Why BYU wins on Thursday night…
14 October 2008
Quinn Gooch
32 Comments
- Photo by Scott G. Winterton
- The excitement of a big game will finally return. Yeah…I know the coaches say every game is a big one, but even I knew that some games mean more than others. Combine the fact that this game is the first game fans, media, family and friends will again be talking about. Plus there will be emotion and pressure of it being on a Thursday and I think our team comes out focused and extremely prepared.
- The field will be fast, the weather should be nice and the stadium will have more Cougar blue then Horny Frog purple. Just don’t trip walking down the treacherous stairs leading to the field.
- Our defense is playing well and our offense is due for a big performance. TCU’s defensive scheme allows for some big plays and Coach Anea has been holding stuff back for this week. Most of the fans were correct, the play calling of Saturday was conservative and we didn’t try any new formations or plays. We should have been able to beat New Mexico with a vanilla playbook and guess what…..we did. The playbook will be opened wide this week and we will have a new wrinkle added to the offense.
- Their mascot is a Horned Frog and their jerseys are purple. I am not a sports historian, but when was the last time a team won anything wearing purple uniforms? The Jazz tried but Jordan put an end to that. Sorry folks, I was raised in sweet home Chicago.
- Mike Reed and David Nixon -Texas boys- have something to prove. Besides if they don’t play well, Texas might not let him back in.
- After a Thursday night homecoming beating, at the hands of the Colorado St. Rams in Bronco’s first year as a BYU Coach, he vows to never again to be out coached in a Thursday night game. I think since that game the only other Thursday night lost was in Boise. Oh bless your heart Matt Payne, but you did smash Carr on that punt return.
- The most hated periods of practice, pre-practice. This is when the defense gets to run extra plays against the scout team. It’s fifteen minutes when you aren’t warmed up, you haven’t tied your shoes and the scout team guys are running faster then they ever have. It is just another way the defense prepares just a little more then everyone else.
- Players will have a double dose of their daily vitamin I. Your scrunching your forehead and thinking, is there a vitamin I? I can honestly say that vitamin I is the only reason I could run during the week and on Saturday. Anti-Inflammatory -vitamin I- it’s every players best friend.
- Max Hall has only been sacked like twice, and hurried maybe five or six times this whole year. Right now he is wondering why everyone is walking so slow. He hasn’t felt this good since he was twelve playing football in his back yard.
- Once again, like with Washington, I heard the TCU players poking fun at Jan’s name. I told’em to stop but they persisted.
Quinn, I love the blog! It is so great hearing about things from a players view. I gained so much more respect for you with the purple comment. I was raised in Utah, but I have always been a Bulls fan. Those 2 years were the greatest finals ever, and I loved watching Jordan dominate the Jazz. Bottom line is if you want to win a championship, don’t wear purple!
One of my favorite hits of all time is when Nixon floored TCU’s QB from the blind side> I think it was two years ago. Gotta find the clip. . .
Boise State was on a Sat. night. I was driving back from Ogden that night, listening in my car thinking we had it all wrapped, and I couldn’t do anything but yell when I heard the call. I still don’t think I’ve actually seen the kick.
HA! Stupid Jazz. Go Cougs!!
Great blog btw. This is a blast to read. I love football, but since I never played real football (being a girl) I don’t really know all the technical stuff on the plays so it’s great when you really go in depth. Thanks!
I thought that game was on a Thursday, oh well.. I guess it’s all in how you remember things. It was at night, cold and disappointing.
Love the blog, it’s in my “regular rotation” upon logging on every morning at work.
But you have forgotten one NBA powerhouse that has routed the Jazz and Bulls over the years….the LAKERS! Official colors are purple and gold.
Lakers wear purple, and they’ve won 14 championships. =)
On #6., the BSU game was before Bronco took over. 2004, I think.
Also, I haven’t watched TCU play yet this year, but I’ve been told they run a similar defensive scheme to UNM. If that’s the case, then how do you see our offense finding ways to open the short to mid-range passing game back up? I thought UNM did a pretty good job at containing it, which was a big part of why we didn’t put up the huge numbers we’ve put up against other teams.
Quinn,
Can you tell us more about the TCU 2006 coin toss fiasco before the game? If I remember the story correctly, the TCU players refused to shake the BYU players’ hands after the toss. Jensen told the team when he got to the sidelines and this supposedly fired the team up fierce. Can you tell us any more about this incident?
BTW, love the blog. Keep up the good work.
You all caught me with the purple comment. You win, the Lakers are good and I guess their are some francises that wear purple and still win.
I retract #4 and chalk that one up to a late night mistake.
The whole coin tossing incident was hilarious. First of all they came into that game thinking their #$#% didn’t stink and yes, they refused to shake hands and than they laughed when we said we wanted the ball first.
