A little more than two weeks after his six-turnover performance against Utah led to BYU's 48-24 loss in the rivalry game - sending the 12-0 Utes on to the Sugar Bowl and the 10-2 Cougars on to their fourth straight appearance in the Las Vegas Bowl - Hall isn't ready to say that loss falls in the same category.
Losses are never positive, he said, but he does acknowledge learning plenty from perhaps his worst game as a Cougar.
"You find out who your true friends are and you find out [who are] the people you really care for after a game like that," he said Monday as the Cougars began preparations for Arizona and the Dec. 20 game at Sam Boyd Stadium. "You realize you have a long ways to go to reach your potential . . . so there's a lot to learn."
The junior, who went into the game as a potential Mountain West Conference Offensive Player of the Year candidate, only to see Utah quarterback Brian Johnson totally outplay him and win the award, said it has been a difficult couple of weeks for him since the loss.
"It has been tough to take," he acknowledged. "What was weird for me is I think I took the TCU loss harder than the Utah loss. Both of them were tough. It takes a couple of days to kind of emotionally and mentally kind of get over it and move on."
Hall says he knows he is better than he played and is eager to go out on national TV (ESPN) in two weeks and show that. He's also thankful he will get another shot at the Utes, next season.
Linebacker David Nixon, who also appeared at Monday's news conference, said Hall still has the team's support and that nobody is blaming the junior for the loss. The defense didn't come up with a turnover to offset Hall's poor play, he said.
"Max is a great athlete and he has put up amazing numbers this year," Nixon said. "He had a bad game. Too bad it was against our big-time rival. But we all have bad games, and I think the biggest thing for him is to bounce back and be ready for Arizona."
Hall said he usually records games on his own and then goes back and watches them later. However, he deleted both the TCU and Utah games, BYU's only two losses, and wasn't going to watch them.
But a few days after the loss, the entire offense sat down with offensive coordinator Robert Anae and spent about 3 1/2 hours picking apart every play.
"It was the best film session we have had as a team," he said. "We may need to do that more often."
The Cougars were shoving the ball down Utah's throat with the running game (214 yards) until midway through the third quarter, then went almost exclusively to the pass. Hall said Anae acknowledged making some play-calling mistakes.
"I think the blame was spread around pretty evenly," he said. "And I think coach Anae took some of the blame and said, 'I should have done some things differently here.' "
The quarterback also said he needs to stop trying to win games all by himself.
"The problem for me is, I want to score a touchdown on every play," he said. "That's just the type of guy I am, and that's how I play. I am just very aggressive, and I attack and attack. Sometimes it gets me in trouble."
drew@sltrib.com
Las Vegas Bowl
BYU vs. Arizona, Sam Boyd Stadium, Dec. 20, 6 p.m. ESPN
