Bronco not going overboard with game plan for TCU

Bronco Mendenhall will not over bake a game plan for this short week heading into a Thursday night game with the nation’s top defense, TCU in Forth Worth, Texas.

He’s learned from experience that coaches can try to do too much, add excessive twists and adjustments and simply bog down a team when it only has essentially two full practices before a Thursday night game.

The Cougars will practice today, Monday, like it is a Tuesday practice. They will get in another practice on Tuesday and then could do some work before boarding a charter flight to Dallas on Wednesday. But that’s it.

The key to attacking TCU’s outstanding speed and athleticism by a less athletic or quick team in BYU is simple, said Mendenhall. It comes down to execution at a level that matches TCU’s talent and recovery ability.

Mendenhall spoke to reporters this morning in his weekly press conference and was asked if he was an opposing coach and looked at the BYU defense, what would his first and initial impressions be.

Mendenhall said, “That they are average and I wonder how they are doing what they are doing.”

BYU’s defense currently ranks No. 2 behind USC in scoring defense – the most telling statistic that Mendenhall cares about. The Cougars are allowing just 10.2 points a game. The Trojans are allowing just 9.4 points a game. This week the Cougars will face a TCU offense that scored just 13 points at Colorado State.

That 10.2 figure is on track to be the best in school history.

Mendenhall said TCU struggled on that road game to Fort Collins because the Frogs fumbled five times and had a lot of penalties that killed drives.

In other notes from the press conference, Mendenhall said linebacker Terrance Hooks saw a series of plays in he New Mexico game and “knocked off some rust.” He said Grant Nelson, the other linebacker, is not as far along in conditioning as Hooks and will take a little longer to get into game shape. Receiver Spencer Hafoka (foot), is close to taking the field and could be ready by Thursday.

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If you break down the offenses BYU has faced so far this season, you can understand why the defense ranks No. 2 nationally in stopping scores. UCLA is 92nd, UNM is 95th, USU is 98th, Washington ranks 104th and Wyoming is 119th in scoring offense. That averages out to be 102nd out of 119 in the NCAA. Northern Iowa is 54th for 1-AA in scoring offense.

Conversely, if you look at USC’s opponents rank an average of 60th in scoring defense. They include Virginia at 111th, Ohio State 70th, Oregon State 23rd, Oregon 10th and ASU 96th. In weeks to come, the Trojans will face UCLA (92nd), Washington State at 116th and Washington at 104th.

Interesting to note, Norm Chow’s name has popped up on some fan Internet sites as a hire by Tennessee and Auburn to fix their stinky offenses.