PROVO — Beau Hoge's father, Merril Hoge, made a living out of breaking down football, and how individual players performed, when working as an analyst for ESPN for almost 20 years. But when his son got through with his first collegiate start in a 40-6 loss to Wisconsin, Merril decided to put any type of analysis aside.
Beau was down, along with the rest of his team, due to the lopsided result, with Merril understanding all of it completely.
“He turned into a dad, at that point,” Beau Hoge said. “He wasn’t critical or anything. He was just happy for me.”

Prior to the game, Beau describes his father as being a bit more worked up, saying, “He was more nervous before the game than I was, but he does a good job. He tries to build me up and things of that nature."
Beau Hoge has since poured over film of his performance against the Badgers, using the bye week to improve as much as possible if called upon to start again in place of Tanner Mangum.
“Not the best. Obviously there’s some good and some bad. I just have to learn from it and get better,” he said. “I wish I would have played better, obviously, and given us a better chance to win. But you just move on from it now.”
MANGUM HOPING TO HELP: Although Mangum may be out for a while longer with his apparent leg injury, he's been mindful to help his backup as much as possible.
“Tanner’s awesome. He’s one of my best friends, so he’s been there every step of the way,” Hoge said. “We talk every day, watch film and things of that nature, so he’s been a big support for me.”
Beau Hoge also stated that former BYU quarterback Taysom Hill has also been in contact, offering his help.
The severity of Mangum's injury hasn't been disclosed by BYU coaches, although it appears likely Beau Hoge will again get the starting nod Saturday when the Cougars play Utah State in Logan.
BYE WEEK FOCUS: Much has been made of how BYU spent its bye week and what improvements the team will make, moving forward. According to Beau Hoge, a big focus is on what he, and the rest of the team, can do during time away from practices and team meetings.
“There’s a lot more that we can do individually, from extra time in the weight room, extra time in film room — things of that nature that will help correlate into what we want to put on the field,” he said.
The hope is to gain more consistency on offense, with Beau Hoge stating, "It starts with me."
One area of individual improvement Beau Hoge hopes to make is knowing when to try and make a play, as opposed to when to just pack it in. The 6-foot-1, 210-pound quarterback came to BYU with an ability to run the football effectively, and while he's shown the ability to make solid rushing plays, at other times that same rushing ability has led to mistakes.
“I had some plays against Wisconsin where I was trying to do a little too much with my legs,” he said. “You just have to know when to say, ‘die.’ But then there’s plays I made that were helpful to the team. I just have to be smart about it.”
Email: bgurney@desnews.com
Twitter: @BrandonCGurney