Something Missing in BYU Football

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BY: ROBBY HUCKVALE

Columnist

Every year it is the same story. The football season ends around Christmas time. Then it’s on to Recruiting and Signing day. After glancing over our new recruits, fans like myself begin to rave about the future prospects of BYU and how they are going to change BYU football and lead us to “NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS”. Then it’s on to Spring Football where we read A++ reviews of how amazing our team is as they square off against each other in the Blue/White game. Then the long anticipated summer ticks by until August when Fall Camp begins.

Here at Fall Camp, I and other BYU fans read the articles, recaps, reviews, and listen to Press Conferences, post-practice interviews, etc. Every year they are the same. It is the same story. Our players and coaches and critics talk about how GOOD of a football team BYU has and how we are going to win the conference, achieve a “Quest for Perfection” and most recently: “win a National Championship”. Now don’t get me wrong, I am thrilled to hear that kind of confidence. I could only dream of the bliss and satisfaction of going undefeated, winning a National Championship, and being on top of the College Football world. But is it realistic? My answer to that question… is YES!

Is everyone surprised? Did readers assume that I was going to write a long column venting my frustration at BYU’s recent football struggles? What am I talking about here? I truly believe that BYU is capable of going undefeated and winning National Championships. But there is something missing. It is crucial. There is one key element that every team needs in order to win Championships. It is something that I feel BYU simply does not have.

Mentality.

It is very easy to sit at a press conference and speak into a microphone and tell the world that you are going to go undefeated and win a National Championship. There is no one that can tell you otherwise. However, the principle of “Walking the Walk” rather than “Talking the Talk” has bitten BYU in recent years. 2008 was a prime example. BYU was on a “Quest for Perfection”. The Cougars began the season 4-0 with wins over Northern Iowa, Washington, UCLA (59-0) and Wyoming (44-0). Max Hall was on the Heisman Watch on ESPN. Jim Rome was interviewing Bronco Mendenhall on his Radio Talk Show. The entire Nation had their eye on BYU. I remember following the Wyoming shutout, ESPN interviewed Max Hall and asked the question, “Max, at season’s end, BYU will be ______?” Max then confidently stated, “Undefeated, conference champions and playing in a BCS bowl game.” I like that. I liked that confidence.

We all know Max was a fiery competitor that spoke his mind. But the next game against a weak Utah State team proved to be the season changing experience for the Cougars. BYU led 24-0 after the first quarter before getting shut out for the 2nd and 3rd quarters and getting outscored in the 4th 14-10 to end the game with a 34-14 “head-scratching” victory. It seemed that BYU’s overconfidence got the best of them, and they struggled the rest of the season against mediocre MWC opponents and would eventually get trounced by TCU (32-7) and Utah (48-24), culminating in an embarrassing loss to a less-than-impressive Arizona team (31-21) in the Las Vegas Bowl.

The next season proved to be similar. In 2009, BYU opened the year by upsetting #3 ranked Oklahoma in Dallas Cowboy Stadium in Arlington, TX. Following the upset, BYU dominated Tulane 54-3. At that point, they were ranked #7 in the country, and came home 2-0 to face a Florida State team that barely beat Jacksonville State the week before. BYU lost that game by 4 touchdowns. They would go on to lose to TCU by 31 points a few weeks later and finish the season 11-2, no conference title, and no BCS bowl game.

Confidence vs. Overconfidence

I understand this is a sensitive subject for many fans. I understand the importance of having confidence. But I firmly believe there is a difference between being “confident” and being “overconfident”. Lets look at some BYU teams of the past as a prime example.

In the late 1970’s early 1980’s, the BYU football team had confidence. They didn’t brag about it. They weren’t flashy. They were a solid program that KNEW they were going to win every Saturday. It didn’t matter who they played or where they played the game. Whether it was playing a top ten ranked Texas A&M team on the road, or #3 Pitt on the road, UCLA in the Rose Bowl, Boston College in the Kickoff Classic, etc. BYU showed up and played to win and knew they were going to win. They had a MENTALITY where they knew they were better than the other team. They would go after teams and attack defenses.

Players for the 1984 team that went on to win the school’s only National Championship shared experiences of how they came together in private and became aware of how good they were. They made a commitment and a decision right there that they were going to go undefeated and win a National Title. They didn’t hold a press conference. They didn’t brag about it to reporters or the media. They simply went out and “walked the walk”. That is the right mentality.

