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Provo • Several starters will sit out on Saturday when the BYU football team takes on winless Wagner at LaVell Edwards Stadium, but nicked-up freshman quarterback Tanner Mangum won't be one of them.
Coach Bronco Mendenhall said Monday that Mangum, who has a pulled hamstring injury, will probably start and will play as long as he is needed to against the 0-6 Seahawks, a team from the lower-division Football Championship Subdivision that has scored a grand total of 23 points in its past three games against the likes of Robert Morris, Columbia and Saint Francis of Pennsylvania.
"I think that we will all do the very best we can to play the best game possible, and the same would be [said] for our quarterback," Mendenhall said, after calling Mangum 70-80 percent healthy in last Friday's 38-24 win over Cincinnati. "We will make the decisions as the game goes, based on how it goes, but I don't intend to give him a play off, or a day off, or a week off. I intend to help him get better, if possible. And then we will just manage the game as we see it."
Mangum said the hamstring injury he suffered on Oct. 10 against East Carolina felt "a lot better" on Monday and that he plans to play as much as necessary on Saturday.
"During the [Cincy] game, it got the job done," he said. "The first half I was thinking about it a little too much. I was a little worried and was playing a little tentatively. The second half I realized I didn't need to worry about it as much and I could just play, and that helped me play better."
Mangum completed just 5 of 15 passes in the first half against the Bearcats. After loosening up, he went 14 of 17 for 172 yards and two touchdowns in the second.
The game against one of the worst teams in the FCS — let alone the Football Bowl Subdivision to which BYU belongs — comes at a good time for Mendenhall's team, which he acknowledged is battered and bruised after seven physical games. He said the list of injured players is "pretty long," but didn't divulge names.
Three starting offensive linemen — Ului Lapuaho, Ryker Mathews and Kyle Johnson — aren't even listed on this week's projected depth chart, and likely won't play. Lapuaho missed the UC game with a high ankle sprain. Fullback Toloa'i Ho Ching also didn't play, while Mathews and Johnson were injured during the game. Punt returner Garrett Juergens, running back Riley Burt and tight end Bryan Sampson also left the game with injuries.
Running back Adam Hine is still out with an ankle injury but should be back for the San Jose State game on Nov. 6. The Cougars (5-2) have a bye next week.
"We have played a really tough early season schedule," Mendenhall said. "What I have learned is depth is really important when you play that kind of schedule. And having quality players, and enough of them, is important. This has been kind of the tipping point of numbers of injuries that have finally accumulated, and so yeah, the bye after this game will be helpful."
Playing Wagner will be as close to a bye as a team can get, but neither Mendenhall nor players such as Mangum, Bronson Kaufusi and Tejan Koroma would acknowledge the mindset changes this week in their preparation.
"The message from coaches [Monday morning] was that we have to improve with the game this week," Kaufusi said. "We're going to play a game. We need to go out and execute and get better, day by day, and that's what we intend to do."
Mangum said getting off to a better start will be a big focus this week, after the Cougars fell behind ECU 14-0 and Cincinnati 17-3 in successive weeks.
"We don't want to just be a second-half team or a fourth-quarter team," he said. "We want to be a four-quarter team."
The Cougars' strength of schedule will plummet from the 13th most-difficult in the country, but Mendenhall said it will be worth it because BYU had to add Wagner (and drop or postpone games against UNLV and Idaho State) to get the game against Missouri on Nov. 14 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City on the schedule.
"To have an SEC opponent late in the year, I think it matters, and so, man, a lot of unique movement had to happen," Mendenhall said. "I think it's worthwhile. Talk to me in a couple of weeks and I might change my mind, but right now it seems like a good idea."
Twitter: @drewjay —
BYU's remaining schedule
Saturday • Wagner, 1 p.m. (BYUtv)
Nov. 6 • at San Jose St., 9:30 p.m. MT
Nov. 14 • vs. Missouri at Kansas City, Mo., TBA
Nov. 21 • Fresno St., TBA
Nov. 28 • at Utah St., 1:30 p.m. MT