By Devon Black
Ancient History
Yes, it really has been that long. The last time BYU beat a ranked opponent on the road in 1997, nobody had heard of Monica Lewinsky, the Spice Girls were still cooling off from their hit singles 'Wannabe' and 'Say You''ll Be There', and John Elway hadn''t won a Super Bowl.
Hometown Heroes
Texas natives Michael Reed and David Nixon both made big impressions in their return to their home state. Reed''s 40-yard acrobatic touchdown catch in the third quarter gave BYU a 14-point lead, and Nixon''s hit on TCU''s Jeff Ballard forced the fumbled that led to the Cougars'' first touchdown.
Sportsmanlike Interception
Apparently the TCU captains displayed a little bit of an attitude to BYU''s captains during the pre-game coin toss. But, for the record, linebacker Cameron Jensen claimed he had no retaliatory words for the Horned Frog bench after his fourth quarter interception return.
'I''d never really seen anything like that, just the coin toss the way it was. It got me fired up,' Jensen said. '(After the interception) I wasn''t saying anything. I was just looking behind me and covering the football.'
Quote of the Week
Coach Bronco Mendenhall on changes in the defensive system and coaching structure: 'I''m kind of bored during practice and on game day. Our assistant coaches have really filled in the blanks with coaching the techniques and fundamentals at a lot higher level and I have more time.'
Defense, anyone?
In the last 15 meetings, the winning or tying team in the BYU/San Diego State game has scored an average of 40 points. The losing team averages 24. The Cougars have won 11 of those games and tied once. BYU''s single-game total offense record still stands at 603 yards, set by Ty Detmer in a 52-52 tie versus the Aztecs in 1991.
Open Tryouts
SDSU''s first-string quarterback Kevin O''Connell was injured in the season-opener against UTEP. The Aztec''s second-stringer Darren Mougey got knocked out of the game last week against San Jose State. That leaves third-string freshman Kevin Craft to fill in under center against BYU. Craft also happens to be the son of Tom Craft, the former Aztec head coach who was fired after last season.
Flat Tires
On BYU''s quarterback front, John Beck says his sprained ankles have healed well and he''s feeling a lot more mobile.
'That Utah State week where I took time off, didn''t practice, didn''t play, they got a lot better,' Beck said. 'My ankles feel pretty good. I''m expecting to be closer to 100 percent this week.'
Aggie Watch
Utah State quarterback Leon Jackson''s streak continued last Saturday. For the fifth time in as many games Jackson threw a touchdown pass to the other team. This time Idaho''s Stanley Franks returned an interception 98 yards for a score in the Aggies'' 41-21 loss.
Ute Watch
For the best argument against an easy September schedule, look no further than Salt Lake City. Utah scheduled two tough opponents in UCLA and Boise State, but sandwiched them around three patsies. The result: the Utes have yet to beat a team that has won a Division I-A football game in 2006.