A “Killers Instinct”

Some people that follow me on Twitter often see me talk about a “Killer’s Instinct”. That is a phrase that I learned from my high school soccer coach Roland Minder. In the past 13 seasons as the head coach for Camas High School in Camas, WA, Coach Minder has led the boy’s soccer program to 5 State Championship appearances winning 3 of them, has won 12 league championships, 8 District Championships, and a win/loss record of 255 wins, 21 losses, and 18 ties (.867 winning percentage).

What I can remember about why this high school soccer program was so dominant is because of the way that Coach Minder mentally prepared us before each game. He was a mastermind at getting us to mentally accept that we were going to win the game, that we were a better team, and to show no mercy. He taught us to “Respect Everyone, Fear No One”.

The program motto is “Attack at All Costs”. He explained that if we wanted to be champions, we must develop a “Killer’s Instinct”, meaning that if we sat back and played conservative, we are showing weakness. We must always attack and force our opponents to defend us. What does this method remind us of? To me, it makes me think of the 1980’s BYU football teams.

Under the direction of Doug Scovill, that is EXACTLY how BYU played. He would even call a timeout late in the game against Utah in 1977 to break passing records. That is how confident they were as a football program! They showed up every Saturday and ATTACKED defenses, because they KNEW they could do it.

In the movie “Miracle” documenting the 1980 USA Olympic Hockey team that upset the USSR, head coach Herb Brooks sat his team down and told them there was only one way to defeat the dominant Soviets. He emotionally expressed that you can’t just sit back and defend them, but you must ATTACK them! You take their game and shove it right back in their face! I am thoroughly convinced that is the only way to win Championships. While it is true that Defense wins championships, I feel without a confident, consistent, aggressive, and relentless offense, you will fail almost 100% of the time.

My Frustration.

I hope that I do not sound like a “bad fan” or a “pessimist”. Trust me, I love BYU football more than life. I look forward to every season, watch every game, and study the history. It is truly the highlight of my life. But frankly my friends, I am tired. I am tired of being hurt. I am done and finished with these broken dreams that I face year in and year out. I am tired of wasted talent and potential. Here is my frustration: I truly feel and can say with confidence that I believe that BYU Football is indeed capable of winning a National Championship.

Above all, the thing that frustrates me the most, is I feel we could have won it THIS YEAR. I firmly believe in the mission of Bronco Mendenhall and the structure that he has restored here at BYU. I believe in our coaches. I believe we have the players and the discipline to be a dominant football program. We have the prestige, the history, an incredible fan base, state-of-the-art facilities, media relationships, and the athletes that I believe could blow Boise State, TCU, and Utah out of the water. So why is BYU consistently falling short? Why can’t we achieve our full potential—something that Coach Mendenhall says is his greatest satisfaction? I believe that the missing element in BYU football is the MENTALITY of our players and the program.

For some reason, our players are just incapable of going into big time games on a prime time stage, and mentally preparing themselves to come away with a sound, confident victory. I don’t understand it. I am tired. I feel like I speak for all BYU fans when I say it.

Utah.

At a very unusual time of year, BYU prepares to face Utah this weekend. As much as I hate to admit, Utah consistently has an advantage over BYU mentally. The coaches at Utah are very skilled in mentally preparing their players to have the confidence to win big games and to beat BYU. Why is it that Utah turns into a “Super Human” team every time they play BYU? Why doesn’t BYU have the confidence and the “Killers Instinct” to go in and soundly defeat Utah? Why is it been over 15 years since BYU defeated the Utes by more than a touchdown? Why do we always blow leads and turn the ball over late in the game against Utah? What is it about the color red that BYU is afraid of? Does BYU get enough sleep the night before the game? Does Utah poison our water? Help me understand!

My friends and family who were with me last year during the BYU/Utah game will clearly remember me saying, “BYU will lose this game”, as we were entering the 4th quarter up 13-0. Why? Because I just had that sick feeling in my stomach and never lost the realization that we were playing in a hostile, loud, swearing, scary, pirate-flaggy, red stadium against a lucky, red, stingy team that had that “Killer’s Instinct”, meaning they would go for our throats and would not die easy. I also saw our play calling and execution begin to turn lethargic and conservative. I knew that if we did not score one more touchdown, we would find a way to let this game slip away from us. Why was I thinking like this? Where was the faith? I guess my only reasoning was based on recent statistical history of this rivalry.