BYU football: Cougars have new mindset for season

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Henderson, Nev. » More than one person asked Max Hall about winning the Heisman Trophy, coach Bronco Mendenhall explained his Quest for Perfection mantra about 100 times, and the talk at the Mountain West Conference football news-media gathering wasn't so much about BYU's conference standing as it was about its national rankings.

"I answered a lot of questions about us busting the BCS," Mendenhall recalled, not so fondly.

Fast forward a year to Tuesday and Wednesday at the same MWC meetings. Hall wasn't even here, the rival Utah Utes got the most questions about breaking into the Bowl Championship Series and the Cougars were not even picked to win the league, despite having arguably the most favorable conference schedule of the probable contenders.

Sure, Hall was the preseason pick to win the conference's offensive player of the year honors again, but TCU had more all-MWC preseason picks (seven to five) and Utah coach Kyle Whittingham got as much attention from the handful of national media members in attendance as Mendenhall did, maybe more. Mendenhall even said Tuesday that the Cougars need to "re-establish our credibility on a national level."

Different year, different mindset for BYU, acknowledged tight end Dennis Pitta, who used the word "humbled" several times to describe the difference.

"Obviously, it was apparent to everyone that nationally we were being very highly touted," Pitta said. "I don't know how much going into last season we let that affect us, but throughout the middle of the season, we kind of let that affect us and we thought we were better than we were. And we got away from the things that made us good."

Added safety Andrew Rich, when asked if it is a relief to face diminished expectations from outsiders: "It was a humbling experience last year when we failed to meet our goals. It is definitely a little relieving not to have the bull's-eye on our backs, about the BCS thing. ... It is nice not to have to go through that."

The questions facing the Cougars as the two-day gabfest wrapped up Wednesday are these: Will the drop in preseason hype and hoopla make a difference? Did they learn enough from last year to stay strong this year, even with the prospects of starting the season with a loss to powerful Oklahoma looming on the horizon?

Mendenhall acknowledges that he learned from the experience, saying "I would have put a bigger bubble around us."

By that, the coach meant that the Cougs got caught up in the national spotlight a little too much, himself included. Agreeing to appear on the nationally syndicated Jim Rome Show after that 59-0 shellacking of UCLA was unlike Mendenhall, he agreed.

"The expectations last year were not so much from the local market, or even from within the conference," he said, reiterating that his own expectation-inducing Quest for Perfection slogan was misinterpreted. "The national expectation is what I underestimated -- the time I was taking, and the time our players were taking, to deal with that was quite a bit.

" I learned quite a bit and grew as a coach," he continued. "I could have been more skillful as a leader and a coach if I had just focused on the games and what we needed to do to prepare, rather than acknowledging all those other things."

Why, then, did the Cougars agree to a matchup with an Oklahoma team sure to be ranked in the top five in the country? The Sept. 5 game at the new Dallas Cowboys stadium will be televised by ESPN and will surely put the program into the spotlight again.

"That matchup was set, and I think our team deserves a chance to play in it," Mendenhall said. "I like the idea that the game was earned, and we were selected based on what we have done. ... I don't think one game defines a season, nor will it change expectations."

For better, or worse.

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