By DARREN WILCOX
BYUSA sponsored Chalk Talk with three members of the football team Monday at noon. Wide receiver Ben Cahoon, defensive end Ed Kehl and linebacker Spencer Reid were the team representatives, answering questions on a variety of topics.
Daily Universe: Talk a little about Saturday’s game, kind of an over-view on what your feelings were, what happened….
Ben Cahoon: “There’s not much to talk about, it wasn’t any fun. It was real wet and we didn’t play very well and we pretty much got our butts kicked. Other than that, we’ve got to be able to put it behind us and realize it’s not the end of the world and come back and win the rest of our games.”
DU: What’s the overall feeling of the team, with the Hawaii game this week and it being Homecoming?
Ed Kehl: “I think that we’ve already lost one, and LaVell is real positive. There are some coaches that are out there that make you run your butts off, but he was real positive. He just said that we have to be positive, that we could take this two ways. We could get down on ourselves and ruin the rest of our season, or we could build ourselves back up again and try to win the rest of our games because good things are going to happen.”
BC: “We meet together as a team this afternoon about 3, we watch the film of the game and go over our mistakes and then we start concentrating on Hawaii tomorrow. Obviously the feeling of the team is we’re down but we’ve got to get past it,we’ve got to figure out what went wrong and figure out solutions to the problems and get on with it.”
DU: What are some positive things defensively about the upcoming Hawaii game?
Spencer Reid: “Well, we just have to come out ready to play. Hawaii obviously has a great team and we just can’t take them lightly. They beat Fresno last week so that’s a sign they’re a really good team. Defensively we just have to come out and get in the quarterback’s face and attack the run and be able to clump the receivers. We just gotta come out ready to play.”
BC: “One thing about the game against Hawaii, it’s always a huge rivalry because obviously we have a lot of Polynesians on our squad and their team is made up mostly of Polynesians. We recruit from the Islands and so it becomes kind of a personal battle each year, and Hawaii always gets up to play BYU. Hopefully we can do the same.”
Audience Question: I love BYU football and I love watching you guys play. I’ve made an observation that it doesn’t seem the team is as excited when Ben makes a great catch or when there’s a great tackle, it doesn’t seem to me like the team is going wild and congratulating whoever made the tackle or the catch. Is that an unfair observation or if not, why exactly is that happening?
SR: “I think for the most part it’s true. For (Saturday’s) game, I don’t think we were mostly there. When people made big plays … we didn’t congratulate for what was done. I think that’s a great point and I think as captain and as players we should work on that. I appreciate that.”
AQ: Just curious, what’s your opinion on the quarterback situation?
BC: “I should probably talk about it since I’m the only offensive person here. I have an opinion on that and it means absolutely nothing. It’s a tough situation, hopefully we can get things sorted out. We’ve practiced with two quarterbacks and we’ve been able to adjust real well, so I don’t think it’s as big a deal as maybe a lot of people, including the media, make it out to be. Hopefully, it won’t bother us, it hasn’t in the past couple of weeks. We need to continue to go forward and not worry about it. But speculation upon my part is not going to do any good for the team and that’s all I care about right now, so I don’t talk about it too much.”
AQ: So far, what has been the team’s greatest struggle?
SR: “As far as defensive-wise, we’ve been struggling a lot in the tackling and we’ve just been coming out flat, but we haven’t really played the game the way we really want to play it, the way we’re capable of playing. So, as far as what I can see, I think we have a lot of problems with tackling, for what reason I don’t know, and coming out emotionally ready to play.”
DU: What about high points this year?
SR: “One thing that I really like about the team this year, as far as the defense, we never give up. Almost everybody’s constantly running for the ball. If someone misses a tackle there is always someone there to make the play. As far as teamwork, I think we work pretty good together and that’s one of the points that really stands out in my mind.”
AQ: Who is the offensive leader and defensive leader on the team who you look up to?
SR: “Obviously, my secret hero is Ben Cahoon. He’s more of a superman to me than anything else.”
BC: “Offensively I think we look to Dustin Johnson as our leader. He’s got a lot of experience, he shoulders a lot of the burden that we have on offense and he’s done it very well. He leads more vocally than anybody else. Defensively, we’ve got leaders all over the place. Obviously Spencer Reid and Brad Martin are our captains, but we’ve got guys on the defensive line as well as cornerbacks who have played three, four years. We’ve got a lot of leadership, we’ve also got a lot of inexperience that I think, going back to the last question about some of the struggles, maybe some of the inexperience has been a big struggle for us.”
DU: What kind of effect does the home fan support have on the team?
EK: “Personally, I think the fans are a big support. When we come to our home, I think everybody has to prepare for BYU’s fans because they’re so loud. I think it’s a big support for you guys to come out and support us like you do and I like it.”
BC: “The last home game we played there were some instances where I know for a fact the crowd affected the game. (Utah State) had some big third and fourth down plays they couldn’t hear in the huddle and their offensive lineman jumped offsides and it really helped us. The home crowd is critical and we appreciate all the support that you provide for us.”
SR: “I personally think the fans play a big role in the games. You think that you’re not as important, but I think you guys play a big role. … When the team’s down we can always look to the crowd and see everybody dancing, yelling and it gets the team going too. So, you’re just as important.”
AQ: This is directed at the defensive guys, if you scored a touchdown and you could celebrate afterwards, would you dance and how would you do it?
SR: “I’d probably do the Macarena.” (Wild applause)
EK: “If I do ever score a touchdown I’m going in the stands. (To Cahoon) If you could score Ben, what would you do?”
BC: “I’m quite a breakdancer. I think I would do a few backsprings, then maybe a little centipede action and moonwalk off the field.”