Oh and their offensive tackle was wearing sunglasses. I think they where prescription, but come on. They just had a little too much confidence, and we put them in their place. Directly behind us!
It did fire a few guys up, but I just laughed, because I new they were ripe for a beating.
Chuck my man Bronco was an assistant coach before he was a head coach.
The first games in the series were memorable.
In 1987, at Fort Worth:
The first memory evoked of the last, and only, TCU-BYU football meeting (1987) in Fort Worth? Those annoying crickets. In fact, had sportswriting legend Grantland Rice been there he probably would have began his story something like: Painted against the stadium lights they came by the thousands: noisy and bothersome. Crickets.
Whether those swarming insects had any impact on the outcome is doubtful, but their presence certainly is well remembered. So overwhelming was their number that they had almost completely covered the playing field by the fourth quarter. Later, stadium cleanup crews removed well over 100, 55-gallon bags of dead crickets.
The second was in 1988:
Enjoying the runaway 31-18 game, the crazy mascot kept butting his head into the North End Zone Goal Posts… The fans kept encouraging the crazeyness
Just a memory of the first two games in 1987 and 1988…
OK, go to 2:42 on this video and watch Payne bring the LUMBER! It’s got multiple angles!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBFUv91xk5M
Too bad the ending stunk!
The BSU game with Payne hitting Carr multiple times was on a Friday night. I was camping with Scouts on the Face of Timp and managed to get KSL on the radio. There is no way I could have taken Scouts out on a school night (Thursday) or the night before the Sabath.
Quinn,
Side note, i’m going to Tucson this weekend, what’s the best thing to do there?
What to do in Tucson? You could check out old Tucson, it’s were some of the western movies were made. There is also a great place to eat down town it’s called Poco Casa, but go during lunch because it’s half the price.
Cheers mate!
I don’t remember the coin toss incident, but those stairs (#2) WERE treacherous!
I have a business trip in Dallas on Thursday, and will be catching the game.
I’m really excited.
I think I like reason #10 best of all. LOL! Be angry, very angry.
THE PLAYER ON BYU WITH THE MOST NICKNAMES?
JAN JORGENSEN (and who calls him what)
AKA:
1) Janikan Sky Walker (Markell Staffieri)
2) The Janimal (Judd Anderton)
3) Jannifer (Brett Denney)
the rest are fair game and used by all…
Jan Diego
4) Peanut Butter and Jan
5) Janimal House
6) Janet Janson
7) The Janeral (like Cameron Jensen’s “General”)
9) Mathew Mark Luke and Jan
10) Long Jan Silver
11) Jan burger
12) Jantastic
13) Hulk HoJan
14) One night Jan
15) Janna Jameson
As you can tell, we BYU Football Players are not shy about being cliche. And we all love Jan. He is one the best people I have ever known in my life.
16) Janasorous Rex
17) Janbels Soup
18) The Janitor
I’ll be one of those excited fans dressed in blue up in Fort Worth on Thursday. This will be our first time seeing the football team in person since we moved to Texas from Provo a little over year ago. So excited, and also nervous, for such a big game. Fun to read this blog for the first time from someone who played such a key role in recent years. I’ll be back…
Purple is my favorite color. I’d swap the Cougs ugly navy blue for the Purple and Black anyday- black and purple are tough- not this sissy white our boys are sporting.
Quinn,
Nice post. I am just plain giddy with joy for this game!
Those Jan names are funny, my father in-law is Jan, he’s had to live that down too. He too is an awesome guy.
Jorgensen’s name could be Cindy Lou Who and I’d still respect that Gorilla on the line!
I love the nicknames for the Great JANe!
This may or may not be original but while listening to the ksl feeds of the games over the internet (pre-DirectTV days) “Goochie-MAMA” was a commonly yelled out phrase after a big pick by #25!!!!
Staff- you forgot Jackie Jan?????
Matt – I really need some physical therapy. I still have a crick in my neck from being punched in the face by a former BYU receiver.
someone mentioned the 88 homegame where the frogs mascot kept head butting the goalpost. True and hilarious. It was the last game I saw for 2 years since I entered the MTC 4 days later. It’s almost been 20 years and still seems like yesterday.
Keep up the great writing Quinn. Nice blog!
Judd- I’m sure he was justified in his actions. Maybe you could just sue him and the pain will go away.
Matt – I would never do that, I just need a game of ping pong to make it feel better.
Hey Quinn, Great Blog….I enjoy it a lot!!! Things to do in Tucson….A couple of things that are fun is Pinnacle Peak Steakhouse…. good steak and Trail Dust Town that surrounds the steakhouse. Don’t wear a tie or they will cut it off!! Also Kartchner Caverns out by Benson are very cool and interesting, but a litte expensive. Love the writing and the Kehl insight into the NFL was eye openning! Keep it up! (Quinn you been to Mexico recently?)
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