Aberration: The Cougs say their time off will help them rebound from their hiccup against the Utes
By Andrew Aragon
PROVO - Brigham Young's finely tuned offense stalled in the first half of its last game - a 41-34 overtime loss to Utah way back Nov. 19. By the time Thursday's Las Vegas Bowl against California kicks off, the Cougars will have had more than a month to get their passing and running games started again. The guy with the keys, quarterback John Beck, didn't seem too worried after Saturday's practice. "I think this team is going to enter this bowl game as a better team than the one that finished the last game," he said. Remember, despite falling behind 24-3 by halftime against the Utes, BYU switched on its offense well enough to force overtime. The Cougs think they can turn it on again, but this time from the start. Interestingly, the long layoff and the practice time have meant different things to different players - even if they all profess to be on the same page. To Beck, it's an opportunity to hone your skills. To running back Curtis Brown, it's like
training camp all over again. "It's definitely tough [having the long break]," Brown said. "It's kind of like playing your first game; you get those same feelings you get when you haven't played in a while. "You're going against your own teammates for a good little bit. We haven't played anyone in three weeks, so it's kind of tough to adjust to." Beck thinks the long break between games could help make the Cougars' offense better. "It's a good opportunity to try and improve things," Beck said. "We tried to take full advantage of this break to better ourselves and our team before this bowl game. Any time you have an opportunity to improve your game, you have to take full advantage of it." The Cougars' offense didn't have much to improve when the season ended, other than that fateful first half against Utah. BYU won five of its last seven games, including a stretch of five consecutive Mountain West Conference victories, and averaged 43.3 points per game. Beck was particularly hot during the BYU's final seven games, as he threw 16 touchdown passes and just five interceptions. He also threw for more than 300 yards in four of BYU's final seven games. Brown also finished the season on a high note, becoming BYU's first 1,000-yard rusher since the 2001 season. Brown also set a school record with his 11th 100-yard rushing game. While Brown compared playing in the Las Vegas Bowl to a season opener, Beck said the team has had a greater sense of purpose in the last three weeks of practices than it would have had in April or August. After all, the Golden Bears have the top-ranked defense in the Pacific-10 Conference. "You have to remember that we're practicing with a goal in mind, and that's the bowl game," Beck said. "We're not practicing to prepare for spring ball or next fall. The main focus is the bowl game. "It's important that we're not out here just going through the motions. We're not just saying, 'Hey, we've been doing this for the last 15 weeks, it's no big deal. We can hit these plays no problem.' No, you have to pretend like it's game mode and I think we've done a good job of that."
No comments:
Post a Comment