PROVO ? When the Cougars play at Boston College on Saturday, the age and experience factor will favor the Eagles' big offensive line over a Cougar defensive front that includes two freshmen.
In short, in this face-off, the "older players" issue many coaches and media sometimes focus on with the Cougars is moot. This season, BYU and defensive front lineup includes 17-year-old freshman Ian Dulan, the youngest player on the Cougar roster and another pair of tackles fresh out of high school in Matangi Tonga and Romney Fuga.
Carbon High's Jan Jorgensen, a starter with Dulan, is a redshirt freshman who has served an LDS mission, but he has only played eight quarters of Division I ball.
The disparity in age for Boston College's offensive front and BYU's defensive front could prove a factor, although BYU coaches like what they've seen so far in their kittens.
Up front, the Eagles will roll out 6-foot-7, 307- pound senior tackle James Marten and 6-4, 295-pound junior guard Ryan Poles on the left side. The center is a junior, 6-3, 290 Kevin Sheridan. On the right side is junior tackle Gosder Cherilus, (6-7, 318) and senior guard Josh Beckman (6-1, 321).
Boston College likes to play smash-nose football, just pound the ball at defenses and try to tire opponents out at the end. And they've done it very well, according to BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall.
"We are young and we are undersized. They are older and experienced," Mendenhall said. "The Eagle offensive front have continuity on their side with the same scheme, the same approach by coaches and it's gone on a long, long time."
"Very seldom do they not execute up front," Mendenhall said. "Very seldom do you align fronts that they haven't seen or don't know how to block. It will come down to the fundamental parts of the game. Can you come off a block? Can you come off the football? Can you make a tackle and how often can you do it? They're going to block you. In very few plays that I've seen in the last three years of looking at their film have I seen unblocked players or assignment mistakes upfront."
Mendenhall said Boston College's coaching staff is one reason the Eagles have won six straight bowl games and are now nationally ranked.
"They're as well coached as I've seen and the reason I think they're able to sustain the success they have as a program is because of the offensive front. It's a tremendous test for our players. I think maybe one of the underlying stories of our success, or relative success, to this point defensively has been the play of our defensive line.
"We played very conservative game plans the first two weeks and we weren't sure how conservative we could be, but our front has held it in there. They have played the runs effectively with very little pressure, very little blitzing. We'll have a lot better idea after this game where those guys stand."
DEFENSIVE STATS: The Cougars have two of their three starting defensive lineman ranked in the top 10 amongst MWC teams in sacks after two weeks. Hala Paonga ranks No. 2 with two sacks and freshman Jan Jorgensen is No. 10 with one. Nationally, the Cougars rank 34th in passing efficiency defense; No. 67 in pass defense; No. 26 in rushing defense" 59th in Scoring defense' No. 40 in total defense and No. 7 in tackles for loss with 14. Bronco Mendenhall said both his game plans for Arizona and Tulsa "were conservative" because of the young and inexperienced defensive line.
TV PLANS: The current controversy over CSTV and The mtn, will not impact the BYU game at Boston College on Saturday. The kickoff is scheduled for 10 a.m. (MST) and will be broadcast on ESPN2 with Sean McDonough, Chris Spielman and Rob Stone doing the job of talking heads. This will make two of the first three games televised nationally. Cougar games will be televised nationally five times during the course of the season, on CSTV/Versus. Saturday's game will be the first time the Cougars will be exposed to a MWC officiating crew because the Pac-10 mandates its home teams (Arizona) have their officials and Tulsa's contract mandated each school have their own conference officials in the home and home series (Conference USA officials last Saturday).
BROWN'S ACHES: Other than a sore shoulder he says is no big deal, senior running back Curtis Brown says he isn't sore after playing two games. "It's nothing like my freshman and sophomore years, when I got beat up pretty good. I'm fine as long as my ankles are OK. I hate it when I have sprained ankles." Brown and TCU's Aaron Brown are tied for first place in the MWC for all-purpose yards, averaging 144 yards per game.
GADGET PLAYS: Against Tulsa, the Cougars used a halfback pass that failed and a kickoff return halfback that blew up after a holding call nullified a 50-plus yard gain. Mendenhall said using surprises is important in a game plan because just the intent to run gadget plays has an effect. "I felt like it was a solid coaching strategy early within the first three weeks to expose our opponents through our willingness to take some risks, our willingness to show some things that were maybe a little unorthodox. Also, there are some things within our program that I think need to be more aggressive, especially on special teams."
Mendenhall said this is just the start for BYU, especially in special teams plays. "I would like the execution at the core and the ownership that our players have taken of these units to improve, which has happened already. It's kind of a three-pronged approach and you saw a little bit of it Saturday."
