This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Greetings from Cincinnati, everyone.

I'm actually in Kentucky tonight, across the Ohio River from the state of Ohio, where a pair of 4-4 teams — BYU and Cincinnati — will tangle at 1:30 p.m. MDT Saturday at historic Nippert Stadium. Best I can tell, the Queen City isn't exactly buzzing for the game. Folks at the restaurant I ate at tonight said they were Ohio State fans, and far more excited about the Nebraska-Ohio State showdown over in Columbus.

The Bearcats probably aren't even the most popular team in their own city, the OSU fans told me.

It will be interesting to see what kind of crowd shows up at the 40,000 seat stadium that is the third-oldest football stadium in major-college football. As usual, there were dozens of BYU fans on my flight Friday morning, along with the BYU cheerleaders.

We were actually in the air when BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe gave his 11-minute message to BYU fans about the state of the program, about how "independence is working" and about what fans can expect moving forward. For more on that, read a recap here.

Earlier this week, I wrote about BYU's quarterback situation, and how offensive coordinator Ty Detmer would like to get Tanner Mangum some meaningful snaps this month. Detmer did say that he doesn't expect that to happen Saturday when BYU takes on Cincinnati, however.

I quoted Mangum in the piece, with the sophomore confirming he's had discussions with Detmer about possibly getting into some future games. He said he will be ready when called upon.

"I am always pretty eager to play," Mangum said. "I am always pretty excited to play. But at the same time I am calm, knowing that I can't worry about things outside of my control. I am just going to play the best I can each snap. If I get that opportunity in these games coming up, I am going to make the most of them."

The best way to improve is to play, Mangum acknowledged, but he believes he is making strides while watching Taysom Hill take all the snaps, particularly in the mental aspects of the game.

"As a backup, you don't get as many reps, so you have to make the most of the ones you do get, and then put in some extra work after practice and do whatever you can to get better," he said. "It is just a different role, different situation. So you have to adjust. I think I have done a pretty good job of doing the best I can to learn what I can, especially mentally. I have learned from Ty, and learned from the sidelines and just standing behind the play to learn how to master the mental side of it, then improve physically as well.

I have gotten a lot stronger. It has been nice weightlifting and training and so I feel like I am getting better. I just try to improve day by day as the weeks go on."

There is a lot of talk out there about whether Mangum should replace Hill, and it grew louder after BYU's 28-27 loss at Boise State in which the Cougars mustered just 322 yards and 13 points (on offense).

Regarding BYU's standing at No. 126 in the nation in yards per completion, Mangum offered an explanation:

"I think there could be several factors that go into that," he said. "Obviously, we have a strong running game with Jamaal [Williams}, which helps. Obviously, you want to be the best you can. We are not satisfied with that. We are always looking to improve. So I think the coaches understand that we got to learn from last game and keep getting better each week. That is the attitude we have as a team. The bye week was good for us to get healthy.

I think we are doing our best to improve, and focus on this game against Cincinnati coming up, and just improve as the weeks go on."