Now before you go scoffing me for talking about volleyball, hear me out. For those who did not know, the 6-0 BYU Men's Volleyball team is currently ranked #2 in the nation, only behind UC-Irvine. Coming off of wins over the likes of: Former Nat'l Champs UCLA, Stanford, and Cal-Baptist.

BYU boasts several players from outside the U.S. Native countries include: Cuba, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, and Idaho (kidding of course).

One of the players to watch is Yosleyder Cala (pictured above), who is a devestatingly dangerous Outside Hitter. Originally from Cuba, he moved to the U.S. to play Volleyball while attending college. He is often regarded as one of the best Volleyball players in the country, thus, a big asset to BYU.

While it is not too widely known, BYU Volleyball is one of the most successful programs that BYU offers. They have won 3 National Championships in the past decade, and I think it is time to add another banner into the rafters of the Smith Fieldhouse.

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ESPN is reporting that Oregon offensive coordinator and former BYU Head Coach, Gary Crowton is heading to LSU to take over the Offensive Coordinator spot left vacant by Jimbo Fisher.

Crowton leaves Oregon after only two seasons in Eugene. In 2006, Crowton had the Ducks ranked #9 in Total Offense in the country with 422.85 yards per game, and that was with inconsistent Quarterback play. His final game with the Ducks was against BYU in the Las Vegas Bowl where the Ducks were destroyed 38-8.

Les Miles and the LSU fan are getting a great offensive coach to run their offense. With LSU's talent on offense don't be surprised if LSU is one of the best offenses in the nation next year under Crowton. Good hire.

--Mitch

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Well were back from the holiday break.  Things were busy so we will be back to full posting now that conference hoops will get underway, and Letter of Intent day just a little over a month away and Provo Pride will be covering all the details.

Here's some of the news and notes from the past week that took place.

 Snow JC Quarterback Cade Cooper has commmitted to BYU.  He will be a preferred walk-on in the Spring and will receive a scholarship in the Fall.

 BYU Basketball has now upped their record to 10-4 after four straight victories at home, three of which came in the BYU Holiday Classic.  Keena Young had a 21 point, 16 rebound game against Oral Roberts.  Young is really elevating his game this season and becoming the premiere player.  The next game is Saturday to open up Mountain West play against San Diego State.

 The Mountain West finished 3-1 in bowl games this season with the lone loss coming in the New Mexico Bowl where New Mexico lost to San Jose State...at home!  Utah beat Tulsa, 25 to 13 in the Armed Forces Bowl.  A good year for the MWC, but all the bowls are already a distant memory with all being before Christmas.

Go Cougars!

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Have a Merry Christmas everyone!  Will resume to posting on Tuesday.  But until then enjoy the holiday!

Click For Full Size
Provided by Utefans.net (Yeah go figure)

Trivia Question:  How many times has BYU Football played on Christmas Day?  If they have what bowl, and who did they play?
Post your responses in the comments

Go Cougars!

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Like many of the other SBNation blogs, I have finally decided to turn off the Annonymous Comments.  There were too many spam comments cluttering the stories.

So if you want to make a comment you need to sign up for a free account.  Sorry for the inconvenience.

--Mitch

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Just want to wish everyone a Happy and safe Thanksgiving, and be thankful for the fact that we have Mendenhall and not "Best QBs in the Nation" Whittingham as our Head Coach, its a great feeling to say the least. And we will be thankful after a big Cougar victory at LES Jr.

Go Cougars!

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As if John Beck didn't need any more recognition, although it is always appreciated by us fans.

Beck was named a Semi-Finalist for the Davey O'Brien Award, that honors the nation's top college quarterback. Other Semi-Finalists include Chris Leak-Florida, Brady Quinn-Notre Dame, Troy Smith-Ohio State, and several more of the nations most recognized QB's.

Last year, the award went to the Texas phenom, Vince Young. Hopefully, if all goes well it can be John Beck taking home the hardware. Congratulations, John.

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Earlier this evening, during BYU's match-up with Colorado State. Fui Vakapuna scored a touchdown by making a leaping hurdle, landing on a CSU defender and getting back up to run into the end zone. After the play was reviewed by officials, it was confirmed that he was never down.

At around 10 o'clock this evening during SportsCenter's "Top 10 Plays", Vakapuna's hurdling TD run was featured at number four on the list. While this will probably not help the ratings cause too much, it is good to see BYU get some national attention.

Congratulations to Fui and BYU on getting that score, and getting the 6th straight win.

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The Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award

John Beck continues to build some attention around the nation for his outstanding play this season. Beck who has a 70.8% completion rate thus far was named a Unitas Golden Arm Award finalist, for the best Senior Quarterback in College Football.

Along with Beck up for the award is Brady Quinn (Notre Dame), Troy Smith (Ohio State), Kevin Kolb (Houston), and Drew Stanton (Michigan State).

It will take a lot for Beck to earn the award over those guys simply because those players, Quinn and Smith in particular have the names. But when it comes to overall production at a high level Beck is by far better than the other four. Hopefully this is just one of many more nominations for Beck to earn hardware this season.

Last year, Matt Leinart took home the award.

Full Story

--MH--

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To Cougar fans everywhere have a safe and fun Halloween from Provo Pride!

Here is how BYU has fared in games on Halloween in the history of the program.

1936.  @ Utah  L 0-13
      
1953.  @ Wyoming  L 0-27
      
1959.  Utah State  W 18-0
      
1964.  Utah State  W 28-14
      
1970.  Wyoming  W 23-3
      
1981.  New Mexico  W 31-7
      
1987.  Air Force  W 24-13
      
1991.  @ Colorado State  W 40-17
      
1992.  Penn St.  W 30-17

--MH--

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Slowly but surely, BYU is starting to get the national attention that they deserve. After John Beck wins National Player of the Week, and yet another convincing win, BYU goes up one spot in the AP poll. But the USA Today coaches poll shows the Cougars in the same spot as they were last week.

But maybe it is a good thing that they haven't received too much national attention. While they do deserve it, it would probably act more like a distraction. Maybe that is just me rationalizing, but BYU nonetheless has done an amazing job so far this season and should keep it going all the way 'til the end of the season.

1.   Ohio State (63) 9-0
   
2.   Michigan 9-0
   
3.  West Virginia (2) 7-0
   
4.   Texas 8-1
   
5.   Louisville 7-0
   
6.   Auburn 8-1
   
7.   Florida 7-1
   
8.   Tennessee 7-1
   
9.   USC 6-1
   
10.   California 7-1
    
11.   Notre Dame 7-1
    
12.   Arkansas 7-1
    
13.   LSU 6-2
    
14.   Boise State 8-0
    
15.   Rutgers 7-0
    
16.   Boston College 7-1
    
17.   Wisconsin 8-1
    
18.   Oklahoma 6-2  
    
19.   Clemson 7-2  
    
20.   Georgia Tech 6-2
    
21.   Texas A&M 8-1  
    
22.   Wake Forest 7-1
    
23.   Virginia Tech 6-2
    
24.   Oregon 6-2  
    
25.   Washington State 6-3  
    
    

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I will be blogging my trip to the Air Force game and back in the diaries section. Check back frequently it will be updated often.

Go Cougars! Ground the Falcons!

--MH--

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