Bronco Mendenhall and his epiphany
Bronco Mendenhall has stirred things up. Some of it is public, like the firing of defensive coordinator Jaime Hill. Others, I believe, are behind closed doors and in closed practices where reports Wednesday from players indicated there is a heightened sense of urgency in the program after the 1-4 start, the worst since 1973.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out on Saturday when the Cougars host a very good San Diego State football team with another very experienced quarterback with talent.
Will the defense play better? Will players perform like they are more committed or confidence? Will the offense find a rhythm and a pace and actually appear like a threat. Together, will look more like BYU football, or is this team destined to struggle for a few more weeks?
It’s tough to tell. You can do so much with changing the attitude and work habits. You still have the same talent, which at last count, is pretty banged up.
I do think Mendenhall had an epiphany over the weekend. I believe it started at Utah State about half time of that game.
I had an interesting reminder from a reader, Spencer Lake, about a quote from Boise State coach Chris Peterson and his epiphany. BYU fans have to hope in the epiphany department, Bronco’s was similar to Peterson’s.
I think Bronco’s been a little too trusting of his coordinators this season. Issues that were there when the Cougars were winning, were overlooked and passed on. In this season with a lot of young talent, a lack of onfield leadership and key players gone like Max Hall, Dennis Pitta and Harvey Unga, it took 1-4 for Bronco to make some real changes and interject himself back into the team.
Here is the Peterson quote:
“After meeting a few times, I had an epiphany. Bam! I started realizing game-plan wise, there wasn’t enough creativity. I started looking at things a different way. We need structure, we need order, we need schedules and we need our system taught a certain way. But within that there needs to be a creativity to keep growing, to keep the energy and the enthusiasm. What new wrinkles do we need to make us better? I think that’s one of the reasons we’re not afraid to take chances and do different things. We have to do that to be who we are.”
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