BYU, Utah finally on TCU radar
Texas Christian may have the best record in the league of delivering against BCS teams and when the Frogs came into the Mountain West and ran through the league with an 8-0 record, they did so without any natural league rivals and thought, “Ho-Hum.”
Even the second year, when the Frogs lost to both BYU and Utah, their fans enjoyed wins over old SWC rivals Baylor and Texas Tech and they did not feel the weight of disappointment to those losses to the Utah schools.
But now, it’s a different story. The Frogs are humbled. And awakened. Two years ago, coach Gary Patterson told TCU fans the MWC was a little different situation, they didn’t know who to hate. TCU doesn’t directly recruit against any MWC schools and usually go after talent Texas and Texas A&M do not want and their rivals for that crop is between Texas Tech and Baylor.
But 0-2 against the Utes and Cougars is getting old to Patterson and his troops.
My view of the league race has BYU and Utah clearly out in front with New Mexico third. TCU is the dark horse. They can decide who wins the league crown with some key victories including the Cougar game in Fort Worth on a Thursday night.
Here are some interesting facts about this dark horse:
TCU is an impressive 10-2 in the last 12 games against BCS automatic qualifiers. This includes 5-1 in the last six games against the Big 12. What this tells you is that TCU gets up for Big 12 games and other contests against the big boys especially their Big 12 neighbors.
Today, TCU is feeling the need to get up against Utah and BYU.
The schedule, however, has been kind to the Utah teams when playing TCU. These games have been on Thursday nights and it kills Patterson’s teams. TCU is 1-5 on Thursday night games since 2005 when they joined the league. The Frogs beat Utah on a Thursday night that first year but are 0-5 since.
Guess what night they play Utah this year. It’ll be the fourth consecutive Utah-TCU Thursday night game. It is the third-straight year the Frogs have played BYU on a Thursday night.
When the Cougars travel to Fort Worth this fall, the Thursday night game will almost assure the Frogs will not have a sellout, something TCU administrators and coaches believe would not be the case at all if it were on a Saturday.
This doesn’t sit well with the Texans.
Can you feel the hatred boiling up from the newcomers? There is a rivalry in the making these days on the TCU side. It hasn’t been there before.
BRONCO DISLIKES SPOILED PLAYERS
A direct question from a UNLV beat writer to Bronco Mendenhall revealed just how the BYU coach felt about the Cougars when he arrived from New Mexico as an assistant coach to Gary Crowton.
AT the MWC football meetings here in Henderson, Mark Anderson, who reports for the Las Vegas Review Journal, asked Mendenhall if more resources for recruiting, facilities or salaries would make a difference in bolstering UNLV’s program.
Mendenhall answered that such an investment is a visible sign of commitment to the players and fans and that is a positive.
“Now, I’ll give you the negative,” said Mendenhall.
Throwing money at football can hinder a program. “It’s the feeling of entitlement and being spoiled and those were things I was concerned about most when I came to BYU as an assistant coach. It was a concern that players were being spoiled and entitled and there is no placed for that in any kind of successful program.
“The visible sign of commitment allows you the resources but I think it can be done with less, but I also do not like the entitlement with the frills and we work hard to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
Mendenhall explained himself: “Entitlement leads to soft bodies, soft minds and soft competitive spirits.”
How does he combat it? “Work like crazy.”
The answer to Anderson’s question reveals why Mendenhall is hesitant to take his team into the indoor practice facility in mildly pesky weather. He avoids pampering the team to avoid “softness.”
After 16 straight MWC wins, he might be on to something.
The BYU coach told Anderson and the rest of the reporters at his interview table BYU’s facilities are great to have and he’d be lying if he didn’t say he liked them. Visitors to his offices might argue about the advantage they present for the Cougars.
But Mendenhall cited a recent survey of all BYU athletes on scholarship. The No. 1 reason they came to BYU is their faith. “The No. 2 reason is their family. The facilities didn’t show up until lower on the list. So, at BYU, they’ll come regardless of the facilities. It’s nice to have them. I’m not sure it’s a deal breaker.”
Mendenhall said he believes a winning football program can be done with less. He admitted he has significant resources to do his job, but that is not the key to success in his mind.
How UNLV applies this Broncoism is anyone’s guess. There’s a ton of stuff around Las Vegas to entice, spoil, sell, buy and recruit football players to this city. Maybe that’s part of why the Rebels finished last in 2007 and are picked to do so again in 2008.
This is the stage of the interview session he explained how his recruiting philosophy at BYU is different than the norm, that he likes the idea of athletes selling themselves to him, rather than coddling to them (see Monday’s blog).