Running up the score

I guess UNLV head coach Mike Sanford had some hard feelings after Saturday's pasting at the hands of the my Cougars. It appears he did not want to go to midfield to shake BYU head coach, Bronco Mendenhall's hand. All of this begs the question, what, exactly, constitutes running up the score?

Against TCU and later Air Force it seemed we had the game in hand and the team and play calling seemed to be dialed back a bit. Result? TCU beat us in overtime on a controversial call and Air Force scored four 4th Quarter TDs. Fearing a repeat performance of either one of those games, Bronco wisely stuck with his gameplan--adding a little bit more of the run. If we were really trying to run up the score Curtis Brown would have gotten a lot more touches. Blame for the score should instead be laid at the feet of the UNLV offense. They turned the ball over three times and gave us great field position.

Offensive Game Ball goes this week to the offensive line. These guys could arguably have the OGB in any given week. I have long believed that an offense only goes as far as its offensive line. Inexperience and youth and other issues could largely be blamed for our offensive woes over the last three years--not, as some have claimed, the QBs. Even Matt Leinart or Brady Quinn couldn't thrown the ball with the entire defensive line in their face. A good offensive line like ours can make an all-star out of a QB--much like Maurice Stovall and Jeff Samardzija make Brady Quinn look like Heisman material and lead many people to say he's better than Matt Leinart--he's not, and Reggie Bush locked up the Heisman weeks ago. Congrats to Jake Kuresa and Co. for the most consistent, excellent play of any group on the team.

The DFG finds was intercepted by Justin Luettgerodt who intercepted his second pass in as many weeks. He of 46+ tackles, 2 INTs and 4.5 tackles for loss, should join Cameron Jensen on the All-MWC First team. After the ND game Coach Mendenhall called for a focus on making the big play and the defense has responded with 6 turnovers in the last two games. Credit the BYU defense for not giving up and improving every week.