BYU Football: Enduring to the End

What a great way to end the season (with a blow-out win over UTEP), especially for the seniors who had so much success their first three years and then really had to endure some challenges this season. 

Some final thoughts:

• Bronco’s closing statement: "These guys [the defense] have a special place in my heart. I made a very difficult decision eight weeks ago, or nine weeks ago. Our team was struggling, and our culture was failing. I really didn't know what else to do other than immerse myself in the coaching and lock arms with our team and try to provide an example and let them know that I was with them. To see them respond the way they have, I don't think they have played a poor game since then. There's not a player that doesn't believe in what we are doing. But more importantly, they believe in why we are doing it, which is the most gratifying part. And now to see them have a chance to play well again, and have a good bowl experience, it has been a [good experience]. That's why I keep saying, I am just really proud of this particular team." – well said Bronco.
• Over the Hill: Is Jaime Hill hirable…I mean ever again?
• Gator-Evade:  On dodging the Gatorade shower: "I am competitive, and I like the players to know that even though they think they can get me, they don't have a chance. But they ultimately came back [and got him]. I try to lead by example and have fun at the same time. I know that doesn't show from the outside, but I love this team and it is just, if I can one-up them and they try to get me and they can't, that's something I will remember on the plane ride home."
• What might have been? Firing Jaime Hill before the season and starting Heaps out of the gate?  "I think the worst thing that happened is we beat Washington in the opener with two quarterbacks. And that made me think it could work, and prolonged me ... into naming [a full time] quarterback and putting all the reps into a player. That’s hard to do when you love both players, who are so equal," Bronco continued. "But I think it hurt us at the beginning of the year, and it is no one’s fault but my own."
• Season ending slide show; check it out. http://tinyurl.com/27kgher
• The spirit of conversion: After Friday night’s fireside BYU receive a commitment from one of the top receivers in Arizona, 6-foot-4, 200-pound Josh Weeks, a junior. Weeks attends Show Low High in Show Low, Ariz., and broke six Class 3A state records for receiving last season.
• The few, the proud: BYU officials were given 5,000 tickets, and sold 2,500. UTEP sold around 4,000 tickets. Actual attendance at the 39,000-seat stadium was estimated to be around 20,000.
• The future is "blindingly bright": I’m calling my shot on the Heaps-to-Hoffman nickname for the poster they’ll be putting out their senior year: H²O

See you in Mississippi!