PROVO -- BYU head football coach Bronco Mendenhall discussed his expectations for this Saturday's game against Eastern Illinois at the weekly media luncheon Wednesday at Legends Grille.
Opening Comments:
"I'd like to begin by saying I'm disappointed in the loss to Boston College. It served as a point of reference for our football team, maybe the most valuable in terms of the improvement of our coaching staff and football team. Ultimately, the first game does a lot of those things. Again, I want to make sure it's clear that I'm disappointed in the loss, and I'm determined for our football team and my leadership to be better."
"We're looking forward to our game against Eastern Illinois. I've been asked multiple times about Eastern Illinois in relation to playing somebody such as USC and the perception of a I-AA team. It's our next opponent, and we have a lot of work to do as a football team. It's an opportunity to continue the next step of our team's development. I look forward to that, and I think our team is determined and working as hard, or more so, than any other football team I've coached in my career. I like our team and I like the direction we're going, and I'm anxious to play again on Saturday. With those comments, what questions might I be able to answer for you?"
Q: What specifically are you looking for offensively against Eastern Illinois?
BM: "Two things. The first is blue-zone scoring. I'm convinced, and I think we demonstrated, that we can move the ball from 20 to 20 (yard lines), deliver the short pass effectively, have yards after the catch and distribute the ball equally among our offensive players. But ultimately, when it counts most is when you have a chance to put it in the endzone. I'd like to see that because points will reflect our offensive production."
"I think the blue-zone scoring and points will be measured one against the other, and that will be a measure that will be in place. The second is short yardage. When it comes down to third-and-four or third-and-three or third-and-five, or even a fourth-and-three or fourth-and-four or fourth-and-five, I'd like to see us convert at a high level in those instances. I would say both those are areas in which we measured short in our opener."
Q: You dealt with a lot of injuries in fall camp. How did you come out of the Boston College game regarding injuries?
BM: "As well as possible. To further that point, the way we practice is very physical and we have some players who got dinged up in practice. You can question if that's smart or wise to demand. But we're a team that's growing and learning, and now I need to effectively balance the amount of work our team needs for games that are coming up. In coming out of the game, Nate Soelberg had a wrist injury, but other than that we came out as well as we possibly could. We didn't lose anyone, but there are the normal bumps and bruises."
"The key decisions I have to make now are in setting our daily practice structure, how we ultimately achieve the growth we need in every area of our team, and how we put a healthy and fresh team on the field of play on Saturday. Those are decisions that I'm putting a lot of time and energy into right now because these players will do what they're asked to do. If I ask them to practice at a high demand, they will. But the reality is deciding how many of those practices can we have before we play, so I'm having to rethink a little bit of our in-season practice format in terms of maintaining health, especially at a few key positions."
Q: How close is Kayle Buchanan to coming back?
BM: "I don't know. He has a hamstring injury. I think he's about where he was before when he played in a scrimmage in fall camp, and he hurt it then. I think he's about where he was when we brought him back to practice, and within five minutes at full-speed he was hurt again. So I think he's in that range. But ultimately, you can't play unless you practice. Justin Robinson played last week with about four or five practice opportunities because of injury. I'm not sure Kayle will have even that opportunity. As we speak today, I'm not sure whether he'll play or not play."
Q: Will you expect any shake-ups in the return teams this week?
BM: "There are personnel changes, I think, on every special team, either front wall or certain key positions. As is the case in every offensive and defensive position, competitive will and competitive performance need to be at the highest level. We're not going to give up on anyone, but certaintly the statement of, 'you can do better or someone else can do better,' will be made at every position. The one instance I can tell you is on kickoff return, there were a number or poor decisions made. There was also a lack of communication and some execution problems. On our punt-coverage team there were also a few critical mistakes. First of all, it's the coaches' job to get them lined up and taught correctly. Second, it's the players' job to execute. If those two things are amiss or are not in alignment, it's my job to be accountable to the team to make changes, so we've done that on both those teams."
Q: How do you game plan against a team like Eastern Illinois as opposed to Boston College?
BM: "The game plan is predicated on what they do. As I mentioned after the game, our first responsibility is to improve what we do. We have a tremendous amount of room for improvement, execution-wise, in every phase of our team, so that's where it starts. Once I've felt that we have addressed those things and they've set into our players, then we move on to our next opponent and relating how our schemes will match up against their schemes, regardless of what level they are and regardless of their record."
"I think a very clear message has been sent in terms of accountability and attention to detail. It's not so much about Eastern Illinois as it is our schemes against their schemes. It's all about self-improvement and self-diagnosis and how to achieve that result more efficiently."
Q: Is it a worthwhile point to make to your team that one game does not make a season? The last three seasons had a positive start, but they didn't end so positively.
BM: "I don't think there's anyone who is even considering that one game makes a season. All we saw that as was a disappointing result. We felt confident to compete and win. I didn't say that before, but that was the intention, to compete and win that game. Does that mean that this season we won't be able to achieve our goals? It's not even close to that, and I haven't sensed any of that from our players, nor do I think you'll see that throughout this year."
Q: After that fourth-down play when John Beck was one yard short, did you go back to determine how you could have handled it better, not necessarily if it was a right or wrong call?
BM: "In that instance I felt very good. I got some input from a coach on the field who said that there was no question that we got it, but a coach in the booth said there was no way we got it, and another coach substantiated it. In the replay I saw, we were right in not contesting it. His knee was down, he was short, and the officials got the call right."
Q: How important is a quarterback's ability to make a big play when you need it?
BM: "That defines the difference between winning and losing. There were four to five plays in that game, as there are in any close game, that determine the outcome, and that (Beck's failed fourth-down conversion) would have been a critical play. It really was a tone-setter. Boston College hadn't had much success slowing us down, and that would have been just one more key play where they didn't stop us. With that you chip away at a team's resolve."
Q: After a few days of practice after the Boston College game, are you confident that penalties won't be a major deterrent in the flow of the offense?
BM: "There were penalties on both sides. I'm not confident at this point, but it's a work in progress. There is emphasis being made daily when it's not done correctly. Will it be perfect on Saturday? Probably not. But will it be better? I intend it to be. I don't think it's something that's correctable in five days, other than making a renewed emphasis, which should take it down. Ultimately, it will be as I want it, but it's a work in progress."
Q: Eastern Illinois is clearly undersized. What are keys for your team to make this confidence and not false confidence?
BM: "I'm not addressing Eastern Illinois as much in our preparation other than the scheme and our development. I've coached at the division I-AA level and the two things that are different are the size and the depth. The first-line talent on the best I-AA teams is not much different than I-A; I think you'll see that on Saturday. There will be some positions where they will have exceptional players. The size won't be the same and the depth won't be the same. Are we saying we're going to win because we're bigger and better? We're focusing on the things we need to do to get better, and Eastern Illinois is just the next opponent coming in."
Q: Can you give us some insight into what Eastern Illinois does well?
BM: "If you look at their head coach, he has 19 years of experience. If you watch their football team play and the way the game is managed, their identity in terms of special teams and critical decisions, etc., I think their coach, with that experience, gives their team a chance to win. Very seldom does he make critical decisions that might negatively affect his team. They're confident in their schemes on both sides of the ball, and they're tied together by an experienced head coach who just manages the game and has a grounded effect. I think it's a solid football team that's not going to give you the football game."