My take on Bronco/Manti/etc.

[Hazzard]

God bless LaVell Edwards! This is all coming full circle. The further away we get from the LaVell era, the more the program becomes like LaVell's program. At first we went to the 3-3-5 and Crowton's mad professor offense. Now we're headed back to the bend-but-don't break 4-3 with cover 2 and a ball control passing game. At first we were playing walk-on guys on defense. Now we're recruiting the JC's for specific needs. At first we were recruting up a storm (pre-orgy). Now we're letting the players recruit us. Norm Chow ... where art thou? Tom Ramage ... help us! Chris Pella ... come recruit for us NOW!!

I believe the only thing Bronco hates more than kissing the asses of LaVar and LeVan Christensen at the Cougar Club meetings is kissing the asses of 17-year old recruits on recruiting trips. He'd rather have 1 pasty white, undersized, Sac State recruit who'd give his right nut to wear the Cougar blue than 22 five-star, future NFL draft picks who would rather drink the occasional cold one and get the hot USC rich chick naked more than occasionally. Like it or not, that's the world in which we're living. I might be slightly upset if we were talking about a big time QB recruit, but we're talking about a LINEBACKER for crying out loud. If our favorite Lancer can't save us, how is Manti freaking Te'o going to do it? I'm a big fan of looking at football recruting classes as a whole, and by most accounts our 2009 class is solid. I'm thrilled with that.

For those of you nut jobs who expect to match Utah's undefeated seasons, you're probably sorely disappointed. Guess what? You probably always will be.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

Do you think that somewhere at Dixie State Ken Schmidt is laughing or crying that he was fired for his "vanilla" defense, which looks like Bubble Gum ice cream with butterscotch topping compared to last years BYU D.

[Hallelujah]

God bless LaVell Edwards! This is all coming full circle. The further away we get from the LaVell era, the more the program becomes like LaVell's program. At first we went to the 3-3-5 and Crowton's mad professor offense. Now we're headed back to the bend-but-don't break 4-3 with cover 2 and a ball control passing game. At first we were playing walk-on guys on defense. Now we're recruiting the JC's for specific needs. At first we were recruting up a storm (pre-orgy). Now we're letting the players recruit us. Norm Chow ... where art thou? Tom Ramage ... help us! Chris Pella ... come recruit for us NOW!!

I believe the only thing Bronco hates more than kissing the asses of LaVar and LeVan Christensen at the Cougar Club meetings is kissing the asses of 17-year old recruits on recruiting trips. He'd rather have 1 pasty white, undersized, Sac State recruit who'd give his right nut to wear the Cougar blue than 22 five-star, future NFL draft picks who would rather drink the occasional cold one and get the hot USC rich chick naked more than occasionally. Like it or not, that's the world in which we're living. I might be slightly upset if we were talking about a big time QB recruit, but we're talking about a LINEBACKER for crying out loud. If our favorite Lancer can't save us, how is Manti freaking Te'o going to do it? I'm a big fan of looking at football recruting classes as a whole, and by most accounts our 2009 class is solid. I'm thrilled with that.

For those of you nut jobs who expect to match Utah's undefeated seasons, you're probably sorely disappointed. Guess what? You probably always will be.

Lavell had the right balance of football and religion. GC lacked the religion. Bronco lacked the football and focuses more on religion and recruits selling him on why they want to come to byu.

Lavell was and is still, the man.

[TripletDaddy]

Truthfully, people are over-romanticizing LEDwards.

Bronco has had 3 straight 10-win seasons, goes to bowl games, has gone .500 in the past 4 bowl appearances, won a few conference championships.

He is basically cut-and-paste LaVell. What did LaVell do that Bronco is not doing? How many blue chippers and Top 10 recruiting classes did LaVell haul in each year?

LaVell had 3 straight 10 win seasons twice in 28 years. Bronco has done it once already in 4 years.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Truthfully, people are over-romanticizing LEDwards.

Bronco has had 3 straight 10-win seasons, goes to bowl games, has gone .500 in the past 4 bowl appearances, won a few conference championships.

He is basically cut-and-paste LaVell. What did LaVell do that Bronco is not doing? How many blue chippers and Top 10 recruiting classes did LaVell haul in each year?

LaVell had 3 straight 10 win seasons twice in 28 years. Bronco has done it once already in 4 years.

Good points. I think BM's style leaves less room for error. All that "Quest for Perfection" and "The honor code helps us win" stuff is fine if you are winning but at the first sign of weakness it is an easy target.

[TripletDaddy]

Good points. I think BM's style leaves less room for error. All that "Quest for Perfection" and "The honor code helps us win" stuff is fine if you are winning but at the first sign of weakness it is an easy target.

This is true. I think he is trying to give them something to bring them together. I don't really care too much about it and don't get very riled about slogans.

The irony in Bronco's approach....he brought back the oval Y, he preaches to the players that we need to return to the glory years, etc.

Well, I have news for you folks. What we are experiencing now is exactly what we were experiencing during the glory years. Bronco has basically returned the program to where it once was. The difference is that Utah has now made great strides to catch up. To ask more of Bronco and then compare him to LaVell is folly. Bronco is basically running the program and achieving exactly what LaVell achieved while he was at the helm.

One thing that LaVell always got a pass on was his POS bowl record. His lack of post-season success tells a story of a guy who was very content to win the conference and just get invited to the bowl game. This seems to be Bronco's philosophy, as well. Perhaps both men realized that given the recruiting constraints, they would never be serious perennial contenders.

I don't think that it is a coincidence that LaVell is a close adviser to the program currently. His handprints are all over this current regime. 10 win seasons......LaVell would be stoked.

[Brian]

No more McMahon at the byu.
No more Mike Holmgren as asst. coach.
No more mulligans for partying players.

I think the trend will be a service academy type program.
Certainly no shame in that, but it is what it is.

[Surfah]

He is basically cut-and-paste LaVell. What did LaVell do that Bronco is not doing?

LaVell would have let these kids sleep off their hangovers on his couch.

[byu71]

I will just say I am glad I went to BYU when I did.

[The Wankster]

No more McMahon at the byu.
No more Mike Holmgren as asst. coach.
No more mulligans for partying players.

I think the trend will be a service academy type program.
Certainly no shame in that, but it is what it is.

As a yoot fan I guess you can always hope this is what will happen, right?

[Brian]

As a yoot fan I guess you can always hope this is what will happen, right?

So do you see the BYU backing down from its hard-line stance?

[Indy Coug]

Depends what you mean by "hard-line stance".

[Brian]

Depends what you mean by "hard-line stance".

A strict enforcement of the HC.
A continuation of the post-Edwards/Crowton zero tolerance policy.

[Indy Coug]

A strict enforcement of the HC.
A continuation of the post-Edwards/Crowton zero tolerance policy.

There are members currently on the team that have multiple HC violations, so there is no "zero-tolerance" policy.

Actually, if one of those players had been kicked of the team for their past transgressions, then maybe the Manti weekend doesn't go as badly as it does.

[Goatnapper'96]

There are members currently on the team that have multiple HC violations, so there is no "zero-tolerance" policy.

Actually, if one of those players had been kicked of the team for their past transgressions, then maybe the Manti weekend doesn't go as badly as it does.

You mean the Fireside Tours might actually be buying Mendenhall some clout with the HC folks?

I will say this much about Mendenhall. It does appear that he is smart enough to take his biggest chances with LDS kids.