Following his team’s loss to the BYU Cougars on Saturday night in what was a homecoming of sorts, Virginia Cavaliers head coach Bronco Mendenhall addressed the media.
A number of the questions he was asked centered on his team’s performance, but he was also asked about BYU some and even offered some unprompted thoughts about the Cougars at times, mostly about their physicality.
Here’s what Mendenhall had to say about BYU specifically.
On BYU winning the turnover battle 3-0:
“We ended up turning the ball over three times. I don’t think BYU did. They executed really well. Our offense was executing really, really well, and that ended up being the difference in a game like this where not many defensive stops were happening.”
“Hard to say what for sure would have happened, but that’s three chances for them to get the ball…(BYU) earned it, right, so it’s not accidental, so I give them credit for that, but ultimately, they either make the other team punt or you take the ball away or you do a field goal, and the three turnovers certainly matters.”
On the reception he got at LaVell Edwards Stadium:
“I’m thankful for the personal reception in my return to BYU and the fans and for that acknowledgement. I’m grateful and appreciative. BYU is a good football team. Excited about their future. I’m also excited about ours.”
On BYU’s physicality and offensive success:
“They’re very physical. We seldom had anyone beating them and making a tackle, and if we did have an unblocked player, the running back, No. 25, was either running over, through, around… and then the more players that were acknowledging or playing the run.. their matchups on the outside, (the Cougars) were effective throwing the ball downfield and catching even into coverage, and so really not many matchups, not many one-on-ones anywhere for our defense tonight…their offensive players, they did a nice job.”
“BYU was the more physical team, and they made more plays really any time they needed to, and ultimately, not being able to play the run effectively made it really difficult to add enough coverage to handle the wideouts, and they they made some plays..unblocked players trying to tackle (Allgeier), he made a difference and ran really, really well.”
“Their running back I think is exceptional, and their offense is run.. I think it’s really physical, and they had a really good plan. In my opinion, that’s the most physical team we’ve played the entire year, and it showed in us not getting off blocks, not making tackles and certainly not tackling backwards.”
