Unga, RBs will fight for yards

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It is simply not in BYU running back Harvey Unga's nature to press or get uptight over things. He's as easygoing as they come.
Maybe that's why the 6-foot, 240-pound sophomore is not stressing about what happened the last time BYU faced UCLA in the Las Vegas Bowl.
Unga ran for just 16 yards on 17 carries in the 17-16 win, well below his averages after rushing for 1,211 yards in the regular season in his record-breaking freshman season.
Unga said Wednesday he expects the Bruins to pack the box with eight or nine guys near the line of scrimmage on Saturday in an effort to replicate the Vegas Bowl shutdown.
"We have our goals and we have our pillars as to where we stand as running backs and we are going to fight for every yard that we can get, whether it is 5 or 500, we are going to fight the best we can and contribute to the team the best we can," he said. "But if they take away the run, other guys will get a chance to step up, and that's fine with me."
Unga rushed for 136 yards on 23 carries last week against Washington, the eighth time in his short career that he has surpassed 100 rushing yards in a game.





Hall pass

BYU quarterback Max Hall said that receiver Austin Collie, his best friend on the team, "finally feels like he is 100 percent back and feeling great,
and he's got his legs underneath him and he's back in shape, so [we are] looking good there."
Hall added Collie will be featured a lot Saturday. "We have a lot of stuff, and we are going to do a lot of stuff with Austin. He could have a big game."
The quarterback said that he is so familiar with UCLA after having played the Bruins twice last year that "I almost have all their games memorized now."






Honing in on Craft

UCLA quarterback Kevin Craft has played in LaVell Edwards Stadium before. He started for San Diego State in 2006 when the Aztecs lost 47-17 to the Cougars. Craft completed 20 of 32 passes for 216 yards and an interception in that game.
"It's a good experience playing there. It gets loud up there, and they rock that stadium," he told the Los Angeles Daily News. "I've talked to a few of my teammates about it. You make the bus ride to Provo, and it's a little bit different. It's not like going to Michigan where they rock the bus and scream [obscenities] at you."

 

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BYU defensive backs learning on the fly




In just two games this season, BYU's inexperienced secondary already has undergone what the player with the most starts in the defensive backfield, free safety Kellen Fowler, calls "a couple of eye-opening moments."
There was the trick play vs. Northern Iowa that went for a 76-yard touchdown, followed by a 48-yard bomb from Washington's Jake Locker to backup Jermaine Kearse that gave the Huskies a 14-7 lead over the Cougars, to name a few.
Several times, Washington receivers ran free or got behind the BYU secondary last Saturday, but Locker simply overthrew them or they dropped easy passes.
And, as BYU defensive coordinator Jaime Hill acknowledges, it gets more
difficult for the group with just 15 starts among them as UCLA visits LaVell Edwards Stadium on Saturday because Bruins quarterback Kevin Craft is a much better passer than UNI's Pat Grace or UW's Locker.
"He's not going to miss some of those throws that the other guys missed," Hill said. "So we gotta do a better job in the coverage part of it."
Also, UCLA has swifter, bigger and more talented receivers than any team the Cougars have faced since they saw the Bruins twice last year. Seasoned tight end Logan Paulsen (broken right foot) won't play, but against Tennessee nearly two weeks ago Ryan Moya, Terrence Austin, Taylor Embree and Dominique Johnson all had four catches or more and nine Bruins
caught passes.
"We had a few assignments that were blown, that we got to get better at," Hill said. "We still have a young group that is learning how to play the game, understanding what the situations are. For the most part, the young guys are doing very well. There were a couple of routes [against Washington] that gave us challenges, but other than that they were OK."
The safeties, Fowler and David Tafuna, are seniors, but haven't played much in their careers. Fowler got four starts last year after Quinn Gooch suffered a season-ending injury, and Tafuna got some starts in 2006 but had a foot injury that caused him to miss the entire 2007 season.
The cornerbacks - Scott Johnson and Brandon Howard - are both juniors who got their first starts in the opener against UNI. Johnson is just 5-foot-11 and Howard is 5-9. UCLA's Embree, Moya and Johnson are all listed at 6-3 and Austin is 5-11. Fowler knows all four players are going to be tested Saturday.
"I think any time you are playing an NFL-style passing game like they have, I think they are going to try to challenge the secondary," he said. "It is part of their game plan; it is every week. I don't necessarily think there is undue pressure on us. We know that if we perform like we are supposed to - and are assignment-sound . . . we will be just fine back there."
No playmaker has emerged - BYU doesn't have an interception in two games - but the Cougars should be able to gamble more against Craft, who is not as mobile as Locker.
Coach Bronco Mendenhall said it is not in BYU's "identity" to become a blitzing, gambling defense overnight, but acknowledges there is some concern regarding the secondary and what might have been last week against Washington.
"Despite what you may have seen, I think they improved over the game before. And I still think it is going to take some time. But I like the way they are being coached, and I still think the guys back there are the right guys," he said.