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News and Notes:
Doman: “I look up above my head and I see this sign that says, ESPN 960 with Ben Criddle.”
Doman: “You used to be that guy who was singing at the end of the year football banquet.”
Criddle: “Fans don’t listen to me for entertainment, they listen for content.”
Criddle: “Fans love hearing from former BYU players, the legends who were there in the past.”
Doman: “There are definitely a lot of BYU fans out there and they are very passionate.”
Doman: “The Big 12 isn’t going to reach their pinnacle if they don’t have a conference championship game.”
Doman: “I think that the Big 12 will have to go to twelve teams and the market that BYU brings makes them a great addition.”
Doman: “There were so many rumors going on in the football office when I was there.”
Doman: “We would be sitting in the office and someone would come in and say, ‘We’re joining the Big 12, it’s happening tomorrow!'”
Doman: “About 5 or 6 times people came in and said, ‘I know a huge booster at BYU and he said it’s going to happen.’ or, ‘I know a lawyer for the search and they said it was signed.'”
Doman: “We thought the Pac 12 would go to 16 teams and that would give BYU an opportunity to go to the Big 12.”
Criddle: “Dustin Rykert was on the best BYU OL of all time and where does the best OL play? LT.”
How We See It:
Twestion: Where does the 2001 BYU football team rank all-time among the best teams in BYU history?
Doman: “My all-time favorite BYU QB is Jim McMahon, followed by Steve Young, then they won a national championship. I think 81, 83, and 84 have to be in the top 5.”
Doman: “I don’t know that anyone has won 14 games in a season and outside of that loss to Washington they were great.”
Doman: “My junior and senior year we won 14 games in a row and that was a lot of games.”
Doman: “We had Hans Olsen, Justin Ena, Luke Staley, Dustin Rykert, Reno Mahe, we had like 15-20 guys who played in the NFL.”
Criddle: “I think that 2001 has to be up there. I have to give that opinion.”
Criddle: “If it weren’t for injuries late in the season, who knows what would’ve happened.”
Criddle: “If I were to rank them it would be like 1984, 1983, 2001, 1996, 1980.”
Criddle: “I dropped two interceptions against Matt Ryan and I still have bad dreams about that loss.”
Criddle: “Tulsa’s offense was so good that year because Gus Malzahn was the OC.”
Doman: “I think the 2006 and 2007 teams have to be right there as well.”
Doman: “The Fiesta Bowl was right there at the Mississippi State game to invite us to play against Oregon down in Arizona.”
Doman: “One injury happened and we kind of limped to the finish line with me getting hurt and then Reno.”
4:30 Segment
Criddle: “I remember being a walk-on singing the scout team song and Bronco wasn’t too happy about it and the first person to come up to me after was LaVell and he told me that this was such a great song.”
Criddle: “Brandon coached two of the greatest to ever come through BYU in Max Hall and John Beck.”
Doman: “I should’ve never allowed that play to get off and it was an unbelievable set of circumstances. It was completely our fault.”
Doman: “Rarely is it okay for him to lower his shoulder and take a safety on. He got away with it for years and I think it’s time for him to stop doing that.”
Doman: “Taysom was very lucky in that first injury because there was no structural or injury damage.”
Doman: “There’s a reason we have 15 yard penalties for collar tackles and that is why.”
Doman: “I ran Riley way too much and it ended up hurting him.”
Doman: “I think that Jamaal and Algernon need to get more touches and they need to move away from letting Taysom run all the time.”
Doman: “I think you can find other ways to get 5 or 6 yards instead of letting Taysom just take care of it.”
Criddle: “I love watching Taysom score touchdowns but against Texas where he took on the NT and the DE and I was excited but kind of like ooohh.”
Doman: “I got a phone call from Steve Young after the second game of my senior season and he told me to go and get out of bounds or get down so I don’t get hurt.”
Jake Trotter Interview:
Trotter: “A lot of movement is going to happen before the GOR contracts are up.”
Trotter: “I think we are still a ways away from the third round of realignment, but it is going to happen.”
Trotter: “The Big 12 needs to position themselves so they aren’t vulnerable when it happens.”
Trotter: “Among the P5 conferences, I could see realignment between 2020 and 2022.”
Trotter: “The Big 12 would be able to add the conference championship game the soonest in 2016.”
Trotter: “I think they want to see a bigger sample size to see what this era of college football is really like.”
Trotter: “If we’re talking about expansion, I think that Texas and Oklahoma hold the most cards and maybe Oklahoma more so because Texas is stuck because of the Longhorn Network.”
Trotter: “Oklahoma is a little more flexible because they aren’t tied down. They could go to the SEC, Pac 12, or the B1G.”
Trotter: “If the Big 12 were to implode, I don’t think that Iowa State, Texas Tech, or Kansas State would land anywhere.”
Trotter: “The Big 12 is the most vulnerable conference and they need to do what they can to shore up so they can stick around.”
