This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Dallas • By his own admission, BYU All-American offensive tackle Matt Reynolds hasn't always been a morning person. But times have changed.
Because kickoff time for Friday's Armed Forces Bowl is 11 a.m. locally (10 a.m. MST), the Cougars have been adjusting to playing a game that early for almost a month, Reynolds said Thursday.
"Coaches have tried to make us all morning persons," Reynolds said. "[They] had us up pretty early every morning. We have been up practicing pretty close to the time of the game every day. I think we are going to be ready. I don't think the start time will be a factor for us."
Linebacker Jameson Frazier said he hasn't played in a game starting this early since he was a young boy.
"In Little League we played about 9 a.m. It is fun, we have been practicing earlier in the day to get ready for it. I don't think anyone will have a problem getting ready for it," he said.
Coach Bronco Mendenhall said the early start time was something that was addressed and planned for shortly after the Cougars agreed to play in the Armed Forces Bowl in April.
BYU's bowl practice model
Much has made of Mendenhall's decision to not have his team practice as much as it could have in the weeks leading up to Friday's bowl game. The coach explained his bowl practice model at Thursday's news conference, without having been asked specifically about it.
"There is a routine that we've settled into in the postseason as we've matured [as a coaching staff]," he said. "Our approach is a little bit different. We don't seek to maximize every practice. We don't spend much time on young player development. Really, we follow a similar format as if we had a bye week."
The coach acknowledged that the model doesn't allow young players to show what they can do and said spring camp is the time for that.
"Really, what we sought to do and seek to do in our bowl preparation is learn as much as we can about our opponent, and get our players as healthy as possible," he said.
Ticket sales
Tulsa is just a four-hour drive from Dallas' Gerald J. Ford Stadium, so officials are expecting more Golden Hurricane supporters at Friday's game than BYU supporters.
BYU has sold about 3,100 of its allotted 5,000 tickets. A crowd of about 30,000 is expected at the 32,000-seat stadium on SMU's campus.
Briefly
Tulsa is playing its 100th game in Texas. The Golden Hurricane are 35-59-1 in the state directly south of its home state of Oklahoma. … About five BYU players grew mustaches for the bowl game, including Jameson Frazier, Zed Mendenhall and Spencer Hadley. Frazier said Hadley has the best one. … This is BYU's 30th bowl game.