Utah football coach Ron McBride practically begged someone to ask him why he'd been 15 minutes late to the first regular-season Big Five Huddle of the season at the Red Lion Tuesday. Probably nobody noticed he was late, but somebody played straight man and asked anyway.
"I had to go down to Capitol Records, you know, and there was a long line for LaVell's rap music," said McBride, out of control like Bill Murray on Letterman. (No, he didn't spray-paint "LaVell" across the front of the podium, but probably only because he wanted so much to have BYU coach LaVell Edwards sing the Cougar Rap song live and couldn't spot him in the audience.)Edwards finally returned to the room, and, when he said he couldn't remember the words, McBride unwrapped the tape he'd bought and got the song played over a tape recorder into a microphone.
It's no Super Bowl Shuffle, but Jim McMahon will always be a bit punkier than his former coach, don't you think?
With only about three practices left before starting the 1993 football season, the state's Big Five coaches didn't have much talk left in them.
Southern Utah moves up to Division I-AA, Weber plays for the first time since forever without Jamie Martin, Brigham Young, Utah and Utah State all open on the road. Some guys are hurt, some guys are out, some guys are all better.
It was the last of the Big Five luncheons for outgoing USU sports information director Craig Hislop, who today started his new job with USU Information Services and KUSU-FM after 22 years with Aggie athletics. "We're going to miss Craig not being our sports information director, and I appreciate all he's done for myself and our team," said USU coach Charlie Weatherbie.
This week's season openers:
Brigham Young at New Mexico, 6 p.m. MDT - Edwards says he's glad two-a-days are over and the Cougars will soon play a game, though he's not particularly pleased it's a WAC game already. The Cougs have a number of injuries, and Edwards said he wasn't sure about the status of all of them. RB Kalin Hall (ankle sprain) will travel but is a question; DL Matt Redden, DT Justin Yarro, DB Kyle Roberts probably won't play.
New Mexico impressed Edwards last year when it was still playing hard and well late in the season. Now with a coaching staff in its second season, Edwards says Dennis Franchione, "has set the tone, laid the groundwork, to develop a very good program."
Utah State at Southwestern Louisiana, 6 p.m. MDT - It's only the third time since USU joined the Big West (formerly the PCAA) that it's opened with a league game, and the Aggies have won the others. An experienced USU team will have to depend upon an all-new kicking game. Weatherbie said Micah Knorr has likely won the battle for placekicking, while RS freshman Nathan Morreale and sophomore Todd Wilson are still fighting for the punting.
QB Anthony Calvillo, LB Jermaine Younger, OC Warren Bowers and SS Michael Coe have been chosen team captains. All are seniors.
Sonoma State at Weber State, 6:05 p.m. MDT - It's been Rob Westervelt's team for, oh, almost five days now. He's the one who takes over at A-J-M-QB (After-Jamie-Martin-Quarterback). His first assignment is Division II Sonoma State, the Fighting Cossacks of Rohnert Park, Calif. They were 7-3 last season but have a new coaching staff and lost their top nine tacklers to graduation. The Cossacks are going with a lot of junior college transfers - some Weber tried to recruit.
Coach Dave Arslanian says his Wildcats are "a little bit faster, a little bit stronger than we've ever been" because of recruiting and weight training.
Northern Arizona at Southern Utah, 7 p.m. MDT - It's only the third time SUU has ever hosted a I-AA team, and the T-Birds are 0-1-1 against them. SUU defeated NAU 20-17 last season.
Coach Jack Bishop says SUU got through preseason practices with no injuries of note. "Our team got a lot done in training camp," he says. He's called it one of the T-Birds' best. The defense is ahead of that potent offense so far, Bishop says.
Utah at Arizona State, 7:05 p.m. MDT - McBride says he thought he was relieved to be back from Camp Carbon until the Utes practiced Monday, their only bad practice of the preseason. McBride says he wanted to load them back on the buses for Price.
Biggest problems for the Utes are in the offensive front and linebacker. Starting left tackle Brian Berger (pre-camp ankle sprain) is still iffy. The Utes, McBride says, aren't where they want to be, "but I think we're getting closer."