Trotter: “BYU was being discussed around the time that they added TCU and West Virginia.”
Trotter: “I think that proximity was an issue, I think that Sunday play could be an issue for olympic sports.”
Trotter: “I think that BYU rubbed some people in the Big 12 the wrong way and made them believe they were hard to work with.”
Trotter: “BYU has some ground to make up in rebuilding those relationships so they can have a foot in the door when it comes time to expand.”
Trotter: “The thing with BYUTV is that the Big 12 is the only conference that each individual school can have their own TV rights.”
Trotter: “BYU has the best football program among those not affiliated with a P5 conference.”
Trotter: “With their following, the international fan base, they bring the most to the table.”
Trotter: “I think that the one negative is location and the distance between Morgantown and Provo.”
Trotter: “If Oklahoma wanted to go to SEC around the same time A&M went, they had a spot.”
Trotter: “Oklahoma wants to make the Big 12 work because of the relationships they have with Oklahoma State and Texas.”
Trotter: “All of this talk is football driven, basketball matters a little bit but football is what brings tv revenue.”
Doman: “Let’s say we get to 2022, and there’s a lot of movement. What do you think is the best case scenario? Is it having 16 team leagues?”
Trotter: “I think the B1G is the most likely to move to 16 teams with how aggressive they’ve been in adding teams.”
Trotter: “I think the B1G and the SEC will be influenced to add teams because of revenue.”
Trotter: “I think there have been some positives in CFB but look at Texas and A&M’s relationship where it’s been deregulated to taking jabs at each other over twitter.”
5:30 Segment:
Doman: “I tell employees that if I have problems and they are coming to me to solve them they aren’t valuable to me. If they are solving problems then they are valuable.”
Doman: “I had some wonderful opportunities to go and coach elsewhere but I decided it wasn’t for me.”
Doman: “The biggest thing in the coaching profession is that there are coaches out there who feel like they still have something left to prove instead of doing it because they love it.”
Dustin Rykert Interview:
Doman: “It feels good to hear your voice. I know that I am safe when I hear your voice.”
Doman: “Some DL or LB would come get in my face and next thing you know this 6’7″ guy would get in their face.”
Doman: “Before every game opposing coaches would go to the referee and say that the LT would club the opposing DE on the head and Mississippi State’s HC about lost it.”
Rykert: “We came from different backgrounds, but when we came together we were really a band of brothers.”
Rykert: “It wasn’t the brothers hanging out, the poly’s hanging out, the white guys hanging out. It was a good group of guys just hanging out with each other.”
Rykert: “If someone was looking to get in trouble we had some guys who would look out for their teammates.”
Rykert: “We didn’t mean to run up the score, but we’d try and run some time off the clock and give the ball to Luke Staley and he would take it to the house.”
Doman: “There’s no doubt in my mind that you guys weren’t the best OL in the country that year and the best OL in BYU history.”
Rykert: “Losing Luke at the end was tough. But I think if we would’ve pulled off the win against Louisville in the Memphis bowl we could have a better argument.”
Rykert: “We had been practicing that play for 6 weeks.”
Rykert: “Jordan Gross ran that play against us and I was standing next to Gary and he said that we could run that.”
Reno Mahe Interview:
Mahe: “I had 91 catches in that 2001 season.”
Doman: “I had the freedom to look out there every play and see that he was matched up one-on-one.”
Rykert: “Reno was so shifty, you never knew which way he was going to go.”
Mahe: “I don’t know what kind of OL we had back in the 80’s and 90’s but the guys I played with were nasty.”
Mahe: “It’s tough because BYU is behind the 8 ball when it comes to bringing in the kind of kids that can come to BYU.”
Mahe: “BYU is doing a great job getting better games for their team to play.”
Mahe: “BYU wants to produce good people, not just good football players.”
Doman: “I think BYU can get NFL guys again, but they’re missing them unfortunately.”
Mahe: “I think it’s harder for BYU to get these diamonds in the rough because they’re being recruited elsewhere.”
Mahe: “BYU is what saved me and led me to where I’m at today. I needed BYU more than BYU needed me.”
Doman: “Rob Morris hated me and I hated him and we went out there everyday and fought for the opportunity to start.”
Rykert: “The tradition that LaVell started was still there when we played.”
Rykert: “I don’t know if it was self-conscious but I wanted to go out there and perform for Coach French.”
Mahe: “I’m doing this physical therapy for players who played in the NFL. They’re taking care of my ankle through a week of PT.”
Mahe: “I think we have the number one output of offense ever for that team. I’m going to drop the mic and walk away.”
Mahe: “Bryan can argue with that all he wants, he may say there’s no defense but a lot of guys went and spent some time in the NFL.”
Mahe: “Your team may have been better in college, but my boys made it happen in the NFL.”
Random Thoughts
Rykert: “We had such a great group of guys.”
Criddle: “How do you think BYU can add value to former players?”
