Provo • Beads of sweat formed on quarterback Beau Hoge’s brow late Tuesday morning, although BYU’s football practice had concluded nearly a half hour earlier. The redshirt sophomore met with reporters for the first time since his rocky performance against No. 10 Wisconsin 10 days ago.
“Obviously, I wasn’t totally calm. I was a little anxious about it,” Hoge said, talking about his nerves before his first college start and not about standing in front of a horde of media members and television cameras assembled at the Student Athlete Building.
“I think that [nervousness] showed on the first throw [an interception]. But obviously once I got out there after the first drive, I kinda settled in and felt better about it.”
Neither Hoge nor offensive coordinator Ty Detmer would acknowledge Tuesday that Hoge will start Friday for the second straight game in place of the injured Tanner Mangum, but it is obviously the plan, to borrow the Kentucky native’s most oft-used word. The Cougars kick off at Utah State at 6 p.m. (CBS Sports Network)
After throwing that opening-drive pick, Hoge was 11 of 19 for 111 yards and intercepted twice against the Badgers. He didn’t manage to get the Cougars in the end zone, the first time since 2005 that BYU failed to score a touchdown at home.
“Not the best, obviously,” Hoge said about his performance. “There is some good and there is some bad. You just gotta learn from it and get better. Obviously I wish I would have played better, given us a chance to win. But you got to move on from it now.”
BYU AT UTAH STATE <br>Where • Maverik Stadium, Logan <br>When • 6 p.m. Friday <br>TV • CBS Sports Network
With Hoge at the helm, the Cougars went entirely out of the shotgun or pistol formations and ran more zone read plays to take advantage of his threat as a runner. That will continue, he said, although he was careful not to talk as if getting the start Friday is a done deal.
“Ty does things that are comfortable for me and comfortable for Tanner,” Hoge said. “He kinda plays to our strengths. … So I am hoping that translates over to this week, if I am needed.”
Hoge said his father, ESPN NFL analyst Merril Hoge, was a supportive dad and not a critic after the game.
“I think he was more nervous before the game than I was,” Beau Hoge said. “He does a good job. He tries to build me up and things of that nature. … He was just proud of me. He wasn’t critical or anything like that. He said, ‘Good experience. You gotta learn from it and get better.’”
Better after bye week
Mangum wasn’t the only starter who missed the Wisconsin game with a bum ankle. Free safety Zayne Anderson warmed up on a gimpy ankle but decided after consulting with trainers that he couldn’t go against the Badgers. Senior walk-on Marvin Hifo started in Anderson’s place.
“I am feeling 100 percent now,” Anderson said. “We had a bye week, which was good. Everyone is mostly healthy after the bye week.”
Anderson, a Stansbury Park product, was recruited by Utah State and knows Friday’s Battle for the Old Wagon Wheel is going to be intense.
“We are taking it just like a game against the University of Utah,” he said. “They are an instate school. They are blue-collar kids, and they have a chip on their shoulder, just like us. It is going to be a great game.”
This and that
Anderson, a track star in high school, said the three fastest players on the team are himself and receivers Beau Tanner and Jonah Trinnaman. … The game at Maverik Stadium marks the Cougars’ first true road game of the season. The last time BYU’s fifth game was its first road game was in 1979, when the Cougars also played at USU and won, 48-24, to improve to 5-0.