Las Vegas » Standing in the tunnel in the southeast corner of LaVell Edwards Stadium, BYU's Max Hall was so nervous the first day of September 2007 that he almost lost his breakfast. He couldn't even throw a spiral during warmups as he prepared for his first start as a college quarterback, and when former BYU players such as Todd Shell told him they were counting on him, the butterflies in his stomach felt like seagulls, he says.

The opponent will be the same in Saturday's Las Vegas Bowl -- Arizona State born-and-bred, Hall grew up learning to hate the Arizona Wildcats -- but his emotions are altogether different now.

He's part angry, part disgusted and part humbled. Most of all, he's wholly determined to make amends for that awful showing in his last college start, when he was intercepted five times and fumbled the ball on a potential go-ahead drive in that 48-24 loss at Utah.

Max Hall is on a quest for redemption.

"I just think I am hungry," he said. "I am anxious. I have a sense of urgency to get back on the field and to play well."

Said Hall's best friend on the team, Austin Collie: "Max is as focused as I've ever seen him. You can see it in his eyes."

Coach Bronco Mendenhall said it didn't take long for Hall to cleanse the Utah game from his memory and start looking forward.

"I think he shook it off from the very moment we started back [practicing]," Mendenhall said. "Max wasn't the only one that didn't play to his full potential in that game. He was the most visible. But I don't have any concerns about him responding in a positive way."

True redemption for Hall might not come until next year's game against Utah at LaVell Edwards Stadium, but he acknowledged Monday that a strong game against Arizona -- and a win -- will put him on the right track.

He can become only the second QB in BYU history to win two bowl games, matching Jim McMahon's feat in 1980 and 1981, and he can give his 2009 Heisman Trophy bid a jump-start -- after his run for 2008's trophy crashed and burned at TCU -- by leading the Cougars to a win in the ESPN-televised game (6 p.m. MT).

"You know, after my showing versus Utah, obviously, I was glad that I had another chance to come out and play because that would be tough to end a season on a performance like that, and have to think about it the whole offseason, and so hopefully maybe winning this game can maybe ease that burden a little bit and help me regroup and learn from my mistakes a little bit and help me get ready for next year," he said.

In last year's Las Vegas Bowl, Hall was 21-for-35 for 231 yards and two touchdowns and did not throw an interception.

"I think I am going to be the most prepared I have ever been for a game, for this [2008] game," he said. "I am going to make sure I am ready to play."

As did Mendenhall, BYU offensive coordinator Robert Anae said Hall took too much of the blame after the Utah loss. Anae said that in the three or four practices BYU has held since then, Hall has been as sharp as he has been all season.

"He's the quarterback," Anae said. "When the offense doesn't produce, that's where the blame rests. But from a coach's perspective, we can all learn from our loss to Utah, that ending loss, and get better. And that's all we are asking for."

Hall knows that if he does not play well in the Las Vegas Bowl, in a two-month stretch (from the TCU loss until now) he will have gone from possibly the winningest quarterback in school history (by percentage) to just another player who couldn't get the Cougars over the hump against a quality opponent. Arizona (7-5) is not ranked, but the Wildcats are three-point favorites over the No. 17 Cougars.

Hall is 21-4 as a starter, but he has given up 14 turnovers in the four losses.

"Obviously [the Utah loss] hurt, and that night kinda sucked, and we just have to get over it," he said. "On Monday we came back and watched the film, and after watching the film -- this might sound weird -- I actually felt better because I realized we are a lot better team than how we played, and I realized there are a lot of things we could have done differently.

"And so in a sense I was happy to see that there's room for improvement, and a lot of potential for our football team and me to grow. I've got a long ways to go to be as good as I want to be."

drew@sltrib.com