominating, 31-17, victory over 15th-ranked TCU in Fort Worth to end the Horned Frogs' nation's leading 13-game win streak. Beck completed 23-of-37 attempts for 312 yards and three touchdowns. The win marked BYU's first on the road over a ranked opponent since the 1997 season. After leading BYU to a 10-3 lead in the first half, Beck came back to rack up 205 second-half yards on 11-of-18 attempts to outdistance TCU.
"You just don't know how perfect that quarterback was," TCU head coach Gary Patterson said at the time. "I said before the ballgame he was the best quarterback we'd faced since last year when we faced him, and it's still true. The guy's a good player."