In short, in this face-off, the "older players" issue many coaches and media sometimes focus on with the Cougars is moot. This season, BYU and defensive front lineup includes 17-year-old freshman Ian Dulan, the youngest player on the Cougar roster and another pair of tackles fresh out of high school in Matangi Tonga and Romney Fuga.
Carbon High's Jan Jorgensen, a starter with Dulan, is a redshirt freshman who has served an LDS mission, but he has only played eight quarters of Division I ball.
The disparity in age for Boston College's offensive front and BYU's defensive front could prove a factor, although BYU coaches like what they've seen so far in their kittens.
Up front, the Eagles will roll out 6-foot-7, 307- pound senior tackle James Marten and 6-4, 295-pound junior guard Ryan Poles on the left side. The center is a junior, 6-3, 290 Kevin Sheridan. On the right side is junior tackle Gosder Cherilus, (6-7, 318) and senior guard Josh Beckman (6-1, 321).
Boston College likes to play smash-nose football, just pound the ball at defenses and try to tire opponents out at the end. And they've done it very well, according to BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall.
"We are young and we are undersized. They are older and experienced," Mendenhall said. "The Eagle offensive front have continuity on their side with the same scheme, the same approach by coaches and it's gone on a long, long time."
"Very seldom do they not execute up front," Mendenhall said. "Very seldom do you align fronts that they haven't seen or don't know how to block. It will come down to the fundamental parts of the game. Can you come off a block? Can you come off the football? Can you make a tackle and how often can you do it? They're going to block you. In very few plays that I've seen in the last three years of looking at their film have I seen unblocked players or assignment mistakes upfront."
Mendenhall said Boston College's coaching staff is one reason the Eagles have won six straight bowl games and are now nationally ranked.
"They're as well coached as I've seen and the reason I think they're able to sustain the success they have as a program is because of the offensive front. It's a tremendous test for our players. I think maybe one of the underlying stories of our success, or relative success, to this point defensively has been the play of our defensive line.
"We played very conservative game plans the first two weeks and we weren't sure how conservative we could be, but our front has held it in there. They have played the runs effectively with very little pressure, very little blitzing. We'll have a lot better idea after this game where those guys stand."
DEFENSIVE STATS: The Cougars have two of their three starting defensive lineman ranked in the top 10 amongst MWC teams in sacks after two weeks. Hala Paonga ranks No. 2 with two sacks and freshman Jan Jorgensen is No. 10 with one. Nationally, the Cougars rank 34th in passing efficiency defense; No. 67 in pass defense; No. 26 in rushing defense" 59th in Scoring defense' No. 40 in total defense and No. 7 in tackles for loss with 14. Bronco Mendenhall said both his game plans for Arizona and Tulsa "were conservative" because of the young and inexperienced defensive line.
TV PLANS: The current controversy over CSTV and The mtn, will not impact the BYU game at Boston College on Saturday. The kickoff is scheduled for 10 a.m. (MST) and will be broadcast on ESPN2 with Sean McDonough, Chris Spielman and Rob Stone doing the job of talking heads. This will make two of the first three games televised nationally. Cougar games will be televised nationally five times during the course of the season, on CSTV/Versus. Saturday's game will be the first time the Cougars will be exposed to a MWC officiating crew because the Pac-10 mandates its home teams (Arizona) have their officials and Tulsa's contract mandated each school have their own conference officials in the home and home series (Conference USA officials last Saturday).
BROWN'S ACHES: Other than a sore shoulder he says is no big deal, senior running back Curtis Brown says he isn't sore after playing two games. "It's nothing like my freshman and sophomore years, when I got beat up pretty good. I'm fine as long as my ankles are OK. I hate it when I have sprained ankles." Brown and TCU's Aaron Brown are tied for first place in the MWC for all-purpose yards, averaging 144 yards per game.
GADGET PLAYS: Against Tulsa, the Cougars used a halfback pass that failed and a kickoff return halfback that blew up after a holding call nullified a 50-plus yard gain. Mendenhall said using surprises is important in a game plan because just the intent to run gadget plays has an effect. "I felt like it was a solid coaching strategy early within the first three weeks to expose our opponents through our willingness to take some risks, our willingness to show some things that were maybe a little unorthodox. Also, there are some things within our program that I think need to be more aggressive, especially on special teams."
Mendenhall said this is just the start for BYU, especially in special teams plays. "I would like the execution at the core and the ownership that our players have taken of these units to improve, which has happened already. It's kind of a three-pronged approach and you saw a little bit of it Saturday."
