This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Although they have a bye this week, as you can read in this Monday morning report in The Salt Lake Tribune, the BYU Cougars will have some media availability today, beginning at 11 a.m. at the football offices lobby. The Cougars had some team meetings this morning to review the 41-33 win over Virginia, but won't practice tonight. They will go Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Utah State, BYU's next opponent (on Oct. 3) will follow roughly the same plan, from what I heard coach Matt Wells say Saturday night after the Aggies lost in overtime at Arkansas State. USU also has a bye this week, so it works out nicely. Obviously, reporters will ask both coaches about their injury situations today. For BYU, expect to get an update on WR Jordan Leslie, RB Algernon Brown, DT Marques Johnson, OL De'Ondre Wesley, LB Bronson Kaufusi and WR Nick Kurtz, who might be back for the USU game after injuring his foot in fall camp. All but Kurtz are dealing with ankle injuries. As my report mentioned today, the Cougars seem to be in a solid mental state right now. They are glad to be 4-0, but know they have plenty of room to improve. "If you put on the tape from last year to this year, it is an entirely different team," quarterback Taysom Hill said. "I think the biggest thing, I would say, is our mentality. I never had a question of whether if we were going to win that football game. I saw it in the eyes of the guys on our offense, and they never questioned it either. That mentality of winning regardless, scratching, clawing, doing whatever we had to to win the football game, and we have that." Defensive back Skye PoVey also mentioned the work of mental strength coach Craig Manning after the game. "Yeah, a big part of that is we are working a lot with mental training, and focusing on the now. And that's just kind of what we do now. We focus on what we can do, and what we can control, and try not to think about the future or the past, just the present each day, and just attack each day," PoVey said. The senior said it is an "exciting time" for BYU right now as the Cougars are 4-0 for the first time since 2008. "I think there is a lot of excitement around here," PoVey said. "We come the night before the game, we come to the stadium to do a walkthrough, and there are like hundreds of students out there. And I have never seen it like that since I have been here. So I think there is more excitement, and obviously every time we win it builds a little more. And so I think to keep that excitement rolling, we have to keep getting wins."