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		AUDIO/VIDEO Kevin Feterik' s tosses the game-winning TD with 1:16 left in the game. avi: 988 k RealVideo: 56.6 \| ISDN \| T1 BYU's Kevin Feterik finds Luke Staley in the end zone for this TD. avi: 682 k RealVideo: 56.6 \| ISDN \| T1 Feterik and Jaron Dabney connect for this 15-yard touchdown. avi: 591 k RealVideo: 56.6 \| ISDN \| T1

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NFL

Thursday, September 7
Feterik earning place in storied Cougar QB legacy

By Ed Graney
Special to ESPN.com

I saw Kevin Feterik throw a football in person last year and would have bet my son's college savings he couldn't hit Brigham Young's statue standing 20 feet away. It was that bad, that un-BYU like.

Kevin Feterik
Kevin Feterik has thrown 18 TDs to date, two more than all of last season.

Our only thought: Who issued him that powder-blue jersey? Utah coach Ron McBride?

Feterik isn't solely to blame, of course. History is. It says you can count on two things in Provo: There won't be long lines for a morning Frappucino (if you can find one) and whoever stands behind center on the football team will play quarterback with the beauty of a Pavarotti aria.

"I remember when it got really bad last year," said Feterik. "I'm standing on the sideline at one home game with 60,000 people booing me. And I thought, 'Do I suck this bad?' "

We have found the answer this season.

Definitely not.

If time heals all wounds, so too did it improve Feterik's savvy and touch. BYU is the class of the Mountain West Conference because its senior leader is resembling more of those who came before, of names like McMahon and Young and Detmer. The Cougars are 6-1 overall, 3-0 in conference, ranked No. 15 and host Air Force on Saturday.

"It's not an easy thing, having to follow that quarterback tradition," said BYU coach LaVell Edwards. "It really isn't fair to compare Kevin to any of them or them to him, but that's part of the deal here. It's going to happen and you just have to deal with it."

Edwards helped, like he has for 28 years as head coach. Feterik's numbers a season ago (2,718 yards, 16 TDs, 6 interceptions) would have earned high praise in any other program, but they deemed average at best in the Factory of Forward Passes.

Hoping to take some pressure off his quarterback this year, Edwards borrowed page from the maze that is Tulane's playbook, inserting the shotgun as one of BYU's basic sets. It's as if someone handed Feterik a winning lottery ticket.

He has flourished in the new scheme, completing 180 of 291 for 2,285 yards with 18 TDs and nine picks -- numbers that more than compare with such Heisman hypes as Drew Brees and Joe Hamilton.

Feterik has a lot of the three Cs going for him right now: Cool, confident, composed.

"He's very sharp and is making quick decisions," said Edwards. "I really think we played Kevin before he was ready and then didn't surround him with a great supporting cast. But I always felt that with enough experience, he could put together an outstanding season."

He's doing that, and BYU is reaping the rewards. Yeah, Feterik could do it now.

He could definitely hit the big man's statue.

Singin' the San Diego State blues
Turn the radio dial, please. We've heard this tune far too many times before. There is no more disappointing team in the MWC than San Diego State, which felt the combination of 29 seniors coming off a Las Vegas Bowl appearance, and perhaps the best defense in school history, would be enough to win six-year head coach Ted Tollner his first league title. Think again.

The defense has done its part, spending the season ranked in the Top 20 nationally. But inconsistent quarterback play and little proven depth at wide receiver has led to a 3-5 record and 1-3 conference mark, to inexcusable losses like 24-21 to New Mexico.

The program whose offensive history has produced so many gifted skill players, so many talents like Marshall Faulk and Darnay Scott and Az Hakim, can barely find the end zone nowadays. And now, SDSU has lost its best offensive threat (senior wideout Damon Gourdine) for the season with a foot injury.

A few points: The notion that SDSU annually has better athletes than its conference foes is simply untrue. Some years, maybe. Not every one.

Also, Aztec coaches in the offseason need to take a hard look at their one-back scheme, something opposing coordinators caught up to years ago. If BYU can insert the shotgun and Alabama can trample on Bear Bryant's grave with five-receiver sets, San Diego State can certainly take a bottle of white-out to its counter runs and third-and-forever draw plays.

Imagination, fellas. You need more imagination.

Pac-10 happenings

Husky talk: Marques Tuiasosopo is as resilient a quarterback as there is, but the Washington junior's charmed existence will end against visiting Stanford on Saturday if he keeps making costly mistakes.

A must-win situation for Rick Neuheisel's team if it expects to remain in the Rose Bowl race, Washington either plays better defense against the Cardinal or it gives up 45-50 points. Tuiasosopo, though, will again be the wild card. He can take you out of games as quickly as he can get you back into them. It's a maddening trend, and yet a very entertaining one.

Scary thought for the conference leaders: J.R. Redmond appears healthy once again, and Arizona State is very much in the Rose Bowl race at 3-1. His hopes for a Heisman Trophy dashed several weeks ago, Redmond leads the Sun Devils at Oregon on Saturday. He wants to play some safety to aid ASU's injury-plagued secondary, but we hope coach Bruce Snyder nixes the idea. ASU can win this thing, but not if Redmond gets dinged again.

A guaranteed formula for disaster: UCLA's defense, respectable for a few games before showing up at Oregon State, plays as bad as the team's offense right now.

Amazing: The Beavers are likely bowl-bound and the Bruins aren't.

Let's see: Against Oregon on Saturday, Arizona gives up a safety on its first play, fumbles on its third, allows 207 yards in kickoff returns, misses extra points and is flagged more times than a cabbie in Manhattan? So much for the Wildcats smelling roses. Aloha. Have fun bowling in Hawaii.

Thought for the day: Stanford is a team that makes its own luck. Teams like that win championships. Even ones that can't play defense.

Ed Graney, a college football writer for the San Diego Union-Tribune, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.


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