BYU wide receiver Andy Boyce, a senior from Olympus High School in Salt Lake, has been around the Cougar football program long enough to know that 90 seconds is a long time.
"A minute and a half is plenty of time for us to score," he said after last Saturday's win over Washington State. "When Washington State had the ball and was driving to tie up the game in the fourth quarter I looked up at the clock and saw there were three minutes to play. I said, `just let them score, we can get it back.' " Washington State scored with 3:57 remaining to tie the game at 36-36.Three minutes later, the Cougars had scored two touchdowns and had their final 50-36 edge.
ADD BYU: With only seven points in the first half against Washington State, it was obvious the Cougars had come down from their level the week before against top-ranked Miami.
The team wasn't alone in seeing the WSU game as less than Miami. In the press box, they served hoagie sandwiches and ice cream sandwiches. The week before against Miami the menu featured barbecued chicken breasts and Haagen Daaz ice cream bars.
REDNECKS IN TOKYO: According to the Los Angeles Times, more than 300 Atlantans flew to Tokyo this week at their own expense to be a part of Atlanta's bid for the 1996 Olympic Games.
Those Atlantans making the official bid were happy to have their fellow southerners there . . . sort of.
"Atlanta officials, aware of the potential for embarrassment, told the supporters, no matter how well-meaning they might be, to stay clear of International Olympic Committee members," said the Times.
The strategy worked. Atlanta got the bid.
TOP 100: The October issue of Sport Magazine lists 100 of the best performers in sports. At least five on the list have Utah ties.
San Diego Padres pitcher Bruce Hurst, of St. George, is listed as the pitcher with The Best Pickoff Move. Here's Sport's description of his move to first base: "Hurst starts with his 'bad' move, looking right at the runner before soft-tossing over. He next peers sideways from a set position and throws over slightly harder. He'll repeat the process again and again. Then, with the runner half asleep, Hurst finally pulls out The Move. Zing! It's over in a second. The runner, frozen, dies a quick but embarrassing death."
Also making the list: Former BYU and current San Francisco 49er quarterback Steve Young as The Best Backup Quarterback in Football, Utah Jazz guard John Stockton as The Best Playmaking Guard Who's Not Named Magic, Utah Jazz forward Karl Malone as The Best Body in the NBA, and the Holiday Bowl as The Best College Bowl Game.
Of the Holiday Bowl, where BYU has played eight times, the magazine says, "Only four times in Holiday Bowl history have the two teams involved combined to score fewer than 40 points, yet there's only been one bona fide blowout . . . no other bowl can match the Holiday's total of six games decided by three points or less in the last 12 years."
DO AS I DID: Fourteen-time NFL pro bowler Merlin Olsen is not impressed with modern college football programs that don't emphasize a well-rounded education.
"It's very sad to me that so many schools discourage athletes from participating in other activities," says Olsen in this month's issue of Touchdown Illustrated. "They just recruit them to play football and it really bugs me because college has so much more to offer. That sort of emphasis is resulting in a whole generation of one-dimensional people."
Before moving on to his Hall of Fame career with the Los Angeles Rams, Olsen did the following at Utah State University: He was the school's first consensus All-America, he won the Outland Trophy as the nation's best lineman, he was a first team academic All-America, he was commander of the campus ROTC unit, he was class president, he accumulated a 3.64 grade point average, he earned a Phi Beta Kappa key, he graduated summa cum laude, and he was named the school's top business student.